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Questions for Rick Benjamin: Rhode Island’s New Poet Laureate

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Cultureadrienne rich, aids project, brown, community service, courtney coelho, daily practice, eliot, environmental studies, hiv, immemorial, intellectual practice, kevin young, langston hughes, lincoln d chafee, lucille clifton, new jersey, nonprofit work, ordinary life, poem, poetry, public humanities, rhode island, rick benjamin, robert hass, rutgers, ruth stone, spiritual practice, state poet, tibetan scholar

Rick Benjamin, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies and public humanities, was recently appointed state poet of Rhode Island by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee. A five-year position, the state poet serves as principal advocate for poetry in Rhode Island. Benjamin has dedicated much of his career to the intersection of poetry and community service, a relationship he incorporates into “Poetry and Community Service,” a course he teaches at Brown and other schools. Courtney Coelho spoke with Benjamin about his poetry, his mission of service, and how he intends to incorporate the two in his new position.

Describe your poetry. What is your style? What are your influences?

I have a wide range of influences. I tend to learn everything through the ear. My early influences were always oral and musical, starting with poetry I probably didn’t really understand by Eliot that my mom was reading me. So she would say things like, “So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul should be resurrected only among friends some two or three, who will not touch the bloom that is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.” There’s not a lot of that that I would have understood when she said it, but I did hear it and I really loved the sound of it. And Langston Hughes is a poet I became acquainted with really early on and again it was the sound and the rhythm and the music in the poetry that I responded to first. In terms of poets that I read now: Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Ruth Stone, Robert Hass, Kevin Young. (more…)

Searching for the Lost Royal City of Nubia in Northern Sudan

By Guest PostJanuary 18, 2013Culture, Scienceel kurru, kings of nubia, kush, lost royal city, northern sudan, nubia, nubian capital, nubian pyramid

ANN ARBOR — Geoff Emberling is doing what few archaeologists do anymore in a world that has been worked over pretty well by picks, trowels and shovels. He’s searching for a lost royal city. (more…)

Recognizing Psychological Common Ground Could Ease Tensions Among Those with Different Religious Beliefs, says MU Psychologist

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 2013Cultureabdolhossein abdollahi, agnostics, allah, atheists, awareness of death, belief, buddha, caricature, christians, conflict, crucifix, death in christians, deity, different groups, ease tension, fear of death, foxholes, Germany, god, halle, higher power, how, human knowledge, immortal entity, individual, influence, iran, islamic azad university, jamie arndt, jesus, kenneth vail, motivation, muslims, opposing viewpoints, philosophies, propaganda, psychological similarity, relationship, religious symbol, religious tradition, saale, st marienkirche, stories, supreme being, thoughts of death, thoughts of mortality, understanding, united states, university of missouri, wartime aphorism

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Understanding how thoughts of mortality influence individuals’ beliefs sheds light on the commonalities among different groups’ motivations and could help ease tensions between opposing viewpoints, according to University of Missouri experiments that tested the relationship between awareness of death and belief in a higher power. The study found that thoughts of death increased atheists, Christians, Muslims and agnostics conviction in their own world views. For example, contrary to the wartime aphorism that there are no atheists in foxholes, thoughts of death did not cause atheists to express belief in a deity.

“Our study suggests that atheists’ and religious believers’ world views have the same practical goal,” said Kenneth Vail, lead author and doctoral student in psychological science in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Both groups seek a coherent world view to manage the fear of death and link themselves to a greater and immortal entity, such as a supreme being, scientific progress or a nation. If people were more aware of this psychological similarity, perhaps there might be more understanding and less conflict among groups with different beliefs.” (more…)

Chipping Away at the History of Plaster in Sculpture and Medicine

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2013Cultureage of industrialism, angel, art historian david bindman, birmingham, british sculptor, casting process, countess spencer, death mask, exhibition, funerary memorial, georgiana, great ormond street, hospital collection, ikon gallery, john flaxman, line to contour, marble, mourning figure, murderer, neo classical artist, pathological specimen, plaster, sculpture model, ucl art museum

A new exhibition about plaster and the casting process, highlighting the sculpture models of the neo-classical artist John Flaxman (1755-1826), starts at the UCL Art Museum this month.

Shown alongside Flaxman’s art will be more unusual applications of plaster pulled from UCL’s stored collections, including Victorian death masks used for the early study of eugenics and casts of human pathological specimens, including the cast of a seven year old’s leg with rickets from the Great Ormond Street Hospital Collection. Many of these macabre objects highlight the efficiency of plaster and its unique ability to capture fleeting moments in time. (more…)

Jan. 8-22: ‘The Abolitionists’

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2013Culture13th amendment, 1863, 1865, abolitionist movement, american history, angelina grimke, beyond lincoln, black, black abolitionist, civil rights, documentary, drama, emancipation proclamation, end slavery, erica armstrong dunbar, female, frederick douglass, harriet beecher stowe, historian, john brown, male, pbs, slavery, the abolitionists, university of delaware, white, william lloyd garrison

UD’s Armstrong Dunbar a featured expert in PBS series ‘The Abolitionists’

The Abolitionists, airing on PBS this month, is timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, but it offers viewers “a real understanding of the complexities of what it took to end slavery” beyond Lincoln’s proclamation itself, a University of Delaware historian featured in the series says.

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, associate professor of history with joint appointments in Black American Studies and in women and gender studies, was approached by creators of the three-part series to provide her perspective on the issues and individuals featured. The Abolitionists is part of the “American Experience” series and is scheduled to air Tuesday nights, Jan. 8, 15 and 22. (more…)

Who Likes Bling? The Answer Relates To Social Status

By Guest PostDecember 28, 2012Cultureadam galinsky, african americans, american adults, bling, capitalistic, consumer preferences, consumption oriented society, demographic characteristics, derek rucker, eric anderson, feelings, flat screen tv, high status, high status goods, high status products, low status job, nine point scale, philip mazzocco, positive evaluations, racial minorities, social status

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A desire for expensive, high-status goods is related to feelings of social status – which helps explain why minorities are attracted to bling, a new study suggests.

Previous research had shown that racial minorities spend a larger portion of their incomes than do whites on conspicuous consumption – buying products that suggest high status. (more…)

Public Obsession with Obesity May be More Dangerous than Obesity Itself, UCLA Author Says

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2012Culture, Healthabigail saguy, body mass, cervical cancer, civil rights, confirmation bias, diabetes, genetic factors, neighborhood limitations, obesity, obesity epidemic, obesity task force, poor nutrition, social factors, socioeconomic status, sociologist, stress, third factor, ucla, us population

Much has been made about who or what is to blame for the “obesity epidemic” and what can or should be done to stem the tide of rising body mass among the U.S. population.

A new book by a UCLA sociologist turns these concerns on their head by asking two questions. First, how and why has fatness been medicalized as “obesity” in the first place? Second, what are the social costs of this particular way of discussing body size? (more…)

Rise in Teen Marijuana Use Stalls, Use of Synthetic Marijuana and ‘Bath Salts’ is Very Low

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2012Culture, Generaladderall, amphetamines, barbiturates, bath salts, cannabinoids, cannabis, cocaine, colorado, crack, daily use, dea, designer drugs, ecstasy, hallucinations, hallucinogens, heart rate, herbs, heroin, illicit drug, index, indicator of use, k 2, lloyd johnston, lsd, marijuana use, narcotics, oxycontin, paranoia, psychotherapeutic drugs, rise, salvia, salvia divinorum, sedatives, side effect, spice, statistical significance, suicidal thoughts, synthetic cathinones, synthetic marijuana, teen marijuana, tobacco, tranquilizers, vicodin, violent behavior, Washington

ANN ARBOR — National samples of 45,000 to 50,000 students in three grades (8, 10, and 12) have been surveyed every year since 1991 as part of the nationwide Monitoring the Future study. Among the most important findings from this year’s survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:

Marijuana. After four straight years of increasing use among teens, annual marijuana use showed no further increase in any of the three grades surveyed in 2012. The 2012 annual prevalence rates (i.e., percent using in the prior 12 months) were 11%, 28%, and 36% for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively. (Among the 8th graders there was a modest decline across the past two years—from 13.7% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2012—that reached statistical significance.) (more…)

Category Archives: Culture