Newtopia | Issue #16 - April/May 2004: "The Culture Wars"

Featuring "Hybrid Amalgamation Incorporated"

by Poet-in-Residence Ronnie Pontiac

How the GOP's Anti-Elitism could ruin America's economy by driving talent to more tolerant nations. Based upon his work in the international best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class, this essay examines the migration patterns of the world's "knowledge workers", and how a nation's immigration and social policies figure into the equation.

An interview with Academy-Award winning Filmmakers Steve James, Jerry Blumenthal, and Gordon Quinn (Hoop Dreams) on their stunning new PBS documentary The New Americans, which examines four years in the lives of a diverse group of new immigrant families.

While Bush is a problem, ABBS is not a solution. Progressive Politics, a Green Thumb, and real bona fide reform are the solutions.

"Kids have the opportunity to create or destroy. If you don't give them the opportunity to create, they will destroy."

Reflections on the work of Eboo Patel and his Chicago based Interfatih Youth Core towards redefining the way we look at and interact with our faith.

Why the Far Right Opposes "Gay Marriage". A report from the front lines of the equal marriage movement in Chicago.

The American HeritageÆ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition defines miscegenation as "a mixture" or "hybridization" of races. Let's get the obvious out of the way. Race, scientists say, has little, if any, genetic foundation. Any person of one race can be as similar or different genetically as any person of another race. In fact, race as we know it, is a derived social standard, not a biological one. Racial classification has historically been used to sort individuals by a single race or ethnicity. It helped the majority maintain a specific social pecking order..

A profile of Larry Tramutola and The Tramutola Company, an group dedicated to providing effective, ethical and successful political strategy to individuals and organizations committed to improving the communities they serve.

There is an error in the thinking of those who see "conservatives" as a monolithic mass, for the label of "conservative" in the United States today says as little about what a person actually believes, as does the label "liberal". In fact, if one reads between the lines, it is possible to see the looming demise of the current Republican stranglehold on the American political system.

The reception of a term that originates in a partisan ideology into general discourse indicates the power of the groups propagating that ideology; they have succeeded in making us think in the terms that they do.

The "destinicity" model questions where our "yesterdays" and my "right nows, "fit into our "tomorrows." Washington fuses the question of "destiny" within the broader context of ethnicity; hence "destinicity."

Companion piece to last issues' "Ending the War Between the Genders" which examined the schism between the sexes.

There has been one social force that, more than any other, has conducted a sort of free-floating, psychological, dialogue with us all. What is it? TV, what else?

Another widespread critical challenge is being mounted against capitalist globalization. It is an assault as much from outside the walls of the "home-land" as it is from within. Often violent and intellectually blind, it comes as revolt that takes on many forms, politically conscious as well as unconscious actions of opposition against the instrumentalisation of culture through the material dynamics of globalization.

British culture, India, and the global impact of popular culture.

Scott K. Summers is the Illinois Green Party's candidate for the US Senate in 2004. This is how he came to be a candidate.

A friend of mine was invited recently to a meeting with President George W. Bush to discuss public policy issues. "Any advice on what I should say to the President?" she asked. Oh yeah, I thought, I've got a few ideas. The following is what I suggested she say.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has received some criticism because he stated recently that outsourcing is inevitable as part of the globalization of commerce. He didn't exactly say it is the cool thing for companies to do, but at the time he was in India and he was trying to make a nice impression. Cheaper than an invasion, I think.

Sartrean Existentialism used to explain how the American Republican suffers from Bad Faith, and that is why they choose to believe in unscientific ideas that are harming them and the people around them.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the large-scale genocide in Rwanda.

The saying goes 'all politics is local', and there is lots of evidence to support the maxim. What we find important is what we find in our daily lives. Illinois, while no tempest, has become a little bit more political recently. It is often hard to tell what is happening while one lives through it, but foundational concepts such as marriage and war and civil rights are constantly being reconceptualized.

Sorry our market is closed because we don't like you!

A surprise visit to novelist Tom Bradley on top of his dark mountain in suburban Nagasaki, and a very strange conversation with the man, artfully interspersed with an overview of his works.

A review and excerpt of Kimberly Nichol's collection of stories, Mad Anatomy (Del Sol Press)

A Tribute to Octavio Paz On His 90th Birth Anniversary: March 31.

An interview with Academy-Award winning Filmmakers Steve James, Jerry Blumenthal, and Gordon Quinn (Hoop Dreams) on their stunning new PBS documentary The New Americans, which examines four years in the lives of a diverse group new immigrant families.

Where movies meet myth and become much more than they thought they were. And you can find a new path to understanding yourself and current realities.

In this issue the Cinemashrink analyzes In America and Monster

Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The cultural passion play of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ

Examining the French New Wave in The Dreamers

Burning Man: It's art, but is it revolutionary art?

A Eulogy for Noah Purifoy