Listened to How the School Transmission Conversation Became So Muddled from On the Media | WNYC Studios

Coronavirus spreads in schools. Just like it spreads everywhere else.

Over the past 10 months, debates have raged over how to keep the coronavirus in check. What to open? What to close? Where does the virus spread, and where are we relatively safe? Through it all, one kind of space in particular has been the subject of vigorous debate — and, starting a few months into the virus, a kind of unexpected conventional wisdom emerged: that schools were relatively safe. In the midst of the darkness, it brought some welcome light: kids are safe! They can go to school! While other institutions closed, countries around the world — particularly in Europe and the UK — kept their schools open.

And yet, in response to rising rates and a new, more contagious variant, many of those same countries have since closed their school doors. It turns out that, if you believe the epidemiologists, schools do, in fact, bring risk of transmission. How could we ever have thought otherwise? Rachel Cohen has been covering the debates around school closings and openings, most recently at The Intercept. In this week's podcast extra, she tells Brooke about how the school transmission narrative has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic, and how our understanding of the issue came to be so muddled.

Listened to Breaking the Myth from On the Media | WNYC Studios

Making sense of the events at the Capitol on Wednesday, unpacking the right-wing "Lost Cause" myth and its historical antecedent, and revisiting "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

On this week’s On The Media, journalists struggle to find the words to describe what happened at the capitol on Wednesday. Was it a riot? A mob? An insurrection? Plus, why supporters of the president’s baseless election fraud theories keep invoking the “lost cause” myth of the confederacy. And, taking a second look at "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

1. Brooke [@OTMBrooke] and Bob [@bobosphere] on the events at the Capitol on Wednesday. Listen.

2. Caroline Janney [@CarrieJanney], historian of the Civil War at University of Virginia, on the evolution of the post-Civil War Lost Cause mythology. Listen.

3. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw [@sandylocks], professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, on how post-Civil War appeasement allowed for the perpetuation of white supremacy in the United States. Listen.

4. Jack Hamilton [@jack_hamilton], associate professor of American studies and media studies at the University of Virginia, on the mixed and missed messages in the rock anthem "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band. Listen.

Music from this week's show:
Invitation to a Suicide — John Zorn
Sneaky Adventure — Kevin MacLeod

Glass House/Curtains — David Bergeaud
The Last Bird — Zoe Keating
Lost, Night — Bill Frisell
Using the Apostate Tyrant as His Tool — Kronos Quartet
The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down — The Band
The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down — Richie Havens

Listened to The World, Remade from On the Media | WNYC Studios

How the pandemic has shaped our future: from the built environment, to the way we work, to the way we learn.

With vaccinations underway, we’re edging closer and closer to the end of the pandemic. This week, On The Media looks at how the pandemic has shaped what’s possible for the future — from the built environment to the way we work to the way we learn.

1. Sam Kling [@SamKling2], American Council of Learned Societies public fellow, on whether cities like New York were bound to become hubs for disease. Listen.

2. Vanessa Chang [@vxchang], lecturer at California College of the Arts, explains how pandemics of the past have been instrumental in shaping architecture; Mik Scarlet [@MikScarlet] delineates the social model of disability; and Sara Hendren [@ablerism], author of What Can A Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World, describes how the wisdom of people with disabilities can inform the redesign our post-pandemic world. Listen.

3. OTM reporter Micah Loewinger [@micahloewinger] tells the story of how distance learning saved his friend's life. Listen.

Listened to A Brief History of Timekeeping from On the Media | WNYC Studios

2020 is over. But is it really?

We spend our lives bound to a clock and calendar that tell us what to do and what to expect. But now, millions of Americans are newly jobless, untethered from structure and predictability. Hundreds of of thousands fight a virus that could cut their time on earth dramatically short. And all of us wait out a life-stoppage of unknown duration. And so, we may find ourselves outside of time. Passing it, but no longer marking it. Anthony F. Aveni, professor emeritus of astronomy, anthropology, and Native American studies at Colgate University, says that to understand our current time consciousness, we have to return to a land before time — or at least, time as we know it. Aveni and Bob talk about the history of timekeeping, and how we might find our orientation during this collective time-out.

This is a segment from our April 24th, 2020 program, On Matters of Time and Space.

Listened to Unlearning White Jesus from On the Media | WNYC Studios

Examining the consequences of 'White Jesus' in America.

In a time where monuments are being toppled, institutions and icons reconsidered, we turn to a portrait encountered by every American: "White Jesus." You know, that guy with sandy blond hair and upcast blue eyes. For On the Media, Eloise Blondiau traces the history of how the historically inaccurate image became canon, and why it matters.

In this segment, Eloise talks to Mbiyu Chui, pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit, about unlearning Jesus's whiteness. She also hears from Edward Blum, author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, about how the image came dominate in the U.S., and psychologist Simon Howard on how White Jesus has infiltrated our subconsciouses. Lastly, Eloise speaks to Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, womanist theologian and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, about the theology of the Black Christ.

This is a segment from our October 1st, 2020 program, God Bless.

Listened to Say Something in Welsh: Old Course 1, Lesson 3 from saysomethingin.com

To finish - cwpla
To buy - prynu
To come - dod
To sleep - cysgu
To take - cymryd
To see - gweld
I'm going to speak - Dw i'n mynd i siarad
I'm not going to speak - Dw i ddim yn mynd i siarad
You're going to speak - Ti'n mynd i siarad
You're not going to speak - Ti ddim yn mynd i siarad
I spoke - Wnes i siarad
I didn't speak - Wnes i ddim siarad

Listened to Say Something in Welsh: Old Course 1, Lesson 1 from saysomethingin.com

Vocabulary

I'm trying - dwi'n trio
I'm not trying - dwi ddim yn trio
To like - hoffi
To speak - siarad
Welsh - Cymraeg
To go - mynd
To stay - aros
To do - gwneud
To say - dweud
To be able - gallu
To know - gwybod
To want - moyn
You're speaking - ti'n siarad
Reviewing
Listened to SaySomethingIn... Old Course 1, Lesson 2 from saysomethingin.com
How - sut
What - beth
Something - rhywbeth
Nothing - dim byd
Why - pam
Because - achos
Him - fe, e
You're speaking - Ti'n siarad
You're not speaking - Ti ddim yn siarad
Are you speaking? Wyt ti'n siarad?
Yes, I'm speaking - Yndw, dw i'n siarad
No, I'm not speaking - Nac ydw, dw i ddim yn siarad
I just need to bite the bullet and subscribe to practice this every day.
Listened to Nos Wener Ffion Emyr, 04/12/2020 from BBC Radio Cymru
Ffion Emyr yn tanio'r penwythnos gyda dwy awr o gerddoriaeth.
Dwy awr o gerddoriaeth a sgyrsiau difyr. Tybed pwy sydd yn gallu gwneud y coctêl gorau yng Nghymru ar nos Wener?
Hefyd, mae Gwawr Eleri James yn dewis cân i'w ffrindiau; ac mae Manon Williams yn hel atgofion am ei diwrnod priodas.
Listening out of curiosity while working in the kitchen.

phone screenshot of BBC Radio Cymru featuring Ffion Emyr and her show

Listened to SaySomethingIn... Welsh: Level 1 Introduction from saysomethingin.com

This is pretty good and generally intense as a mental workout. Not too dissimilar to Duolingo, but it doesn’t have any visual portions for looking at or reading words. Perhaps in conjunction with Duolingo it would be a good speed course?

This particular post also makes me want to have a “study post” type/kind on my website. I’ve generally not been tracking it directly for things that aren’t otherwise reading, but it could include writing, listening, speaking, or otherwise working on educational related things that one might want to track: i.e. “how much time did I spend studying subject x?”

Listened to Behavioral Economics When Psychology and Economics Collide, Lecture 2: The Rise of Behavioral Economics from Great Courses
Grasp how behavioral economics uses methods from both economics and psychology to better understand biases and anomalies in decision making—factors that “rational choice” models don’t explain. Learn three core experimental principles of behavioral economics, and about Prospect Theory, which helps explain what human beings value.
8% done; Finished lecture 2
Still some overview and basic intro. Hope it picks up soon.
Listened to Behavioral Economics When Psychology and Economics Collide — Lecture 1: What Is a Good Decision? by Scott HuettelScott Huettel from The Great Courses
Begin by examining “rational choice” models of decision making from traditional economics, which assume consistent, foresighted, and self-interested decision makers. Then consider how this concept fails to explain many human decisions that appear counterintuitive or paradoxical. Identify two fundamental limitations that challenge our decision-making process.
4% done; Finished Lecture 1
Fairly facile introduction from my perspective. Didn’t learn anything new here.