Author Archives: GiselleBatson

John Coltrane for Experts

by GiselleBatson Posted on March 9, 2015

Mother Jones

The John Coltrane Quintet Featuring Eric Dolphy
So Many Things: The European Tour 1961
Acrobat
So many “things” indeed! This intriguing four-disc collection of concert performances from November 1961 features six different renditions of the standard “My Favorite Things, each running 20 to 29 minutes, along with more compact versions of “Blue Train,” “I Want to Talk About You.” and other Coltrane favorites. These previously bootlegged concerts were taken from radio broadcasts and suffer slightly from thin sound, but are more than listenable. If So Many Things isn’t for beginners, it’s great extra-credit listening: With multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy briefly in the lineup, Coltrane was pushing his tenor and soprano sax chops into new territory, leaving behind traditional melodies and song structures in a restless search for fresh ideas and approaches—a quest he would continue until his death in 1967. The harsher extremes of his final years are yet to be reached, and there’s a mesmerizing, meditative quality to the music throughout that’s dreamy, yet subtly urgent.

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John Coltrane for Experts

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Wisconsin’s Strict Voting Law Requiring Photo ID Upheld

by GiselleBatson Posted on October 7, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Monday, a federal appeals court upheld Wisconsin’s harsh voter ID law, which requires voters to provide specific types of government-issued photo identification at the polls.

A district court judge had struck down the law in April, deeming that it unconstitutionally violated the rights of minorities and low-income voters. The appeals court panel disagreed, ruling that the law, one of the strictest in the country, did not amount to racial discrimination.

The AP has more:

State elections officials are preparing for the photo ID law to be in effect for the Nov. 4 election, even as opponents continue their legal fight. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Advancement Project asked the U.S. Supreme Court last week to take emergency action and block the law.

Opponents argue that requiring voters to show photo ID, a requirement that had, until recently, been on hold since a low-turnout February 2012 primary, will create chaos and confusion at the polls. But supporters say most people already have a valid ID and, if they don’t, there is time to get one before the election.

The ruling gives Republican incumbent Scott Walker a major lift in his fight against Democratic challenger Mary Burke. As The New Republic explains, Republican voters are much more likely to have the required identification.

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Wisconsin’s Strict Voting Law Requiring Photo ID Upheld

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SPECIAL EVENT: "Noah" Director Darren Aronofsky Discusses Faith and the Environment

by GiselleBatson Posted on April 18, 2014

Mother Jones

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There has been no lack of conservative Christian criticism aimed at Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky’s blockbuster film, Noah, a work suffused with environmental themes. “I expected to be irritated by the movie—but I found myself grieved,” wrote Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, characterizing the film’s environmentalism as leading to “a horrifying anti-humanism.”

“Noah” and the Nexus of Faith and Environmentalism.

April 23, 2014, 3:00 – 4:00 pm ET.

The Center for American Progress, 1333 H St., NW, 10th Fl. Washington, DC 20005.

RSVP here (space is extremely limited); a live web stream will be available here on the day of the event.

Yet there is a very strong case to be made that the film is not just provocative—it captures something very deep about the Noah story. Noah was the “first environmentalist,” according to Aronofsky, whose acclaimed previous films include The Wrestler and Black Swan. Aronfsky certainly has not been shy about the film’s green content. “There is a huge statement in the film, a strong message about the coming flood from global warming,” Aronofsky told The New Yorker.

Noah stirs the pot over faith and environmentalism, but the pot was already boiling: In the past decade, there has been a growing movement to highlight scripturally based moral imperatives for conserving the environment. That’s why the film furnishes a perfect moment to discuss how religious faith, today, serves as an increasingly crucial motivator of environmental action.

Aronofsky himself will be leading that discussion in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, April 23. The director will be on hand to talk about the environmental and religious themes in his new film—and their implications for modern issues like climate change—at an event cosponsored by the Climate Desk, the Center for American Progress, and the Sierra Club. Other panelists will include Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune; Danielle Baussan, managing director of Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress; and Jack Jenkins, a senior writer and researcher with the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at the Center for American Progress. The event will be moderated by Chris Mooney (me) of Climate Desk. See above for more details.

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SPECIAL EVENT: "Noah" Director Darren Aronofsky Discusses Faith and the Environment

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