| The United Slang of America |
[02 Sep 2015|09:57am] |
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http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2015/09/united_slang_of_america_map_if_every_state_had_an_official_word_what_would.html Welcome to the United Slang of America. In order to create the map above, we used a layered, multistep approach. First, we called up some linguists who helped us make an initial list of unique words that are in one way or another associated with a particular state. That got us off to a coruscant start (linguists!). Next we researched online message board discussions about zany terms that have gained popularity in different states. We also surveyed friends and colleagues on the words they most associate with their home states and polled Slate readers on Facebook. Ultimately, we built up groupings of anywhere from five to 10 viable options for each state and then, well, argued a lot. The competition was fierce, the results certain to be controversial.
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| Lifesaver |
[02 Sep 2015|12:06pm] |
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http://www.slate.com/articles/life/classes/2015/09/first_aid_class_learn_cpr_heimlich_tourniquets_burn_care_wound_care.html The summer after my senior year of high school, I took an EMT class. I thought I might become a doctor, and training to be an emergency medical technician seemed like the best way to ease into a life of saving lives. It turns out I was not cut out to be a doctor—something I discovered in an ER when I was assisting a man who had sliced his hand open on an aluminum foil container. As I watched the blood pool under his hand while the doctor stitched up his gash, I decided pre-med wasn’t for me.
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| All the Wisdom of the Ages |
[02 Sep 2015|02:02pm] |
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http://www.slate.com/articles/life/classes/2015/09/should_you_take_a_poetry_class_memorizing_poems_will_make_your_life_richer.html If I were going to encourage you to take any one class simply because it’s good for the freshman soul, I would say this: Take some introductory literature class that forces you to memorize poems, heaps and gobs and mounds of poems, old poems. Preferably, this class will be taught by some elderly gentleman composed almost entirely of dandruff and corduroy, who took precisely such a class from William Butler Yeats himself, back before dandruff and corduroy were first invented.
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| “Nobody Called CPS on Louis C.K.” |
[02 Sep 2015|07:05pm] |
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http://www.slate.com/articles/slate_plus/family/2015/09/flipping_the_bird_at_my_baby_brought_out_the_internet_s_ugly_side.html When Slate education columnist Rebecca Schuman wrote “Baby Bird,” in which she evaluated the ethics of flipping off her daughter during naptime, she expected some negative comments. What she did not expect was people openly wishing for her and her baby to die, threats to call Child Protective Services, or a multiday flood of abuse and condemnation on her Facebook page and personal website. Here, Schuman speaks with her editor Jessica Winter about how she’s faring against the attacks, the gender dynamics of parent shaming, and the most constructive way to engage with trolls.
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