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A Servicemember in My Family was Never the Same after WWII—My Mother

As part of the Clubmobile service of the Red Cross, Phyllis McLaughlin was an indirect witness to the traumas of the soldiers she served with hospitality, even before the jeep accident that ended her own service after nearly killing her. 

The Ford Administration Used a CIA Agent's Killing to Silence Sen. Frank Church

The assassination of Richard Welch in Athens in 1975 came as the Church Committee was beginning its final report; the White House and the CIA claimed, without proof, that the committee's investigation of CIA actions exposed Welch's identity. Welch's deputy in Athens now speaks out. 

DeSantis Signs Bill Giving Legislature Oversight of Invited Campus Speakers

The concept of an oversight office to guarantee "intellectual diversity" has a long lineage on the right. Florida is the first state to require campuses to create those offices and require compliance and oversight. 

The US Government Hired Dorothea Lange to Document the Japanese Internment, then Censored Her Photos

The War Relocation Authority hired Lange and Ansel Adams, hoping to polish the public image of internment. Lange's photos, which revealed the harsh conditions of camps and the human tragedy of removal from homes and neighborhoods, were shelved. 

Indiana U. Pres.: Legislative Attack on Kinsey Institute a Attack on Academic Freedom

Ironically, Alfred Kinsey's work was the subject of moral panics and suppression in his own lifetime. 

Leon Uris's "Exodus" Shaped Jewish Identity for a Generation—Does it Matter Today?

By fictionalizing many of the events surrounding the founding of the Israeli state (and ignoring others), Uris helped launch a profoundly influential view of Israel's place in the world and Jews' relationship to Israel. But a younger generation of Jewish readers seems indifferent. 

What a White Man Learned Selling a Black History Encyclopedia Door to Door in 1971

by Jonathan Odell

"What DeSantis and his ilk now fear, is that we the people, Black and white, hold the missing pieces to each other’s stories, and once our stories are told, they can change us profoundly."

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Guru of Poker Revival, Dies at 89

Brunson's outsized persona and publication of books detailing his techniques for Texas Hold 'Em made him an early and successful figure in the recent revival and rise to respectability of high-stakes poker. 

Florida Rejects Social Studies Topics on Communism, "Taking a Knee"

by Valerie Strauss

After rejecting more than 80 percent of proposed materials for K-12 social studies courses, Florida accepted many revised materials but still rejected 35 percent. Topics refused? Social justice in the Hebrew Bible, national anthem protests, and prosperous countries with socialist economies. 

Met to Scour Collections to Identify Looted Art

"The museum’s stature and the scope of its effort, disclosed in a letter to the museum staff, is likely to affect how other institutions grapple with the increasing pressure to return ancient items that bear evidence of having been looted."

Indiana's Kinsey Institute will Have to Carry on Without State Funds

The pioneering research institute for the study of human sexuality has been a victim of the "groomer" moral panic; the legislator introducing the funding restrictions has called the late Alfred Kinsey a pedophile and suggested the institute was "hiding child predators." 

"Generation Connie": A News Anchor and Her First-Generation Namesakes

The practice of choosing American names for immigrant children coincided with the peak of Connie Chung's career as the national face of CBS News. Adopting her name symbolized mobility and potential for a generation of Asian American women recently come of age. 

Florida Senate Rejects DeSantis Pick for New College Trustee Board

Eddie Speir, whose prior experience in education was running a private K-12 religious school, was rejected by the Florida Senate after having participated in board meetings at the New College of Florida as an interim Trustee. What distinguishes Speir from Governor Ron DeSantis's other appointees? 

Why a Long-Maligned Housing Style Endures in Leeds

Once a progressive improvement on court-style housing in working class neighborhoods, then disfavored as cramped and lacking in privacy, urbanists look to Leeds's back-to-back rowhouses as a guide to more efficient and affordable housing for modern cities. 

State Advisory Panel on Reparations Calls for Payments to Black Californians; Legislative Response Unclear

The task force's report has placed a cash value on harms suffered by Black Californians from state policies that excluded them from the Golden State's prosperity, ranging from redlining to the war on drugs and mass imprisonment. 

Newton Minow, Hugely Influential FCC Chair, Dies at 97

While he famously called television programming a "vast wasteland" in 1961, Newton Minow shaped the mass media landscape for decades. 

Pushed to Soften Discussion of Racism, Author Pulls out of Scholastic Deal

Maggie Tokuda-Hall wrote the story of her grandparents meeting in a WWII-era internment camp, but it wasn't a commercial success. When Scholastic offered to license the work for classrooms, they asked for the unacceptable: downplaying the severity of anti-Japanese racism. 

How an Accreditor Became a Political Target

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools used to keep a low profile while verifying the academic integrity of schools in their region. But their region includes Texas and Florida. 

Statehouse Assaults on Tenure and Diversity are Impacting Hiring at State Universities

"In Florida, some candidates’ concerns are so profound that they’re turning down job offers in the state — despite not having other offers, said Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida, a union representing faculty at all 12 of the state’s public universities, a private one, and community colleges."

Trinity College Dublin will Rename Berkeley Library to Stop Honoring Slaver

Trinity College Provost Linda Doyle said that the college was not erasing the contributions of George Berkeley to philosophy and Irish intellectual life, but would no longer honor him with a building.