They Say / I Blog

Not that Delta: Miriam Hall on education aspirations in rural Mississippi

What kinds of jobs would you describe as enviable? Is teaching assistant on your list? Probably not. In the Mississippi Delta communities around Greenville, however, the position of teaching assistant ranks quite high. Miriam Hall, education fellow at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, explains why in this January 2016 article in Slate. 

Read it here: Hall, "In this impoverished Mississippi community, teacher assistant is a coveted job. It pays $9 an hour”

Me in my Calvins: BuzzFeed on body image and underwear ads

Calvin Klein underwear models, definitely eye candy. But what effect do underwear ads have on our own body image? Spencer Althouse and BuzzFeed set up a project with seven everyday guys, some Calvins, and a studio photographer. The participants’ comments on the experience (along with the photos!) are in this August 2015 post.

Read it here: BuzzFeed, “We recreated famous Calvin Klein underwear ads and this is what happened”

 

Not one-size-fits-all: Dan Joling on food security in Alaska

When food security pops up in the news, as it does frequently these days, it usually refers to having two things: a grocery store nearby and money to spend there. For Inuit people in Alaska, however, food security means something very different. The Seattle Times published this December 2015 report by Alaska-based Associated Press reporter Dan Joling.

Read it here: Joling, “Alaska’s Inuit link steady food supply to environment health”