Mahalo.ne.Trash

Among the books I'm reading lately is Martin Luther King Jr.'s  Where Do We Go From Here , written in 1967, a year before he was assassinated. Reading his words as he wrote them, rather than the platitudes and selective quotes that have passed through the filter of American history, has been extremely enlightening. Reading this book has been at once encouraging ( I'm not imagining all of this! I've figured out some things from first principles! ) and discouraging ( Jeez, all of this written in 1967 applies right now in 2015. Aww...dang. ).  Rather than put down fully formed thoughts on a book I'm only four chapters into, a week after MLK Day I'll take the opportunity to share some excerpts from the book that I've highlighted and pondered. Much of these quotes are from a radical activist who saw the need for reforming America from the roots on up. This is not the moderate, friendly, savior-type that we're taught about in school. MLK was a revolut

Today's guest post is by Dr. Renée Hlozek , a Lyman Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University. Renée hails from South Africa and came to the US via Oxford University in the UK where she earned her PhD (DPhil) in astrophysics as a Rhodes Scholar. She studies cosmology as a theorist working closely with data from large telescope collaborations. She's also an expert in astrostatistics, which is where our interests start to overlap. Renée was inspired to contribute a guest post following my recent missives on race and racism in astronomy from the perspective of a non-US citizen. The end of the semester is always an emotional time for me.  It's a time when you prepare your students to take their exams, and try to instill in them the confidence that they need to stay calm, focused and positive. If you are in any way involved in education, you know those last few classes are key to building students up to the final hurdle. It is particularly poignant to me, beca

Here's an example of how you can use your privilege for good, rather than the societal default of racial injustice. Remember, there are no passive roles in structural racism.  You can also use this video as a focal point for anti-racism discussions at your home or institution. Here's a helpful guide for how to do so.