Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1106

Sorry, Chocolate Might Cause Acne After All

Just in case you were thinking of enjoying the tasty gifts bestowed upon you by the Easter bunny, the BBC would like you to keep in mind that they might ruin your beautiful face.

"Does chocolate give you spots?" asks the headline of this article. (English people call zits "spots," because they're classier than us even when it comes to acne vulgaris.)

On this question, an influential 1969 study indicated that it didn't. Instead of letting this fantastic finding stand, researchers who hate a more happy order of things questioned the methodology, as well as the fact that the study was "made possible through the Chocolate Manufacturers' Association of the United States of America."

Sadly, more recent research has shown the there may well be a connection between the amount of chocolate you eat and the prevalence of pimples on your skin. Fun-hating med student Samantha Block has done two studies on small groups of men aged 18-35. In both, she found that chocolate consumption seemed to make her subjects' acne worse.

The article points out that Block's latest findings are currently being reviewed for publication in a science journal, which means that "science has not, to date, shown conclusively that chocolate - pure or impure, in bar-form or egg-shaped - causes acne." 

Which means that, come Sunday, those of us with full Easter baskets should feel free to eat away.

 

North Korea Has Issued Its Ultimate Definite Last Totally 'Final Warning'

North Korea greeted the weekend by stating through its KCNA news agency that it is entering a "state of war" with South Korea. This seems like much more serious news than an earlier KCNA story about using nutritious leeks in seasonal dishes, but there's reason to be skeptical that NoKo's latest declaration means anything at all.

The statement wasn't accompanied by an actual attack, which would have been the most obvious sign that North Korea was serious about this. Instead, it's just more chest-beating, this time in response to the "provocation" of the U.S. flying stealth bombers over South Korea. Most seem fairly sure that this is just more posturing from the country that loves its propaganda:

"Few believe North Korea will risk starting a full-out war," said Reuters.

"What North Korea really wants is legitimacy in the eyes of the U.S. - and a peace treaty," said the AP.

Bloomberg: "North Korea’s rhetoric has had little impact on South Korean stocks, as the benchmark Kospi index closed up 0.57 percent yesterday, headed for its best week in six months."

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency: "Despite Pyongyang's latest threat, border crossings by South Koreans to and from the joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong proceeded normally."

"WAR!" scream-tweeted Drudge Report, because there always has to be that one guy.

Bloomberg's South Korea-based reporter Sangwon Yoon seemed dubious of North Korea's statement, warning the media not to take "state rhetoric" at "face value" and saying the latest threat is "not new" but "continued rhetoric." She later reminded her followers that technically, North and South Korea have been in a "state of war" since the 1953 armistice.

"Nonetheless I'll keep building my Korea Twitter list just in case," tweeted NPR's always prepared Andy Carvin, ":-)"

Update (3/30/13 12:35 a.m. Eastern): Reuters has the full declaration. "Time when words could work has passed," it says; "Time has come to stage a do-or-die final battle." A "three-dimensional war to be fought in the air, land and seas and on the front line and in the rear" is promised ... just as soon as Kim Jong-Un issues the "final order."

Dozens of Atlanta Teachers Indicted in Cheating Scandal

A grand jury has indicted 35 school administrators and teachers for their alleged part in the biggest standardized test cheating ring in our nation's history. "What's the big deal?" you may wonder. After all, even those hoity-toity Harvard kids aren't above cheating once or twice. Why not the 50,000 or so students in Atlanta's public school system? Well, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr., who spoke at the press conference announcing the indictment, federal funds were used in bonuses awarded to schools and teachers based on the results of Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, and employees who didn't participate in the ring were fired.

Those charged face up to 65 counts of such un-teacherly acts as theft, conspiracy, making false statements, and racketeering. According to the New York Times, altering tests was so commonplace that one school had "pizza parties" for the staff to correct wrong answers before submitting them to be scored. So now delicious, innocent pizza has been dragged into this scandal, too.   

Former superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall is believed to be the mastermind, ordering her underlings (principals, teachers, and a school secretary) to get good test scores by any means necessary and rewarding those who did so by cheating. Under her rule, Atlanta's students improved so much (on paper) that Hall was named the National Superintendent of the Year in 2009 by the American Association of School Administrators.

"Hall is credited with transforming the 102-school system in Atlanta through a comprehensive reform agenda," said an AASA press release at the time; "Every elementary school in Atlanta made adequate yearly progress in 2008, and graduation rates at several high schools have risen sharply." Oops.

The allegations go back as far as 2005, and the suspiciously dramatic improvements in test scores were first noticed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in October 2009. Hall retired in 2011, conveniently just a few days before the results of a state probe were released. At the time, she denied having anything to do with or any knowledge of cheating. She faces up to 45 years in jail if convicted.

The Atlanta public school system has spent $2.5 million investigating the scandal so far. No word yet on how much the accused are alleged to have spent on those pizza parties.

The Best and Worst Teammates for the NFL's First Openly Gay Player

A big week for gay rights in Washington was a big one for the entertainment world, too, and it looks like the NFL could have its first gay player come out of the closet in time for Week One of the new season — not that everyone in the league likes the idea because, well, this is the NFL.

Earlier this week we delivered what seemed like good news, from the anonymous sources of Mike Freeman at CBS Sports: "I'm told that a current gay NFL player is strongly considering coming out publicly within the next few months -- and after doing so, the player would attempt to continue his career." But there was an important caveat in Freeman's report: "The player fears he will suffer serious harm from homophobic fans, and that is the only thing preventing him from coming out."

The fans are one thing, but turns out there are some homophobic potential teammates already out there, although some of the reactions from players since the report surfaced suggest that the NFL is — even after two months of all too typical macho comments and a pseudo-investigation by the league into perhaps discriminatory scouting practices — actually a comfortable place to be gay. Here's a rundown of the locker rooms where the NFL's mystery man might feel welcome — and less so:

The Bad: Seattle Seahawks

Why? Because Seahawks starting defensive end Chris Clemons, while recovering from knee surgery, took to Twitter this week to announce to his 18,000-plus followers that a teammate coming out of the closet would be "selfish" — even if he was a star player:

And there's more from the (since deleted) tweets. Clemons used the word "preference" to describe sexuality — considered an archaic term compared to "orientation" — but, really, he swears he's not the judging type:

Thanks for clearing that up, Chris.

The Still Pretty Bad: San Francisco 49ers

Why? Because, well, you'd think playing in one of the gayest cities in the country would have an effect on people's tolerance. Because you'd be wrong. At Supere Bowl Media Day in January, Niners cornerback Chris Culliver said in an interview that "I don't do the gay guys, man," and that gay players "can't be ... in the locker room." Culliver apologized a day later, stating: 

The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.

Culliver was reprimanded, but that was just one part of the fallout. Two of Culliver's teammates, star linebacker Ahmad Brooks and nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, were asked about their appearance in an "It Gets Better" PSA video message to LGBT teens — just to put Culliver's comments into perspective, and because the Niners had been the first NFL team to appear in the video series. Two of Culliver's roommates denied being in a gay rights video. "I didn't make any video," Brooks said. "This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay. It's their right. But I didn't make any video." Sounds like it's tough to watch game tape in San Francisco if you're gay.

The Newly Good: The New England Patriots

Why? Because Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski will be your pal. Playing for the team that everyone loves to hate is never easy. But "Gronk," the notoriously straight and outspoken superstar, wouldn't care if the NFL's mystery gay player was, in fact, gay — as long as he's helping the Pats win. "If he's being a great teammate and he's a guy on the field doing a great job, well then you've got nothing to complain about," Gronkowski told ESPN radio this week. "He's another teammate and another friend."

Quick, nobody tell Mike Florio, the NBC football analyst who floated the rumor that NFL execs wanted to know if Manti Te'o was gay — and who responded to the whispers of the mystery gay player by surmising "that the player may not currently have a team, or that the player believes he may not make it onto the final 53-man roster of the team for which he currently plays."

But Gronk is cool, no matter what. He added in the ESPN interview: "You've got to accept the player. Everyone has their own ways to live their life and as long as he's respecting me, keeping distance, respecting myself, I'll respect him back." 

The Really Good: Cleveland Browns 

Why? Because Scott Fujita, the longtime badass Browns linebacker who's currently a free agent, is even more of a badass when it comes to gay stuff. He's been on the push for marriage equality since 2009, when he spoke out in an interview before some NFL players started speaking out all the time: "By and large in this country the issue of gay rights and equality should be past the point of debate. Really, there should be no debate anymore," Fujita said. And then last weekend he penned this awesome essay for The New York Times — Tony Morrison quote and all: 

I hope that soon after Tuesday’s arguments in front of the Supreme Court, people like me won’t have to speak up for those sons or daughters. No one owns the definition of love. It comes in all shapes and sizes. As Toni Morrison wrote, “Definitions belong to the definer, not the defined.” One thing I know for certain is that you can’t put a face on love, and you can’t tell me what a family is supposed to look like.

Somebody give this man a contract!

The Proven Good: Baltimore Ravens

Why? Because linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo (also pictured above) will go all the way to the Supreme Court. That's what the reigning Super Bowl champ did this past week (and has been doing for the past two years) to deliver a "pep talk" on the Court's steps. "I'm actually here as a patriot — as a patriot to uphold the Constitution of the United States," he told the masses gathered Tuesday, as the justices heard oral arguments on California's Proposition 8. 

Ayanbadejo has been outspoken about his support for same-sex marriage — so much so that he got in a tiff with a Maryland lawmaker who said, basically, that he should shut up and do his job. Asked about the prospect of a gay player in a USA Today interview released on Monday, Ayanbadejo said "that it will happen soon, and we're definitely ready for it."

The Beyond Good: Minnesota Vikings

Why? Because punter Chris Kluwe has a way with words. He has been perhaps the most outspoken advocate for gay rights in the NFL, and has ripped into that Maryland lawmaker — as in, words like "lustful cockmonster." He signed an amicus brief to the Court in support of overturning Prop. 8, along with Fujita and Ayanbandejo, and then he went on Anderson Cooper's show Wednesday night and said that he was disappointed with the prevailing wisdom from the arguments — that the Court might overturn the Defense of Marriage Act but, uh, punt on Prop. 8:

I think it's kind of unfortunate that the Supreme Court is moving away from this idea that of  making a sweeping statement here because they have the perfect chance to show that American citizens pay their taxes, who serve in our military and who are being discriminated against shouldn't no longer be discriminated against.

[...]

I've always been raised to treat other people I want to be treated ... That's what America is founded on—the freedom to live your own life.

CBS's Freeman also notes that the amicus brief filed to the court was also signed by, among others, the Philadelphia Eagles's Connor Barwin, Tampa Bay Buc Tom Crabtree, the Kansas City Chiefs's Eric Winston, Scott Shanle of the New Orleans Saints, and Cleveland's D'Qwell Jackson.

See? If the Browns had just hung on to Fajita, they'd be the most open and encouraging and forward place for civil rights in the most macho of leagues? Unfortunately, for now, it seems like each team can only handle one truly outspoken gay rights advocate per roster. But one mystery player might change all of that.

'True Blood' Really Is Coming Back

Today in showbusiness: HBO has announced the return date for long-in-the-tooth True Blood, NBC is pushing back Girlfriend in a Coma, and a look at Max Irons in something. 

I know it seems impossible, but there is going to be more True Blood. Which means more things will happen, there will be more new characters, there will just be more of all of it. Thought that they'd done everything a television show could possibly do? Yeah, well, you and everyone else. But we were all wrong. True Blood still has more stories to tell, with approximately six million of them happening in every episode. The show's sixth season premiere will be on June 16, and will be introducing three hundred and sixty-eight thousand new characters. Just that episode. By season's end there will be 4.5 million³ new characters. They wanted to put in more, but there are only ten episodes this season instead of the usual twelve. So, oh well. We'll have to make due, I guess. [Deadline]

NBC is pushing back filming of its pilot Girlfriend in a Coma — a comedy about a woman who wakes up from a coma she's been in since she was a teenager only to find out she gave birth to a baby while she was in the coma and now has a teenage daughter — because series star Christina Ricci left the project after the table read (sounds like she got fired?) and they need a new lead. But with all the bold name actresses tied up in pilots of their own, they've decided to wait. You know, until those pilots don't go forward and they can scoop up some discarded actress and put her in a wheelbarrow and wheel her over to their show. That's how it works out in Hollyweird, I'm pretty sure. Good luck, everyone! And you'll get 'em next time, Christina. [Deadline]

Here is a trailer for a summertime action picture starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg called 2 Guns. How many guns? Two guns. Well, there are more than two guns in the movie, it actually looks like there are lots of guns, but Lots of Guns doesn't really work as a movie title. So it's 2 Guns, 'cause there are two stars, and they each have a gun. So I'll ask it again: How many guns? TWO GUNS. Anyway, the movie looks perfectly fine. Denzel Washington is always satisfyingly Denzel Washingtonny, and Mark Wahlberg is working on being funny. Oh and there's Edward James Olmos and, is that— Bill Paxton-Pullman! Hi buddy! Man, they should have called this movie 2 Guns & Bill Paxton-Pullman Who Probably Also Has a Gun. That would work perfectly as a title. This thing doesn't come out until August, so there's still time, marketing people!

And here's a little teaser trailer for the Starz miniseries called The White Queen, which seems to actually be about a white king. But whatever. The point is that it stars Max Irons and Max Irons is... jeremy's... iron. He's very handsome, OK? That's what I'm saying. Sue me. Max Irons looks like a beautiful loaf of French bread and that's that. Nothing to be said or done about it, nothing to be debated, it's just fact. So that's why I watched this trailer, even though I don't have Starz and never will have Starz. Max Irons. There he is.

And on a serious note, beloved actor Richard Griffiths died at 65 years old yesterday from complications during heart surgery. He's probably best known these days as Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies, but he was a recent-ish Tony winner for the play The History Boys, which became a well-received film, and of course he was in the cult classic Withnail and I. His Equus and Harry Potter costar Daniel Radcliffe said this of him: "Richard Griffiths wasn't only one of the most loved and recognizable British actors, he was also one of the very greatest. His performance in The History Boys was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously." Well said! [The Hollywood Reporter]

Nope, Vaccinations Don't Cause Autism

Discovered: An autism myth based on a myth, debunked; a link between frackin and an earthquake; the key to more effective math classes; desert "fairy circles" explained.

Autism not caused by too many vaccinations. The notion that vaccinating infants causes autism — a belief based on a debunked scholarly article published in 1998 — remains fairly widespread. (About 25 percent of parents believe that vaccines place their children at risk of developing the neurological disorder.) One version of this myth, that obtaining too many vaccines at too early an age somehow compound into autism, has now been debunked by several Ohio doctors. "The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs," the doctors wrote. [Journal of Pediatrics]

Oil production may have caused earthquake in Oklahoma. In a scene out of Jonathan Franzen's 1992 novel Strong Motion, scientists in Oklahoma report that the most significant earthquake in the Midwestern state's history "was likely triggered by the injection of wastewater from oil production into wells deep beneath the earth" — a practice associated with hydraulic fracturing, the controversial method of obtaining natural gas from sedimentary rock. "As pressure builds in these disposal wells, it pushes up against geological faults, sometimes causing them to rupture, setting off an earthquake," National Geographic writes. Even worse, such earthquakes can occur years after the fracturing begins. A 2011 earthquake "took place after wastewater injection had been occurring at the wells for more than 17 years." [National Geographic]

Gestures help students absorb math lessons. It sounds specious, but teachers who gesture during math lessons help their student absorb a lesson's key principles better than teachers who do not move their arms and hands around. A group of child psychologists had groups of children watch two videos of an instructor teaching a math problem, one in which the teacher gestured, and another in which the children heard only the teacher speaking. "The problem involved mathematical equivalence (i.e., 4+5+7=__+7), which is known to be critical to later algebraic learning. ... Students who learned from the gesture videos performed better on a test given immediately afterward than those who learned from the speech-only video." [Child Development]

'Fairy circles' are caused by termites. For decades, 'fairy rings' — round, bald patches appearing, without rhyme or reason, in grassy areas of southwestern Africa — have flummoxed scientists. But according to a German researcher named Norbert Juergens, the patches are caused by Psammotermes allocerus, kind of sand termite, which consumes vegetation shortly after rainfalls, leaving the round patches behind. "Once generated, the circles collect water, which sustains the growth of perennial vegetation at the edges of the circles, allowing for long-term persistence of the termites," according to a précis of the study. That's a lot less exciting than other theories put forth throughout the years — including supernatural beings, mysterious gasses, and toxic plants. [Science]

How Much Is Your Startup Acquisition Worth in Peeps? And Other Conversions

Tech companies are always buying up smaller tech companies for what sounds like a lot of money, but it's hard to know how much money is really a lot of money without some everyday context. That's why we built the handy new Atlantic Wire Tech Startup Calculator. Amazon, for example, paid somewhere between $150 million and $1 billion this week to buy the book lover's social network Goodreads, according to differing news reports. Either one of those figures sound like a nice payday — kind of like the $30 million Yahoo paid earlier in the week for the news reader Summly created by that teenager everyone's still jealous of this weekend. Yeah, but how jealous? And how much is a $30 million buyout from Yahoo in Instagrams? And why not convert all these Silicon Valley price tags into HoloPacs or Peeps — you know, things you can actually conceptualize?

You can do all that and more with our tool below. Just enter your desired number of units, pick your conversion rates from each of the drop-down menus, and have fun:

' + numberWithCommas(amt) + ' ' + title[unitfrom] + '
' + numberWithCommas(answer.toFixed(2)) + ' ' + title[unitto] + ''); } } function numberWithCommas(n) { var parts=n.toString().split("."); return parts[0].replace(/\B(?=(\d{3})+(?!\d))/g, ",") + (parts[1] ? "." + parts[1] : ""); } function updateHTML(divName, updateWith) { if(document.getElementById && document.getElementById(divName)) { document.getElementById(divName).innerHTML = updateWith; } else if (document.all && document.all(divName)) { document.all(divName).innerHTML = updateWith; } else if (document.layers && document.layers[divName]) { document.layers[divName].innerHTML = updateWith; } }   units of
dollarsGoodreads (per AllThingsD)Goodreads (per Businessweek)Instagrams (pre-Facebook IPO)Instagrams (post-Facebook IPO)SummlysMotorolasHoloPacsMailboxsSparrowsZipCarsboxes of Peeps into
dollarsGoodreads (per AllThingsD)Goodreads (per Businessweek)Instagrams (pre-Facebook IPO)Instagrams (post-Facebook IPO)SummlysMotorolasHoloPacsMailboxsSparrowsZipCarsboxes of Peeps 

And Now Let's Go to Balki Bartokomous with the Weather

We realize there's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cellphone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

We'll be honest. We don't really tune into the local weather reports anymore, mainly because we have iPhones and we can always ask Siri obvious questions about the weather like Zooey Deschanel does. However, all that would go out the door should Bronson Pinchot ever land a full-time meteorology gig — it has been a while since the heyday of Perfect Strangers, after all:

The most important question of this Friday is whether Savannah Guthrie gave Matt Lauer the finger on air. It has now been answered:

I can't believe you doubted me!! RT @studio1adon: @savannahguthrie We have examined the tape... index finger indeed. #phew.

— Savannah Guthrie (@SavannahGuthrie) March 29, 2013

Here's the alleged bird-flipping in question:

Remember, Jay Leno is less funny than this:

And finally, here's more proof that dentists have the best drugs: 

The State of 'Game of Thrones' Is Great

Prepare yourselves! Season three of HBO's blood 'n' boobs and 'n' Baratheons fantasy series Game of Thrones returns on Sunday night, meaning the long wait of the superfans is nearly over. But was it worth it? Will the third season thrill and delight in the same old ways, while also moving the story forward and growing the world? Well, based on what I've seen, I'm relieved to say: yes and yes.

As most anyone who's read the book series will tell you, the third book is the best one. So much happens in it, in fact, that the showrunners decided to split the book into two seasons. (That probably also had to do with the fact that George R.R. Martin still has two more books to write and HBO didn't want to run out of story too soon.) And I would suspect that many people who read the books will have a little trouble figuring out where things have been snipped or combined on the show, which characters have been made composite or deleted altogether. And that's a good thing! The show needs to exist on its own terms to truly work as a series. Turns out, I love some of the changes they've made, most of all the characters they've coaxed out of the dark and made fully realized. (Hello there, Shae!) The first two episodes of the third season continue that artful tweaking, the writers having to work even harder as Martin's story grows denser. But they pull it off!

Those who haven't read the books but who are still all caught up with the show will be pleased, as all the fan favorites get some good, juicy moments and newer characters get a chance to show us their stripes. I especially liked a charged scene between bratty King Joffrey and his soon-to-be wife Margaery Tyrell, one in which she deftly endears herself to his dark side while seeming clueless as to her appeal. Natalie Dormer is a wily actress and is terrifically cast, like so many on this show. Another delight is Dame Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna, Margaery's sharp and feisty grandmother. All told, the Tyrells are a welcome addition to the Game of Thrones family. As are Meera and Jojen Reed, arriving in the second episode. Though, it is a bit jarring to see the little cherub from Love Actually all grown up. 

Also adding a nice bit of familiar-face flash is the great Ciaran Hinds, making his first appearance as wildling leader Mance Rayder. All of these august British actors are remarkably willing to throw themselves into this curious world of giants and dragons and mystical wolves. I suspect their gameness has largely to do with the sharpness of the writing, which is keenly adapted from Martin's text and shaped into dialogue as deliciously witty as it is dense and robust. Good writing attracts good actors, and so far the third season is rife with both.

I do have one major concern, though. As our fair Daenerys travels ever further into the abyss that is Essos, I'm worried we'll lose her. She kinda gets lost in the books, buried under a pile of X- and Z-filled names. So far she's still firmly present, Emilia Clarke as forceful as ever, but I don't feel good about the show having to head into Martin's most muddled storyline. Hopefully one of the changes they'll make from books to screen is to condense or reshape Dany's adventures in the slaving east. The plot could really use it. And maybe a nip and a tuck could help get rid of some of the books' troubling racial undertones, too. (Though, they're still on display in the first of Dany's scenes this season.) I just hope the show treads carefully and wisely through this particular narrative mire. And really I've only evidence to suggest that they will. These guys are good.

All told, the third season of Game of Thrones is so far smooth and assured. While it's still hard to imagine the series surviving all the way to the end of Martin's book series — again, he still hasn't even written two of them — it's certainly hale and hearty and seemingly unwinded so far. Even Peter Dinklage's accent is better this year! That's quite an achievement. Because that accent was very bad when he started. Really, season three finds everyone operating with the confidence of people who know they are making something special. And while disaster could always be potentially awaiting us, as with any television series, there are so many exciting and game-changing events to come this season that I simply don't see how they could go astray. Hubris, they might call that, but what did the Greeks know about Westeros anyway?

Facebook (Profile Photo) Support of Gay Marriage, Mapped

On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was pretty much impossible to miss: a sea of red equal signs where your Facebook friends' faces used to be. Organized by the Human Right Campaign, the social media blitz for marriage equality seems to have worked — whether inspiring curiosity, satire, or hand-wringing, everyone was talking about it. Which meant that people were talking about gay marriage, too. The campaign was so effective, in fact, that Facebook engineers decided to map the portions of the United States, county by county, where users were most likely to change their avatar:

(The darker the color, the more citizens of the county changed their pictures on March 26, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on behalf of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which concerns California's Proposition 8.)

Facebook found that the most support was concentrated in educated enclaves, like Ann Arbor, Michigan:

Many of the top 25 counties that showed the greatest support for HRC's campaign were home to college towns, including Orange (University of North Carolina), Durham (Duke University), Monroe (Indiana University), Johnson (University of Iowa), Athens (Ohio University), Dane (University of Wisconsin), Boulder (University of Colorado), and Travis (University of Texas at Austin).

Of course, no avatar, in whatever quantity, can somehow inaugurate marriage equality. But the distribution of support, as seen in the map above, indicates that struggle for gay rights is far from over.