Alex Sayf Cummings's Blog, page 16
July 29, 2020
Dispatches from Fresno, 1918-19: Following the ‘Spanish’ Flu Pandemic in Real Time, Part XVII
In the days following the Board of Health’s collective resignation, Fresno mayor William F. Toomey…
July 22, 2020
Dispatches from Fresno, 1918-19: Following the ‘Spanish’ Flu Pandemic in Real Time, Part XVI
At the dawn of 1919, Fresno faced twin crises—a second flu wave and a political struggle over who was in charge of the city’s response to the epidemic.
July 20, 2020
Guitar and Milkman and Don Henley and the Cro-Mags: Reflecting on 10 Years of Tropics of Meta
The legend RR looks back on his long, furtive love affair with Don Henley and the history of this newspaper.
July 16, 2020
Where Were You in ‘73?
In the turbulent 1970s, the balm of pop cultural nostalgia set the tone for today's political reaction.
July 10, 2020
The NCAA Should Cancel the Football Season
A disaster looms as the college sports association looks to cash in once again.
July 9, 2020
In the Waiting Room of the Apocalypse
How many angels can commit suicide on the head of a pin? Noam Chomsky and Margaret Atwood have some opinions on that.
Dispatches from Fresno, 1918-19: Following the ‘Spanish’ Flu Pandemic in Real Time, Part XV
As Fresno entered the final week of 1918, the second wave of the influenza outbreak showed no signs of breaking.
July 8, 2020
Beyond the Age of Human Sacrifice: Lessons from the Black Radical Tradition
If Marx and Engels were right that capitalism creates "its own grave-diggers,” then the most revolutionary of these grave-diggers are the colonized people—the women, the children, the minorities, the immigrants, and the people of color.
July 6, 2020
George Floyd: A Transitional Justice Martyr
As protests moved from Minneapolis through cities across the country and world, they gained what could be considered a “transitional power."
July 3, 2020
Triggers and Vulnerabilities: Why California Prisons Are So Vulnerable to COVID-19, and What to Do About It
Good intentions and short-sighted thinking have turned prison reform in California into a COVID catastrophe, argues legal scholar Hadar Aviram.
