“A Time To Speak”: Annotated
On September 15, 1963, a bomb killed four Black children in Birmingham, Alabama. Who threw that bomb? Each of us, argued Birmingham lawyer Charles Morgan, Jr.
Racist Humor: Exploratory Readings
An introduction to the history and theory of racist humor and the social role it plays in Western societies.
The Media’s Bottom-Line Problem
The health of our democracy depends on a free press. What happens when the thirst for profits, eyeballs, and clicks drives political coverage?
Death by Crowding
In the aftermath of tragedies, it's easy to focus on the assignation of blame. But how well do we understand the causes of crushing crowds?
The Power of the Intersectional Protest Image
In an age of hashtag activism and partisan news, social media offers possibilities for intersectional movements to reimagine images of Black protest.
The Ethical Life of Euphemisms
Euphemisms can hide facts that need to be confronted. How do they work from a linguist's point of view?
The Sorry State of Apologies
"Sorry" can be more than a mere word when it has real-world consequences.
The Linguistic Anatomy of a Political Firestorm
The prime minister of Australia has a background in marketing, but with the bush fire crisis, his manipulation of language is only getting him so far.
Cancel Culture Is Chaotic Good
Cancel culture may prove to be the most memorable linguistic trend of the past decade.
How Linguists Are Using Urban Dictionary
Urban Dictionary continues a long history of recording low-brow language. It’s also a repository of a specific kind of internet immaturity.