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Miles Davis on the Post-Modern Corner

  By Art, Music, Trumpet playing

This is the second of my short papers on Miles Davis’s electric works. The first, “It’s Best Done With Scissors” seeks to explain Miles’ new direction in music in the context of his own interests and history. It was very much improved by the comments of Eric Siegel, Patrick Brown, and Steve Asseta. This paper is based on another email I sent to the list in which I compared On The Corner to a work by John Adams that I heard the composer conduct with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The email listed five ways in which these two pieces of music by Miles and Adams were not only similar but in which they both exemplified a post-modern aesthetic. I haven’t been able to find that email but I do remember Eric Siegel appreciating it–including my little joke of saying, twice, that one point of similarity between the two works was repetition.… Continue reading

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Day Six

  By Biblical thought, Feminism, Philosophy

In Christian traditions, and most Jewish ones as well, the story of the Garden of Eden is the story of humankind’s estrangement from God. Jews and Christians differ about how we are to understand that estrangement. Many Christians see the fall as the source of original sin. Jews, on the other hand, typically reject the notion of original sin. Yet the dominant interpretation of Genesis 2 is that, in eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve are rejecting the authority of God. As a result God punishes them, and us. The most troubling circumstances of human life flow from the action of Adam and Eve. And only a return to God, in this world or the next, can free us from our predicament. Against this traditional interpretation of the text I want to pose another, radically different and feminist reading, one that draws on… Continue reading

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Back travails, part ?

  By About me, Health Issues

The short version: After truly excruciating pain last weekend, a course of steroids and pain killers has started to get things under control this weekend. I’m hoping that in another week or so and I’ll be ok again. The long version: Two weeks ago I was recovering from surgery really well. One day I told my wife at the end of the day that I hadn’t thought about my neck or back at all and hadn’t taken a pain killer in three days. All the various aches and pains had pretty much dissipated. Then two days later something happened. And last Thursday something else happened. The pain was in all the same places I had it before surgery—under my right arm, in my right shoulder blade and shoulder, shooting down by triceps, at my elbow and in my hand. But qualitatively it was very different. Instead of occasional burning, shooting… Continue reading

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Why Do Artists and Intellectual Tend to be on the Left?

  By Philosophy, Politics

Why do artists and intellectuals tend to be liberals? Because artistic and intellectual goods are things we can all share. When you enjoy a piece of music, it doesn’t stop me from doing so. When you enjoy a good book, the same. In fact, the more people love the same music and books I do, the more people I have to share in the experience and from whom I can learn more about what I love. That doesn’t mean there are no conflicts in these spheres of life. Once upon a time, there was a conflict over owning these goods. But in the digital world the cost of reproducing music and books is now very close to zero. There are still limited resources for the creation of intellectual and artistic goods. But the more we focus our lives on the pursuit of these goods, the more we devote our resources… Continue reading

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The Cost of Banning Abortion in Pennsylvania

  By Abortion, Feminism

By Claire Kovach with Marc Stier Drawing on a few decades of research, this paper shows that banning abortion would severely harm women in the state, especially women of color and women with low incomes. The paper summarizes research showing that the inability to secure an abortion harms women’s physical and mental health, makes it harder for them to secure an education, reduces their prospects for employment and good wages, and is likely to leave them facing hardship and poverty. The paper concludes that the combined direct and indirect effects of a total ban on abortion in Pennsylvania would likely reduce wages in the state by $10 billion a year. <a href=”http:marcstier.com/blog2/wp-content/uplaods/22/09/CostOfAbortionBan-2.pdf” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Click here to read full screen or print.</a> &nbsp; Continue reading

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Is Doug Mastriano Planning To Become Governor By Force?

  By 2022, Fascism, Politics, The Coming Civil War?

Doug Mastriano is running an incompetent campaign for governor by any standard measures of political competence. He’s not raising money. He’s not moving to the center or at least tempering his most extreme positions. He’s not talking to the press…which is how politicians get their message to voters. He may yet win. Though he is down in the polls by a lot, there is continuing reason to believe that polls understate the vote of Trumpist candidates because their supporters don’t trust pollsters and answer their questions, because some of their supporters, upper middle class Republicans, are reluctant to say out loud that they are voting for creeps like Trump and Mastriano, and because polls don’t measure likely turnout well. Candidates like Trump and Mastriano motivate devoted followers who, like them, are angry and frustrated at what they see as the direction of the country and thus come out to vote.… Continue reading

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We Need To Make Time for the Pain

  By Philosophy

Have you noticed how much pain there is among your friends in real life and and here on social as well? Most of the time I can shut a lot of it it out. I have to do that sometimes. Not always. This week alone I’ve talked to or interacted with people who: -Is watching a young mother die of cancer -Is dealing with a long course of chemotherapy -Just had to change to a new course of chemotherapy -Lost their husband from cancer not long ago -Lost their father from a sudden death not long ago -Is suffering from severe back problems And that’s just the physical suffering. There are also the people: -Struggling with dementia and taking care of those who are. -Hate the hard work they have to do to survive -Are single and worrying about how they are going to care for themselves when they get… Continue reading

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Economic Messaging for Progressives

  By Philosophy, Policy briefs

PBPC has long focused not just on what policies to adopt but how we can build support for them. The policy papers we wrote for our We The People–PA campaign and our Roadmap to a New Pennsylvania, as well as the narrative for the campaign, focus on messaging as well as policy. In this piece, we weave together some of that work as well as the poll-tested messaging that is coming from the Race/Class Narrative and the Winning Jobs Narrative efforts, while adapting it for the Pennsylvania context. At the end, we provide some links to polling data to support each theme we highlight here     Continue reading