I promise you I don’t know Coates from Adam’s cousin Leroy. I stopped attending the Thursday night Black People Meetings ™ ages ago when gas crossed $2 a gallon. But, I know that Coates has written a thing at The Atlantic making the case for reparations. This is good. When I teach my inequality courseRead More “Reparations: What the Education Gospel Cannot Fix”
Inequality and Technology Syllabus
I am fascinated with U.S. sociology’s casual and sporadic engagement with digital spaces, technologies and trends. This year, the federal government enacted one of the most sweeping public policy initiatives we’ve seen since the Great Society programs. The healthcare exchange may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but no one can argue that it isn’tRead More “Inequality and Technology Syllabus”
Gratitude: A Little Freedom and a Lot of Blogging
I started this blog for a class assignment many moons ago. It has lived several lifetimes. In its current state, www.tressiemc.com reflects my academic work but isn’t constrained by it. I need that. That others have found anything interesting or worthwhile on this space will never cease to amaze me. I gave up on moderatingRead More “Gratitude: A Little Freedom and a Lot of Blogging”
Here, A Hypocrite Lives: I Probably Get It Wrong On Leslie Jones But I Tried
I want badly to get this right. That, of course, means that there is no way humanly possible for me to get this right. I want to get this right for the usual reasons. I want Twitchy and professional feminists and black nationalists and the identity police and FOX news ambassadors to stay out ofRead More “Here, A Hypocrite Lives: I Probably Get It Wrong On Leslie Jones But I Tried”
Calling the White Man’s Police
I hate calling the white man’s police. As a black woman, I am the keeper of many things. Chief among them is the hope of black men. A black man introduced into the criminal justice system for any violation, no matter how minor becomes a son who cannot care for big momma, a brother whoRead More “Calling the White Man’s Police”
Sociology Paradox: Winning is Losing
Oh we kid the MOOCs around here, what with their non-research based, pedagogically unsound, sociologically ignorant form and function. But, Udacity’s tacit acknowledgement today that credentials have to be descriptive to have utility is a hollow victory. Oh, sure, I will still have a vodka martini at news that one of the largest MOOCs willRead More “Sociology Paradox: Winning is Losing”
A Nasty Piece of Cornbread: Chait, Coates, and White Progressivism
I once set out to write a book of southern aphorisms. It was going to be a serious treatment of (mostly) black (uniquely) southern “mother wit” as philosophy. Then, grad school and so on and so on. If I were to undertake a project today I would start with a favorite handed down to meRead More “A Nasty Piece of Cornbread: Chait, Coates, and White Progressivism”
How To Make A Pundit
Why would anyone want to make a pundit? *rim shot* With that out of the way, I have thought about this a great deal. So, apparently, have others. Today Jamelle Bouie fired off a series of tweets about race, gender, stratification and media expansion. My friend (and tireless, thankless champion) Sarah Jaffe has prodded meRead More “How To Make A Pundit”
The Trigger Warned Syllabus
Apparently universities are issuing guidelines to help professors consider adding “trigger warnings” to syllabi for “racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other issues of privilege and oppression,” and to remove triggering material when it doesn’t “directly” contribute to learning goals.” One example given is Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” for its colonialism trigger. ThisRead More “The Trigger Warned Syllabus”
The Article That Shut Me Up: Making Strange the Familiarity of White Violence
That’s harder than it sounds. I’d tell you not to comment but I’ll be so busy having a conversation in my mind that it won’t matter if you do. This week that mental conversation will be thinking a great deal about white violence and black (anti) wealth creation. Look, I teach stratification and race andRead More “The Article That Shut Me Up: Making Strange the Familiarity of White Violence”