theatlantic:

Yes, America, We Have Executed an Innocent Man

At 11 p.m Monday, the Columbia University Human Rights Review published and posted its Spring 2012 issue — devoted entirely to a single piece of work about the life and death of two troubled and troublesome South Texas men. In explaining to their readers why an entire issue would be devoted to just one story, the editors of the Review said straightly that the “gravity of the subject matter of the Article and the possible far-reaching policy ramifications of its publication necessitated this decision.” […]

The Review article is an astonishing blend of narrative journalism, legal research, and gumshoe detective work. And it ought to end all reasonable debate in this country about whether an innocent man or woman has yet been executed in America since the modern capital punishment regime was recognized by the Supreme Court in 1976. The article is also a clear and powerful retort to Justice Scalia in Kansas v. Marsh: Our capital cases don’t have nearly the procedural safeguards he wants to pretend they do.

Read more. [Image: Corpus Christi Police Department]

thebeautyofmarilyn:

Marilyn photographed by Richard Avedon

good:

It was a comical idea, me writing about apps to organize your life. I’ve always been fairly organized, but my organization system? A disaster. Until recently, it was a jumble of sticky notes (both virtual and paper), draft emails of lists, Google Calendar entries, and things floating around my own brain but nowhere else. 

And then I found an app to organize my life that works like my brain.

Swedes are shaking up their language with a new gender-neutral pronoun. The pronoun, “hen,” allows speakers and writers to refer to a person without including reference to a person’s gender. This month, the pronoun made a big leap toward mainstream usage when it was added to the country’s National Encyclopedia.

The majority of world languages already have gender-neutral pronouns. However, similar to the English language, Swedish has had pronouns for “he” and “she”, but not one that refers to a person without suggesting the person’s sex. Proponents of “hen” are eager to have a single word that describes a hypothetical person rather than the awkward “he or she.” The word is also useful when referring to someone who does not identify with a traditional gender role.

“Hen” (pronounced like the English word for chicken) is a modified version of the Swedish words “han” and “hon,” which mean “he” and “she” respectively. The pronoun first emerged as a suggestion from Swedish linguists back to the 1960s. Though it has taken a while for the word to catch on, some Swedish magazines and even a children’s book have now adopted it in their texts.

When it comes to gender neutrality, Sweden is one of the most progressive countries in the world. Sweden has the highest percentage of working women, the Swedish Bowling Association is moving toward having men and women compete in the same events, clothing stores do not always have separate sections for male and female attire, and there is even a preschool dedicated to eliminating gender.

Despite all of the ways Sweden deconstructs notions of gender, language has been slower to catch up, still readily identifying people as either male or female. As it stands, Sweden has regulations over what parents can name their children, with most of the choices being specifically for one gender. Only 170 unisex names are permitted. Recently, activists have been pushing the government to allow parents to choose a name for their kids regardless of gender.

Of course, there are plenty of Swedes opposed to these changes. Swedish author Jan Guillou attributes the popularity of “hen” to “feminist activists who want to destroy our language.”Overall, many critics fail to see the reason for a gender-neutral pronoun when the country already takes so many steps to ensure both genders are equal.

However, fans of “hen” believe that true equality cannot be reached without gender neutrality. As long as the distinction is made, they argue, it reaffirms differences between male and female and perpetuates stereotypes. When speaking about a person, it is easy to avoid mentioning that person’s age, ethnicity and sexuality, yet existing conventions of language often forces people to label the same person a he or a she throughout the course of a conversation.

The push to make “hen” mainstream could face challenges. Even for those sympathetic to the plight, after a lifetime of saying “han” and “hon,” switching to “hen” requires breaking a force of habit. Still, even if the majority do not adopt “hen” into their everyday speech, having an accepted alternative available is yet another step toward Swedish gender-neutrality.

Related Stories:

Ze, Hir, Hirs; He, She, They: Which Pronoun Are You?

Swedish Preschool Eliminates Gender

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/sweden-adopts-a-gender-neutral-pronoun.html#ixzz1skHfaXUU

Classic Jazz with Lady Day… Written originally as a poem, Abel Meeropol wrote & performed Strange Fruit to express his horror at lynchings. Barney Josephson of Cafe Society Nightclub in New York heard the song performed by Meeropol, his wife, & vocalist Laura Duncan & introduced it to Billie Holiday whom asked her label Columbia to record the song. Fearing a negative reaction due to the songs lyrics, they refused to record the song. She then asked friend Milt Gabler of Commodore Records & sang a cappella version to Gabler whom wept afterwards. Columbia gave Holiday a one-session release from her contract to record with Commodore. Because of the songs impact, Holiday was told to close all her shows with it. As the song was about to begin, waiters stopped serving, lights were turned off & a spotlight was focused on Holiday whom had her eyes closed, as if she were praying.