News and Issues

Joan L. Cannon writes: My father's desk would be glittering with snippets of gold foil, spools of brilliantly colored silk, as resplendent as a jeweler's tray with iridescent peacock and pheasant feathers, tiny bits of deer and badger and elk hair, and puffs of down. more »

High unemployment has attracted much attention, but there has been less consideration of how older workers have fared. In past recessions unemployment has remained relatively low for older workers, whose seniority often protected them. However, age might not protect older workers as well as it once did, because workplaces are now less regularized and labor unions are less powerful. For women, the 2009 unemployment rate was 6.0 percent at age 55 to 64 and 6.1 percent at age 65 and older. The aging population will increase the number of workers age 55 and older by a third over the coming decade. more »

People from wealthy and powerful countries often express their opinions as if they are the absolute truth. Such preaching invites anger and resentment. We suggest tempering conversations with phrases like "I believe," or "My view is," rather than, "Everybody knows ...." more »

"Across 400 top-grossing G, PG, PG-13 and R rated films released between 1990 and 2006, only 27 percent of over 15,000 speaking characters were female." more »