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First Monday
 Volume XII, Number 1              Sept. 8, 2003
Newsmakers

Minor candidates find strength in numbers
How do the more than 100 so-called "minor" candidates on the ballot for the California governor recall election get publicity without major party support? Campaign en-masse, answers Corey Cook, assistant professor of political science, in an Aug. 30 story in the San Mateo County Times. He said, "candidates have gotten local attention, but not from the big media. They are hoping they can attract more attention by banding together." Cook also adds that minor candidates can, at the very least, attract attention to specific issues. "A lot of the establishment dismissed the minor candidates as trying to sell things," he said. "But there is a populist sentiment to this recall and these candidates have something to say."

Black politics in depth
The Aug. 29 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle featured a profile on Robert C. Smith, professor of political science, and a recent book he edited -- the Encyclopedia of African-American Politics. Smith also wrote more than 400 entries for the book. The experience of editing the book gave him new insights into its subject, he said. "I knew this, but didn't -- how tenacious whites have been in their resistance to freedom and equality for African Americans. How it's just been tenacious from the beginning to now."

More to the story of Jewish Studies on campus
The positive picture for Jewish Studies at SFSU goes untold said Marc Dollinger, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman chair in Jewish studies and social responsibility, in an opinion piece that appeared in the Aug. 29 edition of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. He writes that the media coverage of the pro-Israel/pro-Palestine events of May 2002 "sensationalized extremists at the cost of a more nuanced and accurate understanding of campus life." Dollinger fills out the rest of the story: "A comparative religion course on Judaism, Christianity and Islam fills to capacity with representatives of all three faiths. Jews and non-Jews sit together and debate the question of intermarriage in a class on the Jewish family. For the first time ever, students can now graduate with a major in modern Jewish studies."

Vote with your stomach
It's just part of the ongoing merger of pop culture and politics, said Francis Neely, assistant professor of political science, during an Aug. 21 KRON4-TV report on Taco Bell's stunt to tie its products into the California governor recall election. The fast-food chain has decided that all crunchy tacos bought at its more than 1,000 California outlets will count as votes for Arnold Schwarzenegger, soft chicken tacos are votes for Gray Davis, and grilled burritos are votes for all the other candidates. "This is just another example of the silliness of [the recall election]," said Neely. "I don't think there's a great danger in affecting votes one way or another."

Not suitable for children
Despite repeated warnings from the media and government officials, parents continue to leave their children unattended in a car on hot summer days, with more than 30 deaths recorded so far this year. "The screaming message here is that for any period of time you don't leave a child unattended in a car," said Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology, in an Aug. 21 Associated Press story that appeared in several newspapers and Web sites across the country, including the Boston Globe, USA Today and The New York Times. According to Null's research, interior temperatures can soar to 105 in less than a half hour on a 72-degree day.

Huerta a heroine
Longtime United Farm Workers activist Dolores Huerta recently launched her own foundation to train community leaders who will help advocate for immigrants, women and children. "She's a heroine," said Brenda Cochrane, professor of labor studies, in a story that appeared in the Aug. 14 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. "She was there when there were very few women in leadership in any union. She's a role model, an example of what working class women can do."

Displaced ancestors
The Chinese government's practice of "funeral reform" can get overzealous, said Marlon K. Hom, professor and chair of Asian American studies, in a article that appeared in Aug. 10 editions of The New York Times and The Seattle Times. Remains are sometimes lost as cemeteries in China are moved to make room for development -- new housing projects or business complexes -- so American descendents occasionally pay for their ancestors' bodies to be shipped to the United States and re-interred here. Hom speaks of the practice from personal experience -- his father-in-law brought the remains of his father back to the United States.

Learning rises from the ruins
Because of rampant looting, conditions in Iraqi universities couldn't be worse, writes Business Professor Gary Selnow in an article that appeared in the Aug. 8 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Selnow was in Iraq earlier this year to help create medical information centers at teaching hospitals and medical centers. However, Selnow observes, conditions in Iraq also couldn't be better: "Herein lies the paradox. Instead of despairing, the faculty members remain remarkably upbeat and optimistic. And this is not just a Westerner's quixotic perception: For one thing, colleges and universities did not end the semester early, even during the worst periods of the war. Imagine that! They suffered unthinkable assaults, and yet the semester went on. Most campuses continued their classes and scheduled exams. Students in their final year graduated; students in the middle of their studies will advance to the next level when they return in the fall."


More: For a full list of SFSU in the print and electronic media, go to: www.sfsu.edu/~news/clips.htm.


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