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: Gregory Rodriguez
Grappling With the Tension Between the Comforts of Home and the Pursuit of Opportunity Elsewhere—and Getting Grief For It—Is a National Tradition
By Gregory Rodriguez
July 18, 2014
Every schoolchild in America should have to read LeBron James’ marvelously hokey essay in Sports Illustrated explaining why he’s going home to northeast Ohio. Before that, of course, they should watch a brief clip of 2010’s infamous The Decision special on ESPN. Four years ago this month, the NBA superstar announced he was leaving Cleveland and “taking [his] talents to South Beach” where he thought he would have the best “opportunity” to win championships.
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Living With People Who Don’t Think and Act Like Us Requires Hard Work, Good Humor—and Extra Brainpower
By Gregory Rodriguez
July 7, 2014
An Irishman, a Jew, and a Mexican walk into a bar. It’s a classic set-up line for a classic American joke. But it’s also a means of coping with our diversity.
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The World’s Most Diverse, Innovative, and Surprising Nation Is in Danger of Becoming Entirely Predictable
By Gregory Rodriguez
June 23, 2014
America—arguably the world’s most diverse, innovative, and surprising nation—is becoming a lot more predictable. And boring.
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Then Journalists Need to Grow Up. Being America’s Watchdog Is Critical, But It Isn’t the Press’s Most Important Obligation
By Gregory Rodriguez
June 9, 2014
Newspapers are in trouble. Not just because of the Internet and advertising and subscriptions. But because, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll, only 28 percent of Americans think that journalists contribute a lot to society’s well-being.
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To Understand America’s Most Confusing Holiday, You’ve Got to Ponder Why We Get the Day Off in the First Place
By Gregory Rodriguez
May 25, 2014
Memorial Day is one of America’s most confusing holidays. Depending on the celebrant, it can be a day of grief, glory—or backyard barbecues.
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How Studying the Family Tree—Long the Province of Racists and Social Climbers—Became the Country’s Second Most Popular Hobby
By Gregory Rodriguez
May 12, 2014
Alex Haley, author of the hugely popular 1976 book Roots, once said that black Americans needed their own version of Plymouth Rock, a genesis story that didn’t begin—or end—at slavery. His 900-page American family saga, which reached back to 18th-century Gambia, certainly delivered on that.
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If We Want to Nurture a Sense of Place in This Country, It Might Help to Know Why We Lost It To Begin With
By Gregory Rodriguez
April 28, 2014
Forty-four years ago—well before the advent of the contemporary mobile phone, Wi-Fi, and social media technology—fabled futurist Alvin Toffler predicted a “historic decline in the significance of place to human life.” He was right, of course. And no country has proven him more right than the United States.
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The U.S. Has Let the Public Square Become a Metaphor. That Can’t Be Good for Our Democracy.
By Gregory Rodriguez
April 14, 2014
Maidan Square in Kiev. Taksim Square in Istanbul. Tahrir Square in Cairo. Recent democratic movements around the globe have risen, or crashed and burned, on the hard pavement of vast urban public squares. The media largely has focused on the role of social media technology in these movements.
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