Beyond the Biosphere
Published August 18, 2010
You can get so proud of yourself for acting locally that you forget to think — or act — globally.
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Poli Psy: Solidarity, Finally
Published November 13, 2008
As he stepped onstage in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night, Barack Obama was already transformed from candidate to president. On display was his genius, the genius of leadership: He eloquently named the terrible situation — “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century” — then instilled the courage to [...]
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Poli Psy: In a Fix
Published April 30, 2008
At Passover, celebrants read the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Jews’ slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh and their Exodus out of his land. They’re in such a hurry that they don’t even let the bread rise — hence, matzoh. The cliffhanger comes when they’re standing with their toes in the Red Sea, Pharoah’s [...]
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Poli Psy: “Good Sport”
Published February 29, 2008
As a kid in the 1960s, I went to a camp where competitive sports were viewed as mildly distasteful, if not explicitly frowned upon. Sure, we gathered in the evenings for rowdy bouts of “Capture the Flag.” On hot days there was “Sink ’Em,” which involved attempting to deluge or capsize the other team’s rowboat [...]
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Poli Psy: “Why March?”
Published March 28, 2007
It should have been easy to get out of the house on Sunday, March 18 — the day before the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq — for the first of a nationwide series of demonstrations to bring the troops home. The weather was clear and crisp in New York, where I was; most [...]
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Poli Psy: “Call of the Wild”
Published January 31, 2007
It’s thrilling to watch people pulling together against global warming. Fights and fissures lie ahead. But a green Christmas from St. Louis to St. Petersburg has, for this panicked moment, inspired some previously unimaginable alliances. Businesspeople are lying down with regulators, Democrats with Republicans, religious fundamentalists with scientists. Amateur porn stars with Amazon Indians. I [...]
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Poli Psy: Body Politic
Published October 12, 2005
Call me a meat puppet, but I like my politics corporeal. Before the Internet, activism meant bodies in a room, arguing, scheming, flirting, drinking. Taking on a task, you made a commitment to people who could hold you accountable. The “movement” was a network of thousands of rooms, thousands of relationships. One commitment you made [...]