In the past month we’ve seen the unfolding of another chapter in the bloody conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. Since this conflict is, for me and probably many of my readers, taking place halfway around the world, the…
A while back, I read H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman‘s excellent book Articulate While Black. The book takes an in-depth look at racialized public reaction to Barack Obama especially as a candidate for president. One phenomenon they explore is the use of the…
This December, I went back to the town I grew up in for a brief visit. While there, I noticed a bunch of signs like the one above. They confused me at first, considering that I know the town to…
“When I was a kid, we were taught a few rules among which was never talk about religion or politics in polite company”. This quote is the first sentence of a 2004 editorial in the Kentucky New Era. The author goes on to admonish…
linguistic pulse 