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David Masciotra is the author of five books, including I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Mellencamp: American Troubadour (University Press of Kentucky, 2015). He has written about politics, music, and literature for many publications, including Salon, the Progressive, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He teaches at Indiana University Northwest.
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Biden, Top Dems Need to Throw Some Punches for LGBTQ Rights
GET MADAnti-LGBTQ legislation and violence are on the rise. It’s time for “allies” in government to get tough on the bigots and protect the vulnerable.

The Plot to Kill Whitmer Shows How Far the Right Has Fallen
DRY RUNThis wasn’t drunk talk. It was a serious, scary plan—and a sign of what’s to come.

President? Unlikely. Pulitzer? Maybe
Politics and ProseDecorated Marine, Cabinet official, U.S. Senator, and now presidential candidate, James Webb has somehow found the time to write books, and they say a lot about him.

The Pain and Rage of Mellencamp’s Music
LISTENJohn Cougar Mellencamp took his own struggles and made them into music relevant to everybody.

Cornel West’s Disappointing Decline
GlibOnce one of the nation’s best cultural critics, West has ditched his intellectual chops and embraced the role of public personality recycling the same sound bites.

Noam Chomsky—Infuriating and Necessary
You don’t have to buy Chomsky’s ideas wholesale to recognize that his often outrageous critiques of American democracy and capitalism usually hit their targets.

Is ‘Satisfaction’ Too Real About Sex?
Adult SituationsWhat happens after ‘happily ever after’? Here’s a Buddhist-inspired show that looks at lust honestly, questions marriage, and explores the emptiness at the heart of our lives.

Not Country or Pop. Just Garth Brooks.
RebirthFourteen years after leaving the stage and studio, he’s back. And this time, the guy who ‘eats too much, is lazy, and loves to play music’ is taking his fight to the machines.

The Unsung Heroism of Jesse Jackson
KEEP HOPE ALIVEThe civil rights leader has had a rough decade, but his campaigns for president paved the way for Barack Obama and brought about a better, more inclusive America.

How We Got to Ferguson—a Reading List
SyllabusRage, despair, and confusion trail in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown. Here’s a reading list that exposes the deep roots in U.S. history that produces such tragedy.
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