Spring has sprung

Contributing Writer

Articles by Mike Wold

Book Review: ‘Wolf Whistle Politics: The New Misogyny in America Today’

by Mike Wold | July 12th, 2017

Diane Wachtell’s collection of essays focuses on feminism and its effect on U.S. politics

Illustration by Jon Williams, Real Change

There’s a trend in nonfiction book publishing these days toward picking titles that will boost sales, rather than accurately describe the contents of the books. That’s the case for “Wolf Whistle Politics” – it’s not focused on misogyny per se. Rather, it’s a thought-provoking collection of essays about the state of feminism in the United States, given the election as president of a self-confessed sexual harasser who says he doesn’t have time to be “politically correct” about subjects such as race or women.

Vendor Profile: Tony Jeffers

by Mike Wold | July 5th, 2017

Last winter, Tony Jeffers flew to Cambodia. He knew there was a big demand for English teachers there. He figured he could find work. The only hitch was that he was on a blacklist in the Philippines. Because Cambodia, along with the Philippines, is a member state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he worried that Cambodia might honor the Philippines’ blacklist.

Book Review: “Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy”

by Mike Wold | June 28th, 2017

The path to ‘lower ed’ can make getting a brain an arduous journey filled with fraud and deception

Tressie Cottom started out working as an “admissions counselor” — a recruiter — for a for-profit college. She struggled to justify to herself why she manipulated poor students into enrolling in expensive programs. In the midst of the 2008 financial meltdown, the college’s corporate director told her that even if financial aid dried up, the college had arranged for high-interest, short-term loans for students who couldn’t pay tuition. She phoned one of her prospective students, telling him to check out the community college before he took out any big student loans — then she resigned.

Vendor Profile: Chris Eller

by Mike Wold | June 7th, 2017

Chris Eller likes to talk with his customers.

“A lot of them talk about politics, a passionate subject; Trump, of course and ISIS and the Middle East. I read the papers every day. It’s important to be an informed citizen in this crazy world.”

He’s not sure how to make it less crazy.

“I don’t want to be that guy that’s telling people what to do. If I could convince people to not go to war, take advantage of each other financially and other ways — I don’t think people are so likely to listen, but it would be nice.”

Book Review: "Black Moses"

by Mike Wold | May 31st, 2017

Alain Mabanckou depicts an African society that has been so corrupted by colonialism that it has lost all direction

Alain Mabanckou’s “Black Moses” is about being orphaned. That’s not just because the main character is an orphan or because the book starts out in an orphanage. It’s also the story of a people who have lost their roots and their parentage, told with a measure of humor and a double measure of tragedy.

Unbuild It: Author discusses how Black leaders came to support a racist criminal justice system

by Mike Wold | May 31st, 2017

It is well documented how mass incarceration reinforces a racial caste system in America. But James Forman Jr., a longtime public defender in Washington, D.C., and now a Yale professor, points out that many African-American leaders supported the policies that led to mass incarceration. His book, “Locking Up Our Own,” explores why and how they supported policies that ultimately harmed the Black community. Forman takes us back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when first heroin and then crack were epidemic among young Black people, along with associated theft, muggings and murder.

Book Review: "The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same: The Politics and Economics of the New Latin American Left"

by Mike Wold | May 25th, 2017

People in Sao Paulo, Brazil, turned out to protest Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution earlier this month. Many leftist governments in South America are struggling. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

In the early 2000s, South America was a beacon of hope for developing nations. In country after country — Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and more — leftist or at least left-of-center governments came into power, supported by social movements of poor and indigenous groups.

Book Review: "How to Make White People Laugh"

by Mike Wold | May 3rd, 2017

Iranian-American author Negin Farsad uses comedy to tackle social justice issues

It may be possible to change the world one joke at a time. At least, that’s the thrust of the new book by Iranian-American comic Negin Farsad. Half comic autobiography, half serious examination of the ways that stereotypes play out, the narrative follows Negin from her childhood in Palm Springs, where she had to sort out what it meant to be ethnically different. “Here’s the thing: I used to feel black ... there’s the kind of blackness that’s defined by its opposition to whiteness.”

Book Review: “All the Birds in the Sky”

by Mike Wold | April 19th, 2017

A bird in hand may save the world in this Charlie Jane Anders magical fantasy

When Patricia Delfine was 6 years old, she found a wounded bird. As a 6-year-old might, she started to take it home. The bird started talking to her and persuaded her instead to take it to the Parliament of Birds to be healed. There she was given a riddle: “Is a tree red?” That riddle would haunt her into her adult life and lead to her saving the world.

Spring has sprung

by Mike Wold | April 12th, 2017

Journalist examines the Arab Spring through the lives of activists

British journalist Rachel Aspden lives in and covers Egypt for The Guardian. Photo courtesy of Other Press

With increasing rhetoric about Muslim extremism coming from the highest offices in the federal government, it’s easy to forget that just a few years ago a movement for democracy swept the Middle East. The countries most affected by that movement were ruled by nationalist, authoritarian regimes, several with the explicit support of the United States. Unlike U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and some of the Gulf States, none of those regimes espoused fundamentalist Islam; they were corrupt governments that saw liberal Western values and fundamentalist Islamic values as threats to their rule.