<b>Social Justice</b> - The Bard Prison Initiative is an inspiring example of...

Assad Ebrahim - 2015-10-07T20:50:25+0000 - Updated: 2015-10-07T20:50:25+0000

Social Justice - The Bard Prison Initiative is an inspiring example of thinking big on the part of academia looking to make a difference in the lives of those who stand to benefit the most. The video clip is moving and worth a watch. Good reminder to extend, as a society, opportunity to those who have made mistakes.

Why you shouldn’t be surprised that prisoners crushed Harvard’s debate team

Kate Duttro - 2015-10-10T17:43:43+0000

You might find a book I just read interesting. It's somewhat related to this, but with a different and equally rare situation, of "saving" a black athlete before he got into trouble that would have taken him into jail. It's The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Brings all sorts of stereotypes to mind, but simply tells the story of what happened in part of the life of Michael Oher. (I say "part of" because there is no end to the story - it just stops.)

Assad Ebrahim - 2015-10-11T07:19:40+0000

Thanks Kate. Haven't read it. I remember a fair bit of press when the movie came out in 2009. With Oher still an active pro player, probably a good thing to not have an ending. The book looks interesting: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0393330478?keywords=the%20blind%20side&qid=1444547867&ref_=sr_1_4&sr=8-4

Assad Ebrahim - 2015-10-11T07:48:25+0000 - Updated: 2015-10-11T07:48:49+0000

Reading further on the book's tagline - Evolution of a Game - came across this startling description of life after NFL, the frequency of crippling injuries. Link here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/feature/wp/2013/05/16/do-no-harm-retired-nfl-players-endure-a-lifetime-of-hurt/

Kate Duttro - 2015-10-12T20:06:49+0000

Yikes! Carnage in slow motion (with a built-in time-delay?).... Mmmmm, such an example of our penchant for fast gain at the expense of paying the bills later! I know it's silly to think of banning football (after all, young men have to do something with their hormones, right?), but it sounds almost worse than going to war in terms of the injury stats.

I wanted to mention another book I read that contrasted to this one (and I skimmed a lot of the sections on actual football evolution in favor of following the story of the poor young black man adopted by the rich white folks).

The other one is Whistling Vivaldi (by Claude M. Steele) which was purely research-based info on the emotions that affect our stereotypes. It was fascinating and was especially so in combination with a PBS program I happened to see, on E. O. Wilson, the biologist, who sees group formation as integral to human success, and football (fans as well as the team) is among his best example of group membership.