I have a very smart friend, Lisa, who once said that the best way to understand class is to think about it as where you sit on an airplane. In first class the seats are bigger, the food better, and the attendants more attentive. That’s assuming you can afford to get on the airplane at all; the bus is another world altogether. It’s also about how easily and conveniently you can get on the airplane and those special lounges at the airport. If you are very rich, of course, you have your own airplane and we’d never see you at the airport at all.

We don’t talk about class in the U.S. because we don’t have a vocabulary to talk…

Critical thinking is at the center of education, and critical thinking is a complicated, often uncomfortable process. It’s often very emotional, for one thing, but it can’t just be emotional, it also has to involve careful reasoning. And you have to get used to the idea that it’s open-ended. You can be certain you understand one thing today and then tomorrow a bit of new information, or an event that you can’t help but respond to emotionally, changes your ideas.

The recent surge of reactionary thinking- reflected in the O’Donnell primary win in Delaware–has roots in social networking and in anti-intellectualism. Karl Rove may not like what’s happening in his party, but it’s clearly a descendant of his…

Rosie Flores, “This Cat’s In The Dog House” from Bloodshot Records on Vimeo.