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In Other News: Caitlyn Jenner & Gender Identity

June 17, 2015June 5, 2015

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL to find research inspiration.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

When Bruce Jenner sat down with Diane Sawyer, he openly discussed a battle he has been fighting for most of his life. And on 24 April, he let the world in on his secret: Bruce Jenner, American hero athlete and reality pseudo-star, is transgender. Though Jenner is an actual stranger to most of us, many people do feel that they know Bruce. They may have seen him on TV, or on a magazine cover. They may have rooted for him all those years ago as he seemed to embody America’s battle against the USSR. Because of this unique position and circumstance, Jenner’s revelations and transition are special. For the first time, perhaps ever, most of the country (if not the world) can truly say they know someone who identifies as transgender. On ` June, the world said goodbye to Bruce, and hello to Caitlyn Jenner. She is who she has always been, and is now sharing her battle to be herself, and her appearance, with the world.

Caitlyn is the most recent in a growing list of main-stream transgender people. In 2007, Candis Cayne turned heads as Billy Baldwin’s mistress for 11 episodes on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money, marking the first time a trans character appeared for more than a single episode on prime time American television. Chaz Bono began his transition in 2008, after suffering for years with the press. Laverne Cox, one of the stars of Orange is the New Black, became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time Magazine (May 2014) for an article titled “The Transgender Tipping Point.” Andreja Pejic (Instagram) was the first transgender model to appear in Vogue magazine while Hari Nef (Instagram) signed with modeling agency IMF earlier this year, a first for the powerhouse agency. There are others, famous and not, making changes every day.

Less 1/3 of 1% of the U.S. population identify as transgender (Source). Historically, this group is the recipients of an extremely disproportionate amount of violence, 20% of murders and 40% of violence by police. (Source) More recent statistics for the first quarter of 2014 show that 10% of violent crimes were committed against trans kids under 18. Kids.They were beaten, stabbed, stoned, shot, hanged, strangled, and dismembered. (Source) Sometimes by strangers; sometimes by family. Too often, they kill themselves.

In Other News: Bribery

June 7, 2015May 29, 2015

man receiving rubber-banded Euros behind his back

A look at a current news item through the lens of different Gale electronic resources.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

Boy, oh boy. American’s have an interesting relationship with soccer. For decades, soccer has held an unyielding grip on, well, every other country in the world. Though there have been the exceptional fanatic interspersed, soccer has largely remained relegated to a kid’s sport. Yes, most children play soccer. No, most adults couldn’t name 4 teams. Until 2014. (See my previous post here.)

During the 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa, 34% of American’s watched at least some part of a match. And we didn’t watch too much. (Source) But in 2014? We were ready. A lot of us watched, and we watched a lot of the matches. Thirty-nine percent more of us watched 33 percent more. (Source)

Why is soccer’s time “now” in America? One theory is that all those kids who grew up playing soccer, are now adults and are putting their time and money where their hearts have always been. Another believes American’s have begun to embrace the opportunity for a “great and exciting” game to end with a very low score.

When the U.S. led the charge to investigate corruption within FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, it raised a few eyebrows. Why is America getting involved was asked by several people, but with varying tone. ‘You don’t even like soccer’ on one side, and ‘finally but how come someone who cared more didn’t step up a long time ago’ from the other. The most frustrating response, in my opinion — as an American who likes soccer — was from Russian president Putin who said we were once again meddling in world affairs which were not our concern and somehow tried to get Edward Snowden involved. (Source) That is the sole statement I have read expressing this (paranoid?) opinion; let’s leave it alone. Other voices from around the wold have been more supportive, including this BBC article.

Obviously, no one at the DOJ consulted me when they planned this action, but there are several reasons which make it easy to understand how/why we chose to act when others did not. We like a fair fight. We aren’t afraid to say no or ask tough questions, even if we have to ask them of our friends. We don’t like being taken advantage of. And, perhaps most importantly, we can sometimes see things differently because we don’t have years of “just accepting it” like many other countries.

Student Essay Winner Imagines a World without Creditors

August 17, 2015May 26, 2015

Each year, the Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition encourages scholars to explore the areas of legal history, rare law books, and legal archives, and to acquaint themsleves with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and law librarianship.Gale is honored to partner with AALL to facilitate the prizes for the winners of this year competition by providing a cash stipend and travel allowance to AALL’s annual meeting.

This year’s winner comes from SUNY Stonybrook. Check out his summary of his award-winning essay below, and we’ll see you in Philadelphia!

Lay Justices and Local Finance in Early New York

By Sung Yup Kip

Living in the twenty-first century, it is hard to imagine economic life without the existence of credit. How many of us hasn’t had to borrow money at one point in life (unless you belong to that fabled one percent), whether in the form of taking a student loan, taking out a mortgage, or simply letting credit card debt pile up? Credit, perhaps just as much as money itself, is the lifeblood of the modern economy, allowing us to get by when our meager earnings fall short of our daily needs. People of course lent and borrowed money long before the advent of market economies and capitalism, but in pre-modern economies credit was often extended on a personal basis, whereas modern credit markets revolve around formal credit instruments supported by the firm hand of law. Thanks to this legal-financial system, borrowing no longer has to be limited to one’s immediate acquaintances, and creditors feel more secure about lending money to strangers, thus making more credit available in the market.

In Other News: Charity

May 29, 2015May 22, 2015

close up of charity entry in the dictionary

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

Saving and improving lives is expensive work. And without donations, most of it would not be possible. This week, the Federal Trade Commission charged four “charities” and their administrators for out-right stealing nearly $200 million. Two charities have already been dissolved. Reprehensible behavior. But if you want to give, how do you know with whom to spend your money? One solution is Charity Watch, an independent organization that can help you understand where and how a donation might be spent. There are a number of other resources and websites; that is just one.

In 2013, Americans gave $335.17 billion to charity. Of that, $240.6 billion was given by individuals (Source). I’ve been especially interested in final numbers of donations for 2014 for a number of reasons. First, my cousin’s 2-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia. (Did you know that the National Institute of Cancer dedicates only 4% of its funding to pediatric cancer research (Source ) Why did cancer have to touch my family to learn that?) Second, the ice bucket challenge (and Mike Rowe). Here’s my previous post on it! In 2014, the ice bucket challenge raised $220 Million for the ALS Association (Source). That’s about 700% more than the year before (Source). Did more people give in 2014, or did people give more, or did they just give differently? The new numbers, expected next month, will tell.

Who currently gives (or doesn’t), and how much, when, and why are sometimes surprising. Low- and middle-income people give a higher percentage of their income than their high-income counterparts. Residents of large cities are less likely to give. When you compare the level of giving across states and the District, of the 20 most generous, only two voted democrat in the last election (Source). All sorts of assumptions will not be made on why that is the way it is.

Today’s Your Day! It’s National Be a Millionaire Day!

August 17, 2015May 19, 2015

By Melissa Rayner

Is it May 21st yet? Good, we still have time to figure out how we’ll celebrate the greatest arbitrary holiday of them all, National Be a Millionaire Day.

So you may think that being a millionaire is all gold swimming pools and palatial country estates…

In Other News: BB King

May 28, 2015May 15, 2015

A look at a current news item through the lens of different Gale electronic resources.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

This week, the world lost a prolific and highly-esteemed musician, B.B. King. For non-jazz fans, B.B. (born Riley B King) was probably the only jazz musician whose name was recognizable (perhaps second to Louis Armstrong). Infamous for his black Gibson guitar, Lucille, B.B. was synonymous prized instrument. Though he consistently carried “Lucille” throughout his career, there were, in fact, many of ‘her’ along the way. Unlike his peers, B.B. named each of the guitars he carried Lucille as a reminder to make good choices and avoid risks. In fact, B.B. nearly died trying to rescue the first Lucille from a bar fire in Kansas, which was ignited during a fight. Over a woman. Named Lucille.

In the end, it was diabetes that ended his reign as King of the Blues. Having worked and shared the stage with many extraordinary artists, including U2 and Mick Jagger, BB’s influence on music is undisputed.

I would also like to note that earlier this month, jazz percussionist Jerome Cooper died at 68. Sad times for jazz fans.

Gale Furthers Digital Preservation with Portico

August 17, 2015May 15, 2015

We at Gale have just furthered our digital preservation partnership with Portico, the leading service in the field. To help explain how this free service will help you get even more out of your favorite Gale resources, we’ve prepared the following FAQ. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any additional questions. Happy preserving!

Q: What is Portico and what services do they provide?

A: Portico (www.portico.org) is a trusted, not-for-profit digital preservation service and is among the largest community-supported digital archives in the world. Working with libraries and publishers, Portico preserves e-journals, e-books, and other digital scholarly content to ensure researchers and students will have access to these resources in the future. Portico is a service of ITHAKA (www.ithaka.org), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

It’s National Limerick Day! Guess how we’re celebrating

August 17, 2015May 11, 2015

By Melissa Rayner

May 12 is National Limerick Day–as to which nation’s “national”, that’s anybody’s guess, but let’s all celebrate regardless!

A-a-a-ahem, there once was a man from Nantucket, who–Hey, wait a second. Despite their recent popularity as such, not all limericks are dirty. They can be trendy and cutting-edge like these two. [1]

In Other News: the New Princess

May 15, 2015May 8, 2015

A look at a current news item through the lens of different titles available on GVRL.

By Michelle Eickmeyer

Here she is – HRH Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. (I’ve yet to answer if this means William Wale’s daughters name is Charlotte Cambridge, so any insight on that is appreciated.) Three lovely names, all for important people in the lives of Prince William and Duchess Catherine.

What’s with all the names? It has been said the King Albert and Queen Victoria had aspirations to have their names continue down the throne. History (and The King’s Speech) tells us that not all kings have ruled under their given first name. Prince Albert did rule as King George, after all — though George was among his many given names. (The name someone uses for their reigning title is their regnal name.)

When Will and Kate were married in 2011 there was much speculation if Kate would accurately repeat Will’s many names back during the exchange of vows. After all, his mother Diana and his aunt Sarah (Ferguson) both botched it.

There is a clear call to history in noble naming, which feels appropriate given the ‘”without them I’d have no claim to this” quality of the role. Prince William, who the world fondly knows as Wills, full name is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis, Duke of Cambridge. Prince Charles, having two titles needs a lot of space on his signature line: His Royal Highness Charles Phillip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall. Phew!

The women of the family, even the queen, have less naming baggage. Duchess Catherine has only one middle name, Elizabeth, as did Diana (Frances). The Queen has a mere two, HRH Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.

Commemorating VE Day with the Smithsonian

September 1, 2015May 4, 2015

By Jennifer Albers-Smith

This Friday marks the 70^th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) day.

My grandpa was hardly more than a boy when his brother (my great-uncle) was shipped off to fight in WWII. He enlisted in the navy and served as a fireman aboard the U.S.S. St. Lo. On October 25, 1944, his ship was hit by a Kamikaze, and he went down with the ship.

I recently asked my grandpa if he still remembered his brother all these years later, and he started to cry. He says it’s like no time has passed at all. He still remembers the telegram sent to his parents letting them know their son had been declared missing in action. He remembers the telegram that arrived a couple months later to officially declare his death, and the letter from one of his shipmates remembering the great man my great-uncle was.