Angela Davis recently spoke at the University of Chicago for the CSRPC Annual Public Lecture and CSGS Classics in Feminist Theory Series. Her Lecture was entitled Feminism and Abolition: Theories and Practices for the 21st Century. Check out the video below.

This is a pretty awesome idea. Two of the most perplexing writers of gender and sexuality, Butler and Foucault, is explained through conversations with cats and Hipsters. (Courtesy of BINARYTHIS).

As I am sitting here doing my morning writing and internet surfing, I came across a cool video. Matthew Winkler, author of The Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters and Editors, takes us on a historical journey to answer the question: Who Invented Writing in this TEDed animated video. His answer may surprise you.

Can you believe it? Some folks got together and decided to do a musical about Rawls’ political philosophy treatise, “A theory of Justice”. Yes, there actually is a musical filled with melodies about the veil of ignorance, the original position, and principles of justice. It bought me back to the day when my colleague Sophia Wong played a Rawls inspired piece for me on my piano. I love it when philosophy meets art and comedy. You can watch the trailer and purchase the online viewing experience here.

Rebecca Riley-Cooper gives us a run down of the musical at Philosophers Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

The story follows a diffident, tweedy Professor John Rawls who – alongside the object of his desires, the beautiful but elusive Fairness – travels back in time and meets political philosophers of the past. He is pursued by his nemesis and archrival Robert Nozick, who aims to foil Rawls’s plan to write a new and groundbreaking theory of justice. Along the way, the great thinkers share their theories with Rawls in surprising and hugely comical ways: a ventriloquist Plato preaches to the masses at the agora through his dummy, Socrates; ruffian Thomas Hobbes and gentleman John Locke engage in a furious rap battle over the details of life in the state of nature; and a charmingly naïve and tender barbershop quartet of utilitarians espouse their morality of maximising happiness.

All of these scenes are so cleverly and originally interpreted that, as well as being utterly hilarious, they have real pedagogical value. As the oversensitive, childlike utilitarians sang to make themselves feel happy, and cried when hearing of someone else’s unhappiness, through my giggles I wondered why I had never thought of utilitarianism in that way before.

Given the paucity of women in the canon and the neglect of gender politics by most philosophers, I had wondered how the show would deal with this. So I was delighted to see Mary Wollstonecraft and her backing singers of Emmeline Pankhurst and Catharine Macaulay arrive to lambast the men for their disregard for women’s equality (and amused when Rawls dismissively promises to deal with the family in a later chapter).

While there were many excellent performances, for me the show was stolen by the evil libertarian duo of smooth and dastardly Nozick, played by Luke Rollason, and the terrifying dominatrix Ayn Rand, played by Clare Joyce. Their seductive and slightly deranged tango, in which Rand extols to Nozick the virtues of selfishness, was my highlight of the show. But special mention must also go to David Wigley as Rawls’s drag queen fairy mother, Immanuel Kant, who in a climactic scene worthy of a reality television montage, shows Rawls that the theory of justice he has been searching for won’t be found in the outside world; he must search within (but using his reason, and not his emotions, of course).

To create something that has both philosophical accuracy and genuine comedy is no mean feat, and yet Eylon Aslan-Levy, Ramin Sabi and Tommy Peto have somehow managed to write a script that has both, by the bucket load.

Last month I hosted an event at John Jay College called the Long Shadow of Incarceration’s Stigma. The purpose of the event was to get people thinking about the collateral consequences of incarceration and what they can do to help ease the stigma. We had a super turn out, awesome panelists, and a brilliant and engaged audiences.

You can view the full discussion below, along with Pics.

I have a new article at the Huffington Post called “Gays and the Myth of The Christian Minority”. In it I argue that the so-called persecution of Christians who oppose homosexuality is a myth. Not only do I critique this claim but I also offer up reasons for why this is a good time for our democracy.

It’s been real and its been fun. I enjoyed your hard work, enthusiasm, sense of humor and insight you bought to the course. Have a great summer and don’t act awkward if we bump into each other next semester.

The folks at Public Philosophy Network in New York City has a cool conversation series happening on the East Side. They are bringing philosophy to the public, the way it’s suppose to be. Check out the schedule below for some interesting topics. Then go to the bar with an open mind and talk/think your heart out.

For more info, visit NYCPPN.org.

The United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world. An estimated 700,000 people are released from prison in the United States every year. Where do they all go? How do they imagine their lives? How do they find employment, housing, education and reunite with their families?

Please join The Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics for a screening of the documentary short film “The Long Shadow of Incarceration’s Stigma” followed by an Open Dialogue with panelists and attendees on Collateral Consequences of Mass Incarceration.

Join us for a discussion on the experience of reentry, the stigma formerly incarcerated persons endure while reentering society after release from prison in the United States, and what we can do to erase the stigma.

Panel Discussion and Q&A session will follow the film with:

Sheila Rule (Founder and Executive Director of Think Outside The Cell)
Douglas E. Thompkins,PhD (Sociology, John Jay College)
Bianca Van Heydoorn (Director of Education Initiatives, Prisoner Reentry Institute)
Rebecca Greenberg, Esq. (The Bronx Defenders)
Ismael Cedeno (The Fortune Society and The National Reentry Resource Center)

“The Long Shadow of Incarceration’s Stigma” was produced by photographers Jessica Dimmock, Ashley Gilbertson, Ron Haviv, Ed Kashi and Supervising Producer Kimberly Soenen.

For more information about this event, contact The Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics at 212-237-8033 or Myisha Cherry at mcherry@jjay.cuny.edu. To RSVP, visit http://www.stigma.eventbrite.com

My new business cards with words from Franz Fanon, Angela Davis, and W.E.B. Dubois on the back.