What is “health,” and what does it mean to be “healthy”? In this issue, Breanne Fahs queries how we, along with the pharmaceutical industry, have come to redefine mental, emotional, and sexual health. Meanwhile, Helen Heightsman Gordon’s poem reflects on caretaking. Alex Jay Kimmelman reminds us that people once traveled to find healthier climates in [...]
While questions of “identity” may seem very 1990s and pre-Facebook, certain discourses surrounding summer events, like the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, remind us that questions of “identity,” individual and collective, still remain with us in a globalized age. Valerie Bailey finds that her best friends all share a uniquely common bond, the [...]
We at the The Public Sphere are celebrating a one-year anniversary since we ran our test issue 0. Given the myriad anniversaries honored in 2009, from the French Revolution to the Chinese revolution to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s show, Aló Presidente, it seemed an appropriate time to ponder the power and meaning of anniversaries while [...]
As spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere, pieces in this issue of The Public Sphere fathom the hopes, limits, possibilities, and problems of seasonal shifts and moments of personal or social change. Taking a cue from U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, Valerie Bailey considers that liberal Protestants, and the U.S., more broadly require a new confession that addresses pervasive moral cowardice, and Jacqueline Hidalgo engages Ugly Betty in the non-postracial era. Breanne Fahs wonders if and in what ways Natalie Dylan’s sale of her virginity is and is not a feminist act. Jeremy Fernando explores the ritual necessities of Valentine’s Day, while Paloma Ramírez finds inadequate romantic comedies to be a cultural curse. In more artistic meditations, Hope Miller reflects on a road trip to Utah, and Geoshino Ollscia ponders seasonal rains. Finally, Katy Scrogin weighs the value of violence in artistic truth.
This December, we hover on the edge of 2009, and in the United States of America, we stand before an uniquely historic inauguration of a new President. None of the articles in this issue directly address that particular imminent moment, but they do all address aspects of seasonal and non-seasonal changes.
Welcome to the first official issue of The Public Sphere. We have titled this issue “Global Responsibility.” After a summer of Olympics in China, hurricanes in the Caribbean, snide repartee between Vladimir Putin and Dick Cheney, and the official start of the presidential election campaigns, it is time to reflect on what it means to be responsible in our actions towards the world. While every piece may focus on something more local, each piece still queries something we may have taken for granted about politics, religion, culture, and media. Valerie Bailey reflects on the Sarah Palin as archetype within conservative evangelical Christian subculture. John Cochran‘s essay discusses how one manages the climate crisis through a transformation of consciousness. David Dault examines the dissolution of medical ethics in the midst of the U.S. healthcare crisis. Jacqueline Hidalgo‘s photo essay presents images of U.S. religious life found along the road side when traveling from California to New York, while Marc Lombardo diagnoses the disease of U.S. democracy.Sourena Mohammadi‘s photo essay excavates the complex relationships between martyrdom and culture in Iran, and Paloma Ramirez remains indignant over New York City’s attempt to control her eating habits. Finally, Katy Scrogin asks us to reconsider if economic growth can really measure the health of U.S. society.
We have titled issue #0 “debut,” as it is our very first issue and not quite volume one. Only members of the core staff have contributed essays and art for this initial issue. Each piece queries something we may have taken for granted about politics, religion, culture, and media. Lauren Espineli’s photo essay considers how her trip to Egypt defied her expectations. Valerie Bailey Fischer examines desires to be a Good Samaritan in a road trip through Israel and Palestine. Jacqueline Hidalgo considers how our quests for transformationmust be coupled with practices of everyday life. Marc Lombardo traces the limits that our currentremembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. place upon our own efforts to transform the world. Paloma Ramirez wonders how text messaging became an acceptable part of dating practice. Katy Scrogin asks us to think about what we really mean by and want in “friendship” now that we can befriend everyone on MySpace.
