Bridgewater Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, June 2008

Bridgewater Review Volume 27 | Issue 1 Article 1 Jun-2008 Bridgewater Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, June 2008 Recommended Citation Bridgewater State College. (2008). Bridgewater Review. 27(1). Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol27/iss1/1 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Volume 27 Number 1 JUNE 2008 Bridgewater Review Bridgewater State COllege Frank Gorga Frank Gorga, a professor of chemical science at the College, is also an accomplished amateur photographer. More of his photographic work can be found on his personal website http://photo.gorga.org. Three Leaves (2007) While taking an after Thanksgiving dinner walk in a park in Larchmont, NY, I was struck by the variety of colors, shapes and textures below my feet. Much to the chagrin of those I was walking with I began to search for “photo quality” leaves to take home. I had this very clear idea that when I got them to my studio, I could illuminate the leaves with a light source at an oblique angle and nicely accentuate the textures. Volume 27 Number 1 CONTENTS JUNE 2008 Bridgewater Review Inside front and back covers Frank Gorga Photographs 2 Editor’s Notebook A Political Reality Check Michael Kryzanek 3 8 15 EDITOR A Cautionary Tale Wendy Haynes Michael Kryzanek Political Science Hajj Tabouz and Media Censorship in the Middle East Associate EDITORs Andrew Holman History Principal of Brockton High School Nancy Kleniewski EDITOR EMERITA Barbara Apstein Portfolio BOok Review Editor Charles Angell English Faculty Research: ‘Club Kids’ Dina Perrone 22 24 Faculty Profile Diana Fox: Ten Years of Women’s Studies Scholarship on the Web: the Journal of International Women’s Studies Andrew Holman Celebrating 35 Years of Canadian Studies Michael Kryzanek 26 Faculty Travel Philip Scalisi: On the Trail of Leonhard Euler and the History of Mathematics Andrew Holman 28 Cultural Commentary Free Time is Me Time William C. Levin 30 William C. Levin Sociology An Interview with Dr. Susan Szachowicz Donald Tarallo 19 Donald Tarallo, Assistant Professor of Art: Tea in Space. Letterpressed (in Caslon) teabags composed in space. Additional works by Professor Tarallo are on pages 15–18. Boston’s Big Dig Project: Jabbar A. Al-Obaidi 12 On the Cover Noteworthy Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century Charles Angell DESIGN Donna Stepien Faculty Photographs Gary Stanton ___________________________ The Bridgewater Review is published twice a year by the faculty of Bridgewater State College. Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Bridgewater Review or Bridgewater State College. Letters to the Editor should be sent to: Bridgewater Review, c/o Editor, Department of Political Science, Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater MA 02325 ___________________________ Articles may be reprinted with permission of the Editor ©2008, Bridgewater State College ISBN 0892-7634 Editor’s Notebook A Political Reality Check EDITOR’s NOTEBOOK Michael Kryzanek prove, repair and modernize 20 schools in this country. Talk about mixed up priorities. Every electoral campaign for the White House there is the inevitable blame game played by the candidates as they regularly point out what they claim are the evils that are contributing to the downfall of this country and the evildoers who are complicit in this downfall. This presidential election is no different. If you listen to the endless speechifying of the Democrats and Republican hopefuls that started over a year ago you will find a common list of the sources of national decline. Since it’s my job to listen to this speechifying and then try and make sense of it to my students, here is a list of the usual suspects in this year’s presidential race: The oil companies Financial speculators Hollywood The Federal Reserve Illegal Immigrants The NAFTA agreement Congressional spending The tax code The super rich And last but not least President George W. Bush Now with each one of these popular evils and evildoers there is certainly a nugget of blame that is well deserved. The fact that we as a nation are currently in the dumps is in part the result of the miscalculation, the incompetence, the ineffectiveness, the selfishness, the greed and the excess of the these ten suspects. But they are not the whole story; in fact they are only partial contributors to the current malaise. There are far more central reasons why we are in a down period, and perhaps in a permanent decline. No matter what the politicians say about what’s wrong with this country, here’s a list of the real evils and evildoers that are at the core of our national problems. We love the Chinese—they make just about everything we use, they are a major cause of skyrocketing gas prices, and they are the real reason for our job losses and the decline of the dollar, yet we treat them as our valued friend; some friend. A $1 trillion war in Iraq—Can you just image what we could do with that money on the domestic front? One hour of the war costs an estimated $46 million, with that money from just that one hour we could im- Credit card debt—Worldwide it is currently $5.2 trillion and we in the United States contribute 40% of that debt. The average personal credit card debt is over $6,700. Whatever happened to pinching pennies? Wouldn’t it be better to put money into the bank every once and awhile, rather than splurge on that wide screen television? An aversion to paying taxes—For some strange reason we have bought into the view that ignoring paying for schools, bridges, scientific research, and health care is good national policy. Investing in public goods is what civilized societies do in order to make life better. We on the other hand would rather put tax money in our pockets and watch as our quality of life deteriorates. The Britney Spears effect—We live in a popular culture that is inane and insane, as a result we live in a nation where ignorance is cool and the lives of B-list starlets are of great social importance. Are our lives so vacant that we get pleasure from watching people destroy themselves? There is a simple solution—read a book. Washington is broken—But remember, we elected Washington. Income inequality—One of the richest nations on the earth and we have over 37 million people in poverty and worse yet, Americans were surprised and shocked to see that poor people lived in New Orleans. Isn’t it time we spent some of our energy and resources to close the poverty gap? It’s all about me—We have become a nation that thrives on a stubborn refusal to make the sacrifices to save this country. Why do we cling to the belief that bigger is better, and what’s so great about our passion to buy more “stuff ”? We hate the government—Yes, government is intrusive and too often stupid, but as the last few years have (...truncated)