Top Story
| 'We're All in the Same Boat': Furloughed Federal Workers Flock to AU for a Day of Classes and Distraction |
| The Washington Post covered an event for furloughed federal workers hosted by American University's School of Public Affairs. The day of skills and management training was attended by more than 400 federal workers. Molly O'Rourke, a professor of communication who taught a class on political polling, told the Post, “A lot of members of our D.C. community are struggling, so I felt responsible to help, even if it's just a day where people can pick up a new skill.” WTTG-Fox5, WUSA-9, DCist, Washington City Paper, NBC4, Agence France Presse, The Christian Science Monitor, Politico, Hearst Television, WJLA, WTOP and EWScripps provided news about the event. (1/8, 1/9) |
Additional Feature
| The In Series' Latest Musical Traces a History of Black Music and Migration on U Street |
| Sybil Williams, Director of African American and African Diaspora Studies, spoke to DCist about the show “From U Street to the Cotton Club”. Williams, who collaborated on the production with director Kenyatta Rogers and artistic director Carla Hubner, described the show as “a collective history of African women in the cities. Every black woman has a grandmother, or a great-grandmother, who made Marlena's journey. All those stories involve matriarchs, women who said, ‘I can't build the life I want here in the South,' so they walk north to do just that.” (1/10) |
Faculty Authors
| Selling Extremism: Nationalist Streetwear and the Rise of the Far Right |
| Cynthia Miller-Idriss, professor of education and sociology, wrote an essay for CNN Style about the relationship between fashion and far-right movements. Miller-Idriss wrote, “[Nationalist streetwear] socializes youth toward extremist values and ideals while offering a noble quest and sense of purpose and identity, all the while softening racist and xenophobic expression through humor and clever, coded references.” (1/10) |
| What I Learned From Cancer |
| Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center, wrote an essay for The Atlantic about his experience overcoming cancer. Kendi wrote, “In the hours of each day when I managed to submerge myself inside the writing zone, the metastatic cancer was an afterthought… I was not thinking of any of the symptoms during the writing sessions. But after all the writing thoughts, it was back to fighting, or rather, enduring.” (1/10) |
| Welcome to Fight Club: Wargaming the Future |
| Benjamin Jensen, scholar-in-residence in the School of International Service, wrote an article for War on the Rocks about military wargaming practices. Jensen wrote, “These wargames should create a nexus between professional military education and military modernization activities that fosters a culture of competitive learning, creativity, and prudent risk-taking.” (1/4) |
| With Foreign Bureaus Slashed, Freelancers Are Filling the Void- at Their Own Risk |
| Bill Gentile, journalist-in-residence in the School of Communication, wrote an article for The Conversation about the dangers and challenges freelance journalists face in the field. Gentile wrote, “…freelancing is tough work, and freelancers lack the support, preparation and security typically granted to staffers.” (1/10) |
Expertise
| Trump's Emergency Powers Threat Could End Shutdown Crisis, but at What Cost? |
| Chris Edelson, assistant professor of public affairs, spoke to The New York Times about a president's ability to declare a national emergency. Edelson told the Times that he couldn't recall a time in American history where a president called for a national emergency to fund a policy goal. Edelson also spoke to TIME Magazine about the president's power to declare national emergencies. (1/9, 1/8) |
| Freshman US Lawmakers Setting New Rules for Social Media |
| Molly O'Rourke, executive-in-residence in the School of Communication, spoke to Voice of America about new Congressional members' use of social media. O'Rourke said, “The way new members of Congress -- particularly the younger, new Democratic women in Congress – are using social media is emblematic of their new approach to leadership. They have a distinct policy agenda and they have a kind of outsider appeal. So they're not going to play the game of communication by the same set of rules.” (1/10) |
| Users Won't Give Up Facebook For Less Than $1,000 |
| Aram Sinnreich, professor of communication, spoke to InsideSources about Facebook's success in the face of recent scandals. Sinnreich said that Facebook's success comes “not because they invented something new, it's because they've insinuated themselves so successfully into something old: our psychosocial need to develop various kinds of relationships with friends, romantic partners, business partners, and fellow members of the public.” (1/8) |
Bonus Clips
| 'The Americans' Wins Golden Globe for Drama Series |
| Congratulations to AU alumnus Darryl Frank, and the rest of the team behind FX's show ‘The Americans', for winning the 2019 Golden Globe for a Drama Series. Frank got his degree from the School of Communication. (1/6) |
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