Errata

Mother Accused of Killing Children

Police say it appears that all three boys were beaten in the head with a rock.

Smith County Sheriff J.B Smith says when Laney called 911, she seemed very calm, saying God had told her to kill her children. Smith says Laney's behavior since her arrest has been "erratic."

The Observer | International | Cheerleaders twirl pom-poms of protest

'The stereotype of the cheerleader is snotty and superior but these are kids who want more. We found that people at demonstrations have been bored in the past. Our motto is what Emma Goldman said - "I don't want to be part of your revolution if I can't dance".' And they are open to all - Ryley said that if Quartz Hill doesn't have a place for Kelly Smith she is welcome to don the red and black of Radical Teen Cheer.

What is cultural studies?

Cultural studies is a political endeavor that purposely attempts to evade definition. There is no agreed upon methodology, no unified theoretical approach; it is not a discipline. Utilizing an ever changing collage of theory and methodology, cultural studies eludes the sanitizing grasp of institutionalization and seeks to effect change by disrupting the regulated discourses within the academy.

Cultural studies transcends the category of discipline. It borrows theory (and theorists) from various disciplines like Anthropology, Psychology and Literary Criticism in an effort to analyze and critique contemporary culture in a holistic fashion. Cultural studies sees all forms of cultural production, whether "high art" or television sitcom, as valid locations to analyze a socio-political moment in our society.

Cultural studies brings together analyses of economic, political, and social systems in order to provide a framework with which to critique the production of culture that permeates our daily experience. Cultural studies seeks to connect compartmentalized ways of knowing, like art and science, by examining how they relate to the social and economic structure. It is by nature an extradisciplinary endeavor.

Armstrong, Elizabeth A.: Forging Gay Identities

Armstrong, Elizabeth A. Forging Gay Identities: Organizing Sexuality in San Francisco, 1950-1994. xviii, 272 p., 18 halftones, 12 figures, 8 tables. 2002

Unlike many social movements, the gay and lesbian struggle for visibility and rights has succeeded in combining a unified group identity with the celebration of individual differences. In Forging Gay Identities, Elizabeth Armstrong explores how this happened, developing a new approach that draws on both social movement and organizational theory. She traces the evolution of gay life, gay organizations, and gay identity in San Francisco from the 1950s to the mid-1990s, identifying two events as pivotal in this evolution. First, in 1969 the encounter between early homophile organizing and the New Left produced gay liberation and its signature contribution-coming out. Second, the sudden decline of the New Left in the early 1970s reduced the viability of the radical gay-liberation goal of societal transformation and prompted gay activists to redirect their movement to the affirmation of gay identity and the pursuit of gay rights.

Forging Gay Identities will be indispensable for anyone studying social movements, culture, identity politics, or organizational theory.