Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A Book Review for Composition Studies

Entering the Conversation
I regret not blogging more as I attempt to juggle teaching, dissertating and fatherhood, but a book review I wrote for the Writing Program Interrupted appears in the Fall issue of Composition Studies. It appears online at: http://www.compositionstudies.uwinnipeg.ca/currentissue.html

 

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Immigration Not Linked to Crime

So all of the arguments about the deaths of innocent Americans near borders supporting Sb 1070 and other such legislation are wrong.  From HuffPostLatino:

"Does Immigration Fuel Crime? Without Statistical Consensus, Rhetoric And Fear Reign In Debate

To researchers such as Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University, El Paso is safe precisely because of its high number of immigrants.
"If you want to find a safe city, first determine the size of the immigrant population," Levin said in an interview with Reason Magazine.
"If the immigrant community represents a large proportion of the population, you're likely in one of the country's safer cities," he added. "San Diego, Laredo, El Paso -- these cities are teeming with immigrants, and they're some of the safest places in the country."
Read the rest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/immigration-crime-statistics_n_1089164.html?ref=latino-voices
(Artwork Banksy)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Daniel Hernandez on Sunnyside School Board

Former Gifford Intern Wins School Board Seat in South Tucson
An interesting development, Daniel Hernandez wins school board seat in South Tucson, where he had attended Sunnyside schools before the University of Arizona. I had the chance to speak at the same event as Hernandez in Spring at Tucson Writes Night, and I'll be curious to see what kind of impact Hernandez' presence will have in the struggling Sunnyside School District. Having worked on the GEAR UP grant at Sunnyside High School a couple years back, I can attest to a great deal of systemic inequality impacting the Sunnyside District.