If you as a school district or educator are denying a certain art form and subculture in our community, you’re also cutting arts and creative programs in the schools (“Small City, Big Dreams,” April 10). I never met a kid who didn’t appreciate learning, but I’ve met too many youth who didn’t get it in their schools. If you’re denying the existence of Latinos/Chicanos within hip-hop, you’re not understanding that it’s not just Latinos in hip-hop, it’s hip-hop that represents many multicultural people in various economic, educational and social struggles.
If you just don’t do hip-hop then you don’t value our culture, and you send the message that you only want hip-hoppers and Latinos who are catering to the beer, cheese, and wine industries.
Hip-hop is an art form that creates and channels art and music, and if that is not found in school programs, we can teach you how to do this. Rappers and the rap business industry are the people who rip people off and mess up venues and do bad business. We will continue to build in our own communities, like the community-block parties mentioned, despite the annexation and gentrification going on. We are not just a culture or a movement, we are the momentum.
Via Bohemian.com
WWJD?
One of the most extraordinary developments of recent political history is the loyal adherence of religious conservatives to Donald Trump. Trump won four-fifths of the votes of white evangelical Christians. This was a higher level of support than either Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush (an outspoken evangelical himself) ever received.
Trump’s background and beliefs could hardly be more incompatible with traditional Christian models of life and leadership. Trump’s past political stances (he once supported the right to partial-birth abortion), his character (he has bragged about sexually assaulting women), and even his language (he introduced the words pussy and shithole into the presidential discourse) would more naturally lead evangelicals toward exorcism than alliance. This is a man who has cruelly publicized his infidelities and made disturbing sexual comments about the size of his penis on the debate stage. Yet religious conservatives who once squirmed at
PG-13 public standards now yawn at such NC-17 maneuvers.
Evangelical used to denote people who claimed the high moral ground; now, in popular usage, the word is nearly synonymous with “hypocrite.”
Nevada City
Meatless
Celebration
Earth Day is April 22, marking a half century of promoting environmental awareness and calling for protection of our planet. But are we making a difference? Can we do more than reduce, reuse and recycle? Sure! We can adopt a plant-based diet and stop consuming animals. An environmentally sustainable world replaces meat and dairy products in our diet with vegetables, fruits, and grains, just as fossil fuels are replaced by wind, solar, and other pollution-free energy sources. We can celebrate the observance of Earth Day at our supermarket.
Santa Rosa
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