Videos Show Contrasting Views of the World

From a GOP lawmaker, Sen. Mike Lee, and from a Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, we have recent viral videos that display sharply different views on the key challenge of our time—the looming ecological disaster that is climate change:

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Is it real? Are you real? Details matter a lot, but yes, the answer has been clear for a long time.

I don’t know if the Green New Deal is the complete, correct answer to this problem, but the contrasting views seen here help clarify that at least Ocasio-Cortez is dealing with real problems in the real world. Whether her answers are politically feasible is a fair question, but whether there is a problem that requires New Deal-like focus is clearly a question that: “yes.”

As she says, we’ve known about climate change as a fact for her entire life. I recall as an undergraduate student (I earned my BA in 1982) that it was an issue already being kicked around in academia. Many on the right have spent years quibbling and raising objections, while the science has become clearer with each passing year.

I’m not a scientist, and thus I’m not the best person to judge this—but in a democracy, where a self-governing people are required to make reasoned judgments, it’s important to know who we should trust on which questions.

And looking at these two videos, the stark contrast is clear. One person  makes simplistic, mocking, often obviously untrue points. I don’t find babies to be a problem—I’m a fan of human reproduction—but to suggest “American babies” are the solution to climate change in the way Sen. Lee does is embarrassing. It’s an odd, nationalist argument.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, is entirely rational and on target in her rant. The looming environmental and climate change crisis that all humans face is not a partisan issue, it’s a global issue, and those babies Sen. Lee wants us to have? We need us to urgently act to ensure a decent future for them—as well as for all of the non-American babies that he so awfully traduces.

I don’t mean this an unqualified, ringing endorsement of the Green New Deal in all its particulars. But the idea of a Green New Deal is one that we—young and old, Democrat and Republican and Independent and Socialist and Capitalists and Catholics and Muslims and Buddhists, etc.—need to rally around and make central to the 2020 campaign.

And again, looking at the videos: Voters, who can you trust?

She may be young, but Alexandria is 29, not 15. And she’s right. We should examine her plan and adjust it as needed to make it practical—but simply rejecting the Green New Deal for trivial reasons  is not the way forward.

It’s not a partisan issue. Shame on the Mike Lees of the world for trivializing it.

And thank you, Rep. Asacio-Corez, for being such a breath of fresh air, even if that air is expelled in anger and frustration. Keep at it, young lady. This old white guy is cheering you on and ready to support the ideal of a Green New Deal.

You Should Go See Apollo 11

On Friday night last week, my wife and I attended a documentary film at the Collins Road Theatre in Marion—the film “Apollo 11.”

This year is the 50th anniversary of that mission, and it was exhilarating to watch the spectacular footage NASA had a movie company film at the time. There was no narration—just recordings from 1969, plus a few simple animations to explain the plot.

It’s a fantastic film. It’s a reminder of what we can accomplish when we believe in science and commit ourselves to a common goal.



I found the music at times heavy handed, but the film tells a powerful, true story in a simple, straightforward way. The tension it creates was all real.

Of course it took me back to my youth, laying on the carpet in the living room on Seventh Avenue South in Clinton, watching this marvel unfold in real time on a small black-and-white TV screen.

This movie is different—lush, real color. It helps us see that 50 years is not that long a time, that we are not that far removed from our first footprints on the moon.

Even if you don’t recall that “one small step for man,” I think you would enjoy this film. I don’t know how much longer it will be here, and it’s not in that many theaters, so come on down, as soon as you can.

This is one true film that you don’t want to miss.

Vox did a pretty good job of explaining the moon mission in this short video, but go see the longer documentary in the theater.

Music: How it Touches Our Lives

Students in my intro to media class are writing what, for me, is always my favorite reflection paper of the semester: They each will pick two songs and dissect what those songs mean to them. I like it, because I learn more about my students and more about music.

For example, several students have used country songs. I am not a country fan, but I appreciate that genre more, knowing how it can impact their lives. So I’m going to do the assignment first, although I’ll cover more than two songs.

First, some background—we know that Pop Music is, well, popular, but also rather simple. In class, we enjoyed (at least I enjoyed) this famous video by the Axis of Awesome that plays with that idea:

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So, music does not have to be complex to be popular—and Pop Music is a commodity that is processed and sold. Still, music does have meaning, I think.

The music world suffered a loss when Top Petty died on Oct. 2, 2017. He was not my favorite musical act (my enduring favs are the fab four), but I enjoyed many of his songs. And many have been covered, which says something about a musician’s impact. And in the wake of this death, Miley Cyrus and her dad performed a very poignant cover of “Wildflowers,” a song that today will bring almost any Petty fan to tears:

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Lemony Snickett wrote “that which is too stupid to be said is sung,” which I suppose has some truth—but music touches us with “large” emotions that aren’t easily reduced just to words, which is what I think Miley manages on that cover.

In Class, I played the Distrubed cover of “The Sounds of Silence,” showing that a song from my youth can be remade for today’s generations:

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That is a song by Paul Simon most popularly performed by Simon & Garfunkel. They weren’t every person’s cup of tea—some rock fans of that era almost made a point of hating S&G in the way that Celine Dion is today both loved and not loved—but I had an older sister who loved that duo, and I inherited an appreciation of them from her. Two of my favorites are “America” and “Only Living Boy in New York”:

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The songs are very much of that early 1970s time and place, a longing for a better world as the idealism of the hippie movement fell away. I can’t explain the mix of nostalgia and emotion I feel listening to those two songs, expect to say they are key parts of the soundtrack of my youth.

We also talked about how music is controversial and things that people should and would not say end up being sung. I played them a nice, catchy song by The Regrettes, which drops the F bomb repeatedly, and asked if they could summarize the message, and if they were offended by the lyrics. They weren’t offended, and several students dropped the F bomb in discussing the message—which goes, I suppose, to show that media does have an impact on behavior and norms that we don’t always understand. Student typically don’t drop F bombs in my classes, for the record.

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We also touched on music’s role as providing the anthems of political movements. And I played them a current song, which, as Iowa lawmakers are contemplating a bill clearly aimed at depressing the vote of young adults, I hope that they will take to heart:

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Speaking of politics, we didn’t even get to “Zombie” by The Cranberries—a song I’ve always enjoyed, and that I like the message of. It’s an anti-violence song set in the background of the troubles in Ireland, but certainly can apply to today, and I particularly am touched by the second version, a cover by a Canadian community choir:

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I have not explored any two of these songs in depth, students, which you will do—but I think you can see it’s easy to connect your music to larger themes, which would be easy to expand upon, which is what I hope you do in your papers. There is so much more I could do on this post—I didn’t use any Lake Street Dive songs, for example, nor any by Tessa Violet. Nor did I touch on parody, satire or Randy Rainbow. Maybe I’ll have to do more posts.

Anyway, in parting, most couples have “that song,” and for my wife and I, it was Bette Midler singing “The Rose.” I also like this version, a more contemporary performance by the woman who wrote the song:

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