These are the news events, stories, and links that I am discussing with my students in my Soc101 classes. Want to share a new event with me to include in the next teachable moments? Send them to me here.

  1. Malala Yousufzai shot in head by Taliban on school bus – A great opportunity to talk about social movements, social change, and issue framing among many other possible topics. Also read Nicholas Kristof’s take on the shooting in the NYTimes (Thanks to Mediha Din)
  2. U-Conn Coach Auriemma wants to lower rims in NCAA women’s basketball to raise the popularity of the game. – Start a class discussion about equality vs. equity. Also, how gender norms affect the popularity of women’s athletics.
  3. Missouri Pastor’s “anti-equality” speech with a surprising twist ending. – A great comparison of LGTBQ/GSM rights to civil rights.
  4. UK Drug Policy Commission encourages the decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs – Great way to start a discussion about labeling theory and the social construction of a crime.
  5. California bans “conversion therapy” for minors.
  6. UrbanSitter is a new web service that will pair parents with a babysitter. – I plan on talking about this in my Social Change class. Gets at the depersonalization of work that Ritzer talks about in The Globalization of Nothing among many other places.
  7. The always great Philip Cohen explaining the Regnerus controversy in 4 minutes.