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Commentary Peters: The Boy Next to Me Sings All the Time

Commentary, October, 29 2010 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

A 12-year old girl I know has spent most of her years in parochial or public schools. This year, she’s got a full scholarship to a very expensive all girls’ school in Boston.

Commentary Peters: The Most Important Part of Going to the U.S. Social Forum: Coming Home

Commentary, May, 20 2010 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

The most important part of going the U.S. Social Forum is how we come home from it. This is true because the Social Forum is only valuable insofar as it helps us build a strong grassroots base at home that is capable of winning demands, gaining, p...

Commentary Peters: Women Who Bathe Together

Commentary, April, 06 2009 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

At a public bath in Morocco, I watched a young adolescent bathe her grandmother. She picked up each limb, moved her breasts this way and that, and shifted her belly about to reach every crevice. She stood over her, squatted next to her, and sat al...

Commentary Peters: Doubtful about Presidents; Optimistic about Us

Commentary, November, 07 2008 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Writing for Time Magazine on November 5th, Joe Klein called Barack Obama's victory a sign that our country is a "younger, more optimistic, less cynical" place. "It is a country that retains its ability to startle the world -- and in a good way, wi...

Commentary Peters: Newsflash: If it sounds ridiculous, it probably is…

Commentary, April, 09 2008 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

The challenge for activists isn't just that we have legions of crises to face everyday. It's also that we have to operate in a corporate-sponsored culture that constantly barrages us and our communities with the message that individuals are the pr...

Commentary Peters: What's the Matter with Getting Off?

Commentary, December, 22 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

When I was reading Robert Jensen's new book "Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity," I found myself being careful to put the book away with the cover face-down. Why? Because the cover looks, well, vaguely pornographic. It features a ...

Commentary Peters: Literacy for the Learner's Sake

Commentary, November, 23 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

As a teacher in adult education, I always had to balance facilitating empowered learning in the classroom with delivering a product to funders.

Commentary Peters: Veterans' Voices

Commentary, November, 11 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

A few years ago, an old friend from Nicaragua started writing to me about his experiences fighting on the side of the Sandinistas during the revolution against a brutal dictator in the late 1970s and then later against the U.S.-supported contras.

Commentary Peters: An Engaged Political Culture in Venezuela

Commentary, September, 14 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

At a little stand off an uneven road switchbacking its way up and down the Andean mountains, we stopped for a thick, syrupy sweet cafecito. It comes in a tiny, two-swallow sized cup, providing just the right hit of caffeine to keep us alert on the...

Commentary Peters: Woody Guthrie to Judge Thayer: No Sweet Music

Commentary, August, 22 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Readers of ZNet know how the "system" works, but who among us has not wanted to take certain individuals by the shoulders and force them to face the consequences of their actions. When I was a kid, we used to have a dog that would occasionally rel...

Commentary Peters: Snapshots from Unschooling Part 3 of

Commentary, March, 22 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Part 1: "Snapshots from School" http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-12/12peters.cfm

Commentary Peters: Unenrolling My Daughter from School Or Choosing Not to "Get Used to It", Part 2 of Snapshots from School

Commentary, February, 09 2007 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Read Part 1 first if you haven't already:

Commentary Peters: Snapshots from School

Commentary, December, 12 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

"DonÕt go to the Parent-Teacher Council meeting," advised my daughter, who is a 9th-grader at a large urban high school. "They'll only try to scare you."

Commentary Peters: Unity Meeting, Boston, Mass.

Commentary, August, 15 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

The organizations represented at an anti-war "Unity Meeting," held at the 1199SEIU union hall on July 6, 2006, seemed to capture all the hopefulness, dedication, and hard work that is best about progressive movements today. The meeting was an atte...

Commentary Peters: The Corporate Parent

Commentary, August, 03 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

When I gave birth to my first daughter, I was in a hospital. Contraction-inducing pitocin was dripping into my veins, and I was hooked up to a monitor, featuring a jagged line graph which represented the force of each contraction. During heavy con...

Commentary Peters: Gonna Use My Imagination

Commentary, May, 12 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Today's Boston Globe (April 22, 2006), reports that Massachusetts is giving $1 million to a faith-based organization to teach abstinence in the schools.

Commentary Peters: In Case of Emergency

Commentary, April, 20 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

A while ago, I had a chance to learn about how I react in emergencies.

Commentary Peters: "Off Without Off"

Commentary, March, 31 2006 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

"How was your weekend?" I ask my adult education students at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton. "Did you have any time off?" "Off without off," is the usual answer.

Commentary Peters: Citizen Consumer

Commentary, December, 29 2005 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

There is no such thing as too much detail when it comes to the corporate press directing its readers in how to shop, how to avoid engaging in civic life, and how to celebrate the trivial as the main source of respite from a harsh world. Having jus...

Commentary Peters: Curvy Women Can Sell Products Too!

Commentary, August, 20 2005 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Like any random American, I have consumed mountains of advertising featuring women's cleavages, women's tongues, women's asses, and women's firm and supple flesh -- sometimes draped in a sliver of lemon peel, suggesting that a woman is -- what? --...

Commentary Peters: WASP Values and Political Work

Commentary, August, 03 2005 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

At a recent funeral of an African American family member, people took turns standing up to eulogize him. But they didn't stand up alone. There was always one person, sometimes two, at their side, the assumption being that they might not be able to...

Commentary Peters: Pink-ish, Blue-ish States R Us

Commentary, December, 07 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

When you opened your newspaper on November 4, you could be forgiven for thinking we live in a completely divided country. The blue states were on either coast, plus a couple of states in the middle, and the rest of the country was red.

Commentary Peters: Trim your thighs. Enhance your cleavage. Take a Bubble Bath

Commentary, October, 20 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Recovering from a bit of surgery recently, I complained to a friend that I felt nauseous and that there was nothing I wanted to eat.

Commentary Peters: Don't Let the Authorities Down!

Commentary, July, 23 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

"Peace Begins With YOU!" says the bold faced type of the subway station billboard in Boston's Back Bay station.

Commentary Peters: Talking Back to Chomsky

Commentary, April, 27 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Our social change movements have benefited enormously from the work of Noam Chomsky. The incredible energy he brings to his speaking and writing means that millions have been exposed to his analysis of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. But he has ...

Commentary Peters: Selling, Stalking, and Shaming

Commentary, February, 08 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Superbowl 2004 offers a revealing window into how our culture views sex and sexuality. Namely, sex is a tool for persuading you to consume, for oppressing and demeaning others, and for making people feel guilty and confused about something that sh...

Commentary Peters: New Afghan Constitution Only One Step on Long Road to Women's Rights

Commentary, January, 17 2004 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

While George Bush hailed the newly ratified Afghan charter as a vehicle that "will serve the interests and just aspirations of all of the Afghan people," Afghan women have reason to be more circumspect.

Commentary Peters: The Class Divide

Commentary, October, 26 2003 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

In her book, Bridging the Class Divide, Linda Stout mentions an incident when low-income activists created a brochure that included the quote, "Something has got to be wrong when the government spends so much money on the military and nothing on m...

Commentary Peters: Toys for Empire

Commentary, September, 16 2003 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

Toys for Empire

Commentary Peters: Courting the "Middle Class"

Commentary, July, 10 2003 Cynthia Peters
Peters's ZSpace page

As we approach election year 2004, it is tempting to lead with the rallying cry, "Dump Bush." Besides the obvious reasons why it would be preferable to unseat this frat boy with his finger on the button, many progressives believe that the slogan a...

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