Does It Take a Genius to Discover Poverty?

Yesterday, David Simon, creator of HBO’s The Wire won a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant. That’s great news for him, but it makes me question how someone gets slapped with the genius label for highlighting poverty. You do know right that poverty’s been around for a long time? Are we so immune to poverty (maybe, perhaps because of The Wire) that we can watch each scene unfold and not be prompted into action to find solutions to the poverty? Are the viewers of The Wire so immune to society’s ills that we can actually enjoy crime and poverty for an hour, then change the channel and pretend it’s not real?

Please take a moment and read the rest at The Loop.

Why Congress should have gone Gaga

When not rocking out, Lady Gaga speaks out. Yesterday, in Portland, Maine, the pop sensation spoke at a rally sponsored by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which supports repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Like Wyclef Jean’s activism in Haiti, and Alicia Keys’s anti-AIDS activism, Lady Gaga works hard whether or not cameras are on.

Read the rest at The Loop.

Wyclef Jean survives criticism, works to uplift Haiti

During election seasons, Republicans love to blast liberal, Hollywood actors for spouting off their political beliefs. In reality, it’s quite hypocritical, but that’s another story. Yet, Wyclef Jean and Sean Penn continue to make mincemeat of conservative critics that claim that Hollywood entertainers are dim-witted glamour hounds. Our collective thanks should to these two, who continue to toil away even when there are no cameras around.

Read the rest at The Loop.