“Match this total [of 30,000 people who got a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2005] against the number of galleries or jobs available
and the picture of a chillingly social Darwinist art system clearly emerges.” §
“[Babies’ demonstrated preference for helpful vs. unhelpful puppets]
is important because it’s necessary for human beings to figure out who
might be a good person to hang out with and who might do us harm. Because it’s
so important to our survival, babies might really need to learn this early
on, even before they can talk. We think this may have evolved as a trait because
of its importance for our safety.” §
“As the United States takes its economic hits — and while the White
House insists on record defense spending to maintain its hegemonic ‘umbrella
strategy’ — foreign financial interests are steadily acquiring American
companies, especially banks. ... [E]very sensible homeowner or farmer or small
businessman knows that, once you take out a loan (mortgage) from another party,
or sell a share of your property, a subtle or not-so-subtle power relationship
has changed. To a greater or lesser degree, you have become dependent upon other
players who can probably influence you more than you can influence them. And
in this case, since hundreds of other companies and banks are doing the same,
the collective result is that the United States is ceding influence.” §
“Genetic tests are not like a pregnancy test where you get a yes or a no.
There’s a wide variety of answers with the genetic test.” §
“We cannot just walk into patients’ rooms and tell them they need
surgery and give them an unintelligible form to sign. This shouldn’t be
a three-minute discussion, but a process by which doctor and patient come together
to make shared decisions.” §
“Churches and their traditions are not necessarily about convenience and
clarity. They are about history and struggles past, about making meaning out
of something.” §
“I think it’s a characteristic of the world we live in [that a recent
study showed youngsters would rather spend time indoors than outdoors]. It’s
an increasingly urban-built world, and the prevailing paradigm for the urban
world has been not just one of degradation of natural systems, but increasing
separation of people from nature.” §
“The classic European antisemitic tropes have been revived [in parts of
Africa where radical Islam has spread]. The radical Islamists use ‘The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ and there are Arabic translations of ‘Mein
Kampf.’ While each group has its own agenda, antisemitism is the cement
that holds the disparate groups together.” §
“I am related to the cotton in my shirt ... . [Humans are] one of millions
of branches in the tree of life, and we’re all connected.” §
“[A proposed law that would prohibit restaurants from serving obese people]
brings bias against obese individuals to a new and appalling level, and at a
time when significant progress is being made in the effort to stop blaming obesity
on the people who have it and to address the social and political conditions
that drive it. Are these legislators fighting to get rid of soft drinks in schools?
Are they working to stop the relentless marketing of unhealthy foods to children?
Are they doing anything about the fact that poor people do not have access to
healthy foods?” §
“Antidepressants can be highly effective, particularly for the more severe
forms of depression. But when you speak to people with severe mental illness
who have gotten better, you learn about the reality of the recovery process,
which is rarely about a pill — even if that pill is effective. ... Rather,
they talk about a person who was kind to them when they were really down; they
talk about the child they wanted to be a good parent to; they talk about God
and spirituality; they talk about something that brought them pleasure even when
they were cloaked in pain. Many of these reasons to live — the reasons
to seek treatment in the first place — are highly personal and idiosyncratic
... .” §
“I’m surprised that none of the leading Democrats are talking about
tax reform. I would have thought that it’s obvious that we need it.” §
“Historical memory is a vexing thing on subjects that are about great sacrifice,
great and transformative change, great violence. How we process that story — how
we process that memory — has everything to do usually with who we say we
are. There is no more vexing part of American history for us than our memory
of slavery and slavery’s destruction in an all-out Civil War that killed
600,000 people, wounded 1.2 million and transformed a nation. The Civil War,
in that sense ... is not over.” §
“I think nobody is in a position to react to these big macro-issues [in
the global investment markets]. Where is the dollar going to be or what is G.D.P.
growth going to be in China? For every smart person on one side of the question,
there is another smart person on the other side. ... The only people who should
get involved are sophisticated individuals who have significant resources and
a highly qualified investment staff.”
T H I S
— Robert Storr, dean of the School of Art and
professor of painting, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Assistant,” Brooklyn
Rail (NY), Feb. 7, 2008.
— Kiley Hamlin, graduate student in the Department of Psychology, on a
Yale study showing even six-month-old babies prefer good samaritans, “Well
Before They Get to Sesame Street,” New Haven Register, Feb. 4, 2008.
— Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History, in his
article, “Hiding Under the Umbrella,” Khaleej Times (United Arab
Emirates), Feb. 7, 2008.
— Ellen Matloff, research scientist in genetics, “Genetic Testing
Can Lead To Unnecessary Worry, False Feeling Of Security,” “Nightly
News,” NBC, Feb. 12, 2008.
— Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Internal Medicine
and Epidemiology and Public Health, “Consent Forms That Patients Can Understand,” The
Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2008.
— Teresa Berger, professor of liturgical studies, on why Protestant and
Roman Catholic churches celebrate Easter on a different day than Eastern Orthodox
churches, “Complex History Behind Early Arrival of Lent, Easter,” New
Haven Register, Feb. 6, 2008.
— Stephen Kellert, the Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, “Activists
Say Kids On Couch Miss Out; Virtual Play Is Replacing Real Thing, Study Says,” Houston
Chronicle, Feb. 5, 2008.
— Charles Small, director of the Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study
of Antisemitism and lecturer in ethics, politics and economics, “Antisemitism
Without Jews; Yale Initiative on Antisemitism to Explore Africa,” Connecticut
Jewish Ledger, Feb. 14, 2008.
— Michael J. Donoghue, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology and director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, “Peabody
Museum Takes Fresh Look at Darwin’s Tree of Life,” New Haven Register,
Feb. 17, 2008.
— Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology and director of the Rudd Center
for Food Policy and Obesity, “Restaurants as Obesity Cops Doesn’t
Sit Well,” USA Today, Feb. 6, 2008.
— Charles Barber, lecturer in psychiatry, in his article, “Healing
a Troubled Mind Takes More Than a Pill,” The Washington Post, Feb. 10,
2008.
— Michael J. Graetz, the Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, noting that
it has been a topic embraced by Republican presidential candidates, “Taxes:
A Campaign Primer,” Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 8, 2008.
— David Blight, director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of
Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, and the Class of 1954 Professor of American
History, “Historian’s Memphis Visit Presents Complexities of Slavery
Emancipation,” Memphis Daily News (TN), Feb. 8, 2008.
— David Swensen, chief investment officer, adjunct professor at the School
of Management and lecturer in economics, “Keep It Simple, Says Yale’s
Top Investor,” The New York Times, Feb. 17, 2008.
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale-engineered virus can attack brain tumors
Trustees set next steps in residential college expansion
Going back to the ‘basics’ of medicine on the wards of Uganda
New center promotes the study of Hellenic culture and civilization
Study to examine Internet-based programs for diabetic children
Study offers insight into possible cause of lymphoma
Lorimer lauded for contributions to corporate boards
Yale chemist honored for contributions to teaching . . .
Show documents people and fauna of the ‘New World’
‘Chronicler of American life’ is next Maynard Mack lecturer
Contemporary images of the Virgin Mary are featured in . . .
Symposium will explore human rights issues related to . . .
Police Academy for citizens to be held this spring
Arabic music past and present is explored in new exhibition
Chinese ‘Year of the Rat’ celebrated at Yale
Hundreds of schoolchildren will gather in Yale ‘castle’ . . .
Yale Books in Brief
Campus Notes
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