Cornel West and Tavis Smiley on Poverty in the United States

Economic inequality continued to widen in the United States.  The Census Bureau reports the wealthiest Americans increased their share of total wealth by 4.9 percent, while the median income reached its lowest level since 1995.  Some 46.2 million Americans were classified as living in poverty.  Democracy Now is joined by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, who are attempting to start a national dialogue with their new Poverty Tour 2.0, visiting four battleground states.

Tariq Ramadan on the Growing Mideast Protests

As anti-U.S. protests spread across the Middle East, Democracy Now interviews Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University and visiting professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Qatar.  Ramadan is considered one of the most prominent Muslim intellectuals in Europe and was named by Time magazine as one of the most important innovators of the 21st century.  He was barred from entering the United States for many years by former President George W. Bush.  In 2004, Ramadan had accepted a job to become a tenured professor at the University of Notre Dame, but nine days before he was set to arrive, the Bush administration revoked his visa, invoking a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act.  He was not allowed into the United States for another six years.  Ramadan is the author of a number of books, including "Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation" and, most recently, "Islam and the Arab Awakening." 

Glen Ford and Michael Eric Dyson on Obama Presidency

As President Obama accepts the Democratic nomination to seek four more years in the White House, we host a debate on his presidency with Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report and Michael Eric Dyson, professor at Georgetown University and author of numerous books. Ford calls Obama the "more effective evil" for embracing right-wing policies and neutralizing effective opposition, while Dyson argues Obama provides the best and obvious choice for progressive change within the confines of the U.S. political system. 

IMAGINE - John Lennon

Documentary -with Spanish subtitles

Elogio de la conversación

En el diálogo auténtico se crea un espacio intermedio donde se suprime la diferencia entre lo tuyo y lo mío. Aparece lo nuestro.  Y allí, como sin querer, se crean nuevas ideas. Se abre una comprensión más profunda de las cosas y de la vida. Enriquecemos nuestra humanidad pues aprendemos algo que ignorábamos. Entonces, aunque el otro ya no esté, seguimos conversando. Y esa prolongación del diálogo es la actividad de pensar que nos permite estar en buena compañía aún cuando estemos solos.
La conversación es la base del amor y la amistad. Robustece los afectos y desarrolla la creatividad. Conversar es como jugar a armar un collage, construir una figura que nadie conoce pero que irá apareciendo. Y no se trata de ganar o perder sino del goce de crear algo juntos. Entonces nos sentimos semejantes, vivimos la democracia. Las creaciones trascendentes se originan en momentos de intenso intercambio. Todas las visiones del futuro surgen de esas conversaciones que no tienen otro principio que la buena voluntad de quienes participan.
Si la conversación es tan maravillosa ¿por qué la gente conversa tan poco? La razón principal es la tentación de la autosuficiencia. Cuesta admitir que el otro tenga una razón relevante, que sea posible crear algo en común. En cambio, la conciencia de nuestra pequeñez nos impulsa a multiplicar nuestra inteligencia. Esta relación puede formularse a la manera de una ley: a mayor pretensión de autosuficiencia menor capacidad de conversar.

http://gonzaloportocarrero.blogsome.com/2012/07/30/elogio-de-la-conversacion/#comments

Fifty Shades of Grey

“Fifty Shades of Grey” and the two other titles in the series were written by a British author named E L James, a former television executive who began the trilogy by posting fan fiction online. The books, which were released in the last year, center on the lives (and affection for whips, chains and handcuffs) of Christian Grey, a rich, handsome tycoon, and Anastasia Steele, an innocent college student, who enter into a dominant-submissive relationship. The narrative is built on the purple prose typical of pulp novels, with lines like, “My inner goddess is doing the dance of the seven veils.”

10 Groundbreaking Erotic Reads

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter 
This beautiful and haunting book changed my life (but that is for a different blog post). A Sport and a Pastime is one of the first great American novels to speak frankly of human desire and the yearning for passion free of guilt and shame. The story follows a young American and a French shop assistant who begin an affair both carnal and innocent. 

Damage by Josephine Hart 
First published at Knopf during my time there, this dark, disturbing novel, in which a politician's attraction to his son's girlfriend turns into an overpowering obsession and life-changing affair, continues to resonate today. And Jeremy Irons is brilliant in the film adaptation.

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong 
I tried the phrase "zipless fuck" on my daughters-in-law and they didn't know it. We must remedy this. This remarkable and explicit classic is about a woman learning to fly free of her repressions, and in the process, she delves into fantasy and experimentation.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence 
A must on any and every list. Lady Chatterley falls in love with the gamekeeper on her husband's estate and moves from the bloodless world of the intelligentsia and aristocracy into a vital and profound connection rooted in sexual fulfillment.

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious 
This debut novel about the dark underside of a respectable New England community exposed the intricate social anatomy of a small town and the lives of its people -- their passions and vices, their ambitions and defeats, their struggles, and often their courage. Its couplings were titillating.

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
Another must for all recommended reading lists. The first volume of Miller's mixture of memoir and fiction chronicles the affairs and adventures of a young expatriate writer, his friends, and the characters they meet in Paris in the 1930s. It's clear why Erica Jong and Henry Miller connected.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The cover of the Vintage paperback is controversial in itself -- the innocence of the bobby socks reframed as an object of desire. Nabokov's most famous novel tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for a young girl. 

Exit to Eden by Anne Rice writing as Anne Rampling
I was part of the publishing team of Interview with a Vampire and many other Anne Rice books for twenty-plus years. Her wonderful Vampire books did not prepare me for the other Anne Rice and her interest in sadomasochism. This literary romp is the wickedly tantalizing tale of Lisa and Elliot, whose journey to the limits of pleasure and darkness begins at the Club -- an exclusive island resort where forbidden fantasy meets willing flesh.

The Story of O by Pauline Réage
The first book I remember hiding in a brown wrapper. A beautiful Parisian fashion photographer known only as O is involved with René; as part of the intense affair, she demands debasement and severe sexual and psychological tests. 

Candy by Terry Southern 
I was introduced to this book by more than one boyfriend. A parody of Voltaire's satire Candide, this novel features a sexy naïf who only wants to truly give of herself. It is a book that leaves you tantalized, scandalized, and weak with laughter. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-friedman/fifty-shades-of-grey-erotica_b_1681366.html