Can we get a moratorium on parents exploiting their children for kudos and profit in the world of pop culture?
Pop culture and parental exploitation narratives

stillness is a lie, my dear
Can we get a moratorium on parents exploiting their children for kudos and profit in the world of pop culture?
The Huffington Post doesn’t pay their writers. So how come so many progressives keep viewing it as a legitimate news source?
I drink an incredible volume of tea. While the women above might not have personally picked tea that I have drunk, they are part of the army of low-paid workers who labour in tea plantations across Asia, picking for between a dollar and two dollars a day, which is not much even when adjusted for […]
This year marked the most horrific mass disaster on Everest since 1996, when eight people died in a single blizzard. In this case, 16 Sherpas died in an avalanche, generating headlines around the world and an open discussion of the exploitation of Nepalese guides on the mountain — though it’s a subject that people have […]
On 19 March of this year, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Del Fiorentino was ambushed by a suspect just outside of Cleone in a fatal encounter. One week later, I attended his memorial, an event that drew law enforcement officers from across California as well as from Eugene, Oregon (the suspect’s crime spree had originated […]
On of my favourite scenes in Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle books, a series by no means necessarily socially progressive or always right-on, is one in which the doctor’s sister catches him in one of the unsavoury parts of London while she’s out slumming. There’s a great moment between the two where the doctor’s wearing filthy […]
I’ve been thinking about Cherice Morales a lot lately. Perhaps it would be better to say that she, and her case, are haunting me. This bright, promising, talented Latina committed suicide at just 14 in the aftermath of a rape; a rape committed by her 49-year-old teacher. He was sentenced to just 30 days for […]
Alternative financing, occupying a highly lucrative financial grey area, is a concept alien to those who never need it, and a lifeline to those who are sometimes forced to rely upon it. Passing through the streets in most urban areas, you’ll see an array of shady-looking businesses with payday loan signs in their windows, promising […]
The happenstance that puts Blogging Against Disablism Day on May Day means that every year, I get to talk about intersections between two of my favourite issues: labour rights and disability rights. Last year, I looked at people with disabilities in the workplace, and the structures that keep us underemployed and poor. This year, I’m […]
The medical credit industry in the United States is booming, with a variety of programs offering financing for emergency, routine, and elective procedures. In some cases, clinics actively partner with these programs to offer in-house financing to patients, promising to take care of payment arrangements and administration as long as the patient signs along the […]