Chris Christie, birth order, and Oklahoma—here’s what you might have missed in news and thoughts related to student engagement, school climate, and the world that affects them.
“And hey, if that’s how you feel, if thinking somebody is a bad person makes it open season on everything about him, that’s totally up to you.”
—The Monkey See blog’s Linda Holmes, arguing that making fun of Chris Christie’s weight is a tired joke that hurts more people than him
“As the youngest child, you also have a lot in common with your oldest sibling, as both of you have been made to feel special and entitled.”
—Gail Gross, for the Huffington Post, about how birth order affects personality
“Wagner’s flowing blond hair, bellflower-blue eyes and sculpted features mark her as a sporting archetype: She’s the embodiment of the ‘golden girl’ the media has extolled when they’ve waxed poetic about idealized ice queens of the past.”
—Jeff Yang, in the Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy blog, about the politics behind the U.S. Olympic skating team, which this year excluded Mirai Nagasu
“Twitter is a place where the non-famous go to lash the famous—out of disdain, outrage, or boredom—and then wait to see if the famous lash back.”
—Vulture’s Matt Zoller Seitz, on Mia Farrow’s use of the social media vehicle to raise attention about Woody Allen’s alleged sexual molestation history; it’s the same technology that helped propel the Steubenville, Ohio, and Maryville, Mo., rape cases to national prominence
“Oklahoma is filled with small towns like the one where I was raised, and here’s the thing about small towns: their isolation insulates their beliefs.”
—Baxter Holmes, in Esquire‘s Just Now Ago blog, about how views against same-sex marriage stay embedded in the social fabric of his hometown