CCF’s Weekly Media Roundup by Steve Mintz, February 21, 2019

CCF Briefing

1. What research says about teachers unions
2. Do You Want to Be Pregnant? It’s Not Always a Yes-or-No Answer
3. The Link Between Menopause and Alzheimer’s
4. The stark divide in black and white economic mobility in America
5. These Are the Americans Who Live in a Bubble
6. The Racial Divide Is the Political Divide
7. A Court Battle Over a Dallas Toddler Could Decide the Future of Native American Law
8. America’s Disappearing Private Colleges
9. Good day care is hard to find. Elizabeth Warren’s plan might make it harder.
10. An Exhilarating Work of History About Daring Adventures in Love
11. The Decriminalization of Black Hair
12. The Medical Tech that Helps You When Your Doctor Can’t
13. Teenagers Say Depression and Anxiety Are Major Issues Among Their Peers
14. Seeking a Haven in H.B.C.U.s and Single-Sex Colleges
15. In Your Own Words: Mental Health on Campus
16. A Very Special Episode, but Maybe Not So Precious
17. The Financial Toxicity of Illness
18. Colleges Expand Their Reach to Address Mental Health Issues
19. As Students Struggle With Stress and Depression, Colleges Act as Counselors
20. As Colorado Moves to Bar Abstinence-Only Sex Education, Teenagers Take the Lead
21. What to Do When a Doctor’s Visit is the Cause of Pain?
22. The Good-Enough Life
23. How So Many Violent Felons Are Allowed to Keep Their Illegal Guns
24. How Fatherhood Alters Your View of the World
25. Does Online Public Shaming Prevent Us From Being Able to Grow and Change?
26. Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health. An App May Help.
27. Sex and the Cinema: How Hollywood Shaped Desire
28. What I Learned While Reporting on the Dearth of Black Mathematicians
29. For Gamers With Disabilities, Creative Controllers Open Worlds
30. Measles Outbreak: Your Questions Answered
31. The Disappeared Children of Israel
32. ‘Roma’ Sees Domestic Workers as Full Humans. U.S. Labor Laws Don’t.
33. One Exposure to Anesthesia in Children Does Not Cause Learning Disabilities, New Research Shows
34. New York City to Ban Discrimination Based on Hair
35. When Does Kicking Black People Off Juries Cross a Constitutional Line?

1. What research says about teachers unions

https://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/teachers-unions-salaries-students-research

Our newest roundup of research offers insights into the work of teachers unions, including impacts on school district spending, student achievement and teacher turnover.

2. Do You Want to Be Pregnant? It’s Not Always a Yes-or-No Answer

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/upshot/do-you-want-to-be-pregnant-its-not-always-a-yes-or-no-answer.html

New data on women’s uncertainty over motherhood may reshape how doctors and policymakers think about family planning.

3. The Link Between Menopause and Alzheimer’s

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-link-between-menopause-and-alzheimers-11550509201?mod=djem10point

Women make up nearly two-thirds of patients with Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S., in part because they live longer than men. But researchers are also exploring whether menopause-related hormonal changes affect the disease’s development.

4. The stark divide in black and white economic mobility in America

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/02/14/no-room-at-the-top-the-stark-divide-in-black-and-white-economic-mobility/

5. These Are the Americans Who Live in a Bubble

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/americans-remain-deeply-ambivalent-about-diversity/583123/

A significant minority seldom or never meet people from another race, and they prize sameness, not difference.

6. The Racial Divide Is the Political Divide

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/racial-divisions-exist-among-whites-blacks-and-hispanics/583267

White, black, and Hispanic people hold distinctly different views of American identity and values.

7. A Court Battle Over a Dallas Toddler Could Decide the Future of Native American Law

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/indian-child-welfare-acts-uncertain-future/582628

The federal lawsuit challenges a 1978 law that sought to reckon with America’s history of discriminating against Native Americans. Does it hold up 40 years later?

8. America’s Disappearing Private Colleges

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-disappearing-private-colleges-11550794707

The post-Great Recession baby bust will soon mean not enough students to keep small schools alive.

9. Good day care is hard to find. Elizabeth Warren’s plan might make it harder.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/21/good-day-care-is-hard-find-elizabeth-warrens-plan-might-make-it-harder/

The Democratic senator’s child-care plan doesn’t address the real problems most families face.

10. An Exhilarating Work of History About Daring Adventures in Love

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/books/wayward-lives-beautiful-experiments-saidiya-hartman.html

In “Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments,” Saidiya Hartman writes about young black women in the early 20th century who tossed out the narrow scripts about intimacy they had been given.

11. The Decriminalization of Black Hair

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/nyregion/black-hair-decriminalization-ny.html

New York City’s new ban on discriminating against hairstyle reveals how little African-Americans have benefited from supposedly relaxed work cultures.

12. The Medical Tech that Helps You When Your Doctor Can’t

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/smarter-living/-medical-tech-startups-insurance.html

A new breed of tech company wants to fill the gaps between you, your doctor and your health insurance.

13. Teenagers Say Depression and Anxiety Are Major Issues Among Their Peers

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/health/teenage-depression-statistics.html

A Pew Research Center survey found that teenagers across all demographic groups grapple with mental health issues.

14. Seeking a Haven in H.B.C.U.s and Single-Sex Colleges

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/education/learning/hbcu-womens-colleges-haven.html

Applications are up at these schools while enrollment overall is declining. Some think the national political climate is one reason.

15. In Your Own Words: Mental Health on Campus

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/education/learning/student-responses-mental-health-on-campus.html

We asked students to tell us their stories. We heard about managing depression, anxiety and expectations.

16. A Very Special Episode, but Maybe Not So Precious

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/arts/television/very-special-episodes-history-one-day-at-a-time-vaping-drugs.html

“One Day at a Time” and other recent sitcoms just say yes to episodes confronting drug use — and consciously try to avoid the corny trappings.

17. The Financial Toxicity of Illness

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/well/live/the-financial-toxicity-of-illness.html

While medicine transforms cancer into a chronic disease with which patients can live for an extended period of time, financial toxicity threatens to turn chronic, too.

18. Colleges Expand Their Reach to Address Mental Health Issues

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/education/learning/mental-health-college-examples.html

As they struggle to keep up with the demand, many schools are hiring more staff members and trying new approaches.

19. As Students Struggle With Stress and Depression, Colleges Act as Counselors

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/education/learning/mental-health-counseling-on-campus.html

More than 60 percent of college students said they had experienced “overwhelming anxiety” in the past year. Over 40 percent said they felt so depressed they had difficulty functioning.

20. As Colorado Moves to Bar Abstinence-Only Sex Education, Teenagers Take the Lead

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/colorado-sex-education-in-schools.html

Students have supported legislation that would require the teaching of safe sex, consent and sexual orientation, elements that have prompted a backlash from conservative groups.

21. What to Do When a Doctor’s Visit is the Cause of Pain?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/well/live/what-to-do-when-a-doctors-visit-is-the-cause-of-pain.html

Tips for dealing with pelvic pain during an OB-GYN exam.

22. The Good-Enough Life

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/opinion/the-good-enough-life-philosophy.html

The Western desire for greatness can be an obstacle to our own potential.

23. How So Many Violent Felons Are Allowed to Keep Their Illegal Guns

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/us/gun-seizures-felons-abusers.html

Experts say the number of people who are barred from owning guns but have them may reach into the millions. A workplace shooting last week demonstrates the system’s failures.

24. How Fatherhood Alters Your View of the World

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/lens/fatherhood-view-of-the-world.html

Following the birth of his daughter, Rian Dundon documented the messiness and gravity surrounding his new role in life.

25. Does Online Public Shaming Prevent Us From Being Able to Grow and Change?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/learning/does-online-public-shaming-prevent-us-from-being-able-to-grow-and-change.html

Or, does it help us question our beliefs and teach us to be more thoughtful about our words and actions?

26. Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health. An App May Help.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/well/mind/loneliness-is-bad-for-your-health-an-app-may-help.html

A specific approach to mindfulness may increase sociability.

27. Sex and the Cinema: How Hollywood Shaped Desire

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/books/review/sleeping-with-strangers-david-thomson.html

In “Sleeping With Strangers,” David Thomson examines the ways in which movies have codified our fantasies.

28. What I Learned While Reporting on the Dearth of Black Mathematicians

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/reader-center/black-mathematicians-research-academic-racism.html

My recent reporting has highlighted why racial exclusion in “the queen of the sciences’’ may matter most of all.

29. For Gamers With Disabilities, Creative Controllers Open Worlds

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/business/video-game-controllers-disabilities.html

An industrious community has for years devised workarounds to play video games. Microsoft’s new adaptive controller may allow even more people to play with their face, elbows and feet.

30. Measles Outbreak: Your Questions Answered

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/us/measles-outbreak.html

The disease was declared eliminated in 2000. So far this year, there have been more than 100 cases.

31. The Disappeared Children of Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/world/middleeast/israel-yemenite-children-affair.html

In the state of Israel’s early years, a number of parents in immigrant transit camps were told that their babies had died. In recent years, DNA testing has proved that some of those children are still alive. A younger generation is demanding answers.

32. ‘Roma’ Sees Domestic Workers as Full Humans. U.S. Labor Laws Don’t.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/opinion/roma-domestic-workers-bill.html

We’ve been excluded from basic labor protections for too long. This is our moment.

33. One Exposure to Anesthesia in Children Does Not Cause Learning Disabilities, New Research Shows

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/well/family/one-exposure-to-anesthesia-in-children-does-not-cause-learning-disabilities-new-research-shows.html

Although earlier studies in animals suggested a connection, the new research should reassure parents whose children need surgery, experts say.

34. New York City to Ban Discrimination Based on Hair

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/style/hair-discrimination-new-york-city.html

New guidelines out this week give legal recourse to individuals who have been harassed, punished or fired because of the style of their hair.

35. When Does Kicking Black People Off Juries Cross a Constitutional Line?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/black-jurors-constitution-curtis-flowers.html

The Supreme Court will consider whether a Mississippi prosecutor’s long record of excluding black jurors amounted to unconstitutional race discrimination.