“The Dating Divide” is the first comprehensive look at “digital-sexual racism,”
February 4, 2021
Jennifer Lundquist
AMHERST, Mass. – While the internet is often heralded as an equalizer, a seemingly level playing field, the digital world also acts as an extension of and platform for the insidious prejudices and divisive impulses that affect social politics in the “real” world. Similarly, online dating was heralded as a way to democratize courtship, but a new book co-authored by University of Massachusetts Amherst sociologist Jennifer Lundquist illustrates how it actually exacerbates racial divisions.
Shedding light on how every click, swipe or message can be linked to the history of racism and courtship in the United States, “The Dating Divide: Race and Desire in the Era of Online Romance” (University of California Press, Feb. 2021) is the first comprehensive look at “digital-sexual racism,” a distinct form of racism that is mediated and amplif
Earth Matters: Stunning perspectives now democratized by drones
Straight parallel ditches that were dug in a misguided attempt at mosquito control are breaking down and reforming natural branching drainage patterns in a salt marsh in Barnstable. Salt marsh health can be assessed efficiently during every season by drones at low tide. Ryan Wicks
Cranberry harvest at State Bog, UMass Cranberry Station, Wareham. Several varieties of cranberries, grown in experimental plots, create swaths of slightly different shades that look like abstract art when seen from above. Christine Hatch
Published: 2/8/2021 2:18:58 PM
When I fly, I get a window seat whenever I can. I press my face against the glass, camera ready, and spend the flight marveling at the shapes in the landscape, how the surfaces turn to art, how places I know from maps are transformed by the light and are so, so small.
Will Josh Hawley Run for President in 2024?
Hawley, whose upper chamber seat is up-for-grabs in 2024, has firmly rejected the presidential speculations, noting that his focus is on serving Missouri.
It looks like Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) political ambitions ignited way before he swiped a Democratic incumbent’s seat in the 2018 midterm elections.
“Josh Hawley, president 2024,” Hawley wrote when he signed a friend’s eighth-grade yearbook. The same yearbook labeled Hawley and the book s owner, “future presidents,”
Hawley is now among the growing list of conservatives who are widely expected to launch a 2024 presidential bid and take the reins of the scattered GOP. The firebrand senator has grappled national attention in recent months, as he was the first to announce he would vote against the certification of the Electoral College results that confirmed President Joe Biden’s White House win a move that energized the former president’s supporters and the only sen
COVID-19 numbers drop in region, no town in ‘red’
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Franklin County are trending downward, based on the state Department of Public Health’s most recent statistics that were released Thursday, while testing rates are on the rise. Courtesy graphic/Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts
Modified: 2/7/2021 2:49:16 PM
For the first time since before the holidays, there are no Franklin County or North Quabbin towns in the state’s “red” or highest-risk COVID-19 category this week, though five are in the “yellow” or higher-risk category.
Orange was the only town left in the “red” last week, but it moved into the yellow with 22 positive COVID-19 cases reported over the past two weeks, according to the most updated figures released Thursday by the state Department of Public Health. The state categorizes cities and towns based on population and the number of cases.
Varghese Mathai Share
Opening all windows, or one front and one rear window, increases the amount of airflow in the car, reducing the risk of airborne transmission. Sisoje/E+ via Getty ImagesVarghese Mathai,
Editor s note: Varghese Mathai is a physicist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies the flow of fluids and gases. He conducted a study using computational fluid dynamics simulations to understand how air flows inside a car and its implications for Covid-19 airborne transmission. In this interview, he explains the optimal ways to ensure maximum airflow inside a car.
Varghese Mathai of the University of Massachusetts Amherst explains and shows how air flows inside cars and how to lower the risk of COVID-19 airborne transmission.