Justice League: New Frontier, the cartoon adaption of Darwyn Cooke’s instant classic about the dawn of the Silver Age of DC Comics, came out on DVD last week. When I was watching it, I was somewhat disappointed. My friends who hadn’t read the miniseries thought it was sweet, but I guess the actual comics ruined me. The movie didn’t capture those iconic moments like Hal Jordan kissing Carol Ferris before he takes off to fight the Center and J’onn J’onnz going apeshit and transforming into the Martian Manhunter we know and love when King Faraday died. That being said, I want to talk about something a little more substantive than fanboy concerns.

I want to talk about the political overtones of the story. That period in the late ’50s was an exciting (and scary) time to be alive for far greater reasons than the dawn of the Silver Age of comics. Americans were suffering silently under conformity, lynchings raged across the South, McCarthyism destroyed people’s lives, and we all feared that nuclear annihilation was around the bend.  But the Global South was on fire with social revolution — A lot of folks believed a real change was a-coming. Among them was Martin Luther King, Jr. (after the jump): (more…)

“ Until the Violence Stops” is a week long festival to bring the issue of violence against women & girls front and center. Each of its events, occurring between February 29th and March 8th, will raise funds for a local organization working to end violence against women and girls. Below is a brief schedule. For more detailed descriptions of these events, including door fees and more specific write-ups, visit www.peaceprovidence.com.

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As members of the Brown corporation descend on Bruronia’s fair campus for their semesterly meeting this Saturday, join Brown students and our allies in a parade calling for a “More Open and Public Brown.” Festivities start at 10AM:

Education is a Right! Join a Parade, Marching Band, students, and community members to call for:

Grants not Loans!
A Tuition Freeze!
Expanded Finical Aid!
Brown Support for Public Funding of Education!
Expanded Brown Programs for Providence Community Members!

Sponsored by Brown Students for a Democratic Society

Yesterday MERI had a State House press conference to announce its legislative agenda for the year:

Besides a bill that calls for the recognition of same-gender marriage, another piece of legislation introduced was the Compassion for All Families Act, which would provide domestic partners the spousal benefits of family medical leave, nursing home visitation and funeral planning. The ACLU is also supporting an “equal divorce” bill.

The bills in question confer on same-sex couples only 3 of the 430 rights afforded to married couples. It’s still a little early to speculate as to the likelihood of passage this session.