The Occluded Eyes, Sinister Postures And Such Are No Longer Symbols At All – They Are Elements Of Surface Style

As YouTube videos and blog sites continue to query Lady Gaga’s connection to the Illuminati, Jeremy Biles tries to unlock what has become another of the Internet’s many celebrity-gazing diversions.

Lady Gaga is no puppet for the Illuminati. She is a highly charismatic and multitalented figure whose symbol-laden presentations are evidence not of occult involvements, but of a strategic, effective, and very canny self-display centering obsessively on one concern: fame and the mechanisms that produce and support it.

In Port-au-Prince After The Earthquake, Driving Is A 10th Ring Of Hell

Damien Cave profiles Levy Azor, better known as Du Du, who works for tips only, trying to create symphonic order out of the chaos in the earthquake-ravaged streets of Haiti:

Picture roads overrun with tents, rubble, pedestrians and peddlers; tap-tap taxis stopping suddenly, dump trucks coughing black exhaust, few stoplights, 99-degree heat, no air-conditioning, dust, beggars and angry drivers blaring horns.

They Couldn’t Concentrate On Their Work Because Her Appearance Was Too Distracting

Is it possible to be too sexy for your job? Elizabeth Dwoskin profiles Debrahlee Lorenzana for the Village Voice, and reports how a 33-year-old single mom’s wardrobe of fitted business suits and high heels may have ultimately proved too much for Citibank, and is now the subject of a lawsuit.

Five Hours On The Internet And The Naive Subjects Had Already Rewired Their Brains

Nicholas Carr writes for Wired about the negative effect that web browsing has had on our power of concentration. Adapted from his new book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Carr expands on concepts he considered two years ago for the Atlantic. He starts with the results of a study that point to how rapidly and profoundly Internet usage is literally changing the structure of our brain.

Coaxing Earthquake Survivors Into Remarriage Has Become A Community Obligation

On May 12, 2008 at 2:28 p.m., a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern China’s Sichuan Province killing more than more than 68,000 people. To rebuild their society in the wake of unspeakable devastation, the Chinese government, no stranger to intervening in private affairs, now actively promotes marriage between survivors to create what it calls “restructured families.” Brook Larmer writes about China’s arranged remarriages for the New York Times.

That’s It? Cardiac Arrest In Exchange For Roofing Shingles?

Andy Whitman wonders what it all means for Image through the ever-dependable lens of Walker Percy’s classic novel, The Moviegoer:

I play the game well for months, sometimes years at a time. I’m a happy little American consumer, which is my purpose in life, and I go to work and earn a paycheck, and then I spend the paycheck on things like roofing shingles, and I keep the American economy humming. It’s not humming all that well, and it seems to have lost the tune, but I do what I can.

The Presence Of Oil On The Beach

It has been more than a month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, and crude oil continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil slicks now reach several miles into Louisiana’s wetlands, and oil covers more than 65 miles of the state’s shoreline. The Boston Globe gives the crisis its “Big Picture” treatment this week with a gallery of striking photographs, as BP remains unable to properly plug the leak.

Click here to view the gallery.

The Connection Between War And Writing Is As Old As Literature Itself

Michael David Lukas looks at the next generation of American war literature for VQR, and examines some of the challenges today’s veterans face when they attempt to put their experience into words.

After nearly a decade of US soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems reasonable to ask: where is the literature of our current conflicts? Brian Turner’s poetry collection Here, Bullet, garnered praise when it came out in 2005, and a number of veterans have published memoirs (Melia Meichelbock’s In the Company of Soldiers, Nathaniel Fick’s One Bullet Away, and John Crawford’s The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell, to name a few). But aside from these and a smattering of shorter works, the literature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has yet to emerge.

Our Understanding of the Crime of Rape Remains Flawed

Research indicates that society still has a long way to go in debunking the sexist beliefs that govern our common understanding of rape. With Miss Nevada Christina Keegan taking up the cause of rape education and recovery as her platform for the 2010 Miss America competition, Ellen Friedrichs examines “Why We Still Blame Victims of Rape”.

For many people, a stranger in a dark alley remains the symbol of rape. Yet as Jen Wilson, director of the Rape Abuse Incest National Network’s national hotline explains, “Here in the U.S., around 73 percent of victims know their attacker.” This message hasn’t completely resonated, and as a result, if a woman’s rape doesn’t fit into the expected model, her story might be questioned. And if her own choices or character are questionable? Well, she might really be raked over the coals.

Click here to read the article.

Debt Collectors Call Him a Credit Terrorist

Most people dread receiving a telephone call from a bill collector, but Craig Cunningham looks forward to picking up the phone. Kimberly Thorpe profiled Cunningham earlier this year for the Dallas Observer.

Many collection and credit card companies, intentionally or not, violate little-known consumer rights laws, and Cunningham’s favorite pastime is catching them doing so and then suing them. In fact, it’s a profitable side job.

Click here to read the story.