Institute for the Study of Culture and Society: Previous Fellows

Readings - Sheri Wells-Jensen, Associate Professor of English

Web Sites

• “The first reading is by someone who has spoken and written widely on the social, economic, and theological implications of the discovery of life on other planets. Given that the number of potentially habitable planets outside our solar system is steadily growing, this is becoming less like science fiction and more like a possibility. He wonders if we are ready.” http://meti.org/blog/seti-imagining-extraterrestrial-civilizations-and-war
• “I do apologize that the language in the second reading is dated. You can definitely tell when something was written by how they refer to groups of people. Try to read past it. Think about your initial reaction to the content and then try to determine if your understanding changes by the time you finish the reading.” https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr02/issue4/f020401.html
• Final note: “Now, I invite you, as a pre-talk exercise, to invent for yourself as many reasons as you can that these two readings would be paired together . . . and I hope to see you in March.”

Web Sites

• How worried should you be about the First Amendment?
• Future of the First Amendment: Knight Foundation Survey (2016)
• NY Times Opinion: The Dying Art of Disagreement:
• Political Polarization in the American Public: How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday Life