Carla Hayden: By the Book; New York Times, August 3, 2017

New York Times; Carla Hayden: By the Book

"Which book would you wish all Americans would read? And which book would you want all American schoolchildren to read?

I just want people to read, so I have never been prescriptive about it. But I do think “A History of Reading,” by Alberto Manguel, includes a specific chapter that is so important. It is about forbidden reading, and talks about what happens when reading is suppressed. Everyone should understand that reading is not something to take for granted."

It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 6/25/15

[Video] U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories:

[Kip Currier: While prepping for a patent lecture for my Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements course next week, I serendipitously found this inspiring "It Gets Better" video from 2015, featuring USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee and openly LGBT employees in the USPTO.]

"“Do not let the bullies of the world distract you from the commitment to achieve your fullest potential,’ says USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee in this video featuring stories from our employees, “It does get better.”"

Why ‘Star Trek’ was so important to Martin Luther King Jr.; Washington Post, 9/8/16

Elahe Izadi, Washington Post; Why ‘Star Trek’ was so important to Martin Luther King Jr. :

"Then, she broke the news to him that she was quitting the show. His smile faded, Nichols recalled later, as he firmly told the actress that she couldn’t leave “Star Trek.”

“He said, ‘Don’t you understand what this man [Roddenberry] has achieved? For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing and dance, yes, but who can go into space, who can be lawyers and teachers, who can be professors — who are in this day, yet you don’t see it on television until now,'” Nichols recalled in a later interview.

He went on: “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed. Because, you see, your role is not a black role, it’s not a female role. He can fill it with anything, including an alien.”...

Nichols stayed on the show, and said she never regretted that life-altering decision. She went on to help NASA recruit new astronaut candidates, many of whom were women and people of color."

Why media coverage of LGBT Olympic athletes is ‘simply unacceptable’; Washington Post, 8/16/16

Steven Petrow, Washington Post; Why media coverage of LGBT Olympic athletes is ‘simply unacceptable’ :

"Unfortunately, the Daily Beast incident is only the most egregious among other media “fails” in its LGBT coverage from Rio...

Let’s also take a look at NBC’s coverage of gay diver Tom Daley’s win of the bronze medal in the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving finals. Although the network routinely pans to parents, spouses and opposite-sex partners in these moments of triumph or defeat, NBC failed to identify Daley’s fiance Dustin Lance Black (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the film “Milk”) sitting in the stands. Black, who emailed me from Rio, didn’t want to comment on his own situation but did offer this: “I can say in general that visibility is the cornerstone of the modern LGBT movement, and any news organization that actively avoids or ‘closets’ LGBT people, relationships or stories is most certainly on the wrong side of today’s struggle for better understanding, equality and acceptance.”

That’s exactly why responsible media coverage of the LGBT community remains so important. It’s not always life and death. But it’s always pride and prejudice."