News for November 19

What Will We Do Differently?  |  DemocracySpace.org

Peter Levine points out in a post titled a moment for inclusion, reflections on the election, that “it’s important to remember that many people did not vote for him, and some certainly had principled reasons not to.” Those who voted for and celebrate Obama’s victory must remember that he emphasized that he will be the president even of those who did not vote for him.  The only way ‘we’ can work on ‘fixing’ our problems, is by realizing that we all want the same thing: a society that exemplifies the ideas of freedom and justice for all.

Hunger Increased 50% in 2007  |  All About Race

Now 323,000 families may not seem like a big number to you, but it does to me. (That translates into almost 700,000 kids.) I would argue that there is simply no excuse for children going hungry for lack of access to food in this food rich nation. I want our government (yes, I want government involvement here) to make sure food banks have a ready pipeline to food! We can spend $300 billion on Wall Street banks, with virtually no oversight or accountability, but we cannot fund and fill food banks?

• Related link: Child Hunger Rose 50%  |  Christianity Today

Advocating for Urbanism  |  The American Prospect

Obama has promised to create a White House Office of Urban Policy. What will this look like? Who will run it?

• Related link: Obama as Metro Man  |  CSMonitor.com

Malcolm Gladwell’s Method  |  The Wall Street Journal

In “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell’s third book, he casts his eye on people who have excelled in their fields — and then analyzes how their lives have been as influenced by serendipity as much as their own talents. … “People don’t rise from nothing,” he writes. “They are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.”

• Related link: Outliers (review)  |  Marginal Revolution

Thanksgiving & Prayer Definitely, But Not to God, Perhaps  |  Windows & Doors

No society has cultivated long-term success without nurturing in its members the ability to reflect and meditate on the most important issues of the day. And no society has maintained its strength without cultivating its citizens’ capacity for gratitude. But God need not be a part of that for all Americans, even if it is for most of us. In fact, legislating that God should be, strikes me as an idea that is as wrong as creating national days of thanksgiving and prayer are right.