Coming in 2015!

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InjusticesTwo things are coming next year that I am very much looking forward to. One is very silly and the other is not. Let’s start with the one that is not, given that it is coming first.

Serious

While doing research for last labor day, I came upon an article by Ian Millhiser who works for the Center for American Progress. The article was, The True Story of How One Man Shut Down American Commerce to Avoid Paying His Workers a Fair Wage. And before it was a note, “The following is adapted from the author’s forthcoming book, Injustices: The Supreme Court’s Nearly Unbroken History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.” The article is great so I went looking for the book.

Unfortunately, the book is not coming out until 24 March 2015. But Amazon has a good summary of the book and it sounds like essential reading:

Few American institutions have inflicted greater suffering on ordinary people than the Supreme Court of the United States. In this powerful indictment of a venerated institution, constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser tells the history of the Supreme Court through the eyes of everyday people who have suffered the most as a result of its judgements. The justices built a nation where children toiled in coal mines and cotton mills, where Americans could be forced into camps because of their race, and where women were sterilized at the command of states. The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy. Nor is the modern Court a vast improvement, with its incursions on voting rights, its willingness to place elections for sale, and its growing skepticism towards the democratic process generally.

What’s interesting about this is that for people my age, the court we knew growing up was liberal with Brown v Board of Education and Roe v Wade. But the truth is that the Supreme Court now is very much as it has traditionally been. It has not been conservative legislators but rather conservatives on the Court who have stood “athwart history yelling ‘Stop!'” Un-elected old men hold the destiny of democracy in their hands. I do not feel good about this.

SillyMinions

Also out next year is Minions. It is not any secret that I love Despicable Me and the sequel. I even wrote a semi-serious article about them, Thematic Uses of Minions in Despicable Me. So when I heard that there was going to be a movie that focused on the minions, well, I was really excited. Admittedly, there will be no Agnes. But still, it has Bob, who was frightened of the journey ahead. And Stuart, who is hungry. And Kevin, who still looks a bit too much like Burt for my taste. Still, it is bound to be a fun journey.

The only reason I bring it up is that I just happened upon the trailer for it. The film is set to be released on 10 July 2015. So that will give me time to finish Injustices. And at that point, I ought to need some cheering up.

Yes, I am easily charmed.

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