Big Sole Blog (BSB)

I've seen this study before, the one where researchers use puppets to determine whether babies as young as three months old have a sense of morality. CBS's 60 Minutes recently ran an update on this baby research, and here's the video. The research indicates that babies prefer those who help others, that they dislike mean people and want mean people, as well as those unlike themselves, to be

President Obama spoke at the White House today about the Trayvon Martin case saying that 35 years ago, he could have been Trayvon. He said what he had to say diplomatically, making this salient point: . . . [W]hen you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there's a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it's important to recognize that the African- American

Noticing the number of people visiting this blog via search engines seeking information on the Baby Antonio West case, I knew some new information must have been released. When I looked the case up, I learned that gun shot residue (GSR) found on the father's clothes has become a minor issue. More than likely the residue transferred to Luis Santiago's clothes when he met with the child's mother

The UK Telegraph reports, "Publishers have been left red-faced after discovering that they rejected the latest novel by J. K. Rowling, one of the world’s best-selling writers." Apparently, the Harry Potter author has written a crime novel under the penname Robert Galbraith, but despite her book, The Cuckoo's Calling, receiving good reviews while Rowling remained in anonymous, the novel hasn't

As everyone who is not in a coma or asleep right now probably knows, the verdict is in in the George Zimmerman trial. The Florida jury of six women found Zimmerman not guilty. Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year but claimed self-defense. Martin was unarmed. All I have to say to this news as an African-American mother of a young black male is from now on, we "Remember

I have been very quiet at this blog on the George Zimmerman trial because it feels more like the defense has been prosecuting Trayvon Martin than defending George Zimmerman. It's been painful to hear and watch, especially for those of us who have black sons and perceive that what's being said is "all young black men are dangerous criminals." Nevertheless, I had to share this picture which I

Reading a post about Savannah's history at Examiner.com, I discovered a link to a video in which Paula Deen, appearing on the finale of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? last year, discovered that her great-great-grandfather, John Batts, owned 35 slaves. Deen had denied for years, she says, that her family ever had anything to do with slavery; however, she did not seem particularly shocked

After reading both the soft-soaping of what Paula Deen's alleged to have said and done in the workplace and the outbursts of people angry at her and after noticing that often her supporters and her detractors did not bother to read the actual complaint against Deen that Lisa T. Jackson, a white female, filed with the court, I've finally had enough. I must say something. I mean, I suspect even

Slowly at this blog, I am working toward writing more about books, fiction, poetry, and writing in general. In other words, I am attempting to focus Whose Shoes Are These Anyway on a particular pair of shoes, that of creative writer and devoted reader. For reasons only a psychoanalyst would understand, I have avoided doing this in the past. Lorrie Moore A feature at the New Yorker today

I did not watch the CNN report on the n-word versus cracker. I'm too old to waste my time with fruitless discussions; however, this clip from that show with LeVar Burton, Wynton Marsalis, Don Lemon, and Tim Wise came to my attention, and I thought it was worth posting. In the clip Burton tells how he, as a black man, behaves when stopped in his car by police officers. Then Don Lemon talks about