Thumbs: ‘Antiracist baby’ has last laugh
Nobody’s stealing Booker’s joy; a new use for N95s; something worse than smog.
Nobody’s stealing Cory Booker’s joy — nor apparently his coveted collection of self-help books by Houston’s celebrity academic Brené Brown. Early in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, before they descended into a deplorable feeding frenzy by presidential hopefuls fattening their presidential prospects at the trough of free TV air time, Booker expressed optimism about the process and about his colleagues. He even claimed he got along with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican who can’t even get a lunch date within his own party. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, paraphrased Brené Brown, University of Houston professor and bestselling author, in saying it’s hard to hate people up close so he tries to work with colleagues with whom he vehemently disagrees on policy issues. Booker’s tune changed a bit by the end, though, after days of watching the first Black woman nominated for Supreme Court harangued by Cruz and his ilk about everything from her sentencing of child porn offenders to her affiliation with a private school that may or may not assign kids to read a book called “Antiracist Baby.” Booker still wasn’t hating, though, ever loyal to his life coach and vulnerability guru Brown, proclaiming that despite all the ugly partisanship that soiled the historic proceeding, “nobody’s stealing my joy!” Ours, either, senator. But probably nobody in America was as joyful this week as Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author who wrote “Antiracist Baby.” Apparently Cruz’s mention of the children’s picture book, which he lumped in with other books he considered part of the “critical race theory” movement, sent sales soaring to bestseller status on Amazon. Even people who may have chuckled or rolled their eyes upon noticing Kendi’s provoca
tive title on a shelf at Target are suddenly curious as to whether it’s truly sowing the kind of cultural downfall and racial strife that Cruz bemoans or maybe just trying to get kids to treat each other fairly. Of course, another book on Cruz’s burn list, “The End of Policing,” also enjoyed a spike in sales. Cruz’s interrogation of Jackson over private school book assignments she had nothing to do with didn’t yield much by way of meaningful political discourse. A new marketing strategy for publishers? Quite possibly. And just think of the fame Kendi will enjoy once people learn of another prominent official affiliated with a private school where his books
are assigned. That would be Cruz himself, whose daughters attend St. John’s School here in Houston. Speaking of irritants, Houstonians dread allergy season almost as much as we dread hurricane season. And this next one promises to be bad, according to Dr. Omar Ahmed, an ear, nose and throat doctor at Houston Methodist. Blame climate change, which has pushed pollen counts higher in the longer, warmer springs and falls across the country. But, hey, yet another use for your N95 masks, which Ahmed said can offer some protection. Yeah, you just thought you were done with those. Maybe we’ll never be done with those. If it’s not a
deadly virus wafting through the air, it’s particulate matter that’s apparently even more menacing than the the ozone smog we usually worry about. Turns out, our oil and gas state actually “burns more coal and emits more sulfur dioxide and other pollution than any other state.” That’s according to Daniel Cohan, a Rice University civil and environmental engineering professor who worked with computer science major Richard Morse, civil engineering major Sarah Salvatore and current Carnegie Mellon University graduate student Joanna Slusarewicz on a recent analysis of the state’s wind and solar capabilities. In a new paper, the team did highlight a bright spot:
Texas has enough solar and wind projects approved and in the works to almost replace coal’s output. As the article notes, “Simply put, it’s not always windy and not always sunny, but it’s almost always windy or sunny somewhere in Texas.” The tricky part, Cohan said, is transmission, making sure that the power generated in those sunny and windy places makes it to cities. For that — wouldn’t you know it — more funding is needed.
One year after making its first Final Four since the 1980s, most talking heads assumed this would be a “What if ?” campaign for Houston Cougars men’s basketball after losing star players Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark to season-ending injuries a couple of months ago. As the college sports world is learning, doubt coach Kelvin Sampson and the Coogs at your peril. The UH squad overcame the injuries and built up a near-impenetrable defense that’s got them one win from a repeat Final Four trip. Houston held the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats 25 points below their season average Thursday night en route to a 72-60 Sweet 16 victory. If you’ve got friends or family in San Antonio, let them know to expect to see red this weekend. Thousands of Coogs are making the 195-mile trip west on I-10 to watch the Elite Eight game at the AT&T Center Saturday evening. We’ve no doubt Houston fans will pack the place and drown out Villanova’s faithful with “Whose House? Coogs’ House” chants.
Thumbs loves some March Madness: We also cheered hard Thursday for the Texas Tech men against Duke and Friday night for the Texas women’s team as they defeated Ohio State in the Sweet 16.
Here’s hoping Cougar fans will get to caravan east on I-10 next weekend instead of west for the men’s Final Four in New Orleans. You’ve got this, UH.