Science fiction novelists Jonathan Lethem and Kim Stanley Robinson will present a free evening of conversation between authors on “The Literary Imagination” at 7 pm Tuesday, May 14 at the UC San Diego Price Center Ballroom.
In honor of the grand opening of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, these two authors will discuss their use of imagination in literary works, like the imagined future setting of Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This discussion is part of a weeklong series of inaugural events highlighting the collaboration of different disciplines, from neuroscience to literature, in the study of the imagination within the Arthur C. Clarke Center.
Lethem is a novelist, essayist, and short story writer who has melded the genres of science fiction and detective fiction with his first book in 1994, “Gun, with Occasional Music.” He then published three science fiction novels (“Amnesia Moon,” “As She Climbed Across the Table,” and “Girl in Landscape”) before writing “Motherless Brooklyn,” which garnered mainstream success.
Of all his characters, Lethem claims to identify most with the protagonist of this novel. “Motherless Brooklyn” went on to win numerous awards, including the Nation Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the Macallan Gold Dagger for Crime Fiction. His 2003 book, “The Fortress of Solitude,” was a “New York Times” Best Seller and published in fifteen different languages.
Lethem has been praised for not only his blending of genres but for his eagerness to blend literary and popular writing. When asked about his genre mixing, Lethem referred to the way his father’s art “always combined observed and imagined reality on the same canvas, very naturally, very un-self-consciously.” In 2005, Lethem received a MacArthur fellowship.
Robinson, a UC San Diego Alumnus (BA, PhD), is a science fiction writer most famous for his “Mars” trilogy. “Red Mars,” “Green Mars,” and “Blue Mars,” tell the story of the settlement of Mars. With each book, a color transition reflects the changes Mars undergoes in order to become a thriving populated planet. Robinson’s works frequently explore ecological and sociological themes, such as in his novel “Antarctica,” which was published two years after he went to the pristine frozen continent on assignment from the US National Science Foundation. In 2008, “Time Magazine” declared Robinson a “Hero of the Environment.”
“The Literary Imagination” is free and open to the public, with no tickets or reservations required. For those arriving by car, park at the Gilman Parking Structure. Parking is $4 after 4:30 pm. For more information on this and other Arthur C. Clarke Center events, visit imagination.ucsd.edu.
Teaching English abroad has become just as common as studying abroad, offering an opportunity of adventure, particularly popular amongst recent college grads, before settling into the corporate world.
Why has interest in teaching English abroad recently spiked? Half the world’s population is expected to be speaking English by 2015. English is a first language for 400 million people and a fluent second for 300 million to 500 million more.
Cultural and economic reasons have thrust English upon the world stage as the new lingua franca, a common business language used for communications by people who do not share a mother tongue.
If you have ever considered living overseas and earning money at the same time by teaching English, the College of Extended Studies at SDSU and UCSD Extension offer programs that may be a perfect fit for you.
The 130-hour Teaching English as a Second Language/Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate program is offered through the American Language Institute, a division of SDSU’s Extended Studies. The program prepares novice instructors to live and teach English overseas.
A recent graduate of SDSU’s TESL/TEFL program in Saudi Arabia
SDSU Extended Studies is an approved provider for this and many other “education to career” funding programs through San Diego Workforce Partnership, Military Spouse, and Veterans benefits.
More than 150 graduates of the SDSU program have been employed in nearly 40 countries with the help of the American Language Institute’s job placement assistance program, which combines a solid teaching foundation with hands-on practical classroom experience.
“Traveling and living overseas has been a valuable and meaningful rite of passage for generations of Americans,” said Van Hillier, assistant director of the American Language Institute and course instructor. “Facilitating the process for those interested in such an adventure has been very rewarding.”
Hillier received his undergraduate degree at UCSD and his master’s at Rutgers University. He has been teaching since 1983 and has taught English at SDSU and Harvard as well as overseas in Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. He has also taught English as a foreign language in the U.S., Korea, Jordan, Japan, and Mexico.
In addition, UC San Diego Extension’s professional certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) trains teachers to use teaching methods and special techniques to rapidly increase their students’ proficiency and fluency. This certificate provides in-depth study and training in best practices and methodology for teaching English learners.
“The major goals are to provide training which results in highly advanced knowledge and skills in explaining the English language at every level: elementary, secondary, university, and adult, around the world,” says Roxanne Nuhaily, director of the English Language Institute and International Student Services at UC San Diego Extension.
There is a big difference between writing “Eat here and get gas” and “Eat here, and get gas.”
When it comes to business writing, do you mean well but it comes out good? Are you never quite sure what is there, they’re or their? Are you wanted by the grammar police, whose mission is to serve and correct?
Many jobseekers and career climbers are unaware that poor grammar is holding back their careers. Beware if you don’t know that your and you’re are two different words. According to a Harvard Business Review blog, many companies will not hire people who use poor grammar.
An excellent book to help you brush up your grammar skills is “Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by British journalist Lynne Truss.
Asserting that punctuation “directs you how to read in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play,” Truss wittily argues for the merits of preserving the apostrophe, using commas correctly, and the proper use of the semicolon.
This #1 New York Times bestseller’s title is based on the following old joke. A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. “Why? Why are you behaving in this strange, un-panda-like fashion?” asks the confused bartender, as the panda walks towards the exit.
“I’m a panda,” he says, tossing a dictionary on the bar before he goes. “Look it up.”
The bartender turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds a definition. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats shoots and leaves.”
For those in San Diego, more personal punctuation help is also available. Published author Anne Bromley, a writing instructor and consultant, helps students get it right (or write) the first time when she teaches the Professional Certificate in Business Writing program through San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies during the spring semester.
“What’s happening now is that more and more people are being called into management positions and forced to write,” Bromley said. “They get kicked upstairs and realize they are not very good communicators in writing. It has caused a lot of problems in the workplace. We’ve had so many issues where people need help.”
Students who enroll in the Business Writing seminar will receive Bromley’s assistance in a series of three half-day workshops designed for professionals who would like to hone their writing skills.
When it comes to the 1960’s, photographer and documentary filmmaker, Frank Capri recalls the legendary decade well. For Frank, it was not only a time of national change, but also a personal awakening that led him down a path he had never before considered.
Frank, a prominent peace activist in the sixties, grew up in a wealthy family in Virginia, in a community whose affluence isolated him from politics and other current issues. America was emerging from the “sleepy fifties,” a decade without much in the way of national turmoil. But the sixties brought with them two wars, the war abroad and the war over civil rights at home. Suddenly the children of the quiet fifties were young adults in the tumultuous sixties and many of them, including Frank, saw it as a call to conscience.
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech in January of 1961 was Frank’s first major inspiration. As a teenager, he was in attendance of the inauguration, and was profoundly moved by Kennedy’s call to the nation’s young people. As Frank explains it, the message given by those in power in the past had been, “conform, follow, fit in.” JFK’s speech, however, encouraged the nation’s youth to “be active and to speak up.” It was the first time he had heard a politician speak directly toward the younger generation, and was inspired by the president’s openness to change and his admittance that there were some serious issues that needed to be addressed.
The Civil Rights Movement heated up, and was a slow awakening for the rich, sheltered kids in suburban communities across America to all the violence and injustice happening all around them. During that movement, Frank was particularly inspired by another influential figure: Martin Luther King, Jr. He considered King’s speeches a personal call to active citizenship because King was dealing with the problem of racism that had been all but invisible to Frank. It was through King’s speeches and reading about Gandhi that Frank was made aware of the principles of nonviolence. “Make the way you do something as important as your goal,” Frank explains. “If you want peace, don’t kill for it. If you want justice, don’t discriminate.”
Music was also a big factor that sprang many of his generation into action. Frank recalls his favorite musicians such as Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary, who reached an entire generation with moving political and social statements in their songs. “[Their music] wasn’t just another political speech,” he says. “Music has a way of getting to your soul.”
In a lot of ways, Frank believes, the sixties were a time when an entire way of life was undergoing revolution. “We were dealing with all levels of change from the personal to the political” — feminism, racism and war. But revolution doesn’t necessarily mean the violent connotation it has come to imply.
Frank’s first major stand as a peace activist was applying as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, a position he based on the principles of nonviolence. He admits to being hypocritical, because he didn’t spring into action until the war affected him directly with the draft, but he feels the circumstances of the times forced a lot of people to take action more or less against their will. It was a time when the consequences of war and racism and sexism brought a resurgence of spiritual values to the young people. “[We] turned away from materialism,” Frank says. “[There was] too much materialism and not enough to feed the spirit.”
While a senior at the University of Maryland in 1968, Frank began to speak out against the Vietnam War in his classes. He went on a few marches as well, then applied as a conscientious objector to war, a huge decision because he knew he would likely face several years in jail. But he remained loyal to his values, regardless of the disapproval he received at home. Coming from an affluent family of five doctors, Frank was expected to follow in their footsteps. His parents weren’t supportive of anything that might jeopardize his future. Despite familial obstacles and the knowledge that the draft board in Virginia was especially disapproving of conscientious objectors, Frank remained firm to his moral commitment. On a humorous note, he adds that although he believed seriously in his cause, he drove everyone around him crazy with it — including his parents, his girlfriend, and the nine attorneys who tried to keep him out of jail. Poignantly he recalls his college graduation day which he spent at Robert Kennedy’s funeral instead of his own ceremony.
Frank has just finished a rough draft on a book on his experience with peace activism during the sixties, I Refuse to Kill, which he hopes will help balance out the negative picture he feels dominates the media’s perspective of the era. “A common stereotype [of the sixties] was that everyone was a hippie and on drugs,” he says. “And that was true to a point, but certainly not as much as the press led people to believe.” He anticipates his book will help illuminate the serious sacrifices made by many young people in their commitment to bring about peace and justice. Despite intense pressures, they questioned their country, yet were still loyal to it. Frank says he can sum up his feelings about his country with a quote from Albert Camus: “The true patriot is not one who loves his country for what it is, but for what it ought to be.”
Frank Capri M.A. in Social Psychology, is a renowned photojournalist and documentary filmmaker who knew and photographed many of America’s most prominent political figures of the 1960s and 70s. His work has been published in many of America’s most prestigious newspapers and magazines. His film, I Refuse to Kill, about his experience as a conscientious objector, is currently in production. You can learn more about Frank at http://www.frankcapri.com. He is teaching Give Peace a Chance: The 1960s and Nonviolent Protests starting April 10, 2013. Enroll today to save your seat!
Lieutenant Governor highlights and praises the influence of technology on the political process
Revelle Forum welcomes Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California and former mayor of San Francisco, on Monday, February 25, 2013, at 7:00 P.M., to speak about his upcoming book, Citizenville: Reconnecting People and Government in the Digital Age. As voter turnout declines and approval ratings reach record lows, it seems certain that Americans have given up on government. Newsom argues that nothing is further from the truth. Across the country, he notes the stories of individuals who are bridging the vast chasm separating government from the technologies already revolutionizing our daily lives. He contends that we are in an unprecedented era of citizen participation, and the only way for Americans to secure their future is to reinvent their relationship with their government—as they have countless times before, and have the power to do so again. Newsom will be interviewed by Thad Kousser, UC San Diego Associate Professor of Political Science, who is an authority on state and State of California politics. Please arrive early; doors open at 6:30. A book signing will follow the event.
Admission to this event is $25 per person. To register, call UC San Diego Extension at 858-534-9999, or visit revelleforum.ucsd.edu. The series takes place on the UC San Diego campus at the Institute of the Americas located at 10111 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla (parking is $4 in the Pangea Structure). Advance registration strongly advised. No refunds. When registering, refer to section ID number 092753.
“Sure, it’s simple, writing for kids…just as simple as bringing them up.” – Ursula K. LeGuin
We recently had a chat with children’s book illustrator and instructor Joy Chu about her taste in children’s literature and for some advice on entering the field. Joy is teaching our first online children’s book illustration course in Winter 2013 (the class opens for enrollment in October)! Here’s what she has to say about working as an illustrator:
1) What’s your favorite children’s book and why?
Tough one. I keep discovering new favorites. A few have remained timeless:
Because it carries themes on multiple levels that both young ones and adults can relate to. It has pitch perfect text. His “monsters” are friendly, and cuddly, while the main character, Max, is the real monster, and he too is tamed by the end of the book. Totally minimal. But every word, every syllable, every “beat” counts.
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Clement Hurd.
The words rock! The pictures are of a room from the child’s point of view. Every parent can do his/her own version of the text sequence “good night, chair, good night bear…” Much is left to the imagination. Sheer poetry! Characters are depicted as animals.
A book with hardly any words that speaks tomes, with sparse yet meaningful illustrations, combined to form great story-telling. Pure zen!
2) What are the biggest challenges for aspiring illustrators, and do you have suggestions for overcoming them?
In terms of the profession itself, it’s an exciting time. Much cutting edge art is being created. Subsequently, the field is more competitive than ever. It’s beneficial to meet others with the same goals, encouraging each others efforts in improving art skills.
3) What are the key elements to include in a robust illustration portfolio?
Having a confident assured hand that demonstrates a distinct “voice”. No matter what media is used, each piece speaks clearly, from the same person. A great illustration portfolio contains at least a dozen pieces in a variety of subjects. For children’s books, you must render children! And adults. If the human figure is not your strong suit, draw your favorite animals, birds or beasts, in many poses and situations.
Here’s what a few of Joy’s students are saying about her class in Spring 2012:
“I was needing a jump start in my career and Joy Chu’s course gave me just the challenges I needed to get moving.”
“I expected a general overview and hoped to learn a few new tidbits; this class offered so much valuable information, I’d be inclined to take it again. Working through the creative process again would bring new insights into the ever-improving art of the work.”
“She provides a relaxed atmosphere, yet not so relaxed that there is the temptation to be lazy. She has the ability to motivate without driving too hard, something that encourages creativity.”
Joy Chu has a BFA in painting, and works as a graphic designer and publishing consultant. Her work has been cited by the AIGA, BookBuilders West, the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, the National Book Awards, Print, Step-by-Step, and Publishers Weekly. Prior to running her own studio, she was an art director at Harcourt, and a designer at Holt, T.Y. Crowell and Knopf.
In the decades from 1848-1914, Russia underwent one of the greatest social upheavals in human history. What had been for 1,500 years a medieval farming society based on serfdom and slave labor—with powerful nobles acting as warlords constantly threatening a weak central government—rapidly transformed into a modernized society, with over 35,000 miles of railroads, suburbs centered around large cities, and the largest steel production facilities in the world. Yet these enormous changes also created a new society in which poverty was widespread for all but a few obscenely wealthy, corruption was rampant, and hopelessness was common. Russia became a cauldron, boiling with suppressed rage, a perfect breeding ground for political extremism and the underpinnings of revolution.
During this time of immense social turmoil, three Russian authors stand out as the key moral and political voices of their era: Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoievski, and Lev “Leo” Tolstoy. Learn a few facts and discover how these three authors came to be celebrated as three of the best writers of their time.
Born into a wealthy family, Ivan Turgenev inherited his family’s vast estates and thousands of serfs. Yet he was a political progressive whose first book, Notes of a Hunter, was as influential in the ending of serfdom in Russia as Uncle Tom’s Cabinwas to putting an end to slavery in the United States. Fathers and Sons, one of the first novels to depict a vast family saga and the ideological clash of generations, provided the model for many other historic sagas, from Gone with the Wind, to Doctor Zhivago, to Dynasty.
Unlike his fellow writers, Dostoievski and Tolstoy, who saw Russia’s salvation as coming from its deeply-rooted Orthodox spirituality, Turgenev saw Russia’s future as lying in the adoption of Western European principles of social reform. Frustrated by criticisms of his work by critics who found his progressivism anti-Russian, and frightened of persecution by the secret police, he moved to Paris, where he began a decades-long affair with the beautiful and intelligent Pauline Viardot, the most famous opera singer of the time. The two of them counted among their colleagues and friends nearly every famous artist, musician and author of the 19th Century, from Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt to Gustave Flaubert and Henry James.
Russia has a long history of persecuting writers and artists, and during the tumultuous 1840s and 1850s, when violent revolution was sweeping across Europe, Tsar Nicholas I had thousands of artists arrested, exiled or executed. In 1849, Dostoievski was part of a group called the “Petrashevsky Circle” that was discovered and disbanded by the government. After eight months in prison, Dostoievski was sentenced to death, but just moments before being shot found out that his sentence had been commuted to four more years in prison plus four years in the Siberian army. The mock execution and subsequent “show of mercy” was staged by the Czar merely to impress people with his benevolence.
The novels of the great 19th Century Russian authors are rich with psychological insight and an awareness of the complexity of the human psyche. Sigmund Freud considered Fyodor Dostoievski’s The Brothers Karamazov to be one of the “greatest artistic achievements of all time” and held it in equal esteem with Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (Dostoevsky and Parricide, 1928). In addition, four of Dostoievski’s works are on the 100 Best Novels list, including Crime and Punishment, The Possessed, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.
Throughout his life, Leo Tolstoy was profoundly influenced by the political and religious thinkers of his time. After finishing Anna Karenina, Tolstoy turned increasingly towards a life of simplicity and self-denial. He adopted a philosophy—whose ancient origins Tolstoy found in the teachings of Jesus and the Buddha, but whose modern origins can be traced to the works of Thoreau—that all social change should be achieved with nonviolent resistance to the State, whose power he considered to be immoral. Tolstoy’s writing on religion and nonviolence has had profound impact on the last century of world history, influencing leaders as diverse as Mohandas Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Join instructor Peter Clark in one of his latest course offerings and enjoy some of the most unforgettable and beautiful characters in fiction while learning about the fascinating lives and personalities of some of the world’s greatest authors.
Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams was a prolific and extraordinarily influential playwright and author who began developing his storytelling talents at the tender age of 12. He achieved spectacular success early in his career and was the recipient of a number of top awards in dramatic arts including Pulitzers, Tonys, New York Drama Critics’ Circle award, and even the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His large body of work continues to bring to life the most fully-developed, realistic and powerful characters ever created in modern theatre.
Tennessee Williams’ work offers a unique and compelling view on the nature of family, society and relationships. We offer a few fascinating facts about his life, work and legacy:
After graduating from the University of Iowa, Williams received a $100 prize from the Group Theatre and a $1,000 Rockefeller Grant. The awards prompted his move to New Orleans, where he changed his name to Tennessee and fully embraced his life as an artist.
Williams had a difficult and often traumatic relationship with his family. After contracting diphtheria at age 5, he spent nearly two years bedridden and isolated from the outside world by both his illness and his overprotective mother. His father, a shoe salesman, heavy drinker, gambler and brute, took a special interest in taunting his son about his “effeminate qualities.” His source of occasional respite occurred with his beloved grandfather, Walter Dakin, a local Episcopal priest, and his older sister, Rose, who succumbed to schizophrenia and had to be institutionalized at the age of 27.
Many of the characters in his works, including Laura and Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, are based on family members. Williams said of the piece, “The Glass Menagerie has for me the peculiar importance of being the first play that I have managed to write without succumbing to the undeniable fascination of violence. It is my first quiet play, and perhaps my last.”
Williams once had a friend named Stanley Kowalski—the same name as a central figure in Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.
The city of New Orleans honors its connection to Tennessee Williams and his work with TWFest which includes literary tours, writing workshops, productions of his work, and a “Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest.”
UC San Diego offers a wide range of literature courses throughout the year. Join highly regarded artist and instructor Reneé Weissenburger in one of her upcoming courses.
In spare and direct prose, John Steinbeck chronicled the lives of American workers striving to survive and retain a sense of humanity while enduring extraordinary hardships in the face of dehumanizing circumstances. Winner of numerous prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature, he was often criticized for his pessimistic depiction of capitalism, industrialism and materialism.
However there’s no arguing with his stature as one of America’s most important writers: in today’s troubled times, his powerful depiction of the plight of workers during the Great Depression resonates more strongly than ever. Here are a few fascinating facts about this intriguing man and his groundbreaking work.
Steinbeck was denied a military commission in World War II because of his sympathies for the labor movement and his friendship with union activists and left-wing journalists and writers. Instead, he covered the war as a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.
In 1930 Steinbeck met the pioneering marine ecologist, Ed Ricketts, in Monterey. The two men became lifelong friends, sharing an avid interest in marine biology, philosophy and alcohol. They made several important scientific expeditions together, studying and collecting marine life, some of which resides in the collections of the San Diego Museum of Natural History and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The ramshackle lab that the outgoing and charismatic Ricketts had on Cannery Row was the scene of numerous freewheeling parties, with guests ranging from local homeless men and prostitutes to Steinbeck and other renowned authors, such as Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell, Lincoln Steffens and composer John Cage.
Steinbeck was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson and served as an advisor to Johnson on Vietnam. Originally a supporter of the war, after visiting that war-torn country he recommended a troop withdrawal. (Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, John Steinbeck. 1952.)
Of Mice and Men was originally written as a play, winning the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best play in 1937-1938. It is also fourth in the list of the ALA’s most challenged (banned) books of the 21st century. (American Library Association).
Three-quarters of a million copies of Steinbeck’s works are sold annually, including more than 50,000 copies of East of Eden. Seventeen of his 27 books have been made into TV or studio movies.
As a young man, Steinbeck worked as a field laborer on Spreckels Ranch, owned by the sugar magnate, Claus Spreckels. Claus’s son, John, a real estate and transportation tycoon in San Diego, built the Hotel del Coronado, and owned several railroads and ferry companies and the Union-Tribune. Steinbeck’s experiences on Spreckels Ranch, and the human suffering he saw there, permeate all his work.
Confused about the complexity of the issues surrounding the election cycle? We’ve asked professor emeritus of political science at UC San Diego, Sanford Lakoff, to summarize his thoughts on the important questions that face us all in the November election.
1. The Economy
Obama and Romney pose sharply different approaches. Obama would modify the Bush tax cuts to preserve them for all but the top 3% of earners and raise taxes on dividends and capital gains. The receipts would be used to create jobs and end the recession. Romney would lower both individual and corporate taxes and make unspecified cuts in non-defense spending. The aim would be to encourage entrepreneurship, shrink the size of government, and dramatically lower the national debt in the near term. Ryan has also proposed eliminating tax loopholes, though which ones are not specified.
2. Health Care
If Obama wins, the Affordable Care Act–alias Obamacare– will go into full effect in 2014, mandating either employer-provided insurance or privately purchased policies from exchanges designed to promote competition and curbing insurer restrictions and administrative costs. Support for Medicare Advantage policies would be dropped and reimbursements to provider institutions would be cut, allowing savings to Medicare of about $700 billion over ten years and extending the solvency of the Medicare trust fund until 2024. Medicaid would cover more poor families. An estimated 30-35 million currently uninsured citizens would be covered. Romney has pledged to repeal Obamacare. He would also restore the proposed $700 billion in cuts to Medicare, arguing that they are being taken from seniors to support Obamacare. The new administration would set the stage for a transition to a new form of health insurance for the elderly, providing vouchers (or premium support) to be used either to buy traditional Medicare or private insurance. In response to critics, Ryan has modified his original proposal to guarantee that vouchers would keep pace with increased costs.
3. Immigration
Obama would renew efforts to pass the “Dream Act,” allowing young people brought into the country illegally to attain citizenship. He would probably also propose more comprehensive reforms, allowing temporary work permits and providing a path to citizenship for the “undocumented.” Romney has not yet put forward specific proposals, but would probably emphasize security, including completion of the border fence. In the primary campaign, Romney suggested that illegal immigrants should be induced to “self-deport.”
4. Regulation
The Obama administration is pledged to maintaining efforts to regulate the financial sector, as specified in the Dodd-Frank Act and regulation by the EPA of greenhouse gas emissions. Romney has argued that the economy is over-regulated and that market forces are better at promoting both growth and safety than bureaucratic intervention.
5. Energy
The Obama administration has sought to promote a transition from reliance on fossil fuels toward a mix of energy sources in which renewables would become increasingly prominent and automobile fuel efficiency would be greatly improved. The aim is to both promote energy independence and curb emission of greenhouse gases. As a candidate, Romney has not said that he accepts the scientific findings on climate change and has campaigned for more efforts to exploit conventional forms of energy. He has promised to approve the Keystone pipeline project (held up by Obama), to send oil from Canada’s tar sands through the Midwest to southern refineries.
Sanford Lakoff, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of political science at UCSD. He earned his doctorate at Harvard, where he taught in the Department of Government. His publications include Democracy: History, Theory, Practice; Max Lerner: Pilgrim in the Promised Land; and (with Herbert F. York) A Shield in Space? Professor Lakoff teaches People, Power and Politics every Fall and Winter quarterly at UC San Diego Extension, where he discusses the political powers that be and their existing and potential effect on our lives.
