Matthew Ellison
Matthew Ellison
Recent Stories
Ellison: Using what we’ve learned
Raising Hellison
Earlier this year, Sarah Palin told Chris Wallace, “I’m never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I’m not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I’m going to fight the elitist, because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America feel like we just don’t get it.” Back in 2004, John Kerry ’66 was labeled a “rich liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he’s a man of the people.”
Ellison: A devilish passion
Raising Hellison
Human history has been marred by struggles between groups. Untold millions have perished for simply being members of the out-group. Criteria for such divisions have varied widely over the years, including characteristics such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality and many others. Sometimes groups have formed and fought in the absence of any detectable differences between their members.
Ellison: Yes, who did?
Point/Counterpoint
Late Sunday evening, upon the passage of health insurance reform legislation by the House of Representatives, President Obama spoke to reporters in the East Room of the White House. After discussing the momentous nature of the achievement and thanking members of Congress and his administration, he spoke directly to his supporters.
Ellison: We need answers
Raising Hellison
Andre Narcisse ’12 was one of my Branford little sibs, but beyond the initial meet-and-greet at the beginning of his freshman year, I did not have any interaction with him. To be honest, I didn’t even remember meeting him until after he died when I wondered how we were Facebook friends and found an old e-mail. Sometimes I wonder whether I could have been a better big sib and done something to prevent his death at the hands of “multiple drug toxicity.”
Ellison: Fighting for our words
Raising Hellison
Political discourse these days seems to thrive on feigned outrage and manufactured scandals, and Sarah Palin is not new to the practice. This month’s installment: She called for Rahm Emanuel to step down after he called plans by liberal activists to run ads attacking Democrats who were stalling health care reform “f—ing retarded.”
Ellison: Reading between the lines
Raising Hellison
I read newspapers before I really knew how to read. Every morning from when I was about four until when I was about six, I would sit on the floor with the sports section and read through the box scores. In time, I read the front section as well. It made me feel grown-up and important; I could read the newspaper and know everything that was going on in the world.
Ellison: Can we get more secure? Yes.
Raising Hellison
No matter how strong and powerful al Qaeda may be, as long as TSA screeners do their jobs, no terrorist will be able to take control of an airplane cockpit.
Ellison: Shaking the grade
For the next two weeks, we will all engage in a furious dash to the end of the semester, churning out papers and cramming for finals. Why?
Ellison: A dangerous shift to the right
Last month, on this page, John Scrudato ’11 praised the candidacy of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman for New York’s 23rd Congressional seat (Politics of revenge, Oct. 29). He wrote, “The hope is that Hoffman’s success will encourage voters across the country to stop looking at politics as red versus blue and take a chance on something truly different.”
Ellison: Why I'm a Yankee hater
When anyone asks me what baseball team I root for, I tell that that the most accurate answer is that I root against the Yankees.