Head

• On her new album, Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé puts a new spin on Dolly Parton’s classic song, Jolene.
• Some people commenting online were vocal about not liking Beyoncé’s version, often citing its lack of vulnerability when compared to Parton’s version.
• There are upwards of 80 covers of Jolene, but Beyoncé’s is a departure from the rest.
• The Houston native’s Jolene is decidedly Black, and therein lies the crux of the different reactions towards the song.
• It is important to examine the story Dolly Parton tells on Jolene because it, too, is rooted in her racial and gendered identity as much as Beyoncé’s Jolene is.

How is Beyoncé’s story the same but different?

• Towards the end of the song, Beyoncé and her partner turn a corner and offer hope against the disruption that Jolene represents.
• Beyoncé’s Jolene is introduced by Dolly Parton herself in a short interlude.
• Parton makes a clear association between her experience with Jolene and Beyoncé’s experience with “Becky with the good hair” (or “hussy” as Parton says).
• But the term has evolved to encompass racially ambiguous women with European or Asian features, lighter skin and loose curls or straight hair.
• Why would we expect the song to be the same when these two women are far from?

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Kadian Pow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• She questions whether women like herself – that is, the well-educated, sexually liberated beneficiaries of second-wave feminism – are really better off than their 1940s counterparts.
• But it isn’t quite the avant-garde art crowd looking for anonymous vaginas to cast in their latest 16mm masterpieces either.

• Reconstructed from the travel diary the author kept at the time, the adventure is everything you could possibly hope for in a road trip – provided you (or your daughter) aren’t the one taking it.
• Datsun Angel proves the old adage about time and tragedy making for champagne comedy.
• It self-consciously situates itself as a cross between the substance-induced exuberance of Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson, and the provincially impassioned politics of Australian novelist Xavier Herbert.

• For all her progressivism, there is a note of nostalgia ringing through Broinowski’s recollections.
• Datsun Angel harks back to a looser – dare I say, more enjoyable – university experience.
• The narrative promises, against well-intentioned assurances to the contrary, that what doesn’t kill you will, at the very least, make for a good story later on.
• Broinowski goes part way towards acknowledging as much when she ends her postscript with: “If you’re male and reading this, kudos.

Detachment

• Let me borrow one instead from the middle-aged Elmore Leonard fan whom Gordon encounters in the State Library Victoria early in the book: “dickhead”.
• Yes, that about captures it: the protagonist of Excitable Boy is an unequivocal, grade-A dickhead.
• Fortunately for Gordon (and dickheads more generally), the affliction may be chronic, but it need not be terminal.
• This denotes an overriding structure or cohesion that I felt somewhat lacking from the work as a whole.

• Detachment characterises much of Gordon’s storytelling as he kicks his younger self around the back alleys of Melbourne like a half-squashed can of Monster Energy Drink.
• To be honest, I still haven’t made my mind up if Gordon’s aversion to Aristotelian catharsis is one of the book’s virtues or vices.
• Detail has to be controlled by some overall purpose, and every detail has to be put to work for you.
• Detail has to be controlled by some overall purpose, and every detail has to be put to work for you.
• It is often difficult to gauge what overall purpose the details are serving in these essays, beyond fidelity to memory.

Luke Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• This year, organizers of Earth Day are calling for widespread climate education as a critical step in the fight against climate change.
• A new report, released in time for global attention for Earth Day on April 22, highlights the impact of climate education on promoting behaviour change in the next generation.

How knowledge becomes ingrained

• Teachers have become increasingly concerned about best practices for supporting their charges as young people express anxiety about environmental futures.
• Similarly, Finnish researchers use biking as an analogy to describe the process by which knowledge becomes ingrained in people’s memory.
• The bike model advocates ways of learning that consider knowledge, identity, emotions and world views.
• More than half of the survey respondents were from Ontario (25 per cent) and Québec (29 per cent).

Challenges with climate education

• However, inclusion of climate education in formal school curricula has come with its own set of challenges.
• Educators in Ontario reported a lack of classroom resources as a barrier when integrating climate change education within the curriculum.
• The United Nations has declared climate education “a critical agent in addressing the issue of climate change” as climate education increases across different settings and for various age groups.

Educators finding ways

• More and more educators are taking steps to find ways to teach climate education in schools.
• As an instructor for several undergraduate-level courses, Olsen focuses on equipping budding educators with the skills and knowledge to incorporate climate education in their classrooms.

All aspects of curricula

• Embedding climate education into all aspects of curricula can take a variety of approaches in and outside of the classroom.
• Environmental education has been packaged in different forms, including broadening school curricula with inclusion in science, but also subjects including English, math and art.

Preety Sharma is a public health and development consultant. As a freelance journalist, she covers climate change, public health and nutrition. Ayeshah Haque is a Clinical Content Specialist at the Association for Ontario Midwives.

• CPI PROPERTY GROUP (“CPIPG”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Stefano Filippi as Head of Corporate Finance.
• Stefano is a graduate of University Luigi Bocconi and conducted postgraduate studies at London Business School and King's College London – Dickson Poon School of Law.
• “Attracting top talent typically leads to the best results, and we look forward to seeing Stefano in action.”’
  In addition to his group corporate finance responsibilities, Stefano will also assume the role of country manager for Italy.
• Giuseppe Colombo, who served in that role with distinction for nearly five years, will remain with CPIPG as Senior Advisor for Italy.