By Shantelle Williams-Valadié, BOLD ERG Chair and Associate Director, University Partnerships, Coursera
In the 1968 Olympics, medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos punched defiant fists into the summer air, decrying oppression of Black communities in the country whose colors they wore on their tracksuits. The act seized the world of sports and was widely condemned by mainstream media. Nevertheless, more than 50 years later, the image of those men holding their fists high atop that podium is one of the most iconic in our collective cultural memories, sports or otherwise. What can we learn from this story today, and from the decades of sports activism that have followed?
In a new course from Morehouse College, 5-time NBA All-star and guest lecturer Chris Webber gives us a rare opportunity to hear and examine the stories of John Carlos, and others who risked ostracism and isolation for a cause. Through the lens of sports, learners will explore questions like: “What is protest?” “What is a just cause?” “Did these athletes’ actions make a long-lasting impact?” “How did athletes use their platforms before social media existed?”
In the course, Chris Webber welcomes guests and notable athletes and activists such as Spencer Haywood, Dr. John Carlos, and others, to help us examine issues of leadership, progress, inequality, collaboration, justice, and problem-solving.
On an unusually quiet Monday morning, I sit down virtually with Chris. He greets me with a wide smile, humble and visibly passionate about the course he’s about to launch on Coursera. As we begin to talk, the story of how this course came to be flows naturally from him. There is the occasional interruption when he stands up to show me a photo or, (my favorite), a framed Nelson Mandela quote in his room. In his own words, he tells me what this course, and the new Morehouse partnership it debuts, means to him and what it will bring to Coursera learners.
“Sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.” – Nelson Mandela
Chris, can you tell us about the course and who it’s for?
Activism in Sports and Cultureis a course that, through first-hand narratives of athletes, aims to provoke thought and argument about the place of sports in our economy and civil society. This is a course for everyone, in particular those who love discussion, love history, and who want a fresh look and perspective on what’s happening at the intersection of sports and society today. But, this is not just about sports and entertainment; we’ll be learning and analyzing stories of perseverance, selflessness, and sacrifice.
I want [learners] to be inspired and informed, hearing from the people who have made the greatest sacrifices in order to influence global conversations. I also want them to take a look at societal issues because sports is a microcosm of society: you’ll find players of all beliefs, political affiliations, and backgrounds. We are just a part of society.
Why bring this course to Coursera, and why now?
I wanted to launch this course with Morehouse and Coursera because of the massive reach to learners of all walks of life. On Coursera, learners can have thoughtful, respectful dialogue together and a safe space for discussion through the forums.
It’s exciting to see this launching during Black History Month, and I love that we have a month to celebrate accomplishments of Black people. However, history belongs to all of us and these accomplishments should be celebrated throughout the year.
Tell us about why you chose to create this course in partnership with Morehouse and what HBCUs have meant to you personally?
Creating this course with Morehouse is symbolic—this is a school with a legacy of speaking to progress and human rights even as many in the U.S. have denied Blacks education. Morehouse has been a pillar in our society and community and in these social justice movements. There is no better partner with whom to launch this course, and no better time than during Black History Month.
The connection to and pride for HBCUs in general is personal. I went to a predominantly white college prep high school and although I ultimately went to University of Michigan (which I loved), HBCUs were what I aspired to. College years are among the most vulnerable and fun times of your life.
When we learn, we’re vulnerable. And it’s so important to feel understood, and that you’re not judged by the color of your skin. I’ve appreciated my various education experiences, and especially the opportunity to take courses with HBCUs more recently. My wife and father-in-law are graduates of HBCUs…I owe a lot to these institutions.
How did your personal experiences with education and of this history influence your decision to create this course?
Personally, through this course, I get to honor my heroes like Dr. John Carlos, who’s like a big brother to me. From him, I’ve learned forgiveness and how to stand for something when others are too afraid. I’ve learned from the life practice of so many of these activists.
I also want to bring others into the conversations that I have with mentors, family, and friends all the time. Sports gives us common spaces to start these conversations because it brings us together regardless of our backgrounds or color. Sports brings comfort and trust to this discussion and hopefully let’s cooler heads prevail.
Let me also say something about the way history has been taught in this country. Growing up, my mother was a teacher, and I learned Black history at home and at school. But I had friends who never learned the same history I did and had to be taught it—as if it were something separate and apart. While I love that we have a month to celebrate Black history and the accomplishments of Black Americans over time, this is American history, and we all should learn it. It’s for everyone.
How can athletes and non-athletes be more effective activists?
That’s exactly what this course is built to help people with. I hope people from all over the world enrolltoday and share their ideas and thoughts in the forums.
Shantelle is Associate Director of University Partnerships and the chair of BOLD, Coursera’s ERG for Black Employees. She has been instrumental in expanding access to world-class education for learners everywhere, leading ground-breaking advancements in global education like launching Coursera’s first degree partnership in Europe with HEC Paris’ Master’s in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, first Bachelor program with University of London, as well as bringing to life Coursera’s first partnerships with HBCUs like Morehouse and Howard University.
Wouldn’t it just brighten your day to receive a cute little box of goodies decorated with such black & white gift tags? We created this adorable set to help you share some love with those around you. There are six different design and shapes to make sure you will always find something to match your box.
Print these babies out on sturdy card stock and then attach them to a beautifully wrapped goodie box for a delicious, heartfelt gift. It is sure to put a smile on the face of the person who receives it.
For Personal Use Only.
Do you like decorating gifts or do you prefer premade boxes and wraps? I would love to know that so please let me know in the comments below! I think that such cute details as black & white gift tags can add some personal touch to even small and simple presents.
If you are looking for more Printable Freebies, make sure to check our free printables library
Looking for something specific?
If you have an idea for a printable, let us know in the comments! We are always looking for inspiration. If you decide to print today’s Things That Matter Most poster, make sure to share photos of your decorated room with us via Instagram or Twitter.
: having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily aroused or excited
_________
The word stolid has appeared in 17 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 24 in “The Evening News Is Back” by John Koblin:
Sober and straightforward, evening news programs were a chief information delivery system for decades, led by stolid anchors who guided viewers through triumphs and tragedies alike.
But they long ago lost their agenda-setting influence, supplanted by cable news networks that performed roughly the same function 24 hours a day. And they have been pushed further into the background in recent years by digital media, with its minute-by-minute chronicling of events.
The pandemic has brought back millions of viewers. For now, at least, a concise, crisply produced news program, devoid of the punditry and histrionics typical of many cable broadcasts, seems to match the national moment.
On Saturday, 57 out of 100 senators cast votes finding former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. That tally included seven Republican senators along with all 50 Democrats in the chamber. However, that majority fell short of the 67 votes needed for a conviction, as the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority to convict a president — something that has never happened in history.
Did you watch the news of the Senate impeachment trial? What is your reaction to the president’s acquittal? If you were a member of the Senate, how would you have voted?
A Senate still bruised from the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries acquitted former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday in his second impeachment trial, as all but a few Republicans locked arms to reject a case that he incited the Jan. 6 rampage in a last-ditch attempt to cling to power.
Under the watch of National Guard troops still patrolling the historic building, a bipartisan majority cast votes finding Mr. Trump guilty of the House’s single charge of “incitement of insurrection.” They included seven Republicans, more members of a president’s party than have ever returned an adverse verdict in an impeachment trial.
But with most of Mr. Trump’s party coalescing around him, the 57-to-43 tally fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, and allow the Senate to move to disqualify him from holding future office.
Among the Republicans breaking ranks to find guilty the man who led their party for four tumultuous years, demanding absolute loyalty, were Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The verdict brought an abrupt end to the fourth presidential impeachment trial in American history, and the only one in which the accused had left office before being tried. But it was unlikely to be the final word for Mr. Trump, his badly divided party or the sprawling criminal and congressional investigations into the assault.
It took only five days to reach a verdict, partly because Democrats and Republicans were united in their desire to avoid a prolonged proceeding and partly because Mr. Trump’s allies made clear before it even began that they were not prepared to hold him responsible. Most of the jury of senators had themselves witnessed the events that gave rise to the charge, having fled for their own lives, along with the vice president, as the mob closed in last month while they met to formalize President Biden’s victory.
Party leaders and even the president’s most loyal supporters in the Senate did not defend his actions — a monthslong campaign, seeded with election lies, to overturn his decisive loss to Mr. Biden that culminated when Mr. Trump told thousands of his supporters to “fight like hell” and they did. Instead, in the face of a meticulous case brought by nine House prosecutors, they found safe harbor in technical arguments that the trial itself was not valid because Mr. Trump was no longer in office.
But their overriding political calculation was clear. After party leaders briefly entertained using the process to purge Mr. Trump from their ranks, Republicans doubled down on a bet made five years ago: that it was better not to stoke another open confrontation with a man millions of their voters still singularly embrace.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Did you watch any of the trial? Did you follow the impeachment news? What was your reaction to the trial itself?
Even though seven senators in Mr. Trump’s own party voted to convict him, that number was not enough to reach the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution to convict. What is your reaction to the trial’s outcome? Were you surprised that Mr. Trump was acquitted? Were you angered? Were you satisfied? How would you have voted if you were one of the 100 senators?
Mr. Fandos writes:
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, embodied the tortured balancing act, denouncing Mr. Trump on Saturday, minutes after voting to acquit him, for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” In blistering remarks from the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell, who had openly considered voting to convict Mr. Trump, effectively argued that he was guilty as charged, while arguing that there was nothing the Senate could do about it.
What do you think of Senator Mitch McConnell’s “tortured balancing act” — his denunciation of Mr. Trump’s actions only minutes after he voted to acquit the former president? What do you think about his logic, that Mr. Trump was effectively guilty as charged, but because he was no longer in office, the Senate couldn’t doing anything about it?
Do you think the trial and its verdict are likely to settle the issue of the former president’s responsibility for inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6? Do you think the acquittal provides a degree of closure, and the country can now move on? Or, do you think Mr. Trump is likely to face other kinds of consequences? For example, via a bipartisan Congressional investigation, or through the criminal justice system, as in Georgia, where he is being investigated for pressuring election officials to “find” votes?
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
What do you know about Mardi Gras and how it is celebrated in New Orleans? How do you imagine the pandemic has affected it this year?
If you aren’t familiar with Mardi Gras, here is a description:
Since the first Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1857, elaborate floats have paraded through the city on the last Tuesday before Lent. Thousands of people fill the streets, and marching bands and dance teams come from all over to perform, their horns and drums echoing off buildings. Social clubs and groups of artists and organizers — that go by names like the Krewe of Orpheus and Krewe of Muses — spend practically every month of the year preparing floats and celebrations.
What celebrations, holidays or festivals is your area known for? What traditions, rituals, costumes, or special food and drink mark the occasion? Did the pandemic affect it this year? If so, how did locals reinvent the celebration?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
LinkedIn Learning continues to be a platform that garners a lot of attention, from the LL content, to the solution itself. Bounce around on some LinkedIn profiles and you will see folks mentioning the certificates they have received from LinkedIn Learning. Learning System vendors who have partnership agreements with LinkedIn Learning for its content, often see high usage (depending on the system, but, talk to vendors who do not have a LL partnership, and you will find the majority wanting one).
LinkedIn Learning is somewhat of an oddity, it is not an LXP (although some folks might say so, I initally thought this as well, but that ended quickly), nor is it a talent development platform, nor a upskilling platform (which they could pitch), nor an LMS, rather it is a digital learning platform – which means that the majority of the content is in a video format. Other content is there too, but “course” and “video” are one in the same.
I have spent the last few months, going in and out of LinkedIn Learning, exploring the content, taking parts of the content, bouncing thru the administration side, to such an extent that I could do an in-depth product analysis in my sleep (with ESP of course).
There are folks who are devotees to LinkedIn Learning. Anything you say in an honest but negative connotation will unleash them onto you (via LinkedIn), with this and that. If you love LinkedIn Learning, this product review will not change your feelings.
This review will consist of three parts (seen throughout)
a. Video reviews – yep, I went thru the system, selected a few areas and recorded with a V/O (me) of what you are seeing and my take
b. Screenshots – To aid in the writing, including screenshots of e-mails LL sends you for your top X Skills (the number is dependent on the number of skills you want to learn).
You can share them via e-mail, downloads and much more. You can also view them under certain sections in the post below.
Key Takeaways
LinkedIn Learning has some weird attributes to it, weird perhaps isn’t the right word, wonky is better suited.
If the content is video or listed as a course, which uh means a video, two items will irk you right away.
Auto-play – It is nauseating. I personally am not a fan of auto-play which means the moment you see the video it starts to play. You see this on some sites such as CNN and CBS Sports (which makes the site unusable). I’ve never met anyone who likes auto-play.
Auto-play defeats the purpose of WBT (i.e. e-learning), because it automatically assumes you want to start with the very first chapter of whatever subject, when you may want to jump to chapter four, page five or bounce here or there. You can do this in the courses/videos I tested, because they all have a Table of Contents (a plus, because there is a lot of content, by 3rd party providers who never have a TOC – and should receive an “S” for shame).
Big Win
The big win with the video/course (did I mention they are the same thing, just different presentation), is if you go to “transcript” which you will see under the video, next to items such as “Overview”. Click Transcript, and here you see a transcript of the audio. Now, click on any of the text, let’s say the person is talking about income tax, but you see in the transcript, income tax on domestic goods. When you click that specific phrase, the video will jump right to that point.
This feature does exist in some other learning systems, but since this is a review of LL, it is worth mentioning. And why they do not tell folks – especially those learners who are jumping into the platform thru other sources, and not as part of their organization is beyond me.
Anyway it is a huge win.
LinkedIn Learning’s home page
When a learner logins into LinkedIn Learning and arrives on the home page they will see the following
Please note that they will not see “Go to Admin” if they are not the administrator. For example – without the administrator icon
With the administrator icon – this means the end-user is also an administrator
Browse – Which enables you to browse the various topics available on the platform
A Search function – Which should be amazing, but uh, I found some issues with it
Home – The home, i.e. what you are looking at now
My Learning – This is where you as the learner go to see what’s in progress, saved, my collections, my organization (which means content that your organization finds beneficial to you, can include the organization’s content too, but it does not mean only your organization’s content), Learning History and Skills
Me – Your Profile – including links to your LinkedIn profile
Language
Company logo
And if you are an administrator – Go to the Admin page (this won’t appear if you are not an admin)
Immediately below you will always see
The banner shows various courses/content and there isn’t a clear understanding of what is being “promoted” on the top. Some say “popular”, but I found some of the most popluar (based on people taking the course – which just means they clicked to go into the course, and not that did anything more than that), is not the most widely used, updated, new, etc.
Weekly Goal is where you can set a timer. i.e. this week, I will spend 15 minutes learning. You can select other minute numbers. I selected 15 minutes.
If you are in the midst or taking content whether thru a learning path, learning collection (a series of content), or from your org, you will see them here – but only a few, not the entire list (unless your list consists of two).
Followed below this is a series of playlists, which you can easily assume is tied directly to your organization (employees, which it is not) or tied directly to the skills you are interested in learning – which would slide under “Top Picks”.
In this playlist, I found it to sometimes work and other times not. In my first test, I selected the skills, “Grant Writing” and “Analytics”.
What my Top Picks showed included courses in
How to plan for retirement
Something on being a rock star for a conference
In fact, there wasn’t one piece of content tied around the specific skill of Grant Writing, but if I was interested in CSS, well there was one for that. Analytics, showed a few, but again, not all.
Then you get to the playlists they show themselves, and I found this not to be consistent. While, “Top Picks” always appears at the top, followed by “Trending Now”, playllists such as “Most Popular” can appear third in line, or down at the bottom or elsewhere. “New Releases” the same thing. At one point, I had a playlist for content that can be learned in 30 minutes or less (based on who decided that, is unknown, since uh, if I am taking only a chapter or bouncing around, how do they know how it takes me?). That playlist though doesn’t appear every time on the home page.
Other times there are playlists tied directly to what you are interested in, but again, not all the content is representative, and these playlists do not always appear.
In my skill choices of Grant Writing and Analytics, I did not see a playlist saying “Because you are interested in Grant Writing” nor one for “Because you are interested in Analytics”. However, when I switched skills to “E-Commerce” and “Accounting”, then I did see the following playlists
You may noticed “Holding your Team accountable” and say to yourself, that has nothing to do with “accounting” which I think everyone on the planet would know means the financial side. This is another issue with LL. It does this often whereas depending on what skill or what you search for, sometimes it hits 100%, other times it takes just part of the word (in this case account) and ignores the rest, and you see a result like this.
As for e-commerce, I was hoping to see specifics on e-commerce, not items such as Shopify Essential Training and Learning Shopify. Great, if I am using the platform, Shopify, not great, if I am not.
Other Playlists include
New Releases – Which I found to be pretty consistent on dates, say within a week
Trending Now – Where it clearly isn’t based on a factor of number of learners taking it or using it, in fact I found content saying “Most Popular” with numbers that were low, compared to other content which had a higher number of learners, but wasn’t listed as “Most Popular”. If LL uses an algorithim, they need to fix it.
Popular – This would be easy to assume that it is based on the number of learners taking it or completed the whole thing, but nope, I found content not in “Most Popular” that had higher numbers of both, compared with some in “Most Popular”
Most Liked – This is based sort of on a premise, that if I like it, and others do as well, it must be mean it is outstanding in design or delivery or information or usefulness. This of course is subjective, because just like a “Yelp” 52 five star steakhouse gets you there, you may end up with a steak that tastes like a shoe. Anyway, I found this to be inconsistent too, with content on the list, that was not the most liked compared to some other content that wasn’t on the list. If I see most liked, by darn it, it should be the highest number than anything else. – I found in my latest test, this playlist did not appear (which you will see in a video shortly), however here is proof that it appeared just yesterday.
One challenge I have with the playlists in general is that the whole push these days is about “skill development”, “upskilling” and skills, but with the playlists, “Trending” for example, has nothing to do directly with my skills I want to acquire or interested in. And the same applies to all other playlists (excluding Top Picks, which has its own issues).
One note of wonkiness, is that if you change your skills and go back to your home page, the update is not reflected. You will still see the Top Picks and Because you liked X (the former skill, you had) being shown. In order to see the latest skills you have added or changed to, you need to hit your refresh button on your browser.
I would think that a company such as LinkedIn would already have solved this challenge, especially since I haven’t run into this issue with other learning systems where you can change your skills.
And there are consistency problems. When you hover over the content on the playlists some show the number of learners (taking it, which only means they clicked into that piece of content, and not how long they spent on it, or where they went), and yet other content on that same playlist, does not show it. If you have it, then show it across all pieces of the content.
Lastly, it is hard to recall your skills, and in order to remind you, you have to go either to “My Learning” or check under your profile to see “Skills”, which you click and it takes you to the my learning page. It would seem to me that if you list “Skills” next to the area for “in progress”, “saved”, “from my organization” that would be an added bonus.
When you click “Show all” it takes you to your My Learning page.
In this area, you can share the content, or collection or learning path if you so desire. The “More” if you are an administrator allows you to add the “content” to a collection or a learning path, and you can edit or delete it. Otherwise the options are “save” which then goes to your “saved” section (if you are a learner).
Collections
Catalog
LinkedIn Learning catalog UI is very slick, but I found the “Popular” category/tag if you will, to once again not be consistent in terms of numbers of learners accessing.
I am a big fan of filters, but one that I feel would be very relevant is “Skills”, whereas I could select a filter based specifically on my “Skills” that I selected. Currently, that is missing in the filter options.
Admin Header
Under People
Users
Curators
Administrator(s)
Groups
Overall I found this pretty simple to figure out and use. I did like the two help sections that appear in “Users” and “Curators”. However the first one, I strongly debate on how it truly boosts activation, since it is only helping craft an e-mail you send out. SMS? Not possible.
For Curators though, the information is very helpful
The “Add” button on the top of the header
Add Learners
Create Learning Path
Create Collection
Add Custom Content
Diving in the Administration Side
This video covers the home dashboard for the administrator, from the data captured – which some makes sense others do not, and some items are clearly missing, to the reporting and “skills insight”. One of the biggest misses is while the system constantly pushes “collections”, there isn’t a report nor data telling you how many learners in your organization, selected these collections or created these collections. Nor does it show you what skills are the most popular – i.e. that people created – selected as a skill.
The skill insights identifies what skills people clicked on – content wise, but that doesn’t really help. I mean, I may be curious to what “Adobe Photoshop” is, and clicked on it, because it was on my playlist, but it doesn’t mean I am interested in that skill. Nor does it mean, I went thru this chapter and that chapter.
Segmentation of data does not exist. Another miss. The system tells me how many hours but doesn’t show directly the minutes, rather it is says avg minutes. Yet another chart pushes hours and I can’t click to see what learner (noted as “Viewer”) went into what content, and drill down that way.
In the Reports there is something called Learner Management Details, but the information presented (required to DL BTW), is worthless.
What do you get?
Name
E-Mail
Unique User ID
Business Title
Invitation Date (includes the time)
Activation Date (includes the time)
Last Login (date and time)
License Assigned
License Status
Connected Profile Status (i.e. tied to their LinkedIn profile)
Total Sessions
Hours viewed
Hours viewed per unique login
Groups
That’s it. That’s the details you get in this report. Please show or tell me, how I can really understand what my learners are taking related to specific skills, and additional analysis of skill gaps, identifying strengths and weaknesses?
Settings
Bottom Line
LinkedIn Learning receives a lot of interest, but for those who see the name “LinkedIn” and automatically assume the LL platform will meet the expectations or exceed them compared to the LinkedIn social media platform, they will be disappointed.
The strength of LL is the LinkedIn Learning content, but even there, missteps exist. Popular tags are inconsistent with the number of learners, Trend Now Playlists are not clearly identified as if it is “now” or last week, and trending changes depending on the skills you select, but usually those skills are not even in the “trend now”.
Some playlists appear, sometimes they don’t. And the learner is none the wiser.
The biggest dud of the whole system, is in order for you to see your skills tied to “Top Picks” you need to select skills that has content (more than a few) tied to it. Otherwise, a skill such as “Grant Writing” will show maybe one or two in your Top Picks, and then other content that has nothing to do with “Grant Writing” makes an apperance.
And the biggest fail is that in order to see your latest skills, assuming you update them from the previous skills, is that if you do so, after seeing the playlists for the initial skills and then change, and hit home, the playlists do not update.
Morehouse College launches sports activism course taught by NBA All-Star Chris Webber
By Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer at Coursera
I’m excited to announce our partnership with Morehouse College as we continue to expand our engagement with leading institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the U.S. Morehouse College, a leading producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars, is launching its first course today on Coursera — Activism in Sports and Culture.
Since 1867, Morehouse College has prepared change agents to transform the world through ethical and effective leadership, including prominent leaders such as Nobel Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, and Academy Award-winner Spike Lee. Morehouse ranks among the top 50 most innovative U.S. schools and is committed to helping the nation address inequities by problem-solving through discourse and collaboration on the most relevant issues of our time.
“The division in our country can only be healed if we have the courage to have honest conversations about inequity in our society and the responsibility we each have to understand its roots and find solutions,” said Dr. David A. Thomas, president of Morehouse. “Sports has often been among the earliest and most visible arenas in which to raise awareness about racial challenges. This moment calls for us to hear each other, learn from each other, and uncover the truths which will allow for us to move forward as an informed society. Morehouse is uniquely positioned to serve as the locus for one of the most consequential conversations of our time.”
Five-time NBA All-Star and guest lecturer Chris Webber teaches Morehouse’s new course, Activism in Sports and Culture. The course covers how protests by notable athletes, coaches, and media personalities have shifted public opinion on inequality and furthered civil rights.
“Morehouse has been a pillar in our society, the Black community, and social justice movements. There is no better partner to launch this course and no better time than Black History Month. Launching on Coursera allows millions of learners from all walks of life to take this course,” said Webber. “I want those who enroll to be inspired and informed after hearing from the people who have made the greatest sacrifices to influence public conversations.”
Education is at the heart of human progress and greater understanding. Together, with partners like Morehouse, we’re honored to expand our social justice content catalog and tackle racial injustice through learning.
As simple as it is, adding labels to Blogger posts can help you organize your blog and clean it up. It lets you sort out your content and make all the post topics easy to access for your readers. In this short guide, I will teach you how to add labels to Blogger Posts.
How to Add Labels to Blogger Posts
Follow this quick, three-step guide to have your post sorted out.
#1 Create a new post or edit an already published one
Either compose a new post or click on an already published post to edit it. On the right-hand side, there is a menu called Post Settings. Click on the first option at the to called Labels.
#2 Adding Labels to Blogger Posts
Type in all of the labels that you would like to categorize your post by. Make sure a comma and space separate each label. Try to keep it simple. I usually add around 1-3 labels unless I really need to add more.
If you already added some labels in the past, Blogger will suggest them when you start typing.
Once you will add your label, publish your post.
#3 Check your post
When you view your published post, you will see your labels appear at the bottom of your post.
Keep in mind that not all Blogger template displays label.
Did you know that you can display all labels as a sidebar widget? There is a built-in gadget with many options to list your labels on your sidebar for easy reference.
If you would like to add one, log in to your Blogger Dashboard and navigate to the Layout tab on the left. Once there, add a label gadget to the sidebar of your choice. On the image below, I’m adding this widget to the right sidebar.
Getting a link to your label
Let’s say you want all of your posts that have the label Food to automatically appear under your navigation bar’s corresponding category. To do so, you will need to have a link to your label page.
The easiest way of getting one is by visiting a post assigned to your chosen category and clicking the label name at the bottom of it. You can also click it in the sidebar widget if you are using one.
Each label page will usually have a grey bar above the post informing you and your readers where they are.
Copy the link from the top of your browser and use it wherever you need.
I hope that with this guide, you learned that adding labels to Blogger posts is really easy. If you have any questions, make sure to let us know in the comments below.
: a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person’s given name)
_________
The word sobriquet has appeared in 18 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 19 in “Hockey Broadcaster Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick Retires” by Kevin Draper and Andrew Knoll:
When the N.H.L. begins its next season, absent for the first time in four decades will be the man perhaps more associated with the league than any player, coach or official: the broadcaster Mike Emrick — known universally by his nickname, Doc.
… Emrick ascended to the top of his profession, jockeying with Canadian-born greats like Bob Cole and Dan Kelly in the pantheon of hockey’s play-by-play announcers. He worked in print media covering the Pittsburgh Penguins, earned his doctorate in broadcast communications from Bowling Green State University (hence the “Doc” sobriquet) and transitioned to television from radio in a way that was at once seamless and iconic.
In the United States, the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key, is often performed before sporting events, school functions and other important events. Think about the last time you attended or watched an event on TV where the anthem was played. How did you feel hearing the song? Were you moved by the performance and the lyrics? Did you stand or remove your hat? Or did you feel uncomfortable or unaffected by the song?
If you live in another country, when is your national anthem usually played? How do you feel when you hear it?
Recently, after the Dallas Mavericks had stopped playing it through their first 13 preseason and regular-season home games, the N.B.A. began requiring teams to play the national anthem before games. It was an abrupt reversal of an earlier hands-off approach. In “N.B.A. Says Teams Must Play the National Anthem,” Marc Stein explains:
Cuban told The New York Times on Wednesday that the Mavericks would follow the policy immediately and play the anthem before that night’s nationally televised home game against the Atlanta Hawks at American Airlines Center.
“We are good with it,” Cuban said.
Most players and coaches regularly knelt during the national anthem to protest social injustice while the league played out the last three months of the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., last summer. Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, said in December that the league did not intend to enforce its rule that players stand for the national anthem. The league’s 29 teams apart from Dallas had mostly played recorded versions of the anthem before games.
“I recognize that this is a very emotional issue on both sides of the equation in America right now, and I think it calls for real engagement rather than rule enforcement,” Silver said in December.
In a statement released through the Mavericks, Cuban said: “We respect and always have respected the passion people have for the anthem and our country. But we also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. We feel that their voices need to be respected and heard, because they have not been.
“Going forward, our hope is that people will take the same passion they have for this issue and apply the same amount of energy to listen to those who feel differently from them.”
Why do some feel that “The Star-Spangled Banner” does not represent them? In “African-Americans and the Strains of the National Anthem,” an Opinion essay from 2018 written in response to the N.F.L. player Colin Kaepernick’s original anthem protest, Brent Staples writes:
African-American anthem dissidents are heirs to a venerable tradition of critical patriotism that dates to what W.E.B. Du Bois termed “double consciousness” — the feeling of being part of the American polity yet not fully of it. This insider-outsider status has driven a longstanding struggle among black Americans to find room in a civic and political system that was built to deny them full citizenship.
The “Star-Spangled Banner” itself has been a subject of that struggle since shortly after Francis Scott Key, a slave-owning Washington lawyer, wrote it to commemorate an American victory over the British during the War of 1812. The song would no doubt have been lost to obscurity had the United States military not appropriated it for flag ceremonies beginning in the late 19th century.
This history seems innocuous enough until one considers that the song tightened its grip on the country during the height of the lynching era in the South and became popular at baseball games at a time when African-Americans were barred from white baseball.
This connection was not lost on the great newspapers of the Negro press, in whose pages the song was referred to as “the Caucasian national anthem.” Black columnists discredited the song by unearthing a long suppressed third stanza (“No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave”) that can be read as reflecting the composer’s embrace of slavery and the anger felt toward British officers who used the promise of emancipation to recruit enslaved African-Americans.
By the early 20th century, African-Americans were already turning their backs on the “Star-Spangled Banner” in favor of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — known as the Negro national anthem — written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. Passages like “We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered” acknowledge the place of lynching and slavery in the national history.
Students, read both articles, and then tell us:
What do you think about Mr. Cuban’s decision to stop playing the national anthem before games? What do you think about the N.B.A.’s ruling that the song must be played before all games? Who do you think should get to decide whether the anthem is played? Why?
What are your own feelings about “The Star-Spangled Banner” or your own country’s national anthem? Does it reflect what you believe about your country? Do you feel that it represents you and is inclusive of your experiences? Have you ever decided to leave the room, remain seated or kneel during the national anthem as a form of protest? How did it feel to take that action? How did others react to your choice?
Did Mr. Staples’s essay about Black Americans’ experiences of the national anthem resonate with you or change your mind about the song? Why or why not? Whose perspectives and experiences do you believe are left out of your national anthem?
Some critics of America’s national anthem take issue with the song’s author, Francis Scott Key, who, in the 1800s, enslaved people and spoke publicly of African Americans as “a distinct and inferior race of people.” How much does a writer’s background matter? Should Mr. Key’s actions and beliefs affect whether we use “The Star-Spangled Banner” as our national anthem?
How would you change your national anthem? In December of 2020, the Australian government changed a line in the country’s national anthem from “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free” to “we are one and free,” acknowledging the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have lived on the continent for more than 60,000 years. Look at the full lyrics of your national anthem. Are there any words or lines that you would change to make it better reflect your beliefs about your country? If you wouldn’t change anything, tell us why.
Is there another song from the past or present that you think would be more appropriate as your country’s anthem? For example, in the United States, Black Americans have adopted “Lift Every Voice and Sing”; some sports teams regularly start their games with “God Bless America”; and Jennifer Lopez sang “This Land Is Your Land” at President Biden’s inauguration (a song that some Native Americans say perpetuates the erasure of Indigenous experiences). What song do you think would be most inclusive, meaningful and reflective of your country and why?
