Elizabeth Flock

“In 1984, Jim Koch used his family's lager recipe to start Boston Beer Company, which has since become the largest 'craft' brewer in the country. He brews Samuel Adams, a rich lager named after the American revolutionary that comes with the tagline, 'Take pride in your beer.'”

“The Brewers Association, a trade group of some 2000 small and independent brewers, was founded in 2005 to be a 'passionate voice for craft brewers' and craft beer, and it has made itself as vocal as the bigger Beer Institute.”

“In 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' protagonist Winston Smith works at a propaganda department for the state called the 'Ministry of Truth,' where inconvenient news can be discarded down a 'memory hole.' Orwell was fixated on the idea that under certain governments, the past can be altered or documents rewritten.”

“Antoine 'Fats' Domino was a 1950s rock n' roll pioneer, a larger-than-life New Orleans figure, and a role model for the African-American community in a time of deep segregation.”

“The Food Stamp Challenge, which challenges higher-income families to live as if they are on food stamps, estimates that a person on food stamps has a budget of about $1.25 per meal. In other words, a family on food stamps must buy an entire meal per person for less than the cost of an average cup of coffee.”

“At first glance, The Color Run does look a lot like Holi. Its website is populated by photos of people throwing coloured powder at each other and in the air, outdoors, at the start of spring. The only difference, it seemed, was that there was a 5 km. run added in. And that it cost $54.99 to participate.”

“One of the most bitter complaints of craft brewers is that big beer wins consumers by introducing beers whose names resemble the names of actual independent beers. After New Belgium came out with a popular beer called Sunshine Wheat, MillerCoors, through its Leinenkugel brand, came out with a beer called Sunset Wheat.”

“Hindu nationalist outfits like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh perpetuate a false notion of the 'love jihad' - the false idea that young Muslim men are making Hindu girls fall in love with them to trick them into converting to Islam.”

“Food deserts on Chicago's South Side have shrunk some since 2006, and this has provided health benefits to the communities.”

“The lack of space and a growing prison population has strained resources and put pressure on all levels of the penal system.”

“I think there is this cliche of Indian men who want a forward-thinking girlfriend but a traditional wife. I think that creates tension in a marriage.”

“Not every dollar spent to gain influence on Capitol Hill comes from a big global industrial behemoth. Hundreds of small advocacy groups and nonprofits spend thousands each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies on the issues they care about most, and their efforts often go under the radar.”

“Wal-Mart's slogan 'Save money, live better' promises a lot. So does its entrance into Chicago.”

“There is no denying that unhappiness - even violence - exists in some arranged marriages. Or that some arranged marriages are borne out of cruelty. And part of that six percent global divorce rate can be attributed to the powerful stigma against divorce that's present in countries where arranged marriage is common.”

“The costs of running a prison system as large as Arkansas' are significant, and the system's failures can make things worse.”

“There was a time when poetry often made its way to vinyl; take a deep dive, for example, into the beat poets' countercultural albums of the 1950s to '80s.”

“When American poet Alice Notley was very young, she used to sit in front of the radio and just listen. When she got older, she began to hear words and songs in her head everywhere she went - songs she loved, like 'Begin the Beguine' by Cole Porter, and her own words that sometimes tumbled out into poems.”

“In Mumbai, I found, people practiced a showy, demonstrative kind of love, one unafraid of affection or emotion.”

“A study by the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group, found scenes of graphic violence and gore are increasing in TV dramas - and particularly on NBC.”

“Just a decade after 'Living in Bondage,' Nollywood films, made in some 300 languages, were being watched in both urban and rural areas, distributed on both the streets and online, and finding their way into international festivals.”