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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Hello, the last two articles from issue #17 are now on the site:


"The GOOD News About Branding"
by Carrie McLaren

In these days when the word "brand" has become a stand-in for any 
person, place or thing, speaking English can be a little depressing. 
We now have two kinds of nouns: common nouns and brands. "Apple" is 
no longer just something to eat, and "Yahoo!" is not what to shout 
when feeling celebratory. Every day brings more brands. The chalupa 
is a brand, as is Taco Bell, and of course parent company Pepsi is a 
brand, owned by Tricon International, a lesser-known brand, unless 
you're looking at global corporate giant brands. Ingredients can be 
brands. Nutrasweet. Intel Chips. Olestra. And pretty much every thing 
or place surrounding brands, from humans to mountain ranges to 
countries, is brandable.

continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/17/branding.html




"HIKING THE APPELATION TRAIL: JASON TORCHINSKY DEFENDS HIS BRAND"

After finding a right-winger using his very own name, Stay Free's 
reporter persues appropriate legal action

by Jason Torchinsky

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but a turd by 
the name of a rose would still smell like shit. This may not seem a 
particularly earth-shaking revelation, but it never hurts to remind 
ourselves how lucky we are that we have a different word for pretty 
much everything. It is also important to be reminded how words can 
become more than words; they can become commodities. The commercial 
world already understands this, and is very willing to defend their 
"rights" to certain words as much as possible.

continued at:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/17/index.html




ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB:


"MORE UNDERHANDED REPORTING FROM ABC NEWS"
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/06/26/index.html
Great story by my friend Marianne Manilov about John Stossel's 
shameless flacking for industry. This time, for a "20/20" special, 
Stossel goads 4th graders into making their environmental teachers 
look bad.



STUDENT FORCED TO APOLOGIZE FOR McDONALDS COMMENT
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/education/A53881-2001Jun11.html
Geez, you can't make this stuff up: When a Connecticut high school 
student gripes about having a McDonald's assembly held during 
schooltime, the principal forces him to read an apology over the 
intercom... in which he has to call himself a "bad student...that no 
teacher would really want in a classroom."

see also:
http://www.theday.com/news/ts-re.asp?NewsUID=4CDE300B-09CC-4B1E-924B-8649CC1DC3E6



"FOR BRAZILIAN WOMEN, CAESAREAN SECTIONS ARE SURPISINGLY POPULAR; TO 
SAVE TIME, MAKE MONEY, MANY DOCTORS OPERATE EVEN IF IT'S UNNECESSARY"
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/wsj_caesareans.html

Okay, so the death rate among women who give birth by Caesarean is a 
lot higher than those who give birth vaginally. And babies born by 
Caesarean are more likely to suffer health problems. So why are 
Caesareans as common as dirt in  Brazil? According to the Wall Street 
Journal, doctors in Brazil tell women that Caesarean sections will 
help preserve their "honeymoon virginas." Caesareans planned for 
Friday afternoon are nicknamed "beach Caesareans" so that doctors 
don't have to worry about delivering over the weekend. Incidentally, 
in web version of this article, the headline was changed to "Many 
Brazilian Women Don't Choose To Give Birth the Old-Fashioned Way." 
(Yeah, that old-fashioned, stay-alive way...)


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