Apr 25th, 2008 · Teens today are just as likely to be writing on their phones as talking on them. They're texting, blogging, instant messaging — forms of communication that really have their own language. A new study says that shorthand is making its way into teens' schoolwork. Two-thirds of teens say they've used acronyms and sideways smileys in formal school assignments.
Mar 28th, 2007 · Media shorthand has reduced the music of the '80s to a set of telltale signifiers: big hair, skinny ties, and so on. But a few surviving documents, among them Richard Barone's fantastic Cool Blue Halo, demonstrate that the era was fruitful for classic pop.
Oct 7th, 2006 · In American fiction, TV and film, suburbia has long stood as shorthand for repression. It's a place of "wide lawns and narrow minds," as Earnest Hemingway put it. But representations of the suburbs have taken on a different shape of late.
Sep 19th, 2005 · Even before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf region, sending hundreds of thousands of evacuees scattering through neighboring states, Alabama's schools faced a serious teacher shortage. A survey of the state's school districts reveals an unusually high number of unfilled teaching jobs and now. With an influx of nearly 4,000 new students from Louisiana and Mississippi, the problem is escalating.
Oct 27th, 2004 · NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates discusses the new book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America with its co-author, Samuel Abrams. Abrams argues that the "red vs. blue" cultural divide repeated by American media is inaccurate shorthand, and that Americans agree more than disagree about many important issues.