Music called to future conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, at an early age. Though his family could not afford music lessons, Dudamel did what thousands of children in Venezuela do. He went to one of the hundreds of music schools of the National System of Children and Youth Orchestras of Venezuela. Founded in the 1970s by pioneering musician and economist…

In this article, the author talks about Venezuela's national youth orchestra program called El Sistema whose attributes offer a direct challenge to traditional Western music practices. As U.S. classical music--and all "high arts"--struggle to find relevance to more than the small "arts club" percentage of the U.S. populace, El…

Heavy drinking and associated negative consequences remain a serious problem among college students. In a secondary analysis of data from two published study, the authors examine the correlation between minimum legal age to purchase and/or consume alcohol and rates of heavy drinking among college students in 22 countries. The published studies use…

What is the relationship between Indigenous peoples and violent reactions to contemporary states? This research explores differing, culturally informed notions of attachment to land or place territory. Mechanistic ties and organic ties to land are linked to a key distinction between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples. Utilizing the…