“The American middle class, it seems to me, is looking to politicians now to satisfy a pretty basic - and urgent - level of need. Yet people in the upper middle class - with their excellent health benefits, schools, salaries, retirement plans, nannies and private afterschool programs - have journeyed so far from that level of need that, it often seems to me, they literally cannot hear what resonates with the middle class. That creates a problematic blind spot for those who write, edit or produce what comes to be known about our politicians and their policies.” PeopleNeedsWritingSeemsSchoolLevelsKnownClassPlansMiddlePolicyProducePoliticianBenefitsProgramBlindSpotsExcellentMiddle ClassRetirementUrgentSalaryEditsNanniesBlind SpotsHealth BenefitsUpper Middle Class Author:Judith Warner
“Culture constitutes an essential element of social and political liberation. As people rise up across the Middle East and North Africa, the diversity of their cultures is not only the means but also the ultimate goal of their liberation and their freedom.” PeopleMeanPoliticalCultureSocialGoalMiddleEssentialsElementsDiversityUltimateEastLiberationMiddle EastUltimate GoalNorth Africa Author:Tariq Ramadan
“Between 2001 and 2011, Brazil lifted 20 million people out of poverty and into its growing middle class, and in the last quarter of the twentieth century Botswana's gross domestic product per capita grew faster than that of any other country on the planet. The once-labeled 'Third World' is edging its way into the 'First World.'” PeopleWorldWayFirstsCountryLastsClassPovertyMillionsGrowingMiddleCenturyPlanetsProductsGrewThirdsFasterMiddle ClassQuartersOther CountriesGrossTwentieth CenturyThird WorldBrazilGross Domestic Product Book:Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth Source: Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth
“I talked with people starting up in the middle of the recession and employees, and supplies and office space were cheap. As far as companies that are already in existence, many became more creative with how they spent their money. A lot of them stopped wasting money that they didn't know they were wasting after they looked hard at their businesses. Some had to change business models because of the economy. Their market didn't exist or wasn't as big anymore.” PeopleKnowsHardBigsSpaceExistenceCompanyEconomyCreativeMiddleOfficeModelsStartingEmployeeSuppliesRecessionsBusiness ModelsStarting UpOffice SpaceWasting Money Author:JJ Ramberg
“In the past I've had public feuds with people, and I have really not benefited from any of them. The feud with Eminem did kind of torpedo my career in the United States, but it also introduced me to Middle America in a way I never could have conceived of.” PeopleWayKindStatesAmericaPastUnitedCareersUnited StatesMiddleFeudsMiddle AmericaTorpedoes Author:Moby
“Austin - it's a stimulating center. In this conversation, the very first two questions were talking about my kind of wanderlust and my adventures. Some people at my time in life travel forever. I don't know whether it's the British or the Australians - whoever it is, you can kind of stagger into some sort of far-off bastion in the middle of nowhere, and you'll find someone from Britain or someone from Australia or maybe an American.” PeopleKnowsFirstsKindTwoTalkingForeverMiddleAdventureConversationBritishMy TimeBritainAustraliaAustinMiddle Of Nowhere Author:Robert Plant
“I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people interrupt themselves in the middle of some story they're telling me to say, "You know you can't write about this."” PeopleKnowsWantWritingStoriesEyeMiddleMaterialsTroll Author:Dani Shapiro
“Mindfulness is the key to everything, and this is especially true when one approaches the cultural portal known as "middle age." This is when people mindlessly believe that it's normal to get diseases and start to fall apart. But the truth is that midlife is the time when people need to wake up and be far more mindful about their everyday habits and thinking patterns.” PeopleThinkingNeedsBelieveAgeFallKnownMiddleKeysHabitTruth IsDiseaseNormalApproachMindfulnessWake UpEverydayPatternsFalling ApartMiddle AgesPortalMidlife Author:Christiane Northrup
“I've always kind of been in the middle of every room, trying to get people together, no matter what color they were.” PeopleTryingKindMatterTogetherRoomsMiddleColorNo Matter What Author:Valerie June
“Americans are curious about the texture of everyday life in the Middle East because they rarely get to see it. I wanted readers to feel like they were sitting around the dinner table with me and my friends, hearing what average people really say and really think, [where] the dinner table is the best place to find out.” PeopleThinkingFeelsWantedMiddleReaderSittingMy FriendsTablesEverydayAverageHearingDinnerEastCuriousMiddle EastEveryday LifeTextureSitting AroundBest PlaceDinner Table Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“So much of what we see and hear about the Middle East focuses on what we call politics, which is essentially ideology. But when it comes to the Middle East, and especially the Arab world, simply depicting people as human beings is the most political thing you can do.” PeopleWorldHumansPoliticalCan DoHuman BeingsMiddleEastIdeologyMiddle EastArab World Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“There's a long history in the Middle East of "bread intifadas," starting with 1977 in Egypt, when Anwar Sadat tried to lift bread subsidies. People rebelled and poured into Tahrir Square, shouting slogans against the government just like they did earlier this year. Sadat learned his lesson and kept bread subsidies in place, and so did a host of other Middle Eastern dictators - many of whom were propped up for years by the West, partly through subsidized American wheat.” PeopleYearsLongGovernmentMiddleLessonsWestStartingEastBreadLiftsSquaresHostMiddle EastDictatorEgyptEasternSlogansShoutingWheatSubsidiesSadatTahrir Square Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“I'm optimistic, though. Now, with the Arab Spring, I think that people in the region are beginning to overturn some of these clichés, and Western editors are starting to catch up. We're seeing some exceptions to the stereotypes, like Elizabeth Rubin's great piecein Newsweek, "The Feminists in the Middle of Tahrir Square." But an article like that shouldn't be the exception. It should be the rule.” PeopleThinkingShouldSeeingMiddleSpringWesternStartingFeministOptimisticExceptionRegionsEditorsSquaresArticlesStereotypeArab SpringTahrir Square Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“I have people who come up to me and say, 'Oh, seeing your work in my little home town in the middle of nowhere on the internet inspired me to move to London, or New York and pursue a creative career.' It makes me quite emotional.” PeopleLittlesHomeMovingCareersCreativeSeeingMiddleNew YorkEmotionalInternetTownsInspiredCome UpLondonPursueMiddle Of NowhereHome Town Author:Kesh
“I felt what I was trying to do was make people realize that comics could be deep. I stopped myself in the middle of saying that because the Bazooka Joe thing I do with Dante's Inferno, that was just a goof. I wasn't trying to make people look at Bazooka Joe more seriously. But in my mind it's always been important.” PeopleTryingMindLooksImportantFeltRealizingMiddleInfernoGoofsBazookas Author:Robert Sikoryak
“Some people that are heroes to some can be looked at by another group of people as villains. As far as a middle point, just speaking for myself, that's exactly what to avoid.” PeopleGroupsMiddleHeroVillain Author:Jon Bernthal
“But when you only speak using generalizations, you run the danger of denying the specific. In recent decades, millions of people have come to us from cultural groups within which women have absolutely no rights. They do not have a voice of their own and they are totally dependent on their fathers, brothers or husbands. That applies to North Africa and that applies to large parts of the Middle East. It isn't always linked to Islam.” PeopleRunningFatherSpeakVoiceMillionsRightsGroupsMiddleDangerBrotherHusbandIslamEastDecadesDependentMiddle EastLinkedGeneralizationNorth Africa Author:Alice Schwarzer
“People aren't stupid. They saw what was happening at the Cologne central station. A lawless space was created in the middle of a city of over a million. That has to be addressed and it has to be done so in a sober-minded way.” PeopleWayDoneSpaceCitiesMillionsSawsMiddleStupidHappeningsStationsSoberCologne Author:Alice Schwarzer
“Our traditional stories are based on an aristocratic model without a middle class, whereas The Arabian Nights reflect people living in cities, traders, merchants, travelers, with a wide range of personalities.” PeopleStoriesNightCitiesClassMiddlePersonalityModelsWideTraditionalRangeMiddle ClassTravelerMerchantsTradersArabianAristocraticLiving In The CityArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“I'm worried about people who say Bush is lying. It's much more frightening that he's not lying, that he believes what he believes: that it's his mission to change the Middle East into a democracy. That's more unnerving.” PeopleBelieveLyingDemocracyMiddleMissionsEastWorriedMiddle EastFrightening Author:Seymour Hersh
“King Hussein of Jordan dedicated his life - I witnessed it in his sleeping as well as waking hours - to trying to break through the impasses keeping people apart. He understood that the security and prosperity of any one of us in this world depends on the security and prosperity enjoyed by others. As Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In the Middle East, nothing could be more true.” PeopleWorldTryingWellsSaidHoursJusticeSleepBreakMiddleSecurityThis WorldDependsKingsUnderstoodThreatInjusticeProsperityEastEnjoyedWakingDedicatedMiddle EastHusseinLutherJordanBreak ThroughImpasseInjustice Anywhere Author:Queen Noor of Jordan
“We are always centered in the middle of chaos. It never goes away. It's important to find your inner peace. For me, it's literally looking at the bigger picture. When I think about the size of the universe, I feel like any problems I'm surrounded by are so small. I just do my best to react to chaos with love, and hopefully, other people will catch on and do things out of love too.” PeopleThinkingFeelsImportantProblemUniverseMiddleBiggerChaosSizeInner PeaceHopefullyHope And LoveBigger Picture Author:Melanie Iglesias