Life + Debt: If you come to Jamaica as a tourist, this is what you will see...

Life + Debt. [DVD-1617]. 86 min. 2003.

This documentary examines the effects of World Bank and the International Monetary Fund loans on the infrastructure Jamaica established in the wake of independence from the UK in 1962. Seven billion in debt (circa 2000), Jamaica has seen its agricultural industries laid to waste by the impossibility of competing with subsidized, multi-national American based companies. The poverty of 'average' Jamaican in a shantytown near Kingston is in stark contrast to the luxurious tropical fantasy paradise experienced by tourists in posh Montego Bay. In a dog-eat-dog global economy, the US and its multinational corporate clients have all the advantages, while Jamaica has no agriculture, no industry, and no tax base--only ever-growing debt.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

The Elegant Universe. [DVD-1619]. 180 min. 2003.

Physicist Brian Greene discusses the historical quest for a grand unified theory in physics which will reconcile quantum physics and general relativity, and considers the possibility that superstring theory may bring an end to that search.

The Ghost Particle: Neutrinos-- the Secret Ingredient to the Cosmos

The Ghost Particle. [DVD-1618]. 56 min. 2006.

The cosmos has a secret ingredient: a swarm of invisible particles that fill every cubic inch of space. Trillions of them zip through our bodies but we don't notice a thing. Nova tells the 70-year struggle of scientists to understand them.

Social Class in America

People Like Us: Social Class in America [MV-6791] [County Consortium # 301956]. 124 min. 2001

"Social Class: As in "middle class," "working class," "upper class." It's the 800-pound gorilla in American life that most Americans don't think about: how do income, family background, education, attitudes, aspirations, and even appearance mark someone as a member of a particular social class?
Class can be harder to spot than racial or ethnic differences, yet in many ways it's the most important predictor of what kind of financial and educational opportunities someone will have in life.
But class is a hard subject to talk about in a society like ours, where the idea that all people are created equal and that a poor child can become President is enshrined in national legend." --PBS website.

Faculty and students can check out the VHS Tape from the Library's Media Desk, or they can request the DVD from the County collection by sending an email to marty.armstrong@gcccd.edu

Generation M: Misogyny in Media & Culture

Generation M: Misogyny in Media & Culture. [DVD-1607]. 60 min. 2008.

"Despite the achievements of the women's movement over the past four decades, misogyny remains a persistent force in American culture. In this important new documentary, Thomas Keith, Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Long Beach, looks specifically at misogyny and sexism in mainstream American media, exploring how negative definitions of femininity and hateful attitudes toward women get constructed and perpetuated at the very heart of our popular culture. The film tracks the destructive dynamics of misogyny across a broad and disturbing range of media phenomena: including the hyper-sexualization of commercial products aimed at girls, the explosion of violence in video games aimed at boys, the near-hysterical sexist rants of hip-hop artists and talk radio shock jocks, and the harsh, patronizing caricatures of femininity and feminism that reverberate throughout the mainstream of American popular culture. Along the way, Generation M forces us to confront the dangerous real-life consequences of misogyny in all of its forms--making a compelling case that when we devalue more than half the population based on gender, we harm boys and men as well as women and girls"--Container.

Tulia Texas: An Account of a miscarriage of justice

Tulia Texas. [DVD-1609]. 54 min. 2008.

"Through its scrupulous investigation of a landmark case, Tulia, Texas uncovers the deep-rooted assumptions about race and crime that still permeate our society and undermines our justice system. The film convincingly shows how the 'war on drugs' has become a war on due process, waged against African Americans. Today America has the largest prison population in the world; in some states as much as 15 percent of the black male population is incarcerated. Tulia, Texas shows one reason why."--www.newsreel.org

A Dream in Doubt: America's first post-9/11 hate crime murder

A Dream in Doubt. [DVD-1608]. 54 min. 2007

Four days after the 9/11 attacks, Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down at his Phoenix area gas station by a man named Frank Roque. To Roque, Balbir Sodhi's beard and turban-articles of his Sikh faith-symbolized the face of America's new enemy. A DREAM IN DOUBT follows Rana Singh Sodhi, Balbir's brother, as he attempts to fight the hate threatening his family and community. But less than a year after Balbir's murder, Sukhpal Sodhi, Rana's next-eldest brother, is killed in mysterious circumstances while driving a cab in San Francisco.Wanting justice for his brothers' murders, Rana is motivated towards social action. He demands that America live up to its ideals of freedom, equality and justice for all. In A DREAM IN DOUBT, he challenges his fellow citizens to think deeply about individual responsibility in the face of bigotry and what it means to be a true patriot.