Happy Fourth of July! Today's show is on tape: The joys and difficulties of becoming an American citizen; What can gay couples teach straight couples about harmony?; Chris Nichols shows off his bowling trophies; Duke researchers say we underestimate 'The Genius of Dogs'
Who decides when you're "American" enough?
Being an American is an idea that most of us understand, but it's a little hard to explain: the American identity encompasses some very big ideas that brings in culture, politics, family, and more.
Then when people become citizens, that history becomes a part of them, too.
We look at what that identity is -- and the moments when immigrants finally believe that they, too, are American -- with Lisa Garcia Bedolla. She's a professor of education and political science at UC Berkeley, and author of, "Mobilizing Inclusion," and, "Fluid Borders: Latino Power, Identity, and Politics in Los Angeles."
What can gay couples teach straight couples about harmony?
Two weeks ago, Minnesota became the 12th state to pass a law allowing gay marriage. Yesterday, France legalized the marriage of same-sex couples. And in a culture where divorce is becoming more and more commonplace, maybe same-sex couples can teach the traditional husband and wife pairing a thing or two about couple dynamics.
In a recent cover story in The Atlantic, “The Gay Guide to Wedded Bliss,” Liza Mundy discusses how same-sex unions are happier than heterosexual marriages. Her studies show that gay and lesbian couples, whether intentional or not, are more in sync than straight couples across many areas. For example, chores.
“Study after study has shown that these unions tend to be more egalitarian,” Mundy said on Take Two Thursday. “There's still a fair amount of traditional division of labor in straight households, whereas gay couples start with a blank slate, and have to negotiate every duty.”
Mundy mentions how in male-female couples’ household duties, the wife tends to clean the bathroom while the husband traditionally takes out the trash. In same-sex unions, however, each couple divvies up chores more based on their strengths rather than gender roles.
This same logic applies to an issue oft-debated in marriages: parenting. While the woman is generally assumed to play the major role in child care in many couples (though men are taking the role more and more), Mundy says that taking gender out of the equation can lead to a better parenting dynamic.
“When it comes to parenting, for example, in gay couples, both parents tend to be present more at the same time,” Mundy said on raising children. “They’re co-parenting… together.”
Mundy’s study showed that in contrast, straight couples being around children together were more likely to have the mother interacting by herself with the kids, with the father “off on his Blackberry or playing with Tinker Toys by himself.”
The role of specialization in couples, however, is anything but gone. Mundy found that same-sex couples frequently specialize, with one partner being the primary bread-winner and the other being a stay-at-home parent or supplementary earner. She found this especially prevalent in gay households, leading to the third point of her study: women are more likely to leave marriages.
“In Europe, lesbian couples are twice as likely to break up as gay couples are,” Mundy said. “Could it be that women just have higher standards for relationships?”
There are other sides of the argument. A possibly divisive factor that Mundy pointed out is more prevalent in same-sex couples, is non-monogamy. She mentioned that while a member of a gay or lesbian union today is less likely to have multiple sexual partners than in previous decades, some ministers in states that recently approved gay marriage laws, like Maryland, refuse to marry couples not planning to be monogamous.
Since the legalization of gay marriage is so recent, statistics contrasting the divorce rate between same-sex and straight couples are not yet available.
Chris Nichols shows off his bowling trophies
Now, a little peek back into 1950s L.A. history: The war was over, the car was quickly becoming king and post-modern architecture was just taking off.
Chris Nichols, editor at Los Angeles Magazine, loves to collect relics from this era and joins us here from time to time to talk about his collection.
He recently dropped by our studios to share a little piece of history from an iconic bowling alley called the Covina Bowl.
First off, what are we looking at here?
Well, they were two trophies from the Covina Bowl. They're 50's bowling trophies that have had a little accident, but they're so rare and so special that I have to hang onto them. I have to tell their stories.
Judging by their condition, I'd say they have quite the story to tell.
Well, they were in perfect shape until someone decided to break into my house a couple years ago. They destroyed these two amazing artifacts and only took a video game. I mean, take the money or the computer, but leave my bowling trophies alone!
What's the historical significance of these trophies?
They're from the Covina Bowl, and I love that they expressed the architectural motif. There's sort of a big, modernist, wood boomerang that they sit on. The boomerang is also the letter 'C' for Covina, which was used in their logo.
And what is the Covina Bowl?
The Covina Bowl is a massive, modernist city of bowling in an elaborate Egyptian, 1950's, modern style. It had 50 lanes, a coffee shop, a cocktail lounge, a beauty parlor and a barber shop. It was the most incredible, colossal height of the American bowling fad. Last summer, I invited the original architect of the Covina Bowl out for a tour. We brought a bunch of folks out to this Egyptian modernist city of bowling, and Gordon Powers came out and did a little tour explaining what the connection is between the Egyptian Ankh and the modernist zig-zag and all the unusual things that he poured into this place. It was also about how bowling exploded after World War 2 and became this huge phenomenon where it transitioned from a dirty saloon sport to a big family sensation.
It must have been something to see. What's the Covina Bowl like now?
It's still a bowling alley. It's still 50 lanes, it still does a lot of business and it's still open late. They have all the new neon or blacklight bowling signs and things that people want nowadays, but they still maintain this original 1955 building in tip-top shape.
I love that these trophies are made out of wood. Does the Covina Bowl still do that?
They have a case of their old trophies but no, certainly not. I love how dowdy and sturdy and early 50's they look in contrast to the sleek and futuristic lines of the architecture. at the time when the Covina Bowl was new, cars were still big, blocky, bulbous steel boxes. It's crazy to think about how extreme something like the Covina Bowl would've looked to people who were used to a traditionally dowdy, squared-off world.
Read about LA's Design Caravan with Chris Nichols here
In new book, Duke researchers say we underestimate 'The Genius of Dogs'
Obedient, cuddly energetic. These are the sorts of adjectives humans use to describe their canine companions, but what about smart?
For decades not much was known about what dogs can or cannot comprehend, but all that has changed in recent years thanks in no small part to a guy named Brian Hare.
Hare is the director of the Canine Cognition Center at Duke University, he's also the co-author of the new book, "The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think."
Music for your Fourth of July
Chris Martins is a senior writer for Spin Magazine and a regular on Tuesday Reviewsday. But for today, he’ll be your July 4th DJ. We’ll hear songs from Black Lips, King Tuff, Thundercat, Major Lazer and more.
Part One
1. "Bad Kids" - Black Lips
2. "King of the Beach" - Wavves
3. "The Nights of Wine and Roses" - Japandroids
4. "Keep On Movin'" - King Tuff
5. "If I had a Tail" - Queens of the Stone Age
Part Two
6. "Gimme a Beer" - Diamond Rugs
7. "A New Life" - Jim James
9. "Song for America" - Destroyer
10. "America!" - Bill Callahan
Part Three
11. "Free at Dawn" - Small Black
12. "Africa Must Be Free by 1983" - Hugh Mundell
13. "Get Free" - Major Lazer
14. "American Boy" - Estelle ft. Kanye West