Meet 5 SoCal "genius" grant recipients

KPCC Staff (scpr.org, Sept. 22, 2016); Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Don't think about sex. How are you going to be a genius? More education=less sex.

What is "genius," and how do I do/get/be it? (Grant Snider/redlemonclub.com)

The staff at Wisdom Quarterly was overlooked again this year. MacArthur people, are you paying attention? But the 2016 list of winners includes five locals, writers, a poet, obscure researchers, everything we love and strive for. Pasadena's Caltech gets accolades, as does nearby USC, the ACLU, and Claudia Rankine. Karma is sweet (when it comes to fruition).

AUDIO: Poet Claudia Rankine named a MacArthur genius

Poet, author Claudia Rankine

The 2016 class of MacArthur Foundation Fellowship honorees has been announced. Among them was [black] poet Claudia Rankine. Her book, Citizen: An American Lyric, is a provocative meditation on race in America. Through a series of vignettes, she tells the stories of everyday racism that people of color face on a daily basis. The poems are largely based on actual incidents of passive bigotry and prejudice that Rankine and her friends have personally experienced (The Frame/scpr.org).

ACLU attorney American-born Sri Lankan Tamil "genius grant" recipient says the principles he fights for are clear and uncomplicated (PRI's The World).

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Meet 5 SoCal recipients of 2016 MacArthur "genius" grants

Genius at work, Caltech: Dianne Newman

A composite image shows the five Southern California recipients of this year's MacArthur "genius" grants.

Five Southern Californians are among this year’s MacArthur fellows, recipients of its “genius” grants.
 

Do geniuses have skeletons in the closet?

The fellows, announced Thursday [9/21/16] by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, include USC professor and cultural historian Josh Kun, ACLU human rights lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham, nonfiction writer Maggie Nelson, and two scientists with Caltech (the California Institute of Technology) in Pasadena -- microbiologist Dianne Newman and geomicrobiologist Victoria Orphan.

 

The grants are meant to recognize individuals “who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction,” according to the MacArthur foundation.

Each fellow receives a no-strings stipend of $625,000 paid out over five years. More + VIDEO

Meet all 23 extraordinarily creative people who inspire us all (macfound.org)

 

Meditation is monotasking to realize the mind's potential (Grant Snider)