LA Hump Day Links: Feb. 1, 2012

Every Wednesday here at The Liberal Artist, we will compile a list of must-read and generally compelling links we’ve recently stumbled upon. As always, feel free to comment, make suggestions, and give us any feedback. Without further adieu, here’s our first round of “LA Hump Day Links.”

• “Happiness Is The New Success: Why Millennials Are Reprioritizing,” by Lisa Curtis at the Huffington Post: Our generation has been left with a housing crisis, loads of school debt, few jobs, and new definitions of marriage and family. But we’re still finding reasons to be happy.

• “National Public Rodeo,” by David Margolick at Vanity Fair: To say 2011 was a tumultuous year for NPR might be an understatement.

• “How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics,” by Andrew Sullivan in Newsweek via The Daily Beast: What exactly has President Obama achieved in his first term, and how does it really bode for his re-election campaign?

• “‘Gainful’ Comes To The Nonprofits,” by Libby Nelson at Inside Higher Ed: Consider how President Obama’s higher education platform puts the liberal arts in the dialogue with things like “cost” and “productivity.”

• “Universities Abandon Western Civilization,” by Tait Trussell at Front Page Mag: Part of having a well-rounded perspective is finding and reading things that challenge your beliefs. This piece is sure to incite opposition, especially from liberal artists. If only we could hear a rebuttal from Howard Zinn on this one.

• “Check With Climate Scientists For Views On Climate Change,” by 38 climatologists in the Wall Street Journal via Brad Johnson at Think Progress: What happens when 16 climate deniers with no credible climate science credentials hijack the op-ed page of a newspaper? Well, it leads to well-reasoned retorts.

• “How Swedes And Norwegians Broke The Power Of The ’1 Percent,’“ by George Lakey at Waging Nonviolence: As the Occupy movement rolls on in the new year, it might pay to reflect on previous nonviolent movement that brought about economic justice. Enter Sweden and Norway in the 1920s and 1930s.