On My Nightstand
BY AARON M. HOUCK
Te dangerous and inexcusable events of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection—shocking though they were—were not terribly surprising to political scientists, who have been expressing concerns about the health of U.S. democracy for years. A couple of books on my nightstand will, I hope, help me better understand what’s happening, but I’m not sure any will leave me feeling optimistic. In How Democracies Die,
Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt use lessons learned from democratic backsliding in other countries to evaluate the situation here. Likewise, Lee Drutman’s Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop offers some specific solutions, but his main one—replacing the dominant single-member-district plus plurality-wins electoral system with a more proportional system—is an approach the U.S. public has generally opposed. Given my interests in urban politics, I am looking forward to Jenny Schuetz’s Fixer-Upper, in which she examines the complex web of policies that directly and indirectly shape housing markets in the U.S. Similarly, M. Nolan Gray’s Arbitrary Lines explores how the country’s land-use regulations might move beyond zoning and its many problematic consequences.
Remember When MUSEUM HOPPING
As a longtime Charlottean who studies southern politics, I am eagerly anticipating reading Yale historian (and former Queens professor) Glenda Gilmore’s Romare Bearden in the Homeland of His Imagination on Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden. It should be fascinating. Te single best book I read in
the last year was Tinking Clearly with Data by Ethan Bueno de Mesquita and Anthony Fowler. In a world full of data (and people making claims supposedly based on data), the knowledge, skills and mindsets expertly conveyed by the authors are invaluable. It’s why I made it the assigned text for the first-ever Queens Data Analytics Symposium.
—Aaron M. Houck is a former associate professor in the Political Science Department who recently transitioned to the UNCC Urban Institute where
he will serve as director of regional policy. He has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. from Duke University.
Summer 3
Photo courtesy of Everett Library, Queens University Archives
Just three miles from campus, Queens students can attend anything from a Major League Soccer game with the Charlotte Football Club to the hit musical Hamilton at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. Queens’ iconic Charlotte location in one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country means the city’s cultural, artistic and athletic scene continues to expand with it. Currently, Charlotte is home to a multitude of museums including the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Discovery Place Science, the Mint Museum Uptown and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Many students have gained valuable work experience at these museums and some Queens alumni have even landed full-time roles working for them. Beyond professional endeavors, the museums
offer Royals a unique way to spend an afternoon off campus where they can find educational enrichment outside of the classroom. In this photo, you can see a group of students in the 1970s visiting museums in the center of Charlotte. For more than 50 years, Queens students
have relished in Charlotte’s vibrant cultural scene while reaping the benefits of an intimate college campus, and it’s only getting better.
—Morgan Williams
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