Word: modernize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Predictably, my great-aunt didn't cope well with the changes. To her, Ataturk's most profound legacy was to get women out of their veils and their homes. She was unable to understand why anyone would choose to wear a head scarf. For her, being modern and wearing a head scarf were incompatible; my live-and-let-live attitude infuriated...
...Turkey is facing a reality check. Both the secularist hardliners and the overzealous AKP must face the fact that democracy is messy. Turkey must learn to trust in its institutions and civil society, and be tolerant of difference. My grandparents' generation mustered great courage to make Turkey into a modern country. Now my generation, both secular and veiled, has to gather that same dedication to the pressing task of making it democratic...
...that's where the simple comparison to the U.S. after 1945 breaks down. Journalist turned businessman Jim McGregor, one of the most astute observers of modern China, says that the country is cramming three different eras of U.S. history into one. In U.S. terms, the postwar prosperity that fueled the flight to the suburbs is happening at the same time as the 19th century Industrial Revolution that lured people from the farm to the cities, and also as Progressive Era efforts to rein in the worst abuses of capitalism take shape. I asked Guo if he agreed. He nodded...
...insistence become obvious. Theoretically, migrant workers are supposed to receive some health-insurance benefits from the companies that hire them. But many, particularly day laborers who hook up with small contractors, do not. I spent one evening a few months ago in the emergency room of the huge, modern hospital in New Songjiang. In the space of about three hours, five construction workers were admitted, including one who had tumbled three stories from an apartment building under construction. He survived, but had broken his back. I asked two of his co-workers whether he thought the company they worked...
...Their reasons for moving way out here are familiar. For some, it's proximity to work. The old Songjiang, the neighboring town, is heavily industrial, with a string of modern factories - many foreign-owned - that runs for miles. One friend, a guy I play basketball with at a gorgeous new public sports facility, is an engineer for SMIC, the large semiconductor company that has a plant not far away. This friend - I'll call him Yu Xiang - has a cousin he has visited who lives outside Los Angeles, and says that New Songjiang reminds him of the area...