From selling souvenirs on Kenya’s beaches to working as porters in the mountains of Nepal, children make up a considerable portion of the international tourism industry’s work force—as much as 10 to 15 percent in parts of the world. In the shadows of this industry, though, exists a disturbing, hidden market—one that allows travelers and … Read more
Twenty-four years ago a charismatic and slick governor of Arkansas usurped the presidency after 12 years of Reaganomics and a Republican in the White House. Despite his opponent, sitting President George H. W. Bush, having a 90 percent approval rating following the successful ground invasion of Iraq, Americans’ opinions turned sharply negative when more than … Read more
On Friday, January 20, 2017, as Donald Trump officially takes office as the president of the United States, a group of Americans plan to gather at the U.S. Capitol in protest of the inauguration. The rally, entitled “#NotMyPresident,” has attracted tens of thousands of RSVPs in its Facebook event, and it’s just one of many … Read more
“Oh my god…this is horrible.” Those aren’t the words of a baritone announcer for a dystopian movie trailer, but the words of David Coppes, Director of Water Works at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, when he responded to the alarming 2010 Boston water emergency. The emergency, which MWRA’s executive director Frederick Laskey called “everyone’s worst … Read more
The uptick in mass shootings over the past few years has led to widespread calls for gun reform and the defeat of pro-gun lobbyist groups opposing it. Since the gun lobby currently employs many of the same tactics used by the powerful tobacco lobby, some have reasoned that the same blueprint used to weaken the … Read more
Zeynep Tufekci is an associate professor at the School of Information Library Science at the University of North Carolina and a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She focuses on the impact of technology and social media on society and politics. This interview was conducted on October 4, … Read more
On September 11, 2001, Stephanie DeSimone’s life changed forever. A joyful expectant mother, DeSimone became a pregnant widow when her Navy commander husband was killed in the horrific terror attacks that ravaged the United States. Now, she is among a group of U.S. citizens filing lawsuits against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its alleged … Read more
In Iceland, children are told the saga of a red-haired, freckled, and bad-tempered boy called Grettir the Strong. Grettir’s life is tumultuous, and he is an anti-hero. Although he courageously destroys a malevolent ghost, he also violently kills innocent men. Grettir is tremendously strong, but he is unaware of the extent of his strength. Grettir … Read more
In 2008, the Bush administration notified Congress that it would negotiate a free trade agreement with Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore. Over the course of President Obama’s two terms in office, the negotiations that President Bush initiated snowballed. The original five countries became 12. At the end of 2015, their efforts culminated in a … Read more
In the months leading up to and the weeks immediately following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage across the country, discussion of LGBTQ+ rights advancement dominated media on both the national and local levels. The court’s decision will go down as one of the most important … Read more