Spongebob: Product or Porifera? In my junior year of high school, I applied to QuestBridge, a non-profit made to help disadvantaged high school students get into college. As a part of my application, I was asked to write about a historical figure I would like to meet and a question I would ask them. I … Read more
It takes a lot for “bad cable customer service” to make the news, yet Ryan Block’s infamous 2014 phone call with Comcast managed to do just that. Block, a tech journalist, had made the decision to switch cable providers and just needed the cable company to disconnect his service. As he quickly realized, the representative … Read more
Seven inmates have been executed in 2020, amid a global pandemic. Forty-one more executions are scheduled for the next four years and there are 2,500 people currently on death row. Yet substantial research suggests that the death penalty is an inefficient and unjust treatment that has failed both the innocent and guilty, especially due to … Read more
Political theorist Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, where she leads the center’s on-going COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative. Widely recognized for her contributions to democratic theory, political sociology, and the history of political thought, Allen is the 2020 recipient … Read more
Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, tissues. These items were the first to be frantically bought out from local supermarkets as the coronavirus started to ravage the nation, leaving empty shelves staring back at unlucky shoppers. However, their absence was temporary. As the pandemic rages on, many are finding that one commodity remains a scarce resource: space. … Read more
“You are who I love, you who stands at the courthouse with the sign that reads NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE” – Aracelis Girmay, “You Are Who I Love” Discomfort Liberalism assesses solidarity as an abstract concept rather than a strongly-held moral value. In this framework, unity is reduced to a comforting idea that focuses only … Read more
George Floyd died on Monday, May 25. He was known among his family and friends for his compassionate character and “beautiful spirit.” However, he died in a matter of minutes at the hands of Derek Chauvin, an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department. Since then, protests have erupted across the country, demanding justice for Black … Read more
Smriti Mundhra is a film producer and director who specializes in observational documentaries. She won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award at the Tribeca Film Festival for “A Suitable Girl” (2018), a nuanced dive into the lives of three young women in India, and received an Academy Awards nomination for “St. Louis Superman” (2019), … Read more
By now, you’ve seen or heard the word “privilege” in myriad contexts: trumpeted from megaphones at city protests, stamped across aesthetically pleasing Instagram infographics, italicized and bolded in op-eds. In the context of recent race relations, the notion of “privilege” has been widely discussed and viewed as an exclusively White phenomenon that runs rampant in … Read more
As the coronavirus ravages communities around the world, essential workers continue risking their lives to perform the services that sustain our very lives. They clean our streets, keep us fed, and nurse us back to health. Praised by politicians, glorified by CEOs, and celebrated by celebrities and consumers alike, essential workers have been likened to heroes throughout the pandemic. Such recognition … Read more