Jun 29
Recently in the UK, that age-old question has popped up again of how to reconcile differences between cultural/ traditional practices and human rights through law. The practice I’m talking about here is forced marriage, the human rights would be the abuse and lack of life choices by those forced into the marriage (likened to being …
Jun 28
Apparently freedom of speech and talking like an adult are not acceptable in some places in 2012. Specifically I’m talking about the Michigan House of Representatives where, as you may have heard, one female state representative and her colleague were banned, banned, from speaking because of a word that was uttered. What could she have …
Jun 26
Mascots, mascots, mascots. They’re everywhere. High school, college, and professional teams alike circle around their beloved mascots during the “big game” as a beacon of tradition, hope, and luck. Some mascots are funny, and some are plain strange. (There’s such thing as a banana slug? And a dancing tree? Check out UC Santa Cruz and …
Jun 26
It’s an election year again. Which means you, just like me, have been getting bombarded with press releases, flyers, news articles, debates, and more information than you could ever possibly require about this round of candidates. Sure, this can be irritating at times, but it’s what you’ve come to expect this time of year and …
Jun 22
Another week, another UN holiday commemorating a global social issue. This week we had World Refugee Day on June 20th, a day to “honor the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.” With the situations ongoing in the Middle …
Jun 20
Have you noticed lately that Brazil has been in the international spotlight… a lot? It seems like every week I see some new headline about Brazil in relation to:1) a major international convention, 2) a major international sports event or 3) an issue involving development in the Amazon. The attention is good, bad and/ or …
Jun 20
Stop and Frisk. I’m sure you’ve heard about it but I doubt you’ve personally experienced it or really even thought about how it would feel. Imagine you’re walking in your neighborhood, hanging out in a park, just talking to your friends. All of a sudden a police officer walks up and informs you he needs …
Jun 18
The other day I was shown a semi-viral youtube video that you may have heard of: Quantitative Easing Explained. Now, I don’t know that much about quantitative easing, or the Fed, or Goldman Sachs, so I really cannot say anything about those aspects of the film, but I can say that much of the basic …
Jun 14
Cupcakes. Skinny jeans. Reality shows. All are trends that have exploded in popularity within the United States in the last decade. Another recent trend? “Saving Africa”. Earlier in the week, I wrote about the common myths and misconceptions having to do with the continent of Africa, many of which stem from the mainstream American media. …
Jun 08
Have you seen much news media coverage about the crisis in the Sahel? I haven’t. Not much at all, actually. The first I heard of the Sahel food and refugee crisis ravaging Africa’s Sahel region was in a tweet. There has actually been a lot of social media coverage on what’s happening thanks to an …
