Time For Change: Rethink Harsh Sentencing in America
Changing one’s mind is often framed as indecision. But as Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent reversal on childhood measles vaccines shows, it can also be an act of leadership. Faced…
From Diet Drugs to Foreign Prisons, Does the Rule of Law Still Matter in America?
While serving the United States Army, and deployed to foreign hot zones, much of my focus was on promoting the “rule of law.” This concept is that nations that prioritize a law-based society, as opposed…
A Melting Future: How Brain Drain is Silently Destroying Greenland
Greenland has recently been in the news a lot as a result of talks about the US potentially acquiring the small island nation of just under 57,000 residents. Lost amidst this politically charged discussion is a disturbing,…
Disrupting the Blame Game in Domestic Violence
The system that survivors of domestic violence must navigate is like a bizarre, rigged board game, cluttered with insurmountable obstacles. Much like Squid Game…or Choose Your Own Adventure. This is not a game. But it…
Why I am Against Always Forgiving
Forgiveness has become a kind of civic reflex, too often seen as a moral virtue, a necessary closure that allows societies and individuals to move forward. But what if forgiveness is a mechanism of erasure?…
Biden’s Departing Gambit: Risking Millions of Seniors' Medicare Advantage Plans
In American history, there have been many examples of one president leaving a parting gift for his incoming successor. Typically, these take the form of handwritten notes often not privy to the public, but other…
Poker Should Be a High School Extracurricular
Growing up, I used to watch as my parents’ friends gathered in the living room and played the occasional poker round. I observed the different cards flipped on the table by a dealer, the players’…
Breaking Chains, Building Networks to Fight Domestic Violence
“The ‘Panic Industry’ Is Booming” — news of escape routes, a place for weapons and an existence that sounds like it’s straight out of a doomsday movie is a theme we are seeing far too…
If an NGO can’t operate without taxpayer money, is it “non-governmental?”
Government Cannot Continue Funding NGOs that Perform the Actions that Government Cannot It’s a tough time to for any federal employee whose job duties are not in the public interest. As difficult as it…
I’m a Tech-Savvy Zoom Schooler. Let Me Finish My Handwriting Lesson.
Students of my generation have much to lose if we don’t bring the dying art of handwriting back into the classroom. Cara Landry, the protagonist of Andrew Clement’s children’s book The Landry News, started a…
Bringing nature indoors connects us to combat climate change
Over 4 billion people—more than half of the world’s population—live in cities. In the United States, 85% of the population—over 270 million people—lives in urban areas, where we spend 85% of our time indoors. As an environmental educator,…
