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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 newspaper at her school. Inspired by her, my fourth-grade classmates and I launched the Germantown Gazette, complete with updates on […]

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, I recognize that living in cities makes us feel separated from the natural world because there are fewer opportunities to […]

In February, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the world’s first public health treaty. Ratified in 2005, the FCTC now includes 183 countries and the European Union and was designed to reduce tobacco use. However, over time, it has evolved into a vehicle for Michael R. […]

The United States is in an information war, and each of us must hold the line. Misinformation, or unintentionally false information, bubbles up into our timelines. Disinformation, or intentionally false or misleading information with the intent to harm, pushes its thorny tendrils through all forms of media, strangling the work of true journalists. When government websites […]

Despite rising political headwinds, America’s research power, economic opportunity, and education diplomacy continue to draw record international enrollment. In an era marked by geopolitical turbulence, the United States has once again affirmed its role as the world’s top destination for international students. Despite political headwinds, including immigration crackdowns and student protest arrests, the country’s innovation […]

It is, of course, wildly frustrating how economic indicators are all moving in the wrong direction these days. Consumer confidence? Down. S&P 500? Down. Unemployment? Edging up. And so forth. People are worried—self included. I’m so “tired of winning,” in fact, I divested entirely from the stock market last week. With all of the the […]

As recent wildfires in North Carolina add to the deadly storms that recently tore across the South and parts of the Midwest with tornadoes and heavy winds, killing 40 people and leaving devastation in their wake, it feels appropriate to compare them to the storms and fires that rage on in the lives of those who have […]

I recently attended a Los Angeles City Budget and Finance Committee meeting in support of the Community Investment for Families Department budget request for an additional $2.3 million to expand supportive services for victims of gender-based violence (GVB) in Los Angeles. Together, my colleagues and I shared how the Crisis to Shelter program helps survivors […]

Economic and political reform in Russia has occurred in fits and starts. The origin of these reforms was the policy of glasnost and perestroika enacted in the former Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia enacted shock therapy, transitioning from a planned economy to a market-based economy. Russia enacted reforms opening the […]

The crisis of conditions inside the Georgia prison system continues with 13 recent incarcerated individuals’ deaths in the span of just one month now being investigated as homicides. This follows the Department of Justice’s  recent conclusion that the State of Georgia and Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) fails to protect incarcerated people from violence and harm, violating […]