Things change quickly on the Internet. The stories that were trending this morning may be gone by tonight. The memes that were popular in January may be gone by February. Others, however, are more enduring. Take the Distracted Boyfriend Meme: it hit peak popularity in September, but here we are in March and it’s still […]

During the past half-year, I’ve been frequently watching Forward Nation Radio, a political video podcast hosted by Professor David Leventhal of QC. In this blog entry, I will share my impressions of the show. Next time, I will share answers to some questions that I asked the show’s producer, Damian Hardeen, and the professor himself […]

This month, a new play, Amy and the Orphans, premiered off-Broadway at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre. The play is not, as the title might suggest, about children losing their parents – it’s about (spoiler alert) adults who lose their parents. It also has nothing to do with the play Orphans, so don’t expect Alec Baldwin yelling homophobic […]

Streams of unintelligible numbers, letters, and symbols feed into a dark-hole, deep within the recesses of the internet. From the other side emerges a reciprocated flow, steeped now with hidden value. Their exchange is secretive, elusive and, with little regulation or assurance to-boot, on the fringes of the law. cryptocurrency may be the way of […]

What is a utopia? What do you imagine? Do you imagine moving sidewalks and flying cars, teleportation machines, world peace? Utopia, defined by Sir Thomas Moore in his book Utopia (1516), is an imaginary place, an ideal state, a visionary system. In 1966, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby imagined a utopia, an idea of an Africa untouched […]

With the government having finally passed a long-term budget to avoid shutting down again (for longer than the brief period after the lapse of the temporary budget), I’m sure that I am not the only one asking themselves what the point of this year’s shutdown was in the first place. Why would the Democrats shut […]

Civil rights and anti-sexual violence activist Tarana Burke has a saying that profoundly moves me. The phrase goes: I believe healing is a lifelong journey and the hardest part is starting. Burke is also the founder of “Me Too.” The quote above was part of a tweet she made in November, 2017 as #metoo was […]

pictured: William Shakespeare. Or Christopher Marlowe. Do you hate Shakespeare? If you do, you’re not alone. In recent years, some education reformers have railed against William Shakespeare, whose work is a staple of primary and secondary education. Shakespeare studies, which enjoy a significant amount of attention in both theatre and English circles, have often been […]

In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about the American Dream: “I have seen that dream all my life. It is perfect houses with nice lawns. It is Memorial Day cookouts, block association, and driveways. The Dream is treehouses and the Cub Scouts. The Dream smells like peppermint but tastes like strawberry shortcake.” […]

Your next rainy day activity is PLANNED. (You’re welcome.) It’s time for you to check out one of New York’s incredible art museums. If you don’t like art—and I do think I heard a collective groan of boredom from half the population just by writing that—don’t stop reading yet! This isn’t going to be your […]