I made my first visit to Washington, D.C. over spring break. It was prime time in the city for elementary and middle school field trips, so a constant mass of children roamed the halls of our nation’s museums alongside me. I attempted to distinguish myself — convey my maturity and wisdom (and my Georgetown-chic sensibilities) […]
Tag: United States
Liu vs. Gu and the Chinese-American Dichotomy
Two Chinese girls, both born and raised by a single parent in the Bay. Both began winter sports early in their life, excelling to compete on the national level before their teen years. But they wear different countries’ uniforms, and everyone seems to have a problem with it. Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu are the […]
Demographic Divergence and the Repricing of Global Growth
For the last decade, overpopulation has been considered a major threat to global resource consumption. However, today, the greater risk may be a world with too few people. Previously, there was the assumption that population growth would continue, followed by the labor force and output expanding. Nonetheless, the global economy is now facing the ever-pressing […]
Your Romantic Getaway Is Not As Far As You Think It Is
Love: the most complicated, confusing, boundless, impassioned concept of our time. Of any time, really. We make a fool of ourselves for love, chasing even the idea of it when we cannot possibly find a better alternative to our desires. For many of us, we prefer watching love from the sidelines, living vicariously through the […]
How the Pandemic Unmasked Science
When asked, most people likely can’t produce an objective definition that separates the discipline of science from other related academic fields. Falsification, proposed by Karl Popper in 1934, is a method of defining science that asserts science must be “falsifiable,” capable of being proven wrong with evidence from a new experiment. This also implies replicability […]
Ideologies on Ice
Is it possible for ideas to freeze, to chip, to settle in a snowbank, to blow away in a winter storm? Can ideas be ice? Today, the Arctic is a battleground of competing philosophies; ways to live, to govern, and to relate to others, all struggling to find their footing amongst the shifting tundra. As […]
Farewell, but not goodbye, Mr. President
They called him the Messiah. His rhetoric riled up thousands, gleefully awaiting salvation from economic downturn and a hopeful denouement for American racial relations. The 8 years he spent in the Oval Office concluded in 2017, though if you ask many Americans, he’s still their president. It seems no other figure, let alone the president […]
The Global Aftershocks of Brazil’s Narrowing Election
Brazil has long held a paradoxical position in the global political order. It is the largest nation in Latin America, the world’s ninth-largest economy, the seventh-largest population, and a founder of major international institutions like Mercosur and BRICS. However, Brasilia has also historically avoided rigid geopolitical alignments, favoring a foreign policy centered on strategic autonomy […]
The Hunger for Retributivist Justice
There’s a carnal hunger in the U.S., deep, pervasive, and violent — it’s the hunger for retributivist punishment that persists within the darkest depths of our society. Retributivism, or the idea that punishment is justified so long as someone is seen as “deserving” of it and for no other reason, is most famously attributed to […]
Political Activism is the New Showbiz
An actor’s job is to act. It’s an art. Art has and will always be political. From every deliberate, red brushstroke in paintings, rendering in photography, and distinct diction used to make memorable phrases plastered on posters, art has served as a reliable method of expression and a form of silent activism in politics today. Independent artists […]