BY MICHAEL GOOD How does one measure urban revitalization? For the Kresge Foundation in midtown Detroit, it is the sound of hammers clanking on steel beams as formerly empty lots surrounding its offices finally undergo construction. It’s bulldozers and work crews tearing up Woodward Avenue to install tracks for the new M-1 line, a light […]

  After meeting five Syrian and Palestinian refugees trying to make their way from Milan to Sweden in the quest for asylum, an Italian journalist and a Palestinian poet decide to help them by faking a wedding. After all, “what border policeman would ever stop a bride to check her documents?[1]” As part of this […]

BY ANDREA SORCE If you’re from North Carolina like me, your social media feeds blew up last Wednesday afternoon. #wearenotthis. “We” being North Carolinians. “This” being HB2, the sweeping anti-LGBT legislation passed last Wednesday in a specially-convened session. HB2 prohibits transgender residents from using restrooms that match their gender identity and also nullifies municipal anti-discrimination […]

Earlier this year, President Obama’s final State of the Union address discussed early childhood education, high school graduation rates, and community college access. But President Obama skirted a larger issue: poor academic preparation at the K-12 level is a root cause of a lack of people of color in higher education and in the fields […]

Our education system has served us well thus far. Presentation skills, deal-making skills, teamwork skills and the like are key components of our education system. Our vocational training is also up to par. So to many Singaporeans, and to the world at large, there seems to be no immediate pressing issue with our system. Singaporean […]

BY JEN SMITH “Mom: home safe. sleepy. love you.” I sent this message letting her know I made it home to Cambridge safely after spending ten days in Israel, learning about nations torn by generational conflict.  During my time there, we visited the Syrian border, went to the edge of the Gaza Strip, and talked […]

BY JASMINE CHIA, YAN MIN AUNG, AND KARENG BRANG SHAWNG Myanmar has suffered one of the world’s longest running civil wars, one rooted in ethnic conflict. The fighting continues to the present day: the Arakan Army is still launching insurgent attacks in Rakhine state, a state on Myanmar’s western coast, and the Kachin Independence Army, […]

While a March 2016 raid in Irbid, Jordan by the country’s security services resulted in the successful apprehension of 13 accused terrorist plotters[i], events both inside the Hashemite Kingdom and throughout the region may threaten the stability that has earmarked Jordan and its King as a vital ally in the U.S.-led fight against Islamist extremism […]

BY BENJAMIN LUXENBERG President Obama should offer the Merrick Garland nomination to the Supreme Court in the form of a “forward contract” to Senate Republicans. As defined by Investopedia, forward contracts are “a customized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on a future date.” One of the […]

It seems that globalisation has resulted the rise of nationalism and xenophobia. We see it in the rise of UKIP in UK, New Dawn in Greece, Donald Trump in the US and the Swedish Democrats in Sweden. A recent Op-Ed in the Singapore Policy Journal argued that the local-foreigner divided was threatening to tear Singapore […]

BY KARL T. MUTH AND KATHERYN R. DEVELVIS What sugar we see in candies and packets at restaurants pales in comparison to that which we do not see in processed foods and drinks. Likewise, the prices we pay for sugar at the grocer’s counter are only the tip of the iceberg compared to the camouflaged […]

In the past, the Bronx was often dismissed by outsiders, largely because of a reputation rooted in the infamous phrase “The Bronx is burning.” But many believe that both the borough and its reputation are changing.  Camilo Caballero, Senior Editor for Digital Content, visited The Bronx to learn directly from The President of The Bronx Borough, Ruben […]