News
University Students Demand an Equitable Pandemic Response
On April 21, Brown University announced that it will temporarily house healthcare workers who are keeping the Brown and Rhode Island …
Week in Ghosts
Nowis agood time for ghost stories. One might pass quarantined-induced time digging out old, spooky books from the attic or recounting …
American-ness, Ever-elusive
What does it mean to be Asian and American in the United States?
As the number of coronavirus infections and deaths increases in the United States, so too do hate crimes against Asians in …
The EFF and the Anticolonial Struggle
What can students learn from South Africa's fastest-growing political movement?
It has been nearly three decades since Black people in South Africa emerged victorious from the bitter struggle against apartheid through …
Week in State Feuds
States whose biggest beef with each other typically involves passing a pigskin have gone one step further during this global pandemic …
Farm to Quarantine
I landed in Spain on March 3, the same day health officials reported the country’s first death from the coronavirus. At …
From Italy to New York
The first six weeks I spent in Bologna were nothing short of a dream: I was studying abroad in the culinary …
Bracing for Crisis
The EU turns a blind eye to overcrowded refugee camps in Greece
“My name is Omar. I am from Syria. I am in Greece, on Leros island. This is the minor section, next …
Week in Shared Enemies
Of the many common turns of phrase flipped upside down by the current global pandemic, few have become as utterly meaningless …
Week in Necessities
RED SCARE IN A RED STATE Last week, with 112 votes in favor, none against, and one abstention, the Scottish Parliament …
Week in Wiping vs Washing
OUR ANUSES, OURSELVES In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the last few weeks, Americans have begun to …
It's Personal
The Low-Tech Future of the Future of Learning
At Springfield High School in Southern Vermont, the entryway stairs not only lead students inside the school building—they serve as a …
Week in Worship
SOYlent Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter. This time mimics the same long 40 days in which Jesus …
Criminalizing Peaceful Protest
Anti-ICE Activist Sentenced to 30 Days in Bristol County Jail
photograph by Steve Ahlquist content warning: police violence In New Bedford District Court on Monday, activist Sherrie Andre was found guilty …
A Panoptic Education
How Public Schools Teach Us to Watch Ourselves
What does it mean to fix the very system of public education in America? As engineer W. Edwards Deming said of …
Week in Animal Magnetism
MUST PAY TO PAW-TY On February 16, crowds of eager New Orleanians gathered in the French Quarter to watch the 28th …
Keeping an Open Mind
A glimpse at the fight to decriminalize psychedelics
For most, magic mushrooms carry connotations of hippies, music festivals, and perhaps a previous roommate. But, in recent years, there has …
Race for Ward 1
The Independent's guide to the candidates
Blue, yellow, and white campaign signs mark homes and businesses up and down Wickenden Street in the Fox Point Neighborhood of …
Week in Bureaucracy
Antiques Rhode Show From lawmakers’ struggles to understand Facebook during Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional hearings to Rudy Giuliani’s horizontally inserted AirPods, we …
Building Movements, Building Power
An interview with political activist Linda Sarsour
Linda Sarsour is unequivocal. Whether addressing a crowd at a Bernie rally or explaining the salient points of Kingian nonviolence in …
Unchartered Territory
Charter changes illustrate the tightening restrictions placed on academic life in China
Toward the end of 2019, three Chinese universities made international headlines for an event that some deemed a matter of semantics …
Week in Being Sweet
THREE LIVES SAVED, NO SECOND DATE? Valentine’s Day creeps closer and you’re still waiting for your Datamatch results. So you swipe. …
Two Rallies
University students organize against the rise of fascism in India As New Delhi witnessed Brazilian dictator Jair Bolsonaro, Chief Guest of …
Week in Keeping Busy
MEGAN THEE STALLION + G-EAZY = <3 Celebrity gossip rarely startles us anymore. Impeachment proceedings and foreign assassinations have occupied our …
Chile Despertó
Paula Pacheco Soto on the Chilean student movement in historical perspective
October 26 Chile has long been heralded as one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America and an example of …
Week in Comfort Food
Movable Feast “Everybody get their plates, sit down, and eat,” commuters heard, loud and clear, in a subway car in New …
Save the BCSC
Alumni Stand in Support of Student Activism
We, the undersigned alumni of Brown University, write to express serious concern with the troubling atmosphere and recent heartbreaking student experiences …
Week in Climate Apocalypse
ANT-EAT-ANT WORLD The scene is set: a Soviet nuclear bunker. The land is desolate. A few radioactive tumbleweeds are the only …
Building Republic
Kyrgyz Systems of Accountability
On March 24, 2005, my mother and father cheered as demonstrators took over the White House of the Kyrgyz Republic. They …
Week in Unlikely Vessels
RUNNING ON WATER Last month, a pair of sneakers embedded with vesicles of holy water sold out within minutes of its …
Brunt of the Blade
Aspirational recycling in a post-National Sword world
For decades, barges of recyclables slowly dragged across the Pacific, acting as overrun vessels of the United States’ environmental hope. This …
Fire Power
PG&E and the California wildfire crisis
Images of firestorms, burning hills, and charred neighborhoods in California are becoming the horrid icons of the future’s climate. The state’s …
Week in Ornaments
BRAINTREE's Monster house Halloween is under siege, and it’s a whole lot more personal than Starbucks’ red cups. The battleground for …
Speaking Up
Negotiating Tulsi Gabbard’s place in the media landscape
Some have never heard of presidential candidate US Representative Tulsi Gabbard [D-HI]. Others complain she’s making too much noise. In August, …
Week in Pulling Out
RECIPE FOR DISASTER Forget pumpkin spice—it’s peach mint season. Earlier this month, NBC’s Ken Dilanian made Twitter aware of a recent …
Levin’s Legacy
To Fund Communities or Jails?
New York City Council Member Stephen Levin B’03, is trying to push through an $11 billion jail expansion plan in New …
Shifting Gears
The United Automobile Workers strikes General Motors
On September 15, nearly 50,000 United Automobile Workers (UAW) union members formed picket lines outside of General Motors factories across the …
Week in Tête-à-Têtes
THE NAMESAKE Name recognition is important in politics. Regardless of a politician’s public favor, constituents must know who they are before …
Not For Sale
Beyond Greenland's media moment
“Essentially, it’s a large real estate deal.” In the middle of August, the world was witness to yet another media circus …
Week in Civic Engagement
I ONLY SEE ONE RACE: THE HUMAN RACE To understand Woonsocket’s City Council meeting on Monday, September 16, we can begin …