News
Crisis Response To California’s Carceral State
One bill’s attempt to provide alternatives to policing
As this summer saw skyrocketing donations to bail funds and widespread uprisings in support of Black liberation, 24-year-old Los Angelean Elizeth …
Week in Chasing Tails
Selling a record-breaking 1.7 million copies in its first week of release, Barack Obama’s A Promised Land is on track to …
Get Your Brits Out
Irish rap and the language of revolution
In 2017, Irish rapper Móglaí Bap (a pseudonym) spray-painted the word cearta (‘right,’ in Irish) on a bus station. Bap was …
Week in 21+
COVID-23 IS COMING Banana bread be damned, Michael Bay is here to make things just a bitlessbearable. TheTransformersdirector, notorious for his …
La lucha por votar como inmigrante estadounidense
La pandemia complica el proceso de votación para los nuevos estadounidenses
We are excited to share that, with the goal of making our work more accessible to Spanish-speaking Rhode Islanders, we will …
Week in Swamp Creatures
JACINDA ARDERN IS QUEEN. In the past weeks and months, there has been a lot of news circulating regarding the upcoming …
A Broken System Set Ablaze
Seeking safe shelter on the island of Lesvos
Thirteen thousand refugees and migrants were uprooted once again when Europe’s largest refugee camp, Moria, on the Greek island of Lesvos, …
Week in Noble Beasts
RACCOUP D’ÉTAT AT THE WHITE HOUSE? Raccoons invaded the White House lawn this week. Though they’ve mostly been stepping on telecaster …
Taking the Pulse of a Polarized Nation
Reflections on the long years of 1968 and 2020
In the United States, the election year of 1968 is perhaps better compared to 2016 than to 2020. Both were years …
Week in Furry Creatures
BABOONS, BONOBOS, AND THE BROS Still nursing a friend zoned–sized hole in your heart? Well, we here at the Indy have …
Imagining Indigenous Futures
The fight to save the West Berkeley Shellmound
On September 24, the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) released their 2020 list of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places,” …
The Paradox of Freedom
Palestine, Kashmir, and the ideological incongruities of Indian nationalism
content warning: discussions of state violence and sexual assault On August 5, 2020, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign affairs published a press …
Week in Celebrity Babies
THE GREAT DEBATERS In last week’s presidential debate on September 29, President Donald Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden went …
'Tiger Widows'
Understanding Strife in the World’s Largest Mangrove Forest
content warning: mentions of PTSD, discussions of trauma and suicide, descriptions of violence In May of 2020, the eastern states of …
Week in American Innovation
SAD REAX ONLY ;( This Indy staff writer woke up at 7:30 AM and clicked on that wonderful black square with …
A Safe, Healthy, and Full-Priced Campus
Bottom line is, universities are most concerned with their bottom line
Risking student lives probably makes sense when you get down to the numbers of it. Yet, now, as thousands of at-risk …
Flammable 'Fornia': A Revelation
When Californication goes a little too hard
Social media is hard. Every single millennial—aging and married in the image of boomers before them—struggles to compete in a Gen …
The Rise Of @blackivystories: Confronting Racism in the Ivy League
An Instagram account pressures the Ivies to take accountability
“During an important meeting, someone told me she was glad I straightened my hair because I looked more ‘professional.’” —Brown University …
The Double Public Health Crisis
On March 18th, 2020, with hundreds of thousands already infected with the novel coronavirus, President Trump released this tweet: “I always …
The Plight and Fight to Vote as an American Immigrant
COVID-19 complicates voting for new Americans
The ongoing pandemic has changed the dynamics of voting, making the electoral process even more daunting for new Americans. Because of …
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 …