In a November 2003 Believer magazine interview, American author David Foster Wallace (who once profiled John McCain’s 2000 Republican primary campaign for Rolling Stone) was asked of his opinion on U.S. political writing around the turn of the century. “As of 2003, the rhetoric of the enterprise is fucked,” the late writer said to interviewer […]
Okay, so, I finally did it. For way longer than I thought possible, I stayed away from the 21-minute political masterpiece that you’ve all been raving so much about. I’m proud of how long I resisted this thing, as it was teasing my interest nonstop from all over the Internet, silently lurking around every shadowy […]
On the morning of June 5th, 1989, a man in a white shirt stood in front of a military armored tank in one of the most iconic photographs of that year. The same year that the Poles, the Czechs, the Hungarians, the Germans, and the Romanians overthrew their communist oppressors, the people of China attempted […]
The scene is unusual. President Barack H. Obama is seated inside George Mason University’s Johnson Center in Fairfax, Virginia, postured sort of awkwardly, plopped on a high leather chair, itself upholstered in deep crimson, positioned at room center. The President is well lit and sporting a finely tailored suit jacket, unbuttoned, a long and double-Windsored […]
In the past week, I’ve watched in horror and bitter disappointment as governors from the two states I call home, New Jersey and Massachusetts, proclaimed that they will not accept Syrian refugees. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey became a leading voice for the opposition to the federal government’s plan for Syrian refugee resettlement, even […]
Menstruation is one of the single most commonly shared experiences among women of all races, religions, and ethnicities. Most women menstruate for an average of 40 years. Throughout those 40 years, each woman will use more than 11,000 sanitary pads and tampons, spending approximately $5,600 on those hygiene products.[1] For a woman in a developed […]
The American presidency has ramifications far beyond the executive branch. It can lend the victor’s party a boost in Congress, influence statewide elections, and have deep repercussions in foreign countries. But what a lot of people often forget is that the presidency also affects the judiciary—perhaps most directly—as all federal judges are appointed by the […]
The United States carries a unique debt burden relative to the rest of the developed world. Student debt has officially become the second-highest debt burden on the United States’ economy, eclipsing auto loans and credit card debt while remaining second only to mortgages.[1] This is thanks to a combination of skyrocketing tuition costs and private […]
In the politically polarized city that is present day Washington, D.C., compromises are hard to come by. The need for criminal justice reform, however, is something that maintains near universal acceptance. From John Oliver to Ted Cruz, people throughout the country have spoken publicly of the need to mend the broken criminal justice system. While […]
It’s been a week since Northeastern University Police Department (NUPD) announced it would deploy semi-automatic rifles in campus police vehicles during “high-level threats.” Condemnations of the decision have been strong, if expected. Trevor Noah compared Northeastern to prison, which, if you lived in IV freshman year, isn’t completely inaccurate. Northeastern’s ability to make blindly controversial […]
