The MBTA U-Pass: Connecting America’s College Town
It is hard to argue against the sentiment that Boston is a college city. According to data from the United States Census Bureau, there are approximately 250,000 college students attending school within the Boston area at 85 different institutions of higher learning.[1] Boston leads the nation in per capita student enrollment, and The Bureau […]
Northern Ireland: A Winding Road to Peace
A place that many consider a “post-conflict” society, Northern Ireland, is a Gordian knot of ideology further entangled through the problematic limbo customary of the road to peace. Never has the pathway to peace been a linear one—not in Bosnia, not in Rwanda, and not in Northern Ireland. Following a period characterized by ethno-nationalistic violence, […]
Towards Mindful Growth and Genuine Measurement
In 1968, Robert Kennedy made history with the bold statement that: “[the Gross Domestic Product] measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.” Over 40 years later, Kennedy’s words fall on still-deaf ears, as the GDP […]
Commercializing Vice: Marijuana, Tobacco and Alcohol Policy in the US
“Please drink responsibly.” These words are etched into every bottle of booze and embedded into the fine print of television advertisements, reminding consumers that the producers and distributors of beer, wine, and spirits have the public’s best interests in mind. However, as public policy expert Mark Kleiman notes: “responsible drinkers don’t build breweries.”[1] The […]
Conflict-Free in the Congo
In response to over a decade of brutal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Intel announced in January that it will produce the world’s first “conflict free” processors.[1] Though there have been attempts to publicize the atrocities occurring over the control of the mineral rich land in the DRC, this is the […]
The Question of 2014: The Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement
The United States and Afghanistan are at a pivotal point in their relationship in which current negotiations over the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) could have either beneficial or catastrophic effects for both nations. The outcome of these negotiations will dictate how much of a military presence, if any, the US will have in Afghanistan […]
Not Up To Code: Reprogramming America’s Changing Workforce
Young companies in this decade are built by people who fall into one of two categories: developers, and “support beams” — people who have shallow skills sets across a wide spectrum as opposed to specific expertise. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), jobs created by establishments less than one year old […]