April 11, 2022: Azar Nafisi

So much of our modern life is built upon simplifying the complex. We reduce social interactions to likes and follows on social media and dilute the “news” in our favorite echo chambers. But Azar Nafisi warns that life is not simple and the complexity found in great literature is ultimately liberating of the mind and essential to the health of our democracy.

April 4, 2022: Maddie McGarvey

America is a study in contrasts: from the pomp and circumstance of a presidential inauguration to the reality of hunger across the land, Maddie McGarvey documents life in the United States as only a photojournalist can.

March 21, 2022: Pete Hammond

The 2022 Academy Award nominations are out. Pete Hammond says they celebrate a remarkable array of films exploring topics as diverse as toxic masculinity and environmental catastrophe.

March 7, 2022: Megan Ranney

Two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 has taken nearly 1 million American lives. Dr. Megan Ranney reflects on the experience of these last 24 months and describes the steps we need to take collectively and individually to finally put the pandemic behind us.

March 14, 2022: David Pepper

Politics, at its best, is about getting things done.  At its worst—it’s something much more sinister.  David Pepper warns that some politicians are experimenting, now, with autocracy in statehouses across the United States.

February 28, 2022: Laura Coates

February 21, 2022: Ruth Kolker

It’s one thing to say that politics has always been a tough business, but it’s another to confront the reality that public insults have become more frequent, more intense, and more personal. Ruth Colker explains this is not an accident, but often part of intentional efforts to hijack public issues.

February 14, 2022: Tom Kelly and Kevin Hasson

For one generation of Americans, civil and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland was brought into our homes through regular reporting on the nightly news. For a younger generation, it was brought home in the powerful lyrics of the band known as U2. Tom Kelly and Kevin Hasson of the Bogside Artists are creating street art and murals that remember that era in Northern Ireland’s history.

February 7, 2022: Pamela Paul

It’s not much of an exaggeration to say the internet changed all of us and everything around us. Just look at the way we communicate, earn money, date, entertain, and inform ourselves. Pamela Paul chronicles the things we’ve lost in the process—the charm that comes with some uncertainty and the romance of the time before the internet.