When examining the factors that drive U.S. Latin American foreign policy, a clear distinction can be found between public justification and private motives. These two, in fact, complement and enable each other across decades of U.S. history. Intervention in Latin America is often influenced by corporate lobbying, which can swiftly and quietly translate private sector profit motives into complex and elaborate national security narratives. As new economic interests emerge, corr

American author James Baldwin “This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again.” James Baldwin, “Stranger in the Village,” 1953. James Baldwin’s time in exile, as he refers to it, validated for him the uniqueness of the American people. Away from his home country, Baldwin offered a unique perspective from his new position of clarity, writing from the outside looking in. In Europe, he found a new type of white people — white people who had rarely, if ever, met

The Cover of Babel “Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?” -R. F. Kuang, Babel In her 2022 epic historical fantasy novel Babel, or The Necessity of Violence , R. F. Kuang explores the intersection of colonialism, language, translation, and racism, amo

The original cover of 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher The majority of high school counselors are not licensed psychiatrists, but are mandated reporters. While some students may feel comfortable sharing with a counselor, getting the help they need is not guaranteed and can make matters worse. Reaching out for help is not easy when the problem is depression or suicidal ideation. Parents and educators would rather push toxic positivity, religion, and self-reliance than consider givi

Still from I 'm Still   Here In I'm Still Here , director Walter Salles examines the intimate impact of dictatorship on one family in 1970s Brazil, following Eunice Paiva (played by Fernanda Torres) as she confronts the disappearance of her husband, former congressman Rubens Paiva (played by Selton Mello). Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s 2015 memoir  Ainda Estou Aqui, the film portrays the deep remembrance of the past and the journey to uncover the truth amid a world of polit

Radiohead members Ed O'Brien, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Thom Yorke, and Phil Selway (Britannica, 2008) In 1987, a young musician survived the wreckage of a serious car crash . His girlfriend was injured. But he walked away, unscathed. From the twisted metal and suspended moment emerged the image he would later immortalize: a “jackknifed juggernaut, born again.” Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke stood outside the aftermath of folded metal and broken glass. Though he had be

Club Penguin , during the golden age of the kid web, holds the record for the most popular child-oriented MMO game in history, with over 200 million registered users by 2013. (Credit: Club Penguin Legacy ) The year is 2008. You have just arrived home after a long day of elementary school. You enter your home, drop your backpack to the ground, and rush over to the family computer (located, of course, in the family computer room). There, you log on to your favorite website, whe

Social Isolation is known to have many adverse mental, physical, and emotional effects The 18th-century French poet Joseph Roux  once said that “Solitude vivifies. Isolation kills.” There has been much debate  about the distinction between the states of solitude vs isolation  – if you can even consider them states of being, rather than places, conditions, mindsets, or afflictions. As supported by Roux’s quote, solitude doesn’t necessarily bear the negative connotations that i

St. Bonaventure Catholic Church- Decades of scandal, secularization, and cultural shifts have seen organized religion relegated to the rear of culture, leading to a poorer civil society and a more polarized populace. (Image courtesy of Abandoned America and Matthew Christopher) As American life has continued to change and evolve, one of the most dramatic, if underreported, shifts in its culture has been the decline of both religious belief as a whole and organized religion in

Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, circa 1980s- Although the parade still occurs every year, the unique culture of artists that birthed it is now with the undead. (Image courtesy of Curbed and Scott Laperruque) “For masterpieces,” Virginia Woolf said , “are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common.” In the modern era, our culture has been driven by artists and the communities they build together; innovators set the tone, and th

Derek “More Plates More Dates” Monroe and Joe Rogan are just two of the many influencers spreading the gospel of testosterone to young men online  (Credit: Instagram @MorePlatesMoreDates) "It's real simple,” declares Joe Rogan , the most-listened-to podcaster in the world. “If you're fine with not feeling as good—good! But if you're not fine with it... hormone replacement therapy exists for a reason, and that reason is it makes you feel way better.” Over on YouTube, Derek of

Sometimes things just aren't that complicated (Kasia Babis, The Nib) “I can’t follow politics these days, the political scene is so crazy. There are just so many nasty comments on both sides.” This sentiment is one I have heard from many people both online and in person over the past decade, and it drives me up a wall. It seems that we live in a time where staying in the politically inoffensive middle ground on the basis of intellectualism and rationality is prioritized over

Popular love confession scene from season 3 episode 7 of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty,’ featuring male lead Conrad Fisher Somewhere on TikTok, a man is staring out a rain-soaked window. “He yearns,” the caption reads, as a Phoebe Bridgers song swells in the background. In the comments, hundreds of people lose their minds over the emotional depth of a guy who has not, by any means, said a single word. Welcome to today’s cultural moment, where longing — gentle, aesthetic, prefer

A painting made by Marianne of the abortion scene Céline Sciamma’s   Portrait of a Lady on Fire  is an absolutely stunning film. It follows two women, Marianne and Héloïse—one tasked with painting the other—and against the backdrop of 18th-century France; they fall in love. Yet a third character quietly adds to the emotional landscape of the story. Sophie, the housemaid, discovers she is pregnant, and Marianne and Héloïse help her seek an abortion. They first give Sophie an h

The United States government has long been criticized for excessive surveillance of citizens and non-citizens alike. To many, this practice contradicts the American ideals of personal liberty and privacy. Directives for mass surveillance are most commonly made after major tragedies or during political upheaval. After the 9/11 attacks, the Patriot Act allowed authorities to detain  hundreds of immigrants  for prolonged periods despite not being accused of a crime. These detent

"I Lied to You" Scene Still Music has always been deeply connected to culture. I remember as a young child my father would play the songs of artists spanning centuries, their voices kept alive through music. My mother would tell the stories from Africa, of our family and history, sharing the melodies of our culture. Storytelling through music and folklore passes history down through generations, preserving the voices of culture. The magnetic and life changing film released Ap

Jayce Talis, the scientist behind Hextech, working with the arcane crystal. (Riot Games, Arcane ). This November is a big one for computer scientists and engineers. It marks the 37th birthday of Wojciech Zaremba, the computer scientist who founded OpenAI , and the third anniversary of the release of ChatGPT , one of the first accessible language learning models available to the public. And when their compilers switch off and the television switches on for a Netflix binge, the

Ali Baba, a character in 1,001 Nights Fairytales may help children fall asleep at night, but they are more significant than bedtime entertainment; they are more like capsules for cultural values. In the case of Shahrazad, they saved her life. The storyteller of the 1,001 Nights , Shahrazad, tells 1,000 stories, one each night, to delay her husband from killing her. One of these stories includes the renowned classic “Aladdin,” a story that teaches the importance of being mindf

The 4chan logo (Wikipedia) The Internet is a horrible place. One of the most horrible parts of the Internet is, as many are familiar with, 4chan, a mostly-anonymous online forum centralized around images to share ideas across a variety of topic boards, such as /k/ (a place for 4channers to gather and discuss weaponry, oftentimes those regarding the Rhodesian military ), /mlp/ (notorious for not just My Little Pony  discussions that are grossly inappropriate for the intended a

Cover of Final Fantasy XV: Comrades The act of gathering in a shared space is the foundation of a community’s thriving health, but with...