In a recent discussion section of my history course, the teaching assistant running the section asked the class if we thought that there would ever be a community or political entity that would put an end to the strife that grips our world today. The argument ran that if there was no defined "other," ...
This, dear reader, is the column I have been putting off since I first started writing for The Herald.
As Bill Maher quipped on last week's "Real Time with Bill Maher," lackluster tsunami waves in California "pose a great danger to making everything about us." As always, the comedian-pundit jokes at the expense of big media outlets. Yet this time, his criticism rings true.
On March 2, 2007, presidential hopeful Barack Obama made a speech in Chicago regarding his "clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel." He went on to say that Israel was "our strongest ally in the (Middle East) region and its only established democracy," and then added, "That will always ...
Last Wednesday, Nancy Baron delivered a lecture on the idea that "being a good communicator makes you a better scientist." As the science outreach director for the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, Baron has helped the world's foremost scientific experts communicate their research to ...
A March 14 advertisement in The Herald, "Palestinian Wall of Lies," sparked a surge of letters to the editor decrying its deplorable language and lambasting The Herald for choosing to publish it. The advertisement's content was inflammatory and rightfully condemned by many members of the Brown community. ...
So you go to school in Rhode Island, "The Ocean State." But do you ever get out on salt water?
Imagine for a moment that a local pediatrician's office offers to painlessly euthanize newborns at the request of struggling mothers. Perhaps the mothers are too young, old, poor, busy, embarrassed, unstable or unprepared to raise a child. These are all potential reasons why a woman might abort her ...
Providence is in pretty deep. With deficit estimates hovering around $180 million over the next two years, this cannot be denied. From firing all Providence teachers and closing four schools to giving Mayor Taveras a 10 percent pay cut, our city leaders are making tough decisions.
I find myself in a constant struggle against forgetting — haunted by Marcus Aurelius' observation that time is like a torrent that sweeps away all that is born. Insights, faces, actions, definitions — anything that sprouts a root in my memory is immediately threatened by the currents of ...
Same-sex marriage is one of the most prominent, defining issues in mainstream LGBTQ politics today. To oppose it is often seen as being homophobic, and there are indeed many bigoted viewpoints. But it is possible to remain skeptical of marriage equality while fully supporting queer rights.
I would like to look at two famous scholars' definitions of fascism and examine them in the context of current events in the United States.
It's that time again. Spring Weekend is coming, hopefully bringing spring with it. And now we know who's doing the bringing.
As the race for the Republican presidential nomination begins in earnest, Sarah Palin will receive even more publicity than she normally does. Liberal intellectuals will continue to dismiss her as an ignorant country bumpkin. This anti-Palin rhetoric will be just as intense at Brown, where Palin certainly ...
In the current debate over the potential return of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps to campus, much attention has been given to economic, administrative and militaristic concerns. But little attention has been paid to the rampant discrimination within the military against transgender people. Though ...
It has been a few weeks since I stepped down as a cashier supervisor for Brown Dining Services, and I am still feeling the gaping hole in my life that comes from not having this huge responsibility and time commitment. I find it strange that I no longer receive emergency phone calls in the middle of ...
I recently had a brief conversation with a group of parents whose kids were either recently admitted to college or not far behind. One mother in the group expressed horror at the fact that college students do not date anymore. She recalled how much time she had spent dating in college, going to movies ...
If identifying the empirical implications of U.S. military culture and policy is to "demonize the military," as Oliver Rosenbloom '13 has argued ("ROTC and human rights: putting the military's record in perspective," March 1), then this says nothing of those of us identifying these implications. To ...
Britney Spears' video for her Billboard smash hit "Hold it Against Me" dropped last Thursday, and I had absolutely no idea. Normally, such events would fly under my own aesthetic radar. Things changed, however, when CNN told me Katy Perry was outraged. Things changed when I heard the blonde pop star ...
Correction appended.
Solutions by The State News
