“Blame It on the Immigrant”: The Housing Crisis Edition

Meet the infamously deep-pocketed, undocumented construction laborers building and then stealing American homes

Here’s a tip from the US political playbook: if your campaign is struggling, if you don’t have actual policies but “concepts of a plan,” if you secretly or openly wish for the “good ol’ days” when black people did “black jobs,” if you “forgot” to declare the lavish perks from ...
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“Blame It on the Immigrant”: The Housing Crisis Edition

Emily Nussbaum Is Getting Realer Than Real

A review of Cue the Sun!—The Invention of Reality TV

Emily Nussbaum is a highly celebrated intellectual and writer. She has written for the New Yorker for several years, first as a television critic, then as a staff writer. She’s the author of I Like to Watch, a collection of essays about her television hot takes; she’s also a Pulitzer ...
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Emily Nussbaum Is Getting Realer Than Real

Enter the Glow

Hannah Burns explores identity, escapism, and queer belonging in I Saw the TV Glow

Sometimes the only place we can be ourselves is inside the media we consume. Sometimes that is where we see options, where we feel less “other.”  Watching I Saw the TV Glow, I loved the thought that Jane Schoenbrun’s amazing new film will join a queer film canon in which a ...
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Enter the Glow

The New Urgency of LGBTQ+ Pride in Paris

A celebration or a rebellion?

"We are transfeminists, radicals, and afroqueers,” marchers shouted. “Get used to it!" Their call echoed through a crowd of 28,000, gathered in the heart of Paris to advocate for the rights of gender and sexual minorities. Summer is Pride season around the world, and Paris is no exception. The main event ...
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The New Urgency of LGBTQ+ Pride in Paris

From the Sewer of the Internet, a Slang Surfaces

Why are my friends talking like incels?

“Been gymmaxxing lately,” my friend quipped as he made a protein shake.  “Proteinpilled too,” I said. My generation is speaking a new slang—new to us, anyway. Not quite ubiquitous, but familiar to that contingent of chronically online youth (and is that phrase not becoming a tautology?). These are phrases borrowed from incels, ...
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From the Sewer of the Internet, a Slang Surfaces

Academic Dialogue Against the Background of War

There are currently no conversation partners for Western academics within the Russian academy

A recent issue of Aeon featured an article entitled “The Missing Conversation,” with the subtitle “To the detriment of the public, scientists and historians don’t engage with one another. They must begin a new dialogue.” The article amounts to a conversation between the famous scientists and historians of science, professors Lorraine Daston and ...
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Academic Dialogue Against the Background of War

Thinking in Dark Times: Life, Death, and Social Solidarity

Living through war can transform how we engage with philosophy

This lecture was delivered as part of a benefit conference for the Ukrainian academy that Aaron James Wendland organized in March 2023 at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. The benefit conference was designed to provide financial support for academic and civic ...
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Thinking in Dark Times: Life, Death, and Social Solidarity

Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine

The philosophical implications of Zelensky’s decision to stay in Kyiv

This lecture was delivered as part of a benefit conference for the Ukrainian academy that Aaron James Wendland organized in March 2023 at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. The benefit conference was designed to provide financial support for academic and civic ...
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Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine

To Know Your Enemy’s Face

Russian studies and language programs face a decline in the US, despite stable demand for expertise in the field

Knowing your enemy as the key to victory is centuries-old wisdom. Washington seemed to embrace it during the Cold War, investing significant resources in the development of Soviet studies. In recent years, however, the situation has changed. Researchers and university professors are concerned about the deepening crisis in Russian studies ...
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To Know Your Enemy’s Face