Essays Archive - Page 12 of 131

The Conscience of an Anti-War Activist

In praise of James Carroll

October 25, 2022 • by Randall Kennedy

Prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and threats of using nuclear weapons, I had pushed fear of nuclear annihilation to the very edges of my consciousness. James Carroll bids us to recall this fear, to bring it back to the center of our concerns, and to extinguish it through effective action....

Europe & Central Asia

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

The renewed threat of nuclear war—and the importance of distinguishing between fear and anxiety

October 25, 2022 • by James Carroll and Robert Jay Lifton

Nuclear complacency is multifaceted. A certain amount of nuclear fear is appropriate to our situation. When we give in to what you’re calling nuclear complacency, it’s because we have insufficient fear of what is actually dangerous....

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

Europe & Central Asia

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

Its senior leadership is uniquely positioned in the present moment to pursue a revolutionary possibility

October 24, 2022 • by Robert Edwards

It is often difficult in the moment to recognize when one is at a crossroads. In the 1991 Gulf War, I was a lowly tactical intelligence officer in a parachute infantry regiment of the 82nd Airborne, rolling through the Iraqi desert beneath an air campaign that left smoldering charcoal where ...

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

War

Personal Reflections on War and Peace

A response to James Carroll

October 24, 2022 • by Frida Berrigan

The history of nonviolent successes is underreported, understudied, and under-understood. ...

Latin America & Caribbean

Bolsonaro Shocks the Left in Brazil

Polarization deepens as a populist movement makes unexpected political gains

October 12, 2022 • by Theo Almeida

When Brazilians went to the polls on Sunday, October 2, most observers—and most pollsters—expected that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist former president, and his Workers’ Party (PT) would decisively defeat his chief opponent, Jair Bolsanaro, the current President from Brazil’s Liberal Party (PL)....

Democracy

Why Political Pamphlets Still Matter

A literary look at Brexit shows us how words have always changed the world

October 12, 2022 • by Sakina Shakil Gröppmaier

The texts distributed by Brexit campaigners were intended to agitate, to provoke, and to generate a negative reaction towards the EU that would swing the vote in their favor. ...

Higher Ed

“God Is Dead”

And other memories of coming of age gay and Catholic in the sixties

October 12, 2022 • by John D’Emilio

I was flabbergasted. The idea that someone not only didn’t believe in God but also had grown up without God was something I couldn’t take in. All I could think was, “Wow. Without God, he’d never have to worry about whether he was going to hell, whether he’d make it ...

Gender

What Does It Mean to Be “Authentic”?

Skye C. Cleary chats with Luis Jaramillo about her new book on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy-from-life method

October 11, 2022 • by Skye C. Cleary and Luis Jaramillo

Finding your “authentic self” is often taken to mean: “Let’s turn inward and look for the blueprint that’s going to tell us what decisions we should make and that will make us happy.” But Beauvoir argued that we’re humans who are always growing, always changing....

Science & Technology

Ocellus XR: Visualizing Climate Risk, Vulnerability, and Equity in NYC

An open source mobile app democratizes access to local climate data

October 10, 2022 • by Daniel Sauter, Timon McPhearson and Christopher Kennedy

New technologies such as augmented reality and data visualization tools have emerged over the past decade offering new ways for audiences to not only view and understand big data, but to also interact with it. ...

Ocellus XR: Visualizing Climate Risk, Vulnerability, and Equity in NYC

Europe & Central Asia

Part 6: A New Treaty?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

October 10, 2022 • by James Carroll

In this unprecedented context, a laserlike focus on banning the bomb can be a politically viable process, surpassing the failed efforts of bygone years, and even leading to the broader mitigation of “militarism” toward which peace movements have striven without success....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 5: Amanda Gunn’s Forensic Imagination

Poetic rememberance

October 5, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 5 of Multi-Verse, poet Amanda Gunn reads her poem “What You Meant” and discusses its themes of love, grief, and memory with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Learn more about Amanda Gunn and her forthcoming debut collection, Things I Didn't Do with This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). Multi-Verse is a ...

The Arts

Making Experiences Our Own: A Review of The Amen Corner, 2021

For years, Ijeoma N. Njaka was afraid of failing to understand James Baldwin. Then she went to see his play

October 5, 2022 • by Ijeoma N. Njaka

It is by no means guaranteed that a potential audience member will automatically make a connection between their life experiences, interests, knowledge, emotions, or memories with a piece of art. Interpretive or educational materials, however, can help a viewer create a personally meaningful connection with the art itself....

Essays

The Conscience of an Anti-War Activist

In praise of James Carroll

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

The renewed threat of nuclear war—and the importance of distinguishing between fear and anxiety

Might the U.S. Military Support Nuclear Disarmament?

Its senior leadership is uniquely positioned in the present moment to pursue a revolutionary possibility

Personal Reflections on War and Peace

A response to James Carroll

Bolsonaro Shocks the Left in Brazil

Polarization deepens as a populist movement makes unexpected political gains

“God Is Dead”

And other memories of coming of age gay and Catholic in the sixties

What Does It Mean to Be “Authentic”?

Skye C. Cleary chats with Luis Jaramillo about her new book on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy-from-life method

Ocellus XR: Visualizing Climate Risk, Vulnerability, and Equity in NYC

An open source mobile app democratizes access to local climate data

Part 6: A New Treaty?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Multi-Verse Episode 5: Amanda Gunn’s Forensic Imagination

Poetic rememberance

Making Experiences Our Own: A Review of The Amen Corner, 2021

For years, Ijeoma N. Njaka was afraid of failing to understand James Baldwin. Then she went to see his play

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