Essays Archive - Page 22 of 131

How They See Us—and How We Learn to See Ourselves

The importance of mentoring for Black students

April 28, 2022 • by Sylvester A. Johnson

Mentorship, in which I reassure students that we inhabit the same reality when it comes to racism, is an especially personal and rewarding aspect of my professional life. I approach mentorship through emphasizing to every student that they have unique potential and absolutely belong in the academic world, regardless of ...

How They See Us—and How We Learn to See Ourselves

Education

Building the House You Want to Live and Teach In

How women’s studies nurtured radical transformation at Spelman College

April 28, 2022 • by Beverly Guy-Sheftall

Even though I was an untenured professor I decided that I would position myself as a “radical” teacher who would try and disrupt some of the “mis-education” that the curriculum which at the time, mirrored the traditional higher education curriculum throughout the United States. ...

Building the House You Want to Live and Teach In

Education

Becoming Un-Disciplined

What it takes to make a university community where Black faculty and students–and all of us—can thrive

April 27, 2022 • by Cathy J. Cohen and Claire Potter

Part of what I find amazing about being a professor at this moment is watching the change that’s coming, not always from institutions, but from young people and their demands on institutions. Their demands for a different type of faculty in terms of demographics. Their demands for different types of ...

Education

Something Like Freedom

What teaching Black literature requires of us

April 25, 2022 • by Ana-Maurine Lara and drea brown

feminist thought, Black is queer and quare, Black is past-present-future, Black ain’t marginal, Black is belonging, Black is bringing the outside in, and Black is making space for what and who among us has been displaced....

Interviews

The Nitty-Gritty of Craft

A conversation with writer Mychal Denzel Smith

April 20, 2022 • by Mychal Denzel Smith and Erica Marrison

“Coming off of a decade or so—oh God, this year marks 12 years since I first published—of thinking about the worst things that happened to Black people in the United States, I just wanted some pleasure in my life,” says writer Mychal Denzel Smith from his balcony in Brooklyn. Smith’s most recent ...

K Through 12

The Experiment

An excerpt from Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality

April 20, 2022 • by Stephen G. Bloom

Steven Armstrong was the first to show up in Classroom No. 1O on the morning of Friday, April 5, 1968. “Hey, Mrs. Elliott,” Steven said as he slung his books on his desk. “They shot that King last night! Why’d they shoot that King?” Steven was an alert, savvy kid. The son of ...

Interviews

The Promise and Perils of Life in Outer Space

A conversation with architect Fred Scharmen

April 19, 2022 • by Emma Celebrezze and Fred Scharmen

I got really obsessed with these paintings from a NASA project that was about designing giant, free-floating, spinning cities to orbit Earth. I decided to take them seriously as real proposals that were in the lineage of architecture and urban design. What I found was that far from being this ...

The Promise and Perils of Life in Outer Space

Activism

Water Belongs to the People, Not Corporations

Protecting our water is a sacred commitment to all life on earth

April 19, 2022 • by Simona Perry

Is water sacred? In the Roman Catholic tradition, it is through a rite of minor-exorcism: prayers that both breaks the influence of evil and sin in a person's life and sanctifies water as “holy.” In this ancient rite, a priest blesses the living “creature of water” to cast out devils, put sickness to flight, ...

Water Belongs to the People, Not Corporations

Migration

The Rise of Humanitarian Corridors

How a lay Catholic community mobilized a transnational response to wartime refugee crises

April 18, 2022 • by Patrick Gilger, S.J.

The type of global public religion that the Sant’ Egidio community offers no silver bullet for those who are internally displaced or pushed across borders. And yet, secularism and secularists cannot combat these crises alone. Although a magical solution is not at hand, a certain form of help is. The ...

The Arts

The World’s First Revolutionary Artist

Was Jacques-Louis David an opportunist? Or a passionate propagandist?

April 18, 2022 • by Mitchell Abidor

Jacques-Louis David Radical Draftsman is a fitting exploration of the first great radical artist, a master of propaganda whose greatest triumphs were a result of his unflagging willingness to place his enormous talents at the service of his deepest political beliefs. ...

Europe & Central Asia

Echoes of War Reach New York

Among those affected are people with both Ukrainian and Russian roots

April 13, 2022 • by Anastasia Shteinert

It is believed that people adapt to everything. I am already fine with New York’s enormous rent prices, loud sirens, and small talks. But I’m not sure I will ever be able to adapt to this monstrous war. ...

Europe & Central Asia

Phony War Again?

How should we respond to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy’s repeated demands to institute a no-flight zone over Ukraine?

April 13, 2022 • by Jan T. Gross

The question now put before us is simple but fraught: How should we respond to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy’s repeated demands to institute a no-flight zone over Ukraine? I think there are good reasons why we should heed his request. ...

Essays

How They See Us—and How We Learn to See Ourselves

The importance of mentoring for Black students

Building the House You Want to Live and Teach In

How women’s studies nurtured radical transformation at Spelman College

Becoming Un-Disciplined

What it takes to make a university community where Black faculty and students–and all of us—can thrive

Something Like Freedom

What teaching Black literature requires of us

The Nitty-Gritty of Craft

A conversation with writer Mychal Denzel Smith

The Experiment

An excerpt from Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes: A Cautionary Tale of Race and Brutality

The Promise and Perils of Life in Outer Space

A conversation with architect Fred Scharmen

Water Belongs to the People, Not Corporations

Protecting our water is a sacred commitment to all life on earth

The Rise of Humanitarian Corridors

How a lay Catholic community mobilized a transnational response to wartime refugee crises

The World’s First Revolutionary Artist

Was Jacques-Louis David an opportunist? Or a passionate propagandist?

Echoes of War Reach New York

Among those affected are people with both Ukrainian and Russian roots

Phony War Again?

How should we respond to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy’s repeated demands to institute a no-flight zone over Ukraine?

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