Another U.S. Civil War is never going to happen. Here’s why. — Is the United States trending towards a second civil war? Several political pundits have suggested that the intensifying political divide and the heightened civil unrest in the nation indicate the potential for the outbreak of a civil war. In September, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said the political climate…

If political stability is not won through elections, how is political power actually secured? Tools for Interpreting the Crisis In this prolonged moment of political instability, it’s more helpful than ever to engage with the work of Italian, Marxist philosopher and politician Antonio Gramsci. While in prison under Mussolini’s fascist regime, Gramsci wrote the Prison…

Throughout the past few years, I’ve seen the same nickel-size stickers popping up around New York City. In the middle of these colorful, star-shaped stickers is a two-word message; “healin it.” When I’m able to spot them, I know that my friend Nora has been hard at work in her…

It’s been over a year since the South Korean film Parasite (2019) made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to garner international attention and acclaim, including the Oscar for best movie of the year. For all of the hype, there has been relatively little effort to…

He has enough power to directly affect all of our lives, but can we trust him? — Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we’ve been hearing a lot about Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. For the past few weeks, he’s been interviewed dozens of times and has offered opinion pieces advising the public on how their governments should mobilize to mitigate the spread of the virus. His…

Whenever I hear the term “neo-Marxist” it’s a clear sign that the person talking, or writing doesn’t fully understand Marxism. Modern-day Marxists never use the combining form “neo” to describe themselves. That’s because to distinguish the Marxist thinking of today from that of the past misrepresents what Marxism is. So…

If you’ve only known of Theodor Seuss Geisel for his work in producing some of the most popular children’s novels of all time under the pen name Dr. Seuss, then, like me, you might have idolized him for his strong moral compass. Even a half-century later, his books continue to…

Recently, I was at a series of “healing workshops” with a diverse group of ten teenagers. At one point they were all handed printed portraits of themselves. What happened next shocked me and the other adults in the room. Each of them looked at their portrait for two seconds and…

As we stood on the dance floor, I said I didn’t think Andreas and I would stay together until the end of the year. It was October so this was more my way of declaring the relationship’s finality than a true sense of uncertainty. I recited the argument that I…