The degree of carnage and destruction, intensified by technological advances of a new industrial age, caused World War I to be a period of unprecedented conflict dating from 1914 to 1918 Generating catastrophic consequences such as economic turmoil, social discord and political strife, the war left millions of corpses in its wake. After the chaos and nationalistic fervor of the war Continue reading
Emily Dickinson said, “Hold dear to your parents, for it is a scary and confusing world without them.”1
Emily, to you, I pose this question: what do you do when it is not a matter of holding? Continue reading
Blush petals adorn the concrete sidewalks and frame the Boston skyline. The air is crowded with sweet fragrance, masking the industrial stench of the T. For the first time this semester, I can feel the sun’s rays warming my skin and marvel at the red and yellow tulips blooming all around South Campus. I find myself thankful for this little bit of wild amidst human invention; peace amongst the chaos of finals season, internship hunting, maybe even capitalist hunger. As variegated ivy leaves begin to poke through dry branches, crawl up barren brick walls, and dot my brownstone with some much-needed green, a theme in Montaigne’s famous essay “Of Cannibals” comes to mind: even our “utmost endeavors cannot arrive at so much as to imitate the nest of the least of birds, its contexture, beauty, and convenience.” According to this logic, even the finest of man’s creation cannot rival the beauty and perfection of nature. Continue reading
Frida Kahlo’s boldness and confidence as a woman have always greatly inspired me. In a time when the politicization of feminism is a heavily debated topic, sharing Frida Kahlo’s stories is more important than ever. I began reading about Kahlo in high school, and her bravery immediately struck me. When hearing her stories, it seemed to me that Kahlo was so ahead of her time that she was independently creating a feminist movement. One thing that I find exceptionally admirable about Kahlo is that Continue reading
Amitav Ghosh’s 2004 novel The Hungry Tidecontemplates the complex relationship between humans and the natural world through a series of parallel, intersecting narratives. The novel centers around the research project of Piya, an Indian-American cetologist, who meets Kanai, a translator from New Delhi, and Fokir, a village crab fisherman from the tide country of the Sundarbans in Southern Bengal in which the novel is set. The Sundarbans serve as an ecologically rich backdrop for Ghosh to illustrate the possibility and the way in which humans can reestablish a healthy relationship with nature. Continue reading
If morality were a library, John Stuart Mill constructed the first two floors and Søren Kierkegaard attached a third with a large skylight. Mill, whose vision involves only a two-story library, takes great issue with the extra floor and even more with the skylight. He complains that the skylight offers no benefit to the rest of the library; in fact, when the skylight is opened, falling rain makes all the books on the top floor damp and unreadable for days. In particularly drafty months, Continue reading
In philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s theory, she believes everyone has the right to the central capabilities of life. One of the core capabilities is happiness. Happiness is different for everyone. For some it may be a new car, a vacation to Europe, or even a designer handbag. But for those whose lives are filled with financial instability, domestic abuse, and discrimination, happiness is the moments spent laughing, dancing in the kitchen, singing loud to the song on the radio, playing dress up, and putting on makeup. This is the principal lesson of happiness for Sandra in the film Herself, a 2021 feature film presenting the suffering and joy of Sandra’s life situation. Continue reading
Stalin ordered the execution of more Communists than Hitler; however, where Hitler proclaimed himself the enemy of Communism, Stalin purported to be both leader and protector of the international movement. Continue reading
Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
In 1980, as the US and USSR became more entrenched in their separate camps, Carl Sagan warned of the terrifying possibility of a nuclear war Continue reading
As science has progressed, especially in the past few hundred years since the Scientific Revolution, the field has slowly explained away many of nature’s literal supernatural interpretations and sacred objects: we no longer view the planets as literal gods in the sky, but as the nearly spherical collections of gas, dust, rock, and ice that they are. We now look to the stars in search of data, not deities. Continue reading