Boyfriends are out. I was surprised to learn this while scrolling through social media. No longer is even the practice of dating safe from the critical eye of those who champion the empowerment of women. British Vogue recently denounced partnership, designating singleness as a “desirable and coveted status,” citing its rise as “another nail in...
My sister won’t stop crying while watching hockey. Like many fans, she becomes so invested that we have to watch games at home lest she get too rowdy at a bar. Rowdiness is a quality much celebrated in sports and is equally present among their fan bases. That rowdiness isn’t the only thing on display; often, so is patriotism—as demonstrated in this year’s Winter Olympics. ...
“If he likes it, then he should put a ring on it.” Those words, delivered with Pop Princess authority by Beyoncé, are now backed by mountains of social science, not just catchy hooks. As we celebrate National Marriage Week (Feb. 7–14), we should reflect not only on the romantic symbolism of marriage but on what...
In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey’s great ambition is not wealth or status. It is something far more ordinary and far more powerful: the ability for working families to afford a home, put down roots, and build a future together. Bedford Falls thrives not because of grand social programs, but because ordinary people can buy modest homes...
At the beginning of Home Alone, Kevin McCallister is not dreaming of independence or adventure. He is frustrated, overlooked, and angry enough to wish his family would simply disappear. It is a familiar childhood impulse, played for laughs and quickly resolved by the warmth of family reunion. But in today’s Texas households, new artificial intelligence tools...
This week, I took one of my colleagues to family court. We wanted to better understand the system that processes thousands of cases each year. These courts are designed to protect children and families, but what we witnessed raised questions about whether they truly function as courts at all. The first time I attended a...
Natural gas is the reason you can tweet. Coal powers your Facebook stalking and snapchat streaks. Oil allows you to post outfits of the day and vacation updates on your Instagram. Bottom line, fossil fuels make possible the connections and conversations facilitated by social media. Without the utilization of fossil fuels, like many things in...
Carolina Yoc is 15 years old; she entered the United States alone to live with a relative she did not know. Once inside the border, she was moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Now, she spends her nights working in a factory with other young workers, stuffing plastic bags of cereal into passing yellow cartons. She...