Consecrated Waiting Rooms
Whether we are religious or claim no sense of the spiritual, sacred spaces help us to better confront the transitory nature of existence.
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Society & Culture
American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables
American politics is in peril. Now is the time to replace our broken bargaining tables with more deliberative democracy.
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Could the COVID Pandemic Spark a Cash Benefit Revolution?
For low-income families, the move toward direct, broad cash benefits might prove to have a long-lasting impact once the COVID pandemic ends.
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Trust in an Age of Reactionaries and Revolutionaries
Rather than view recent political failings as flaws inherent to liberalism, we might be better served by focusing on the decline in trust.
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Who Cares About Democracy?
Some people consider democracy a good thing only if it gets them the outcome they want. Perhaps the US just needs more democratic reforms.
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Letters to You
In this epistolary, Melanie Han reflects on her experiences with racism, intergenerational family dynamics, and tensions surrounding identity.
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‘Corona, Corona’: In the Cycle of Grief
Finding herself abroad during the early days of corona, a traveler recounts the uncertainties and grief that followed her home.
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The Mythos of Pandemic
Without a shared mythos or communal rituals, we face not only the physical threat of coronavirus but also an epidemic of hopelessness.
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All the Lonely People: The Atomized Generation
We’re not only facing a crisis of loneliness but we’re atomized. Our systems seem designed to further undermine social fabric and place.
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The Locking Spine
Eating crab is a fitting tradition for an Appalachian community dealing with the intergenerational trauma connected to the opioid crisis.
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Suspending Politics to Save Democracy
Just political systems secure the means of living satisfying private lives while political saturation crowds out key aspects of a good life.
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America Needs to Build Strong Towns, Not More Infrastructure
The key to fixing our cities, to creating Strong Towns, is to treat them like complex, emergent systems capable of iterative change.
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