Square One near Ground Zero
An earlier version of this article referred to the Cordoba House Initiative’s planned Islamic community center (also called Park51) in lower Manhattan as a mosque. In late July the controversy surrounding the construction of the... Read More
The Pill: Still Safe, Effective, and Threatening after All These Years
With the passing of the pill’s fiftieth birthday, much ink has been spilled over the effect oral contraception has had since its initial release in 1960. Women’s rights have certainly progressed in leaps and bounds... Read More
Mutilation by Any Other Name
In an age of PSAs and the Vagina Monologues, many of us consider ourselves informed and educated about institutionalized female violence. “It happens over there,” we tell ourselves, pointing to remote locations on a map,... Read More
A Questionable Pro-Choice Strategy (in 140 Characters or Less)
In February a woman named Angie Jackson made national headlines by live-tweeting her abortion. In doing so, she sparked a firestorm of criticism and raised important questions about what role, if any, such efforts to... Read More
Humanists in Haiti
When a devastating 7.0-magnitute earthquake struck near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, leaving over one million homeless and in dire need of food and medical attention, national aid organizations from around... Read More
Defusing the Neuron Bomb
On learning that the suspect aboard Northwest Flight 235 on Christmas Day was a young Nigerian born to privilege and wealth, I again thought of a girl I once knew—I’ll call her Alice Kim. When... Read More
Naked Pumpkins, Sex Offenders, and Terrorists
Most cities have some signature annual event that celebrates a unique aspect of their local culture. While New Orleans’s Mardi Gras is a massive, multi-day festival, most are more on the scale of Binghamton, New... Read More