When I was 13 years old, my mom let me buy a tube of foundation for the first time. I had been asking – begging – for her permission for months. Pocketing the $5 bill she gave me, I walked to my local drugstore with my best friend, beyond excited […]
The Battle of Algiers is a pivotal film in the political and war genre. It was one of the first films to deal with the ethics of depicting torture on screen at a time before Western scholars were willing, or ready, to talk about it. The film has recently become […]
Penn Reading Initiative (PRI) is a volunteer-based program dedicated to increasing literacy of struggling elementary students at underfunded schools in West Philadelphia. While several organizations at Penn work with youth in West Philly, PRI is unique in its mission and curriculum. PRI utilizes a curriculum called the Reading Road, which was developed […]
A wealth of empirical evidence points to an extreme disparity in educational attainment between the general population and incarcerated individuals. While 18 percent of the general population lacks a high school diploma, over 40 percent of incarcerated individuals do not have one (Why Prison Education? ). This is not an […]
Philadelphia’s issues with education have a long history, starting in 2001 when its relationship with the School Reform Commission began. The SRC brought about huge cuts in funding, voted to remove health benefits from teacher contracts, and implemented charter school caps without scheduling a hearing in advance. Philadelphia was hit […]
News sources have been toying with the idea of calling Israel an apartheid state for years. Ever since the U.N. released a report in 2017 calling Israel an apartheid state, which has since been withdrawn, there have been even more sources putting this label on Israel. This leads to the question […]
(Photo credit to worldvision.org) On Sep. 28th of 2018, a 7.5 level earthquake in Palu, Indonesia was followed by a tsunami and an then a volcanic eruption – the death count was over 2,100 people. On Sep. 30th, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia began accepting international and private sector aid […]
In the 2014 midterms, Penn students had a dismal voter turnout, with only 19.8% of Penn students voting (PennToday), a number lower than country average. However, recent election statistics and registration initiatives, show that Philadelphia is becoming more civically engaged, and that young adults in particular are flipping the narrative […]
Beelining down Locust, groggily purchasing coffee at Wawa, rushing to pick up mail between classes—we superficially interact with so many people who we are barely aware of, yet who each hold unique and important roles in Penn’s community. Below, our writers share the stories of some people we share this […]
In recent years, social activism has become significantly more accessible to the general public. From web surfers communicating through online forums to students demonstrating on college campuses, people are voicing their opinions on social, political and cultural issues more comfortably. Does the act of more people getting involved more comfortably […]
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