A Letter to Insomnia

Dear Insomnia,  The older I get, the more I understand you. The way you are able to exploit the intensity of my mind and its...

Bookcase Favorites: Taking Haiti

Mary Renda's Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940 examines the interplay between culture and policy through the lens of the...

To Tokyo Strangers

While many understandably hate layovers, I feel the opposite. Sitting in an airport is like existing in an alternate world where all the worries and...

On Writer’s Block

I first fell in love with writing in middle school. As a painfully anxious and shy kid, I unsurprisingly found it difficult to express myself....

Your Vote Matters

Thomas Jefferson, reflecting on a nation’s best hope for the future, once remarked that its greatest defense is an educated citizenry. Today, as the United...