COVID-19 represents the biggest shock to the American Dream since the Great Recession. Even Scarsdale, New York, the richest town on the East Coast, stands to lose if the “Zoomers” suffer permanent impediments to their development.
Massachusetts’ most contentious natural gas compressor station continues to draw scrutiny over alleged violations of environmental justice — from community groups, elected officials, and now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which may have the authority to pull the plug on the project once and for all.
The most straightforward and momentous step we could take toward solving the problems of American democracy is to lower the voting age to 16, beginning with local elections. This would revolutionize our political culture in the United States, politically empowering future generations of Americans and elevating our civil discourse.
As it stands, the foster care system for migrant children largely functions as a law enforcement agency, not a child welfare agency. If it is to care for the children under its wings, the United States government must ensure that they are protected and placed in an environment that is conducive to their health, safety and growth.
What has been the role of social media, not only as a contributor to 2020, but as a looking glass from which we can examine the lifetime and legacy of this historic year? Has social media obstructed hindsight 2020, or has it served to clarify the complicated mess of our recent history?
In normal times, Harvard, like most elite and diverse institutions, harbors a host of inequalities on its campus. But on a campus with unprecedented social restrictions, the pandemic — as it has everywhere else — exacerbated already existing socioeconomic inequalities amongst its student body.
At first glance, the relationship between the Canadian government and First Nations people may appear progressive, conciliatory, and apologetic. But under these symbolic gestures lies a federal reluctance to extend political sovereignty to all First Nations.
Many factors, from wealth and racial inequalities to the accessibility of healthcare and more, all played a role in causing the American coronavirus pandemic to reach this scale. But one factor few have considered, yet which may have had the largest impact, may be what could be called the “structural fragility” of American scientific and governing institutions.
While Belarus is no stranger to rigged elections, the sheer magnitude of fraud in the 2020 election mobilized the populace to demand change. A new generation of Belarusians who do not know anything other than the Lukashenko government feel left behind by a stagnating economy, and Lukashenko’s abysmal response to the COVID pandemic mobilized civil society to fight it in his stead.
In many ways, this “new genre” spurred on by the coronavirus — a sort of “pandemic pop” rooted in themes of isolation and uncertainty — is not so much a genre in the traditional sense that it has a unified musicality and instrument base. Instead, it is a genre formed from the combination of an introspective creative process and relatable, empathetic messaging — and one that proves uniquely positioned to reflect and serve the COVID era that artists now create in.
