Kai Wright, a writer and editor living in Brooklyn, New York, previously wrote for Beacon Broadside on Taking Care of Out Teens. His writing has appeared in Essence, Mother Jones, The Progressive, and the Village Voice. His new book, Drifting... Read more →
by Pagan Kennedy Last summer, around the time that Leona Helmsley's dog inherited 13 million dollars, an Austrian chimp named Hiasl got stiffed. Hiasl stood to come into a few thousand Euros, but a court ruled that he could not... Read more →
by Chris Mercogliano A national study just released by the National Endowment for the Arts warns that the sustainability of American culture is at risk because our society is turning more and more toward electronic media for information and entertainment... Read more →
The Broadside took a couple of days off for turkey, stuffing, and family fun. We're back today with a reminder of why we shouldn't spend our holiday shopping dollars without thinking about the impact of our choices. by Stacy Mitchell... Read more →
by Stephen Burt You can find Adrienne Rich in anthologies of Jewish American poetry, but most of her many admirers do not think of her first (if at all) as a Jewish poet: they think of her as a feminist... Read more →
by Kay Trimberger Singles during the Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hanukkah seasons—quintessential family holidays in the U.S.—are stereotyped as lonely, isolated and pathetic. While popular entertainment is now as likely to depict family conflict as well as joy during the holidays, we... Read more →
Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty, will be participating in a live chat about the shortcomings of our food bank system today at 1PM ET on the Washington Post website.... Read more →
by Karen Kahn As we approach the fourth anniversary of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Supreme Judicial Court decision that granted marriage equality to same-sex couples in Massachusetts, I find myself reflecting on the profound impact of this... Read more →
In Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, William H. Gates (dad of Bill Gates) and Chuck Collins argue that large fortunes should be taxed, both because of the societal benefit of wealth redistribution, and because it's... Read more →
by Aidan Delgado I still think of Veterans Day as Armistice Day, its original name, commemorating the end of World War I. The nations that founded the holiday did so to celebrate the end of what they believed was the... Read more →
by Helen Benedict Over this past year, I have talked to forty or so women soldiers for my forthcoming book, The Lonely Soldier: Women at War in Iraq, and it has become clear to me that they have a set... Read more →
Penny Coleman, the author of Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War and Village Elders, lives with her family in New York City. For more information, visit her website at www.flashbackhome.com. On November 6, the Joshua Omvig... Read more →
Repeated and long deployments, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injuries are contributing to high rates of homelessness among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The numbers are disturbingly high for a war that’s still being waged: Some advocates... Read more →
by Marcus Eriksen Veterans Day seems pointless, just a bunch of old vets telling war stories. There is no Hallmark set of instructions to hint to a gift you might submit to your favorite war hero. It’s partly a recycled... Read more →
Katherine Newman appeared on Bill Moyers Journal last week (you can watch the show here) to talk about the subjects raised in her new book (with Victor Tan Chen), The Missing Class. The book (reviewed recently in the Boston Globe)... Read more →
by Danya Ruttenberg I was asked to write a few words in honor of Jewish Book Month, which takes the Jewish world by storm every November. It's a wonderful celebration of the written word and a reaffirmation that the People... Read more →
by Meredith Hall When I wrote my memoir, Without a Map, I understood that I was breaking unspoken but powerful rules of silence. Pregnant at sixteen in 1966, I was one of the thousands (or are there tens of thousands... Read more →
David Dow, the author of Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America's Death Row, is a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. He is also the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network (TIN), which helps... Read more →
by David Gessner I think it's funny how often people use place as a metaphor for their state of being. "I'm not quite there yet." "I'm getting there." "I'm feeling unsettled." Everyone wants to get there and be there but... Read more →