As nerve-wracking as the political climate has been for the majority of the planet, I will say this: There’s never been a better time for writers seeking engagement on social media. Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling and horror mastermind Stephen King are no exception. Since Trump claimed the presidency in November, both have been tweeting up a storm in protest to the Celebrity Apprentice star’s regressive policies. It seems King’s perfectly reasonable critiques pushed Trump to the edge, leading the president of the United States to block the writer on Twitter on Monday following a tweet about Ivanka hypothetically growing up in farm country. “If Ivanka Trump had grown up in farm…

Street in Bogota, Colombia. Anthony Devlin / PA Archive/Press Association Images The explanatory factors for the expansion of the middle class in Colombia are similar to the ones at play in the rest of Latin America: economic growth and, to a lesser extent, social policies focused on the reduction of extreme poverty. Far from consolidated, this is a vulnerable middle class, because its upward mobility has been based on an increase in consumption through access to credit. It is a debt-ridden middle class. Three aspects of the middle class growth in Colombia – which, according to Angulo, Gaviria and Morales (2014), increased from 16% to 27% between 2002 and 2011…

For many people, Mother’s Day is an occasion for mimosa-soaked brunches and blue Tiffany boxes. For me, growing up in a family that didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day with any kind of faithfulness, it’s become an occasion for reflection on my notions of motherhood and the relationship I have with my own mother—which is fraught with a number of first-generation anxieties. I love my mother deeply, but our relationship has never been easy, and in recent years I’ve had to divest from it completely at some points. I met Fariha Róisín on Twitter a few years ago, and from there we began a frank and tender email correspondence. As two Muslim,…

Finishing touches on a refresh of David Cameron's wax figure at Madame Tussaud's, with Boris Johnson next to him, 2015. Yui Mok / Press Association. All rights reserved.Huge amounts of energy are being invested in the REMAIN and LEAVE campaigns for the forthcoming EU referendum in the UK.  The referendum vote on whether to remain in the European Union or not, is being presented by both sides as the most important decision that the UK voters will cast in their lifetimes. Both sides greatly exaggerate the benefits and risks of leaving or staying in the European Union. In reality, whether the result is REMAIN or LEAVE, very little will change…

Enticing kids to anything with the promise of a free haircut sounds ineffective unless the offer comes from star NFL running back Marshawn Lynch.  A sign outside the player’s Beast Mode retail store offered free haircuts with the presentation of a report card. The sign doesn’t disclose the threshold for good grades but this piece states kids need to hit a 3.0 or better to qualify.  Though he made a name for himself and his Beast Mode persona in Seattle, Lynch has always pledged his allegiance to his hometown of Oakland, participating in a wide variety of outreach efforts including this neighborhood bike ride we covered last month.  Lynch already has neighborhood kids…

Tara Todras-Whitehill / AP/Press Association. All rights reserved.The idea that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and the left generally in the UK are becoming increasingly antisemitic is gaining momentum. Predictably, the Israel lobby as well as other supporters of Israel have sought to capitalise on this supposed rise and turn it to their advantage.   Nick Cohen’s ‘Why I’m becoming a Jew and you should too’ sees criticism of Israel by those who oppose Israel’s policies and actions against the Palestinians as somehow implicated in this rise. The article hinges on his broader view of the left and its supposed connections to antisemitism. For Cohen antisemitism has always been a way…

Controversial NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick may be without a job at the moment, but he’s using his newfound free time to help the disenfranchised find employment for themselves.  The former 49ers quarterback, known for his controversial decision to kneel during the pregame national anthem, arrived two days ago outside a New York City parole office with two boxes of his custom-made suits to donate to 100 Suits, a nonprofit that helps men and women who are looking for work find free or affordable professional clothing.  Nonetheless, Kap’s flashy suits were well-received by those in need. The 100 Suits organization has found that parolees or the otherwise marginalized are less likely…

A couple of years ago, a friend and I visited the city of Goris in southern Armenia, a de-facto stone’s throw from the de-facto border with the de-facto Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Walking in the hills and cliffs around Goris, a small city of 20,000, we met Vesmir. Hospitable and talkative to a fault, Vesmir introduced us to his family, who offered us hot Jingalov Hats, a herb-filled flatbread and speciality of Karabakh and southern Armenia. As we left later that evening, Vesmir hurried after us into the night and, bashfully, asked for a couple of thousand dram to cover the hospitality. Armenian hospitality should come free, he explained, but these…

Now that we can say “period shaming” in polite company, “menstruation mindfulness” has become standard fare in mainstream magazines, and feminine hygiene ads even use red liquid now instead of blue, it would appear that we’ve overcome our general discomfort with the bodily process experienced by a majority of the human population known as menstruation. Yet even if the symbols of social progress are there (and that’s debatable), it would appear our institutions and systems have yet to catch up. Until now, the Federal Bureau of Prisons had no policies requiring prisons to provide feminine hygiene products to inmates — most inmates had to purchase them with the meager wages they made working prison jobs. That, however,…

The leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, speaks to his party supporters during an anti-coup rally in Istanbul,July 23,2016. Petros Giannakouris/Press Association. All rights reserved.Late last December, upon returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia, Turkish President Erdogan was asked by Turkish reporters whether an executive presidential system was possible while maintaining “the unitary structure of the state”. He responded, “There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler’s Germany.” Following a failed coup d’etat attempt this July, as Erdogan started excluding and imprisoning political rivals, laying the groundwork for authoritarian control, some critics have begun taking the comparison…