Sudanese women are fighting back against the Islamist state of Sudan after 30 years of oppression and humiliation. Major hikes in basic living costs sparked protests in December as the country faced its worst economic crisis in decades. Poor families were hit at the core, and women who put food on the table spoke out through WhatsApp and Facebook and rallied the people to defy the authoritarian regime. Women continued to lead peaceful street demonstrations, call for civil disobedience actions and take to social media in protest. Doctors, lawyers, students, teachers, and stay-at-home mothers have been steering the #SudanUprising for three months now, in the most sustained revolt against the…

Have you ever been grumpy, only to realize that you’re hungry? Many people feel more irritable, annoyed, or negative when hungry — an experience colloquially called being “hangry.” The idea that hunger affects our feelings and behaviors is widespread — from advertisements to memes and merchandise. But surprisingly little research investigates how feeling hungry transforms into feeling hangry. Psychologists have traditionally thought of hunger and emotions as separate, with hunger and other physical states as basic drives with different physiological and neural underpinnings from emotions. But growing scientific evidence suggests that your physical states can shape your emotions and cognition in surprising ways. When you’re hungry, your body releases a…

Talking or eating, Skid Kelly never gave his mouth much rest. “Stella,” he said, as his fork speared another lunch lamb chop, “today I will prove for all time that I’m the best semipro pitcher and the best hitter ever seen in these parts.” Stella, who at 28 had consistently failed to prod her beau into a formal commitment to matrimony, was more given to tart comment than soothing pronouncements. “Ty Cobb must be out of his mind with jealousy.” Skid—a nickname derived from a nose shaped like a playground slide—responded only to what suited his hearing. “I should never have given up professional baseball.” “Wasn’t it the other way…

Indigenous woman testifies at a law court in Guatemala, 2012. Photo: Sandra Sebastián. All rights reserved. On Wednesday September 26, at about 7pm, in a courtroom filled to bursting point, the High Risk Court B declared, for the second time in five years, that genocide was committed in Guatemala. Following more than two years of witness testimonies, forensic evidence and expert reports the court declared that they had sufficient evidence to prove that the Guatemalan army committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Mayan Ixil people between 1982 and 1983, one of the most violent eras of the 36 year internal armed conflict in Guatemala. Judges elaborated in detail…

Rather than responding to the devastating flood of #MeToo stories with empathy and self-reflection, a particularly frustrating subset of men have managed to recenter themselves by expressing how they’re now “afraid” to interact with women. Why, you may ask, does this newfound fear exist?! According to these men, the current conversation about sexual harrassment, assault, and rape, has sparked a fear of interacting or being alone with women, because apparently treating women like human beings is a “grey area.”   Since the #MeToo movement addresses everything from verbal sexual harassment to violent rape, concerned parties have bemoaned how they’re now unsure where the line between talking to women and harassing them is.…

Originally published March 18, 1950 The clerk of the court took a good look at the tall brown-skinned woman with the head rag on. She sat on the third bench back with a husky officer beside her. “The People versus Laura Lee Kimble!” The policeman nudged the woman to get to her feet and led her up to the broad rail. She stood there, looking straight ahead. The hostility in the room reached her without her seeking to find it. Unpleasant things were ahead of Laura Lee Kimble, but she was ready for this moment. It might be the electric chair or the rest of her life in some big…

A police officer with an axe in the Macaco favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during a mission against a criminal gang. Image: Humberto Ohana/PA Images, All Rights Reserved. The future of democracy in Brazil is in the hands of an emotionally charged decision. Above all, it will be an emotional state of mind that will determine the results of the elections this month. Brazilians that find themselves stuck between shame, fear, and disappointment, will find their ability to make decisions negatively affected, making the possibility of voting with reason increasingly less likely. For some time now international politics has shifted towards the emotional, leaving to one side reasonable and…

American views on marijuana legalization have changed drastically over the past two decades. In 2000, 31% of Americans favored legalization, and in 2018, that number has nearly doubled to 61%. But there is still a stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats on the issue.  According to Pew Research, nearly 7 in 10 Democrats say marijuana use should be legal as do 65% of independents. By contrast, just 43% of Republicans favor marijuana legalization while 55% are opposed. Like most Americans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has evolved on the issue over the years. So much, in fact, that he plans to propose new legislation that would decriminalize marijuana on a federal level.  “The…

Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. Before publishing those works, he penned the comical Penrod stories, which would inspire many film adaptations in the 20s and 30s. Read “Talleyrand Penrod” by Booth Tarkington. Originally published in June 21, 1913 [PDF download].

Drunk women truly are a force. But, for all their hilariously foolish schemes, crying-in-the-bathroom, fun dancing, ill-informed rants and free-drink finessing glory, they’re never a force to take advantage of. However, what happens when a drunk woman takes advantage of a man in a rather unexpected way? Our lecture begins with a tweet about a very savvy drunk criminal snagging $2,000 from a bar patron. While I’ve never been the victim of a Venmo bar attack, I have had three hundred dollars stolen from my wallet at a bar by a drunk woman with face tattoos so I definitely feel this man’s pain. Most of the time, the bar can’t…