Bang! The sound was explosive, like a gunshot. I woke from a deep sleep and looked around, frightened. Nothing, except bodies curled up in sleeping bags around our campsite on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Bang! On a ledge just six feet above me, two bighorn rams collided head-­on, butting horns during the rut. I reached for my camera, but the movement startled them, and they darted away. I looked up at the billion-year-old red cliff walls of the canyon rising thousands of feet into the sky. It was first light, and the cliffs were blanketed in pink and lavender. By noon, they’d turn plum and russet, and…

Avigdor Liberman and Benjamin Netanyahu on a poster calling for social justice, 2012. Wikicommons/Oren Rozen. Some rights reserved. As Israel faced increasing tensions at the Gaza border fence, with the Iranian nuclear deal, and with Iran’s proxies in Syria, the Israeli Parliament passed an amended text to the Basic Law enabling “under extreme circumstance” the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to wage war alone. It thus removes the requirements for the government’s full approval of large-scale military operations.  The legislation, approved by 62 votes in favour and 41 against, passed while Prime Minister Netanyahu was regaling the media with the results of the Israeli intelligence investigation into Iran’s nuclear…

By now, you’ve probably realized that there are a lot of online options for buying plane tickets, booking hotel rooms, and finding your way around a new city. But what about figuring out exactly what to do while you’re there? In ages past, travelers would go to a local bookstore to pick up a paperback destination guidebook. You’d spend some time dog-earing pages and circling interesting items, and then hope that the information wasn’t outdated by the time you actually arrived. Now, the internet provides a plethora of travel information to help you not only find the best deals but also discover the amazing details that can really make your…

The mobsters would kill him if they ever caught on to his game. He was betting his life they wouldn’t. Read the short story “Swindler’s Luck” by Ben Hecht [PDF].

Quibdó airport. Source: Diálogo Chino. All rights reserved. When Ivan Duque, the winner of the first round of the elections in Colombia on May 27, refused to participate in the third presidential debate in the Pacific port city of Buenaventura last month, critics interpreted it as a sign of the Colombian elites’ historic neglect of a desperately impoverished part of the country. Chinese investors, however, have been looking to make significant investments in the Chocó region. In doing so, they will exacerbate an unequal form of economic development based on the extraction of natural resources that brings little benefit to the local population. Capital Airports Holdings Company (CAH), a company…

When I was in my late teens, some of my friends slung on backpacks and scooted off to see the world. As an East Coast city kid who’d never been past the Mississippi, I wanted to see America. So, after a certain amount of wheedling and cajoling, a friend and I convinced our parents that we could responsibly travel out West by ourselves one summer without getting into too much trouble. It was a life-changing experience, and one of the highlights was riding up out of Jackson Hole and getting that stunning view of the Teton Mountains just shooting up from the valley floor. When you’re 17, your first thought…

It was the third time the Guru of Income Tax had called for Dad. Guru, not as in doyen, master, or spiritual authority, but guru as in Satguru, Income Tax officer, Ward 14, scourge, terror, and nemesis of industrialists, businessmen, and hoarders of wealth. What was he doing calling Dad? “I like you, sir,” he told Dad. “I will see what I can do to get you a refund. That should help, huh — at your age?” It wasn’t surprising that he said that. Fact is, everyone liked Dad, children and dogs included. Oh, and not to forget the girls I got home. They waxed eloquent over him. “He is…

A lot of myths surround the first Thanksgiving feast—the most glaring one being that it emblemized peaceful interaction between colonists and natives. The repercussions of white colonialism still exist today, as evidenced by the police’s brutal treatment of the protesters at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Considering recent events, reflecting on American history, and deciding how we will move forward has never been more relevant. As we pack up our cars, load up our fridges, and prepare for Thanksgiving this week, it’s important to separate fact from fiction and re-examine what we’re celebrating in the first place. Despite what our fourth grade history books implied, Native Americans weren’t invited to the…

The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles. Protests in Managua, 2018. Wikimedia Commons. It could be said that brutal repression was precisely what brought the citizens out onto the streets. In order to examine the correlation between repression and the protests (in that order, and not the other way around), we must understand that the government deployed its coercive mechanisms in successive stages, both before and during the crisis, and that it "adjusted" them to the actual "operation theatre" (rural or urban). On the other hand, the stigmatization of groups (students, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, merchants, peasants, ordinary citizens, workers, feminists,…

One would expect the North Pole is a busy place this time of year. But truth be told, it’s Christmas every day of the year in North Pole, Alaska. Less than a 20 minute drive from Fairbanks, the city is known for its holiday spirit. Street lights look like giant candy canes and assorted buildings sport Christmas colors and patterns. The Santa Claus House boasts a nearly 50-foot Santa Claus statue and walls covered with letters to Santa. As this video shows, even streets have names like Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive. See more Post Travels.