News & Features

The Ultimate “Green” Sacrifice: Why I Gave Up My Car

Andrew Lam

For the first time in over two decades, I am no longer a driver. Facing spiking gas prices and much-needed repairs, I finally donated my Toyota Corolla to an organization that takes care of orphans. It's an odd feeling to be on this side of being green. Without a car, my sense of time and space has been immediately altered. What was once a matter of expediency is now an effortful navigation.

Underground Markets Cater to Uninsured Women’s Birth Control Needs

Valeria Fernandez

Most undocumented immigrants in Arizona either can’t afford private health insurance or don’t qualify for state insurance programs for low-income families. As a result, many seek alternative ways of meeting their health care needs by tapping into an underground market for medications, including birth control pills.

In Politics: The Advent of Radical Pragmatists

Thomas Adcock

The merry month of March might well have marked the beginning of the end of political lunacy in the United States, replaced by a refreshing maturity among the electorate——never mind the various fevered fanatics currently holding public office, or hoping to. Signs are numerous that zealotry has had its day in the sun, and that radical pragmatism, if you will, shall be the Zeitgeist come November.

The Problem of Advice Columns in the Age of Twitter, Yelp and 24/7 Digital Access

Rachael Jennings

Curious historians, cultural fanatics, stumped friends, and inquisitive introverts alike may turn to advice columns. In the age in which columns are run by anonymous “therapists,” in which answers are archived and extremely accessible, and in which screens can be more frequented than friends or professionals, the columns hold a contradictory positive support and easy avoidance. 

Super PACs and the Specter of Democracy

Maggie Hennefeld

In the wake of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Committee, a landmark Supreme Court decision that prohibits the government from restricting political expenditures by corporations, the notion of “democratic elections” in America now sounds more like an oxymoron than an impetus for political participation. In 2008, a conservative nonprofit group, Citizens defied the FEC by trying to air a scathing film about Hillary Clinton, on DirecTV. Broadcasting “Hillary: The Movie,” a feature-length attack ad against the popular primary candidate, explicitly violated the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold). In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United, a now infamous 5-4 decision that has corrupted political democracy in the name of “free speech.” 

The Republican Party Struggles to Attract the Crucial Latino Vote

Jennifer Baires and Jamie Goldberg

Burlingame, CA -- The Republican party’s desire to appeal to Latino voters is a matter of survival. Nearly 22 million Latinos in the United States are eligible to participate in this year’s election—the most ever, and up by more than 2 million since 2008. But Republicans don’t have the best track record for getting Latinos, or any minority group candidates, in office. There are no Latino, Asian or Black Republicans serving in the state’s Senate, Assembly or congressional delegation.

Smartphone App Aims to Track Instances of Racial Profiling

Valeria Fernandez

A group of pro-immigrant rights activists in Arizona aim to develop a smartphone application that would help immigrants notify friends, family and their attorney if they are detained and arrested during a traffic stop.  The app will allow users to notify family, friends, attorneys and even their consulate when they get pulled over by law enforcement or when they are facing an emergency situation that puts their safety or civil rights at risk.

Human Trafficking: The Fastest-Growing Criminal Business in the World

Andrew Lam

On the 900-mile trek of mostly desert that stretches between Eritrea and Egypt, hunting for humans has become routine. Eritrean refugees who have fled their homeland fall prey to Bedouin or Egyptian traffickers. The refugees are held for ransom. Those with relatives abroad who can pay for their release might survive. Those who do not are often killed. The United Nations confirms that some are harvested for their organs — their livers and kidneys sold on the black market — while others, the young and able, are sold off. 

The Story of Liska Koenig: One of 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants

Alex Emslie

Liska Koenig is so San Francisco, she's got a tattoo of the Golden Gate Bridge on her left forearm.  She’s also an undocumented immigrant, and notwithstanding a forced trip back to her hometown of Hannover, Germany in 1997, has lived consistently in the Bay Area since 1989. Having exhausted all options for extending her current student visa, Koenig, 46, is now facing the possibility that she will have to leave. And while remaining an undocumented immigrant is a troubling prospect, talk of moving back to her native Germany forces a cringe.

A Look Back at Japan’s Nuclear Disaster

Yoichi Shimatsu

A year on, the Fukushima nuclear disaster has reached far beyond Japan as an encroaching threat to human health everywhere and to the very existence of life on Earth. As the fallout goes global, there’s nowhere to run or hide since even tiny dosages in rainwater and the food chain have a cumulative effect.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - News & Features