Then, Now, Next
The UN has worked tirelessly to end wars and prevent conflicts. COVID-19 could make it harder.
09.15.20
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In 1945, the world had just endured the bloodiest war in history. World leaders were determined to not repeat the mistakes of the past. They wanted to build a better future, one free from the "scourge of war" so they signed the UN Charter — creating a global organization of nations that could deter and repel aggressors, mediate conflicts and broker armistices, and ensure collective progress.
Over the following 75 years, the UN played an essential role in preventing, mitigating or resolving conflicts all over the world. It faced new challenges and new threats — including the spread of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, a Cold War and brutal civil wars, transnational terrorism and genocides. Today, the UN faces new tensions: shifting and more hostile geopolitics, digital weaponization, a global pandemic, and more.
This slideshow shows how the UN has worked to build peace and security around the world:
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Malians wait in line at a free clinic run by the UN Multidimensional Integrated Mission in Mali in 2014. Over their 75 year history, UN peacekeepers have deployed around the world in military and nonmilitary roles as they work towards human security and peace. Here's a look back at their history.
Photo credit: UN Photo/Marco Dormino
Culture
Artist gives a modern twist to Disney's most beloved characters to explain today's world
09.18.20
Artist Tom Ward has used his incredible illustration techniques to give us some new perspective on modern life through popular Disney characters. "Disney characters are so iconic that I thought transporting them to our modern world could help us see it through new eyes," he told The Metro.
Tom says he wanted to bring to life "the times we live in and communicate topical issues in a relatable way."
In Ward's "Alt Disney" series, Prince Charming and Pinocchio have fallen victim to smart phone addiction. Ariel is living in a polluted ocean, and Simba and Baloo have been abused by humans.
<p>Not all the news is bad though. LeFou form "Beauty and the Beast" has finally come out of the closet and his crush, Gaston, appears to be pretty accepting of the revelation.</p><p>Although, was it really such a shock?</p><p>Ward believes that his illustration of Artur from "Sword and the Stone makes" a particularly strong point. "I also think the message of Arthur from The Sword in the Stone sitting on his phone has some resonance today," he said. "He's too engrossed in his phone to experience other opportunities and realize his true potential in life."</p><p>You can see more of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tomwardstudio/" target="_blank">Ward's work on Instagram.</a> Click through the photos to see the slideshow. </p>
1. Pinocchio's selfie
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Back Market
Between the new normal that is working from home and e-learning for students of all ages, having functional electronic devices is extremely important. But that doesn't mean needing to run out and buy the latest and greatest model. In fact, this cycle of constantly upgrading our devices to keep up with the newest technology is an incredibly dangerous habit.
The amount of e-waste we produce each year is growing at an increasing rate, and the improper treatment and disposal of this waste is harmful to both human health and the planet.
So what's the solution? While no one expects you to stop purchasing new phones, laptops, and other devices, what you can do is consider where you're purchasing them from and how often in order to help improve the planet for future generations.
<p>Typically, new device models don't feature that many noticeable advances, meaning waiting in line every September at the Apple store when a new iPhone comes out isn't necessary. A better solution is to instead buy refurbished. </p><p><a href="https://bit.ly/3kAq42B" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Back Market</a>, for example, sells all types of refurbished devices, including smartphones, computers and laptops, tablets, wearables, and more from your favorite brands. Plus, their team of experts check each device's functionality and works to restore it to the best condition possible. You can also rest easy knowing your refurbished device comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a one-year warranty. </p><p>Refurbished devices, while not brand new, are certified by an expert and are available at up to 70% lower prices. Not only are refurbished devices better for the environment because less waste is being generated, they're also better for your wallet. </p><p>Back Market also offers amazing deals on the items students need for <a href="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk/476024540;282046943;f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">back to school</a>, plus an <a href="https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk/476250672;282110393;d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">extra 5% off</a> the already discounted prices to those enrolled in a college or university, so there's really no excuse not to buy refurbished.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDM5NDAyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjM3ODU0N30.Ie1AR5tXsGsRY8N2wXIzU_byVz4WuxJGZHwOmKO7gR4/img.jpg?width=980" id="329df" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="48aeb587fafc0f3e5237c31d3040e2d6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Back Market</small></p><p>While we can't reverse the damaging effects e-waste has already had on the environment, making responsible purchasing decisions can help slow down the amount being produced each year and have a lasting impact on the planet.</p><p>According to a <a href="https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:6341/Global-E-waste_Monitor_2017__electronic_single_pages_.pdf" target="_blank">2017 Report from the U.N</a>, all the countries in the world combined generated a staggering 44.7 million metric tons, or an equivalent of 13.4 pounds per inhabitant, of e-waste in 2016. Most of this waste is going straight into the landfills.<br></p><p>The same report states that only 20 percent was collected and recycled. But even the e-waste that is recycled is often improperly handled, being exported to developing countries where people work to recover valuable materials from the devices and end up exposed to toxic chemicals, according to <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/08/27/growing-e-waste-problem/" target="_blank">Columbia University</a>. E-waste toxins are also known to contaminate the air, soil, and groundwater. </p><p>While concern for the environment is high, particularly among younger generations, many people don't know what e-waste is.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDM5ODA5NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzAyMTA2MH0.XHNEy8r4LoRZXgZFJqycufXZMrFjsQ6ppM6NFrOgUWk/img.jpg?width=980" id="65650" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4e96c313ecdfa4624be0ac680dac45ad" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Vivianne Lemay</small></p><p>According to a <a href="https://www.decluttr.com/us/store/e-waste" target="_blank">survey</a>, 71% of millennials and Gen Z consider the environment to be a more important concern than the economy, but 60% of them were unfamiliar with e-waste and its impact on the environment.<br></p><p>With the effects of global warming becoming increasingly apparent, taking measures to slow down the production of e-waste is crucial.</p>
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Political historian's daily letters give helpful—and hopeful—context to today's politics
09.16.20
Heather Cox Richardson didn't set out to build a fan base when she started her daily "Letters from an American." The Harvard-educated political historian and Boston College professor had actually just been stung by a yellow-jacket as she was leaving on a trip from her home in Maine to teach in Boston last fall when she wrote her first post.
Since she's allergic to bees, she decided to stay put and see how badly her body would react. With some extra time on her hands, she decided to write something on her long-neglected Facebook page. It was September of 2019, and Representative Adam Schiff had just sent a letter to the Director of National Intelligence stating that the House knew there was a whistleblower complaint, the DNI wasn't handing it over, and that wasn't legal.
"I recognized, because I'm a political historian, that this was the first time that a member of Congress had found a specific law that they were accusing a specific member of the executive branch of violating," Richardson told Bill Moyers in an interview in July. "So I thought, you know, I oughta put that down, 'cause this is a really important moment. If you knew what you were looking for, it was a big moment. So I wrote it down..."
By the time she got to Boston she has a deluge of questions from people about what she'd written.
<p>"It was clear that the readers wanted to know more," she said. "They seemed to want to know the answers, so I wrote again...And I've written every night since because questions just poured in, and people flooded me with questions about what was going on. And who were the players? And how was this going to play out? And what were the laws, and why should I have any hope that this was gonna turn out in a good way? And this was just something that really was sort of reader-driven, not driven by me at all. And I think that's probably why it's had such staying power."</p><p>For a year now, Richardson has synopsized the day's political news in a way that only a historian can. She places everything into the big picture of American history while also offering facts and details that help readers understand the significance of what's happening at the moment. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="195fe81856e2118da0b6533361bf246e"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/posts/2424201651057220"></div></div><p>Prior to her letters, Richardson was best known as an academic for the five books she's written, including "How the South Won the Civil War," and "To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party." Now, everyday Americans love her for her informative daily Facebook posts.</p><p>In an age where people build personal social media brands around being sensational, entertaining, or the loudest voice in the room, Richardson's concise, historical, fact-based, no-drama posts are an unlikely way to form a following, but here we are. In 2020 there are still a whole lot of us who are desperate for a steady, knowledgeable voice of reason and sanity, and Richardson's posts have have become lifelines of knowledge and hope for the nearly 600,000 readers who follow her Facebook page.<br></p><p><span></span>Part of Richardson's appeal is her clear love of the topic. "I take our government extraordinarily seriously," she told Moyers. "I have lived with American politics really since I was about 21, and maybe earlier because I was really first aware of the world during Watergate. And I care deeply about our traditions, about our heritage, about democracy. I'm happy to criticize it, because I always want it to be better, but I take that stuff really seriously."</p><p>Another part of her appeal is that she is able to take the rapid pace of the news cycle, the constant craziness of our political climate, the complex patterns of history, and the way each of those things intertwines, and then condense it down into a 1200-word, easy-to-read "letter" that anyone can digest.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="133a126aca19a98da22c066f16232491"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/photos/a.518541981623206/2297280003749386/"></div></div><p>Having a political historian providing context is a huge gift, especially in the era of Donald Trump as president. While he clearly tramples over political and democratic norms—which some love and some hate—it's not like we haven't seen politicians like him before. In fact, his tactics are straight out of an autocratic playbook. <br></p><p>"It's not just that he's good at reading an audience, and it's not just that he himself might have a short attention span," Richardson told Moyers about Trump. "If you continually change the subject, you continually stay one step ahead of the story, you can do a couple of things. First of all, you can control the narrative, because by the time people have fact-checked you, you're already onto the next story. Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s developed that tactic really carefully. Because the media simply couldn't catch up with the stories, by the time you fact-checked 'em, they were fourth-page news. And there was the first-page story of something else outrageous. So it's partly to control the narrative, but it's also something I think more nefarious with this particular president. And that is that, if you, as Steve Bannon said, 'flood the zone with expletive–' what you do is, you keep your audience off guard all the time. They never know what the truth is. They never know what's coming next, and they don't know how to answer to any of it. And it's a game of psychological warfare, if you will. But if you keep knocking people around enough, eventually what they will do is simply say, 'I don't care. It's too much for me. Everybody's lying. I don't know what's real. Just make it all go away.' And when you do that, the way is pretty clearly open for an autocrat to step in."</p><p>Richardson eloquently explains some of the realities—or alternate realities—that have so many of us baffled in the disinformation age. One of her areas of expertise is how politicians and political parties deliberately construct narratives to create their own reality; it's something she's spent a lot of her research time studying.</p><p>But the main draw to Richardson's letters is how well she distills and contextualizes everything the way a history book would—only she does it for us in real time.</p><p>Writer Elly Lonon summed it up perfectly:</p><p>"Honestly, if democracy were a tv series, Heather Cox Richardson would be that little blurb that runs before the actual show starts. You know, 'Previously, in Democracy...' and then the summary so you remember where you left off and what you're supposed to be paying attention to."</p><p>It is definitely worth a click to follow her <a href="https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/" target="_blank">on Facebook</a>. </p><p>She also hosts fairly frequent Facebook Live History & Politics chats in which she answers reader questions about things in the news. Her video from today addresses the I.C.E. whistleblower complaint about COVID handling and mass hysterectomies in an I.C.E. detention facility, gives some history of eugenics and poverty and wealth in the U.S., and explores whether or not there will likely be another coronavirus stimulus bill. It's a worthwhile way to spend an hour. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86f57a7216009a5f9263e56bcfa6777d"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/videos/636443960347086" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
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School responds to a parent's book complaint by reading it aloud to the entire student body
09.18.20
Schools often have to walk a fine line when it comes to parental complaints. Diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and preferences for what kids see and hear will always mean that schools can't please everyone all the time, so educators have to discern what's best for the whole, broad spectrum of kids in their care.
Sometimes, what's best is hard to discern. Sometimes it's absolutely not.
Such was the case this week when a parent at a St. Louis elementary school complained in a Facebook group about a book that was read to her 7-year-old. The parent wrote:
"Anyone else check out the read a loud book on Canvas for 2nd grade today? Ron's Big Mission was the book that was read out loud to my 7 year old. I caught this after she watched it bc I was working with my 3rd grader. I have called my daughters school. Parents, we have to preview what we are letting the kids see on there."
<p>The book in question, "Ron's Big Mission," highlights a true story from the childhood of <em>Challenger </em>astronaut Ron McNair, who had experienced discrimination as a child in South Carolina because he was Black. In 1959, when he was nine years old, McNair wanted to check out books at the library, but the librarian told him the library didn't loan books to "coloreds." McNair refused to leave the library until he was allowed to check out books. Rather than give him a library card, the librarian called the police, who ultimately convinced her to just let him check out books. </p><p>Seriously, what issue could this parent possibly take with such an inspiring story of a kid standing up to injustice and fighting for the right to educate himself? This was a child who single-handedly changed a library's racial segregation policy and grew up to be an astronaut—a genuine, real-life hero. What is there to take issue with? The parent didn't specify, so we're left to conjecture, but if there's any other possible reason than racism, I can't think of one. </p><p>Rockwood Education Equity and Diversity Director Brittany Hogan told KMOX News Radio that after hearing of the complaint, other parents responded immediately in the book's defense.</p><p>"They were saying this is amazing that they were buying copies of the book," Hogan said. "One of our parents came out and said she was going to purchase a copy for every second-grader at the elementary school that her children attends."</p><p>Hogan called McNair a hero and said, "He deserves to be celebrated. His story deserves to be told to our children. It's important that we continue to move in a space that embeds diverse curriculum." </p><p>And the school responded in the best possible way—by announcing the book was going to be read aloud to the whole student body via Zoom. That's how you shut down a bigot. Boom. </p><p>Here's Pond Elementary Principal Carlos Diaz-Granados reading "Ron's Big Mission" to students via Zoom and sharing why he thinks it's an important book for kids:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="165ecac72ff33aee2a89df24f1a941eb"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Syk4Ostd__s?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Pond Elementary Principal Leads Schoolwide Read Aloud of "Ron's Big Mission"</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syk4Ostd__s" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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