European vacation

Vacation in Europe: The Political Struggles of a Global Cosmopolitan

Maggie Hennefeld

I frame this story about my three-week getaway to Europe last summer by asking what it means for Americans to venture across the pond at this juncture in our history. How do we navigate foreign cultures during a moment when our own national obsessions, with everything from rape biology scandals to “Honey Boo Boo’s” Southern familial dysfunction, are more insular than ever? How can Americans abroad serve as global ambassadors when our own national discourse is emblematized by a Hollywood cowboy ranting at an empty chair while apostrophizing the President?

New York’s Central Park Pays Homage to the Suffrage Movement

by Sandra Bertrand

The original design focused on Anthony and Stanton, with a scroll containing quotations from more than 20 other suffragists. The Design Commission eliminated the scroll, leaving only the two white women. What was missing and what became crucial to its ultimate equal rights message in the wake of growing criticism was Sojourner Truth, the African-American abolitionist and suffragist. By Truth taking her place at the table, the monument was complete. For Bergmann, with less than a year to her deadline, there was no time to waste.

Can the United Nations Start Anew at 75?

by Andrey Kortunov

There are many graphic manifestations of the serious institutional deficiencies that prevent the U.N. from playing its legitimate role as the centerpiece of the global governance system. The U.N. consistently fails to take action on violent regional conflicts -- whether in Asia (Syria), in Europe (Ukraine), or in Africa (Libya). Its General Assembly resolutions quite often have little or no impact on the behavior of member states, which the resolutions aspire to influence.