Our World

In Case You Missed It, the Third Week of May

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week Did somebody say scandal?! Scandals! It was scandal week for the White House and the media, which is sort of like Shark Week — with all [...]

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Alice Proujansky: Taking Us Inside the Delivery Room

by: Tshepo Mokoena

Photographer Alice Proujansky already knew what childbirth looked like by the time she was in third grade. On two counts. She’d watched her mother push both of her younger siblings into the world, first when [...]

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A Step in the Right Direction

by: Blaine Skrainka

Allow me to be candid: navigating and covering the story of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh has been a quagmire for me, full of contradictions and more questions than answers. The other [...]

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Female Zombie Shooting Target Triggers Backlash

by: Claire Voon

Zombie Industries discontinues its distasteful and misogynist shooting target product after critics question its close physical resemblance to real women.   In light of the torrent of backlash that target-manufacturing company Zombie Industries received for [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the Second Week of May

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week In case you missed it, the Air Force officer in charge of the sexual assault prevention unit — for the entire Air Force — was arrested [...]

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This Quasi-Legal Malware is Having Legal Troubles

by: Stephen Paulsen

The Gamma Group has moved beyond computer fraud to copyright infringement Hackers, 1995. The Gamma Group website is so eerily generic that it seems fake, like the kind of site that would immediately infect your [...]

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Contraception Leads to Euthanasia, Who Knew?

by: Stephanie Linning

The team at One More Soul, a non-profit organization dedicated to, “Spreading the truth about the blessings of children and the harms of contraception,” produced this enlightening “Roots of the Problem” poster for the benefit [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the First Week of May

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week Lawyers of the prisoners at Guantánamo say that at least 100 of the 166 inmates are now on hunger strike, with a handful now required to [...]

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Dear Meat-Eaters, Are You Ingesting Superbugs?

by: Kate Mottola

Who would’ve thought we’d see the day when it became necessary to check for the words, “no antibiotics administered,” on meat products in U.S. grocery stores? Okay, maybe Upton Sinclair. But still, studies have uncovered [...]

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Our Oceans Matter

by: Blaine Skrainka

Just how important are oceans? Well, more than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food, a number that is set to double over the next decade. But with the [...]

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The Project

by: Andrea Avidad

Somalia’s history thus far has been a virulent amalgamation of elements that completely impede any kind of possibility for progress in the nation’s construction of a basic level of human safety. Inheriting the consequences of [...]

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NBA Veteran Jason Collins Comes Out With Support From Friends, Peers, and The WILD

by: Bianca Ozeri

Free agent (former Washington Wizards) center, Jason Collins, came out this week in a personal essay printed by Sports Illustrated. He is the first active professional athlete to do so. Here at The WILD we [...]

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A Brief History of the Hunger Strike

by: Sarah Kess

“I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds,” a Guantanamo Bay prisoner said recently in a New York Times op-ed. “I will not eat until they restore my dignity.” [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the Fourth Week of April

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week   Marie Nelson uses a bold rhetorical device to take on the 2nd Amendment militants who have appropriated patriotism and rights-based language in their uncompromising mission [...]

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Why I Am No Longer an American

by: Marie Nelson

I am no longer a citizen of a government that condones gun violence, no matter how indirectly. The congressmen who voted against the assault weapons ban do not represent me. The Supreme Court that, in [...]

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A Down-and-Dirty Account of the Oil Industry

by: Stephanie Ott

The complexities of how an American energy firm’s stakes in an offshore oil project in Africa, and how an exploration into untapped oil regions is then turned into a multi-billion dollar project, are difficult to [...]

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Baby, You’re a Rich Man

by: The WILD

Ever wondered how your wealth stacks up to the other 7 billion souls on this planet? Do you ever wonder just how many people are richer than you? How many are more miserable? Or just [...]

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Doing the (Highly Depressing) Math

by: Stephen Paulsen

Bill McKibben in New York City on the Do The Math tour As you probably already know/expect, there is no such thing as good pollution. Unfortunately, however, it takes only an elementary grasp of mathematics [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the Third Week of April

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week. The shortcomings of mainstream journalism were exposed this week as seen in the coverage of the rapidly developing parallel stories coming in the wake of the [...]

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On the Frontlines of Climate Change, Kiribati

by: The WILD

Kiribati, a tiny Pacific island about the size of New York City, is both “in the middle of nowhere and at the center of everything, including the climate change crisis.” Under siege from rising sea [...]

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Letter From a Birmingham Jail

by: Blaine Skrainka

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” The text defended the practice of nonviolent social disobedience and remains a prolific piece of civil rights history. Dr. King [...]

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Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead?

by: Stephanie Linning

Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, died last Monday aged 87. During her time in power Thatcher divided Britain both politically and publicly. Now, in the wake of her death, the nation finds [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the Second Week of April

by: Blaine Skrainka

Here’s what we’ve been paying attention to this week “Days of Thatcher” by John Sturrock   As the debate over same-sex marriage moves forward in the U.S. and France, Stephanie Ott introduces us to tangible [...]

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“Sorry to show you this. It’s the face of Homophobia.”

by: Stephanie Ott

His right eye is covered in pink and yellow bruises and swollen so that he can barely open it. Abrasive burns cover his forehead, nose and chin. His white shirt is covered in blood stains. [...]

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David Lynch: Change Begins Within

by: Xena Blair

Critically acclaimed film maker David Lynch has long touted the benefits of Transcendental Meditation. Since his last film, Mulholland Dr., Lynch has focused his energy on sharing the gift of meditation with others including at-risk youth, [...]

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Unnatural Disaster in the Natural State

by: Kara McGhee

Arkansas is known as “the Natural State.” Its landscape boasts everything from mountains, crystal clear natural springs, open plains and the kind of woodlands you’d see in a Disney movie. Crater of Diamonds State Park, [...]

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First Look at VICE, HBO’s newest documentary tv series

by: Tali Deeb

VICE, the Brooklyn-based international media company, launches its news magazine show exclusively on HBO today. At the media screening last night, the WILD had a chance to watch the first two of the eight episodes, [...]

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In Case You Missed It, the First Week of April

by: Blaine Skrainka

What we’ve been paying attention to this week Goldman Sachs wants to give formerly incarcerated youth a fresh start–and profit off the program. Marie Nelson wonders if we are ready for the privatization and financialization [...]

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Aabid Surti: The One-Man NGO

by: Bianca Ozeri

When I was in high school, my friend Elias spawned social mobility during lunch hour by encouraging the various cliques of our suburban, upper middle class, ignorant grade to move from their usual table to [...]

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Goldman Sachs Wants to Help Incarcerated Youth (and Profit in Doing So)

by: Marie Nelson

Social impact bonds: An innovative financial instrument that will revolutionize philanthropy? Or a way for profit incentives to erode the altruistic infrastructure of traditional social services? Social impact bonds are a way to fund government-sponsored [...]

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The Citadel: Where a Libertarian Can Be a Libertarian

by: Stephen Paulsen

If you’ve been hoping to move somewhere with a firmly Catholic ethos, you’ll be pleased to learn about the Catholic city in Florida. But if you’re less concerned about Catholicism and more concerned about defending [...]

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A Queer Guide to Cambodia

by: Katie Grimmer

Our very own talented writer, Kate Mottola, has traveled to Cambodia and back to give us a guide to the beautiful country in her own words, which we know and love as vivid, passionate and [...]

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Detroit: No Rest for the Weary, pt.2

by: Marie Nelson

Detroit is a skeleton of a city evocative of a past prosperity, ringed by disproportionately affluent suburbs. While Detroit’s struggles began long before the turn of the century, the political and economic turmoil that has [...]

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Detroit: No Rest for the Weary, pt.1

by: Marie Nelson

Detroit is a skeleton of a city evocative of a past prosperity, ringed by disproportionately affluent suburbs. While Detroit’s struggles began long before the turn of the century, the political and economic turmoil that has [...]

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Korean Reunification on a Personal Level

by: Roxanne Fequiere

North Korea has been at the center of a slew of international headlines over the past few weeks. The nation’s much-maligned recent nuclear test and increasingly aggressive threats have global tensions running high, but for [...]

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“Narrow-minded, Out of Touch”

by: Blaine Skrainka

This week, Betsy Woodruff at the National Review published a new profile on Representative Steve Stockman (R-Texas). The journalist was with the Congressman on the day that the House took up the Violence Against Women [...]

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We Salute HRC

by: The WILD

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Don’t FRACK my Mother

by: The WILD

Let’s help Yoko, Charlotte and Sean (and an all star roster) spread the message: Don’t FRACK Me! Don’t FRACK our Mother!

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Brita Fernandez Schmidt: ‘Women’s rights are not just for 8 March’

by: Blaine Skrainka

Last week The WILD joined in on the global celebration of International Women’s Day, but equality and empowerment of women is a 365 day struggle. In that spirit, Brita Fernandez Schmidt, executive director for Women for [...]

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“There Were Dead Pigs All Around and They Really Stunk”

by: Stephen Paulsen

China frequently shocks the world’s conservationist sensibilities by doing things like flattening seven hundred mountains. But even in China, where an industrialist, laissez-faire outlook on environmental issues is strikingly common, there is a limit to [...]

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Don McLeroy, The Dentist who Rewrote History

by: Stephen Paulsen

Meet Don McLeroy, a sixty-six year old, east Texan dentist who has taught Sunday school and nothing else. He is convinced that humans and dinosaurs once roamed the earth together, and that education is “too important [...]

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Questions for a Climatologist: Dr. Alan Robock

by: Blaine Skrainka

In today’s political and pop media culture, serious discussions surrounding climate change have mostly devolved into a maddening cacophony. While CO2 emissions continue to concentrate in our atmosphere and warm our planet, pundits squabble and politicians [...]

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Some Words To Make a Change

by: The WILD

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Mann & Miller teamed with director Jan Lisman to produce the short film ‘Some Words to Make A Change.’ The clip features the compelling words of Ash Bhalla performed by [...]

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Hugo Chávez’s Last Coda

by: Diego Martínez

Many key moments in the life and times of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez took place either at night or the wee hours of the morning. His failed military coup on February 4th, 1992, the day the [...]

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White House Cop-Out on Keystone Environmental Concerns

by: Kate Mottola

The beginning of March has proved extra busy for those on Capitol Hill (D.C. that is, not Seattle). In addition to the spate of newly confirmed government appointees, the White House has also published a [...]

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Rebuilding: Rockaway Call for Ideas

by: Bianca Ozeri

After months of cleaning, New Yorkers have begun to rebuild their Sandy-devastated neighborhoods. It’s a triumphant step in rehabilitation for those who have been scraping ocean detritus from their basements since October—and for those who [...]

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Why is Monsanto Suing This Elderly Farmer?

by: Stephen Paulsen

An Unappetizing Look at the World’s Largest Seed Company ABC News At a seasoned seventy-five years of age, Vernon Hugh Bowman is from a simpler America. The Indiana soybean farmer was born well before the [...]

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Proudly Taking to his Heels: Jacob Tobia’s High-Heeled Run for Charity across the Brooklyn Bridge

by: Serena Qiu

Jacob Tobia has an unapologetic (and frankly, unforgettable) stride, and a physical build to suggest an aptitude for running competitively. Last December, he employed both in an inspired fundraiser for the Sandy-devastated Ali Forney Center, [...]

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Newsflash: Girls Are Awesome (in case you missed it)

by: Kate Mottola

Melody Green, a seventh-grade student and Hello Kitty aficionado, built a rocket and launched it into Earth’s stratosphere last month. Green set out to complete an experiment on the effects air pressure and temperature have [...]

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The Chris Dorner Drone Controversy: Why it Doesn’t Matter

by: Stephen Paulsen

The Los Angeles area was hit last week by twin forces of violence, as both Chris Dorner and the LAPD’s own botched manhunt terrorized the city. Meanwhile, the internet has erupted with controversy over a [...]

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