Can you imagine trying to use your favorite social media site—or any website, really—with all of the text flowing in the opposite direction? ,siht ekil leef dluow tI and it would make said website very cumbersome to interact with. This was the reality that Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu speakers were stuck with until as recently as 2013 for Facebook and 2012 for Twitter. With most [...]
If you were to begin talking about pop art, most people will immediately think of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962). If they’re more familiar with the movement, they may consider other works such as Wayne Thiebaud’s Three Machines (1963) or Jasper Johns’s Flag (1954). The subjects of these pieces might seem mundane and everyday, but the pieces are anything but drab and monotonous. A spark of [...]
Great teachers come in many forms and can teach at different grade levels, but they all share one thing: a knack for building their classrooms specifically around their students’ needs. Since October 2014, NPR has been celebrating these excellent educators through their 50 Great Teachers multimedia series. Sarah Hagan of Drumright High School in Oklahoma is determined to make trigonometry and algebra fun; she has brightened [...]
As the internet becomes increasingly ubiquitous and digital overtakes physical reading material, the field of journalism has had to adapt to retain both readers and profits. In my 2015 spring semester at Tufts University, I served as a managing editor of my school’s newspaper, the Tufts Daily, and I can attest to the fact that we, like many other university and professional papers across [...]
Most people and events that gain a permanent spot among those we remember and honor are recalled because of the incredible accomplishments achieved, challenges overcome or substantial benefits made available to our country and world. Examples include Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, and the United States landing a man on the moon. Unfortunately, [...]
Most people and events that gain a permanent spot among those we remember and honor are recalled because of the incredible accomplishments achieved, challenges overcome or substantial benefits made available to our country and world. Examples include Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, Jonas Salk and the development of the polio vaccine, and the United States landing a man on the moon. Unfortunately, [...]
As a kid, one of the scariest movies I ever saw was Jurassic Park. I remember lying awake in bed at night, listening to the sound of a giant T. rex stomping down trees in my backyard. Sure, it was just the sound of the new dishwasher, but I didn’t know that until I confessed to my parents what I’d heard. Before Jurassic Park, all I knew [...]
After a five-year excavation effort by Smithsonian Institute scientists, treasures buried under 20 feet of water and sand are home. Belonging to King Kamehameha II (a.k.a. Liholiho), the second ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the riches from the shipwrecked yacht had been scattered across the ocean floor by 191 years’ worth of stormy waters, hurricanes and erosion. The vessel, which sank off the coast [...]
For those who remain staunch devotees of print books, there are few things as disappointing as being at your favorite bookstore and unable to find the book you’re searching for. However, it is difficult for publishers and bookstores to forecast, print and stock books that they are unsure will sell—and doing so can lead to monetary losses and ultimately needing to destroy unsold [...]
When I was a kid, I had a lot of trouble going to sleep. And with two younger children, my mom didn’t have the time to read out loud to me until I drifted off. That’s why every night I listened to audio books. I drifted away to books like Holes and The Giver, and to authors like Ronald Dahl and Cornelia Funke. While I love [...]