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The section that asks “what if?” and “why not?”
IDEAS | THOWAIBA MAKKI
The red sky in Sudan
An expression I learned as a child has taken on ominous new meaning.
IDEAS | CARLOS VILLAMIZAR
Then as now, hunger in the streets of my Venezuela
I became inured to the sight of people rummaging through garbage bins for something to eat. When a young man begged me for a meal, the depth of my country’s humanitarian crisis really hit me.
IDEAS | KAT ROSENFIELD
If I disagree with my liberal tribe, does that make me a conservative?
A lot of rhetoric on the left is proving to be unpersuasive — and even alienating.
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
Lynn is trying to reinvent itself. Will inertia at the MBTA derail its plan?
The city is building new, affordable housing near the commuter line — only to have the transit agency close the station.
IDEAS | MARK C. STORELLA
All refugees are created equal — but they aren’t treated that way
A reinforcing cycle of press coverage, public interest, and diplomatic effort favors some conflicts over others, leaving millions of the displaced without the help they need.
IDEAS | CATHERINE PALMER
Menopause is something employers should have to sweat, too
I quit my job amid hot flashes and brain fog in the office. With better support, I might have stayed.
may i have a word?
May I have a word: When a dog’s breakfast is what’s for dinner
The many ways to say ‘Tonight, we’re having all the leftovers.’
May I have a word: Doo the right thing
May I have a word: We are literally abusing ‘literally’ to death
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special projects
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
How Uphams Corner got wealthier without getting whiter
The scrappy Dorchester neighborhood has fulfilled the community activist’s dream: development without displacement.
Where did all the workers go?
For two years, employers have been desperate for workers — and there’s no indication the labor shortage will soon change. What are we losing — and possibly gaining — as a result?
IDEAS | PETER THOMSON
The radical, forgotten experiment in educational integration that changed my life
In 1971, kids from Roxbury and Lincoln spent half the year attending school together in the city and the other half in the suburb. Fifty years later, I tracked down my fellow students to see how it shaped them — and whether something like it could work today.
Public health
IDEAS | CATHERINE PALMER
Menopause is something employers should have to sweat, too
IDEAS | ELOISE DAVENPORT
Let’s liberate women from the speculum
IDEAS | KAREEM KING AND DOMINICK CONTRERAS
More broadband access, better health
democracy under siege
IDEAS | JASON MIKLIAN
Crazy rich autocracies: What are they doing better than democracies?
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
As Turkey turns 100, its democratic future still has not arrived
IDEAS | MILES TAYLOR
The midterms and Trump’s return show why we need a third party
politics
IDEAS | KAT ROSENFIELD
If I disagree with my liberal tribe, does that make me a conservative?
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston has never elected a Black mayor. A quiet experiment could change that.
IDEAS | TODD WASHBURN
We’re all to blame for the chaos in Congress
civil rights
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
The latest antiabortion tactic: Silencing doctors
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
Don’t rule out a national abortion ban in 2025
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
After Roe, the right to travel could be the next to fall
inequality
IDEAS | NICHOLAS DAWIDOFF
What Elena Ferrante knows about the lingering pain of inequality
IDEAS | Katherine S. Newman & Elisabeth S. Jacobs
Low unemployment is the cheapest anti-poverty program
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD
How the language of social justice is used to protect the status quo
climate crisis
IDEAS | SCOTT WEIDENSAUL
An ecological disaster that’s within our grasp to reverse
IDEAS | MARTHA LEB MOLNAR
Got weeds? Read this before you whack them.
IDEAS | Alex Trembath and Seaver Wang
For a greener world, cut red tape
education
IDEAS | JULIA FREELAND FISHER
Caps and gowns but no career prospects for grads without connections
IDEAS | KARA MILLER
Public colleges should be truly public again
IDEAS | Régine Michelle Jean-Charles
Opponents of my kids’ math program have their calculus all wrong
development
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
Lynn is trying to reinvent itself. Will inertia at the MBTA derail its plan?
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Evictions are rising again. It’s time to get creative.
IDEAS | ALAN WIRZBICKI
What is the T for, anyway?
history
IDEAS | CARLOS VILLAMIZAR
Then as now, hunger in the streets of my Venezuela
IDEAS | NICK GRABBE
A New England literary mystery: Who really wrote these best-selling guides to country living?
IDEAS | DAVID CHRISINGER
The WWII newspaper column that dared to illuminate death
housing
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Making too little to get affordable housing — and other problems with trying to stay in Boston
IDEAS | CLAIRE DUNNING
The unintended consequences of Boston’s nonprofit-led urban development
IDEAS | STARRE JULIA VARTAN
Consider the small landlord
technology
IDEAS | MIKE ORCUTT
A genuinely valuable thing about cryptocurrencies
IDEAS | LINDA RODRIGUEZ MCROBBIE
Don’t be rude to chatbots — for your sake, not theirs
IDEAS | SETH MOULTON
AI may pull the trigger in war, but it shouldn’t call the shots
essays
IDEAS | THOWAIBA MAKKI
The red sky in Sudan
IDEAS | JOHN SUMMERS
What my autistic son’s cold cheeseburgers taught me about bureaucracy
IDEAS | TOM JOUDREY
The beauty of ugliness
more special projects
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
How the MBTA went off the rails
Nearly everything about Boston has changed in the past few decades, yet the T has the same big problem — a failure to prioritize the rider experience above all.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
Editing the Constitution
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
The Future of Work
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
The Future of Food
What we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it are being reimagined like never before.
Massachusetts Works
We turn the typical model of journalism on its head — instead of focusing on what’s broken, we’re taking a look at what Massachusetts gets right.