October 2020

There have been different times throughout history when marginalized groups have received greater recognition, more rights, and greater power in their communities and nations. However, a major problem that occurs at the same time is that only a part of these marginalized groups seems to progress forward, causing other members of the group, who could …

Prologue In her song, “Little Good News”, Canadian songstress Ann Murray sang about the turbulence that marked the 70s and 80s. Her line in the chorus “We all could use a little good news today” seems all the more relevant for our time nearly 40 years later. In recent years, divisions have been increasing in …

I sit under the front window in my apartment. Sunlight filters in through a broken blind my landlord hasn’t seen fit to fix, and the rug is warm under my outstretched palm. It is October now, and gloom seems to coat the ground alongside the leaves that whisper-skitter across the pavement. The colors of fall …

“There’s an interplay,” says Kevin Blankinship, assistant professor of Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, “between what feels so different [about the past] and what is similar to us [in the present].” Although connecting the issues and challenges of 2020 to medieval Arabic poetry may seem a tall order for most, …