You Save All Year for a Trip Like This Imagine saving for months, booking a waterfront villa, gathering family and friends, and flying to Turks and Caicos for a birthday celebration. That is what an Atlanta family and their friends expected over Labor Day weekend in 2026. Instead, according to their account, seven masked men
A Dream Vacation Turned Into a Nightmare in Turks and Caicos Read More »
The Shopping Cart That Could Read Your Pulse In 2018, Walmart pursued a patent application for a shopping-cart handle capable of collecting biometric information such as pulse, temperature, grip force, and cart speed. Sensors could establish a baseline, monitor changes, and send information to a server for analysis. The system could potentially alert an employee
When Did My Heartbeat Become Shopping Data? Read More »
The Most Effective Control May Not Feel Like Control When we imagine losing freedom, we usually picture dictators, censorship, prisons, and force. George Orwell’s 1984 gave us that kind of nightmare. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World imagined another possibility: people controlled partly through comfort, conditioning, consumption, and pleasure. But decades before either novel, Alexis de
What If Losing Your Freedom Did Not Feel Like Oppression? Read More »
Freedom Came, but the Family Was Still Fighting The Civil War was over and slavery had been abolished, but Nathan and Jenney Cox were still fighting for something fundamental: the right to keep their children. In Alabama in 1865, their former enslaver, Francis Jones, asked a court to bind five of their children, ages three
Slavery Ended, but Some Black Parents Still Had to Fight to Get Their Children Back Read More »
The Speech Was Bigger Than Cuba and Iran When President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2026, his speech was about more than the countries he criticized. He called Cuba a failed state, predicted political change there, used extraordinary language toward Iran, and attacked international institutions he believes interfere with
Trump Went to the United Nations and Challenged the Very Idea Behind It Read More »
A Star Harlem Never Forgot When Florence Mills died in 1927 at only 31, thousands attended her funeral at Mother Zion A.M.E. Church, while more than 100,000 people reportedly filled Harlem’s streets. She had become one of the most celebrated Black entertainers of the 1920s, performing in New York, London, Paris, and elsewhere in Europe.
Florence Mills Was One of the Biggest Stars of the 1920s—So Why Can’t We Hear Her Voice? Read More »
It Started With Two Kids in a Mall Jermaine Dupri’s story took a major turn in 1991 when he discovered Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith, who became Kris Kross. Dupri helped write and produce “Jump,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 in 1992. But something bigger than one hit was
Jermaine Dupri’s Catalog Is Bigger Than Most People Realize Read More »
Reparations Should Not Turn Americans Against One Another The reparations debate deserves more than the claim that Black Americans are coming to take White people’s money. It is a public-policy question about whether documented historical harms justify repair and, if so, what form that repair should take. Reasonable people can disagree about eligibility, cost, responsibility,
Reparations Are a Debate About Repair, Not About Stealing From White People Read More »
The Layoff Meeting Does Not Tell You Everything When someone over 40 gets laid off, the separation meeting usually focuses on final pay, benefits, severance, unused vacation, and other company matters. What it may not explain is the job market you are about to enter. Your experience, salary level, specialization, and career stage can all
What a Layoff Can Mean When You’re Over 40 Read More »
Your Attention Is Doing Something What we continually focus on can shape how we experience life. If I begin every morning thinking about everything wrong, I may become more sensitive to problems and less likely to notice possibilities. The same is true when I constantly replay an unfair experience. That does not mean ignoring injustice
What You Focus On Matters, but Your Thoughts Are Not Magic Read More »