Why Can’t We Grieve for All the Dead?

How the Leaders of NewGround, a Muslim-Jewish Partnership, Are Resisting the Dehumanization of Palestinians and Israelis

Several weeks ago, we convened a group of Muslims and Jews in our network to talk about the unrelenting pain we have been experiencing on, before, and after October 7, 2023, when everything that was already so broken in Israel-Palestine became exponentially broken.

It was days after the discovery of six Israeli hostages shot dead just before their captors fled. “I feel like I am mourning for Hersh [Goldberg-Polin]. I feel like I knew him,” said Ryan, who is Muslim. His grief was palpable. Deeply authentic. His words hung heavy in …

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How Weddings and Hospitals Forge Familia

We Show Up for the People We Love—In Times of Joy or Sorrow, Often With Tortillas

Hija, you have to go. You’re going to miss the wedding,” said my mom, weak but urgent. My husband and I would be hosting my niece’s wedding in our home that …

California’s Greatest Scourge? Camping

Bipartisan Leaders Are Bravely Going to War Against Unhoused People in Tents and Students in Sleeping Bags

Lock up your tents, California!

Toss out your old camping gear!

Hide your pillows and blankets where the cops will never find them!

Because the people who run California have finally seen clearly …

The Radical Act of Gardening Silicon Valley | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The Radical Act of Gardening Silicon Valley

Communities Are Nourishing Themselves—And a Movement to Transform Our Food System—By Planting in Unlikely Soil

Days start early in the garden. As the sun rises over the Santa Clara Valley’s Diablo Range, we’ve already gathered and prepared seed beds for planting. The smell …

Hands stitching a blue pattern that looks like DNA.

Can Knitting Help Teach Science?

A Cell Biologist Reflects on the Connections Between Stitches and STEM

When I was about 8 years old, my grandmother took me to a local fabric store to pick out a pattern for a dress we could sew together. Piecing together …

My Late Uncle Jim’s Life of Tomorrows

He Found Meaning and Wisdom in Looking Ahead

When I think of my Uncle Jim, I often remember him as Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Jim Mathews, who died earlier this summer at age 77, loved to perform in community theater …