The Baines Report
By Alejandro Hernandez In December 2021, when President Vladimir Putin was still threatening to invade Ukraine, the official Ukrainian Twitter account published a meme describing how being Russia’s neighbor can give you the worst type of headache. Two months later, when Putin invaded, the tweets and memes did not stop. The account continues to be […]
By Francisco Alvarado I. Preface This piece is an attempt to paint a panorama of the lives, deaths, and experiences I came across during a 5-day research trip to South Texas sponsored by the Robert Strauss Center’s Central America and Mexico Policy Initiative. The trip was ostensibly a simple exercise in data collection. In this […]
By Sarah Murphy During the pressure of the interview, you do not want to rely on winging your responses. You want to be perceived as prepared and cogent. Interview preparation also helps assure that you get across the message to a prospective employer: I’m a badass, you’d be remiss to not hire me. Tell them […]
By Shelby Frye 2021 saw more attacks on reproductive health than any year since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, most notably in the restrictive abortion bills from Texas and Ohio. Protests are sweeping across the country, and activists are organizing to protect reproductive rights. However, in a world dominated by binaries, LGBTQIA+ people […]
By Noah Jones When I began to accept my sexuality, I reached a point where I was comfortable with myself but not with how the world would treat me. I come from a background in the Southern Baptist Church. As a child, I was taught that there were people who did things the “proper” way […]
By Ardian Shaholli Right-to-work laws bar unions from requiring all workers covered by a union-negotiated contract from paying dues. In Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977), the U.S. Supreme Court codified the applicability of right-to-work laws to the public sector. It ruled that non-union employees must pay dues towards union activity that provides economic […]
By Ardian Shaholli Last September, the Supreme Court ordered that Texas’ SB 8 may take effect. The law bans abortions after six weeks (with no exception for rape or incest) and offers up to a $10,000 bounty for private citizens who sue abortion providers or those aiding in abortion access. Since the court issued the […]
By Connor McMann Congressional and gubernatorial races in 2022 represent the first big opportunity for American voters to pass judgment on the Biden administration and life under Democratic rule. With Democrats and Republicans preparing to do battle in an enormously consequential election cycle, undecided American voters in every constituency will be courted by a broad […]
By Ardian Shaholli As the child of Albanian immigrants, it took a trip to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum in Dec. 2019 for me to fully appreciate my ancestral homeland’s heroics during World War II. My parents and grandparents had told me stories about the nation’s robust rescue efforts during the war. However, […]
By Geoffrey Carlisle (he/him) In the first two weeks of this year, 26 states introduced 75 pieces of legislation targeting transgender individuals. This legislation ranges from bans on transgender students participating in sports, to prohibitions, and even criminalization of seeking gender-affirming healthcare. Such bills represent an all-out assault on the rights and dignity of an […]