Coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine often underscores how important Ukraine is to feeding people across the world. According to Roman Leshchenko, the country’s Minister of Agrarian Policy, “For centuries, Ukraine has been known as ‘the breadbasket of Europe.’ …

Anna Politkovskaya and press freedom in Russia The muzzling of independent Russian media, including the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, is part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decades-long campaign against journalists, the free press, and freedom of expression. …

I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the heroes I profile in Righting Wrongs: 20 human rights heroes around the world, my for-kids book that releases next week. …

A women’s rights champion Hansa Mehta and the fight for women’s rights One of the human rights heroes I was most committed to including in Righting Wrongs: 20 human rights heroes around the world was Hansa Mehta. Before starting my research, I knew she had something to do with women’s…

When I teach my Introduction to Human Rights course, I always begin with two tried and true approaches. One is a simple thought exercise that asks students to consider behavior that’s unacceptable in the classroom. …

My arrival at the church of Pauli Murray started with Lunch-and-Learn ticket. I’d moved to North Carolina over a decade before my lunch, with a job that required me to work remotely from a Washington, DC, office. At the time, the arrangement was novel. …

Fantasy maps and a map reveal for The Bond trilogy — Map-makers have always drawn with their imaginations even when they thought they were making factual representations. Recently, I came across this detailed depiction of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec empire’s capital, published anonymously on Nuremberg in 1524 and featured in Elizabeth Hill Boone ’s The Aztec World. Some elements are somewhat accurate…

Originally published in Fantasy Cafe, April 24, 2020 Science fiction is often credited with inspiring advances in technology. Jules Verne, the author of adventure stories like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, may have inspired submarines. Arthur C. Clarke imagined using satellites for global communications. …

Something about the internet turns cheerful neighbors into the worst of online trolls — I’ve rarely witnessed a fistfight between neighbors. Yet some days I feel like we fight constantly. Instead of using our fists, we battle with the words typed into that little email square we send off to the internet. …