Millions of women try to lighten their skin although governments warn of health risks. Can anti-Black racism in the cosmetics industry be stopped? (Shutterstock/Mary Long) Social media manager Chand Bhangal constantly received negative comments about her complexion...
Tibet’s many languages are under threat from Beijing’s policies and economic realities, putting cultural traditions and memories at risk. Tsupkhu Lama in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India in June 2019. (Photo by Li Keira Yin) This story won honorable...
Li Keira Yin of The Thacher School examines the difficulties that minority languages face surviving in Tibet without falling into the trap of concluding that it’s all the fault of the Communist Party leadership in Beijing when economic pressures in a globalized economy are part of the explanation. For her nuanced view, Yin draws from her unique perspective as someone raised in China who is studying in the United States. Her account of the complexities of language in Tibet started when Yin listened to her Chinese grandmother speak a dialect at home while speaking in Mandarin when picking up the phone. “I started wondering why dialects and minority languages have to be overpowered by Mandarin in China, and so I dug deeper,” Yin said. A lesson for other students struggling to understand how their lives fit into the bigger scheme of things.
Exercise: Ask students to discuss when it’s important for authorities to protect minority languages.
Curious about my family’s roots, I visited a remote region of China where minority Uighurs celebrated and laughed despite repression and a pandemic. Uighur Women in Procession at Sunrise, Kashgar, July 2021 (All photos by Li Keira Yin) I took these photos on a...
“Working hard should matter. Do not be afraid of hardships.” A Rwandan reflects on being challenged and on change. (Photo by: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via AP Images) Below is a poem by Jean Bosco Sibomana, who works at News Decoder partner Kepler in Rwanda....
Almost all of us collect objects of some sort. Psychoanalysts think they are part of our identity. But when does a pastime become an obsession? The author’s “dupondius” of Augustus and Agrippa celebrating their military victory against the combined...
We are made of molecules, stardust and comets — small matter. I am 21, and I just want to love and be loved — because love is all there is. (Photo collage courtesy of Ange Theonastine Ashimwe) 1. I guess, now, I am twenty-one, and I still wonder what it means to be...
In many parts of the world, turning 21 years old is a milestone that signals a transition into adulthood. For Ange Theonastine Ashimwe, a student at Kepler in Rwanda, 21 is a “green-light number.” In her prose poem, she uses memory and metaphor to reflect on her lived experiences, contemplate our smallness in the universe and consider how much more there still is to learn.
Exercise: Ask students to reflect on a birthday that felt significant. What was happening in their lives? Why did it feel like a milestone? Then make a creative piece that explores those feelings.
In 1958, 4% of Americans approved of marriages between Blacks and whites. Now 94% approve. Data shows increasing racial tolerance in the U.S. Mildred Loving (L), who was married to Richard P Loving (R), challenged Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage, leading...
A graduate of a News Decoder partner school, Pip Lewis is juggling her studies with her passion for music — and winning accolades along the way. Students are forever encouraged to “follow their passion” as they contemplate what to study, where to go to...
I come from Rwanda, where Black children are not hated for the color of their skin. My photos capture innocence and an age of purity. (All photos by Stacy Shyaka) In my country, Black children are able to hold on to their innocence because they live in a place where...
How can a photography class make better global citizens? Caleb Portfolio of Westover School helps students discover themselves and the world. Caleb Portfolio Caleb Portfolio teaches photography and video at Westover School. That means he teaches certain necessary...