Paterson city and its powerful waterfall drew my immigrant family from the Middle East. The cataract may hold the key to the New Jersey city’s future. Paterson Falls (Wikimedia Commons/Francisco Diez) The city of Paterson’s celebrated waterfall sits in the...
The world needs safe spaces to protect us against the oppression of the privileged. Think of Orwell’s “Animal Farm” — we have a right to be deaf! Implausible though it may seem, a few months ago I found myself in the most heartless of places....
Chinese students flaunting luxury cars and designer clothes fuel a stereotype that ignores the harsh reality for many compatriots on U.S. campuses. Chinese high school exchange students act out skits during their orientation near Ann Arbor, Michigan, 29 August 2017...
I spent the past year in Beijing. The Chinese language has taught me that change is inevitable — and life will yield new loves for me. “The Orchard Pavilian Gathering” (Wikimedia Commons) This past year I lived in China as a 17-year-old American high...
Smartphones can be great learning tools, but they can also be addictive, interfere with learning and contribute to bullying. I know — I teach high school. Students send text messages, Manila, Philippines, 10 June 2008 (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) I walk into a...
I covered the Vietnam War as a rookie foreign correspondent in 1966 and 1967. There was death and destruction for sure, but it was not all war. Robert Hart, War zone D, Tay Ninh province, South Vietnam, August 1967(photo courtesy of the author) News-Decoder...
The 1960s were a zeitgeist of anti-establishment values and alternative philosophies, an age of counter-culture, hippies and yippies. I was there. Hippies greet the sunrise in San Francisco, California, 6 October 1967 (AP Photo) News-Decoder correspondents have...
“I’m so depressed.” “I’m going to shoot myself.” Really? I hear lots of people speak so lightly of mental health disorders. Be careful of what you say. Champion U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Phelps recently revealed...
By Marshall Cartwright While commuting to class recently in Paris, I sat on the train watching a parade of dancing thumbs march in unison through their respective digital playgrounds. In 2018, this is an everyday observation for people all around the world. In the...
My parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, and I grew up in the Bronx. They have sacrificed so much for me — a burden I need to learn to live with. Immigrants at a naturalization ceremony in New York, 22 March 2013 (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) I can’t recall a...