Posts tagged Adithi Sumitran
A Fractured Narrative: Cracking Open the Spine of Our National Literary Crisis

When’s the last time you read a book?

If your answer is “Not recently,” then you aren’t alone.

There’s a variety of data suggesting that national literacy is on the decline. As of late 2023, ACT test scores, which factor in reading comprehension skills, fell to their lowest in thirty years. In fact, based on the ACT’s reading score system, aimed at anticipating first-year college success, the average student is not on track to succeed in their higher academic pursuits.

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How To Get Away With Murder: Jaahnavi Kandula and the Devaluation of Women of Color

On Jan. 23 2023, Jaahnavi Kandula, a graduate student at Northeastern University in Seattle, was struck and killed by a police officer going 74 mph in a 25 mph zone. Jaahnavi’s family mourned for months, aggrieved by the loss of her happy presence and the fact that she was so close to achieving her dreams, only months away from graduation. Then, shocking new footage emerged. In the video, taken the day after the accident, Officer Daniel Auderer, the vice president of the police union, is seen driving around while chatting on the phone with Mike Solan, the union’s president. They’re talking about the case, and Auderer is nauseatingly flippant about the situation.

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Changing the Finish Line: Ending the Practice of Holding Back Successful People of Color

For the LSU Tigers, Louisiana State University’s women’s basketball team, April 2nd should have been a truly triumphant day. It was the day they won the NCAA national championship, wowing spectators and making history. A record-breaking event, the match saw the majority-Black team score the most points ever in a women’s championship game as well as the most points scored at halftime, accomplishments that secured them their first ever championship victory.

The excitement quickly soured, however, when First Lady Jill Biden, who had been attending the game, invited the Iowa Hawkeyes, the runners-up, to the White House to celebrate alongside the Tigers. LSU’s star forward, Angel Reese, was quick to call this “a joke.”

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Internet Sleuths and their Impacts

It started in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. As the sun began its ascent into the sky above Moscow, Idaho, a grisly discovery was made: four students at the University of Idaho had been brutally murdered in their home near the campus. With no clear explanations available, the entire affair was steeped in mystery, resulting in a bizarre internet frenzy. Theories ran abound on virtually every social media platform, leaving law enforcement struggling to keep the misinformation under control.

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American Political Violence is on the Rise

It is hard not to notice how political violence has increased in America these last few years. What was once an infrequent event has now become an almost monthly occurrence, and with threats against high ranking officials like Congresspeople rising almost tenfold, it’s clear that trouble is brewing in our society. There are a multitude of reasons for this change, however, and many of them stem from extreme political divisiveness and distortions of the truth.

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