Childhood Memories

By Michael Lederer

Mem­o­ries are sto­ries we tell ourselves.

Cred­it: Genia Chef, “Emer­ald Grot­to,” oil on pan­el, 1997 (frag­ment); pub­lished with the artist’s permission

“When I was younger, I remem­ber how…” We cher­ry-pick. We have to. Oth­er­wise, we’d remem­ber what we wore and ate for lunch a day before our 6th birth­day, and the week before that. TMI.   

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Iron Curtain, Please

By Michael Lederer

One man’s trash is another’s treasure.

Vladimir the Small, as his­to­ry is sure to remem­ber him, has pulled the iron cur­tain off the trash pile and ordered it rehung. His secu­ri­ty blan­ket. Thir­ty years exposed to West­ern ideas of choice – enough of that. Obe­di­ence or destruc­tion, enough choice for his people.

The good old days.

Pho­to Cred­it: The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

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Teen Nonprofits Find Solutions during Covid-19 Pandemic

By Anvitha Reddy, Charlotte Heuser, and Emma Dircks

Pho­to Cred­it: The Young-ish Entre­pre­neurs by SDI Productions/Getty Images

In the mid­dle of a Covid-19 lock­down packed with dis­tance learn­ing dif­fi­cul­ties, teach­ers at the Schmal­ka­lden Ele­men­tary School in Thuringia, Ger­many, learned that the dig­i­tal tool they had been using didn’t meet the country’s strict data-pri­va­cy restric­tions. “A par­ent at the school asked whether I could devel­op a pro­gram from scratch over the week­end,” said Math­ias Wick­en­hagen, a 20-year-old pro­gram­mer in the neigh­bor­hood. “And I did.”

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Like Meat?

By Sunaya Mueller, Yamuna Sieber, and Lara Frey

Pho­to Cred­it: The Veg­an Burg­er: vaaseenaa/Getty Images

It’s cool to be veg­an, but are all those meat sub­sti­tutes real­ly so healthy for the envi­ron­ment and for us? Turkey or tofurkey, veg­an schnitzel or beef­steak? Stand­ing in front of a super­mar­ket freez­er, it’s up to you whether to choose between con­ven­tion­al or plant-based meat.

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Rescue, Marry, Happy Ever After – The Asexual Fantasy Novel Royal Rescue

By Veronika Heinrich

“I’ve nev­er had a crush, I’ve nev­er want­ed any­one in my bed. I’ve nev­er looked at any­one and won­dered what they looked like naked. I’ve nev­er want­ed to… to see any­one or touch anyone.”

We all know the clas­sic fairy tale premise: A prince res­cues a princess, they get mar­ried, they live hap­pi­ly ever after. Now, of course, we’re liv­ing in mod­ern times. Princes can mar­ry princes; princess­es can mar­ry princess­es and so on – as long as they stick to the premise. Res­cue, mar­ry, live hap­pi­ly ever after. But what if a prince doesn’t wish to be rescued?

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Breaking New Ground: Liberating Lomie by Saloma Miller Furlong

By Sabrina Völz

In 2011, Salo­ma Miller Furlong’s Why I Left the Amish: A Mem­oir appeared dur­ing the mem­oir boom that gave agency to invis­i­ble, mar­gin­al­ized, or mis­rep­re­sent­ed groups. Why I Left the Amish was one of the first mem­oirs writ­ten by a for­mer Amish woman that pro­vid­ed unfet­tered per­spec­tives on the Amish. While many Amish groups today lead a sim­ple life much like many rur­al Amer­i­cans in agri­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ties did in the 19th to ear­ly 20th cen­turies, Amish cul­ture is any­thing but sim­ple as Furlong’s newest mem­oir shows.

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