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The section that asks “what if?” and “why not?”
IDEAS | FRANCESCO BERTOLUCCI & STEFANO MORELLI
An Italian prison that is application-only
Tuscany is home to Gorgona, Europe’s last prison island, where the incarcerated have freedoms, are paid for their work, and learn a trade.
IDEAS | CARINE HAJJAR
Mass. and Cass shows the failure of progressive drug policies
Left-leaning officials insist that police crackdowns on open-air drug encampments backfire. But the hands-off approach has sown violence and misery..
IDEAS | ARTO VAUN
The things they could not carry
More than 100,000 Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh last month. For Armenians there and in the diaspora, it was the latest reminder of all that has been left behind.
IDEAS | Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
If your dog could speak, would you like what it said?
Some pets press buttons to express their desires. Scientists aren’t sure it’s entirely legit, but it’s clear that animals have more going on than we’ve reckoned with.
IDEAS | Mary Ziegler
In the conservative crackdown on sex, ‘parental rights’ could be a smokescreen
A Texas judge points to a long history of restricting free speech — regardless of whether kids are in the picture.
IDEAS | ANNE ZINK
Syphilis, the ‘Great Pretender,’ is back
The shock resurgence of an old disease is causing pain and misdiagnoses. New cases are outpacing public health officials’ ability to keep up.
may i have a word?
May I have a word: For the laughing cavaliers in our midst
A word that captures the quality of being prone to an easy chuckle.
May I have a word: Last rites for last bites
May I have a word: When critters have first dibs in the garden
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special projects
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
How Uphams Corner got wealthier without getting whiter
The scrappy Dorchester neighborhood has fulfilled the community activist’s dream: development without displacement.
Where did all the workers go?
For two years, employers have been desperate for workers — and there’s no indication the labor shortage will soon change. What are we losing — and possibly gaining — as a result?
IDEAS | PETER THOMSON
The radical, forgotten experiment in educational integration that changed my life
In 1971, kids from Roxbury and Lincoln spent half the year attending school together in the city and the other half in the suburb. Fifty years later, I tracked down my fellow students to see how it shaped them — and whether something like it could work today.
Public health
IDEAS | ANNE ZINK
Syphilis, the ‘Great Pretender,’ is back
IDEAS | AMIRA SKEGGS
Rethinking our lonely heroes
IDEAS | KAT MCGOWAN
When love is deeper than blood: New recognition for families of choice
democracy under siege
IDEAS | ALISSA VALLES
‘1984’ was meant as a critique of the USSR, but it really fits Putin’s Russia
IDEAS | Hollie Russon Gilman and Amy Eisenstein
It’s like jury duty, but for getting things done
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
Journalism is being killed in Central America
politics
IDEAS | OMER AZIZ
Liberals need a clearer foreign policy
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
The political earthquake in Guatemala
IDEAS | SHANNON A. MULLEN
Reclaiming our agency
civil rights
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
Another brick in the wall blocking abortion access
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
Women’s stories may change the abortion narrative
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
The latest antiabortion tactic: Silencing doctors
inequality
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD
Probation is supposed to be an alternative to prison. It might be a trapdoor instead.
IDEAS | KARA MILLER
Marriage is increasingly for the upper classes. That’s not a good sign.
IDEAS | FREDRIK DEBOER
Identity politics is a game the left can’t win
climate crisis
IDEAS | JOHN GOVE
Extreme weather forces New England farmers to be more collaborative than ever
IDEAS | Maja Prijatelj Videmšek & Matjaž Krivic
Bolivia’s Amazon is burning
IDEAS | SCOTT WEIDENSAUL
An ecological disaster that’s within our grasp to reverse
education
IDEAS | OMER AZIZ
How to get the most out of college — and save liberal democracy
IDEAS | MICHAEL SERAZIO
The algorithm vs. the syllabus
IDEAS | Albert Fox Cahn & Shruthi Sriram
Will AI be monitoring kids in their classrooms?
development
IDEAS | KARA MILLER
All those empty office buildings could spell trouble for you and me
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
Lynn is trying to reinvent itself. Will inertia at the MBTA derail its plan?
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Evictions are rising again. It’s time to get creative.
history
IDEAS | ARTO VAUN
The things they could not carry
IDEAS | CRAIG FEHRMAN
Girls gone wild — Harriet Tubman, Louisa May Alcott, and the freedoms they found outdoors
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
50 years later, Chile’s coup has a disturbing number of supporters
housing
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Making too little to get affordable housing — and other problems with trying to stay in Boston
IDEAS | CLAIRE DUNNING
The unintended consequences of Boston’s nonprofit-led urban development
IDEAS | STARRE JULIA VARTAN
Consider the small landlord
technology
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER
There’s no shame in being a Luddite
IDEAS | TOM JOUDREY
In 1909, E.M. Forster foresaw the real threat from AI
IDEAS | ELIZABETH SVOBODA
Is AI really as good as advertised?
essays
IDEAS | FRANCESCO BERTOLUCCI & STEFANO MORELLI
An Italian prison that is application-only
IDEAS | Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
If your dog could speak, would you like what it said?
IDEAS | MELANIE BROOKS
A daughter who couldn’t ask questions is now a mother who invites them
more special projects
IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI
How the MBTA went off the rails
Nearly everything about Boston has changed in the past few decades, yet the T has the same big problem — a failure to prioritize the rider experience above all.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
Editing the Constitution
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
The Future of Work
The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.
The Future of Food
What we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it are being reimagined like never before.
Massachusetts Works
We turn the typical model of journalism on its head — instead of focusing on what’s broken, we’re taking a look at what Massachusetts gets right.