Opening up about my freshman year abortion

Removing the stigma of abortions is vital in the fight to achieve equitable reproductive rights. I found out I was pregnant in a Starbucks bathroom, only a few weeks after starting my first year at Penn. I was 18, and I did everything to keep it a secret. Buying a test on campus risked fellow…

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The Beatings Will Continue

“The beatings will continue until morale improves” is a rather familiar quip of unknown origin.  Two recent news stories remind of just how apt the saying remains. The first was an astonishing New York Times report on the reinstitution of paddling as a disciplinary tool in a Missouri school district. Surprisingly, paddling children in school remains…

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An Education in Racism

[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Pick” that we are reposting this week.]   My first friend and I—we were three—played with the same anatomically impossible Barbies. Except…

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A Moveable Festival

Or, The Only Jew In Kathmandu [Editor’s note: Oren Karp is a recent graduate of Brown University and a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal. He posts an account of his life in Nepal every few weeks.]   I’ve grown to love the rain here, the way it paints the trees a crisp, dark…

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College Admission – Failed Rite of Passage

[Editor’s note: Our archives contain several years of excellent articles, most of which remain relevant and important to today’s young people and the adults who work with them. This one is a “Director’s Pick” that we are reposting this week.]   What are the psychological implications of college admission for both parent and child? The…

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