By Cassandra Kunert

In her first installment for our Weaving the Streets project, Cassandra Kunert reports on what she observed when she went to Beirut, Lebanon, in search of street art - only to find a city whose population was rising up in huge numbers against the existing political and economic order.

By Nicole Roché

“I think there’s something really compelling about living and researching in the same place. To feel more grounded, quite literally, by going into the ground. I think there’s a power to that. Of staying and learning more about where you live.” Nicole Roché introduces us to Dr. Hadley Kruczek-Aaron, who does archaeological research at the intersection of local history and social justice.

By Connie Jenkins

What do we encounter every day that most of us just don't see? The cruelest life circumstances are translated into statistics — cold percentages that don’t fully show the heartache of poverty, addiction, crime, and loss. The numbers represent real people in our hometowns who are struggling to cope, to build or rebuild their lives, but it’s as if they’re invisible to us. Connie Jenkins introduces us to two “life in progress” stories of North Country residents who have battled substance abuse.

By Ifat Gazia

“I want children of the future to have memories different than my own - so that when they remember the sunshine, it is not in the pain of loss, in the heat of flames,” write Ifat Gazia in her first piece for Weave News. Gazia has lived through the daily reality of militarization in Kashmir, where the impact on ordinary people is tremendously underreported. Join her on this journey of memory, anger, and hope.

By Nicole Roché

On the morning of October, 11, 2018, poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib spoke with students on the St. Lawrence University campus, where the subjects ranged from Kanye West to Black Lives Matter to Abdurraqib’s extensive sneaker collection. After the Q&A, Nicole Roché, who teaches a class about storytelling and identity in the first-year program at St. Lawrence, interviewed Abdurraqib about his work and about his experiences talking with young people in America.

By Alexandra Nicoletti

In this reflection on the experience of living and studying abroad as an American in France, Alexandra Nicoletti explores the complex process of cultural translation involved when the #MeToo movement crosses the Atlantic.

By John Collins

What role does spatial planning play in the Israeli process of colonizing Palestinian land? Researcher and longtime Weave News contributor Somdeep Sen discusses this issue in a recent podcast hosted by the Danish NGO Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke.

By John Collins

“We want to honor Lucy Parsons’ legacy, Albert Parsons’ legacy, and the legacy of what brought us this idea that one day, all the workers of the world will unite.” With these words from labor activist and tour guide Larry Spivack, reporter John Collins reflects on a labor history walking tour of Chicago.

By Jessica Sierk

What happens when high school students in rural northern New York get the chance to speak for themselves, through art, about the pressures they are facing? Jessica Sierk describes the genesis and implementation of a unique community art collaboration bringing together students from Canton Central School and St. Lawrence University.

By Shanice Arlow

Contributing Editor Shanice Arlow interviews Professor Christopher Robé on copwatching in the age of social media. 

By Jarrodd Davis

Jarrodd Davis on the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight: "What had I gotten myself into? We gathered in a white space to watch America’s race relations play out on a literal stage and in real time."

By Wyatt Adams

At 10:00 a.m. on March 14th, St. Lawrence students and faculty gathered on the university’s Quad as part of the national school walkout against gun violence in schools. More than 200 students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered despite heavy snowfall in a show of solidarity with students across the nation standing up against the epidemic of shootings in America’s schools.

By Cordenne Brewster

"I still felt skepticism when someone told me there was no racism in Massachusetts, even after they had told me the white supremacists I had heard about '[weren’t] a big deal,'” Cordenne Brewster writes in the first entry of Surviving PWIs for POC, a new series from Weave News. 

By John Collins

“In the past, fishing was better, because we could go out 12 nautical miles and no one targeted us,” observes one of the young Gazan fisherman. “Now, it’s only six miles and there’s no fish there.” This basic fact - the literal shrinking of the space within which people in Gaza can engage in fishing without risking harassment and death at the hands of the Israeli military - lies at the core of “Six Miles Out,” a striking new video released on Facebook last week by the We Are Not Numbers project (whose work has been featured previously here on the Weave News site).

By Shanice Arlow

St. Lawrence University student Shanice Arlow writes that her school is funding the College Republicans with money earmarked for underrepresented groups. 

By Sarita Farnelli

"We’re moving back into a period of time when being a Black academic or a racialized minority in the university is an extremely dangerous occupation. People are threatening our lives because of our research. People are threatening our jobs because of our research." --Dr. Tommy Curry

By Nicole Eigbrett

Nicole Eigbrett, social media director for Weave News, chatted with filmmaker Quester Hannah about his experiences and what to expect from his presentations at the Weave News 10th Anniversary Conference. 

By Karama Fadel

Despite the long coastline and the existence of seven crossings between its territory and Israel and Egypt, the Gaza Strip remains cocooned in a zone of isolation due to its neighbors’ punitive restrictions. Ships are not allowed by Israel to enter or leave, the lone airport was bombed in 2000, and no one may visit or exit by land without obtaining rarely given permission from the two countries’ military authorities...Thus, for Palestinians, trying to travel is arduous, slow and humiliating. But necessity knows no law, and we keep trying. Why? It’s about living with dignity and in peace. It’s about freedom. It’s about the health of our loved ones, uniting our families, studying for advanced degrees not available inside Gaza. There are multiple reasons why we insist on trying to travel, but the same ultimate goal.

By Chloe McElligott

Weave News correspondent Chloe McElligott speaks with Jack Gilroy, a Veterans for Peace member whose lifelong journey of social justice activism has taken him from military service to self-imposed exile in Australia to campaigns against militarism throughout the United States. Situating himself within the tradition of radical Catholic antiwar organizing, Jack finds hope in the "search for young people who are individuals with a sense of true justice, have a sense of morality, who are not on an ego-trip, who are not on a power trip, but are more concerned with reaching out with compassion and generosity to the world."

By Chloe McElligott

It boggles my mind to think that the United States spends so much money and energy on war, a venture that always ultimately leads to destruction and death. Though it is debatable whether war is underreported (obviously, some wars are underreported, depending on who is fighting and dying), I do think the issues of peace movements aren’t discussed enough by the news media. This led to my desire to start interviewing pro-peace/anti-war veterans and creating miniature profiles of them, starting specifically with members of Veterans for Peace. These are people who, at some point, probably saw military service as one of the highest performances of patriotism. Eventually, however, they became disillusioned with the U.S. as a military power, and for me this gives their criticisms of war even more credibility.