Leland Culver '24

On Feb. 13, a massive winter storm brewed in the Pacific Northwest. Two days later, it had crashed down across the Midwest and Southeast and left millions of Texans without power, freezing in their poorly insulated homes. The very next day, amid Republicans’ attempt to blame green energy rather than

Antifa. Antifa, antifa, antifa. There’s a phenomenon in psychology called “semantic satiation.” It happens when you say a word over and over again so many times that, to you, it starts to lose all meaning and becomes a series of almost nonsensical sounds. Say the word “antifa” enough, and

Black Lives Matter. One might see such a statement as uncontroversial. People’s lives matter. Black people are people. Therefore Black Lives Matter. It’s the simplest kind of argument you could make — a deduction following from two premises. And yet, the American justice system routinely devalues Black lives. Black

I remember the first time I ever heard the name“Donald Trump.” I was in eighth grade and it was October 2015. I came home from school to hear my mom talking about this guy who was running for president and saying all these crazy things. Neither of us knew,

Last week, I considered the viability of local activism in response to a grid-locked national system. On that thread, this week I will take a look at a particular motion on the ballot in Massachusetts next week. Popularly known as “Question 2,” since it is the second question on the

The Symposium is a column by Leland Culver ’24 intended to act as a forum for the Amherst community to engage in dialogue together about current issues. If you would like to contribute to the Symposium, whether with suggestions for a topic, your opinion on this week’s topic

The Symposium is a column by Leland Culver ’24 intended to act as a forum for the Amherst community to engage in dialogue together about current issues. If you would like to contribute to the Symposium, whether with suggestions for a topic, your opinion on this week’s topic

The Symposium is a column by Leland Culver ’24 intended to act as a forum for the Amherst community to engage in dialogue together about current issues. If you would like to contribute to the Symposium, whether with suggestions for a topic, your opinion on this week’s topic

The Symposium is a column by Leland Culver ’24 intended to act as a forum for the Amherst community to engage in dialogue together about current issues. If you would like to contribute to the Symposium, whether with suggestions for a topic, your opinion on this week’s topic

I am motivated to write this by the announcement of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a prominent liberal justice and champion of women’s rights on the U.S. Supreme Court. The moment that my friends and I received the news, the energy that had carried us through