I specify materials for a living, not in the abstract. I sit with a client, pull samples, and decide what the room will be made of. Which stone, which fiber, which finish, adhesive, or coating, and increasingly...

Europe's future cannot be understood only through the crises of the present. To make sense of what comes next, the continent must preserve its ability to remember what came before. History is often treated...

Every young person has ideas worth hearing. What often stands between a good idea and real influence is not the idea itself, but whether the person holding it has been taught how to share it in a way...

As fate would have it, three separate incidents would occur within a few weeks that would ultimately turn me into a willing teenage Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant. A confidential informant...

Every year, students ask me for a strategy for the Singapore-Cambridge O-Level English Paper 3 Listening Comprehension examination. For Paper 1, time can be divided. For Paper 2, sections can be paced...

My own cultural journey has been a slightly complicated one. I was born in Nablus, grew up mainly in Amman, and left Jordan at seventeen. From there, I went to the United States, returned to the Arab...

Is it ever beneficial to experience a bit of self-deception? When we begin a DIY project, optimism can carry us beyond our actual knowledge and skills. Yet that same confidence can inspire us to create...

Ask most Americans what life insurance is for, and they’ll give you the same answer: it pays your family when you die. That answer isn’t wrong, but it’s only half the story. And for working and middle-class...

Does a fish see the water it swims in? Do stars grieve when they die? And does a crawdad know it is in a barrel? An elder friend from the American South once offered me a piece of Creole wisdom that...

In this article, I share observations and offer possibilities from my systemic work with traditions, both as material and immaterial heritage. As humanity faces global challenges by increasing systemic...

Millions of people open a language app every day, keep a streak going for weeks or months, and then quietly realize they still cannot hold a real conversation. If that sounds familiar, you are not...

More and more celebrities as well as everyday people are ‘coming out’ as dyslexic, signalling a societal shift away from stigmatisation of dyslexia. There is also increasing awareness of dyslexia as much...

Some young people cannot easily explain why a worksheet leaves them cold while a piece of music, movement or drama draws them fully in. It is rarely a lack of ability. More often, it is a mismatch between...

On July 4th, 2025, Donald Trump and the Republican Party cut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act programs, which helped millions of Americans with and without disabilities, by $1 trillion. Then, on...

Data is often treated as the foundation of fairness in health and social care. But data systems don't just record reality, they shape it. When measurement frameworks are poorly designed, they don't simply...

Ambition is rarely the missing ingredient for young people in Alternative Provision. Many carry vivid ideas about becoming a performer, designer, writer, filmmaker, organiser or technician, or something...

This year marks 20 years since I officially launched the nonprofit Soles4Souls. At the time, the world had come together after the natural disasters of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 earthquake...

“You work with youth? Wow, you’re brave.” Or “Teens are so tough, I don’t know how you do it!” If you are a youth-serving professional, you have heard these expressions several times in your career...

We live on a planet where more than seventy percent of the surface is covered by water, yet millions of people struggle with freshwater shortages. Entire communities flood while others ration every drop.

It is back-to-school season. Some students planned for months. Others decided at the last possible second that college, community college, or vocational school might actually be the move. If that is...

For years, businesses have been encouraged to measure their environmental impact, publish sustainability reports, set targets, and demonstrate their commitment to ESG. That was progress. But I believe...

We book the appointments, run the assessments, and ask what's wrong with our children. We pour everything we have into finding answers for them. Very rarely, almost never, do we stop to turn the same...

I sat down to watch Narcissist’s Playbook expecting to take clinical notes. I've spent years working with survivors of narcissistic abuse, and I wanted a resource I could point clients toward, something...

The two-time Academy Award winner and five-time nominee has built an extraordinary career through research, culture, and visual storytelling. The return of her masterclass offers a larger lesson about how industry...