The romantic allure of Paris often obscures American perceptions of French film. French cinema can be as gritty and moody as that of any other country. In recent years, critical favorites, such as Marion Cotillard’s Oscar-winning performance in La Vie en Rose (140min, 2007) and the cult hit Amélie (122min, 2001), have allowed French movies to make the jump into American mainstream culture. Un Prophéte (155min, 2009), France’s submission to the 82nd Academy Awards, is one work that has the potential to join the ranks of the aforementioned films thanks to the many accolades it has received on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Voice of the Dolphins, by Leo Szilard, brings into question the many sociopolitical paradigms exposed at the height of the Cold War, since shuffled behind a red curtain stained with shapes of hammers and sickles. The hardheaded diplomacy of the 1960s clouds the vital questions which the ideological struggle was essentially based on: the nature of man and the consequential social structure that best be-seats him.

Words have never been enough.  While the brain can process thousands of feelings and sensations every minute, spoken language will forever be a bottleneck that retards the sharing or expression of sensations from one person to the next.  Think about it – how often are you left struggling to [...]

This March, NU Right to Life faced a series of hostile attacks after hosting the University’s first “Respect Life Week”. The organization, seeking to promote a culture of life amongst the student population, found itself under fire from students who felt that Student Activities Fee (SAF) money should not be spent on what they considered to be biased political events.

As with so many of our natural resources, we are slowly coming to the realization that nature’s bounty is not as limitless as we once so naively thought. Less than a century ago, fishing for cod was a staple of the fishing industry. While it was a gruelling job, there was a lot of pride associated with the business. There was also great commercial interest in this easy-to-catch fish – my grandfather remembers when his mother would cook cod cakes because it was the most economic fish around. Now cod cakes are gone, and for a host of reasons so is the cod population.

Was there ever a time when people trusted politicians? Given the United State’s democratic system of governance, the men and women that preside over our daily lives are supposed to be the few among us who are capable of leading America toward prosperity. While mankind is rife with destructive inadequacies and backward tendencies, a select few are destined to rise above the fray to become models of excellence.

In What’s Really Wrong with the Middle East, author Brian Whittaker has taken an unconventional and ambitious look into authoritarianism what is not so much the Middle East but the Arab world. The book asks: why is political order in so many Arab countries dysfunctional; why does political and religious violence spring from the region so frequently; and why has it been slow to democratize compared to others?