#GlobeIdeas

Ending college affirmative action didn’t devastate minority enrollment but only shifted it - The Boston Globe Look beyond the Ivies to other schools where Black and Latino students can thrive.

The reality is that 70 percent of US college students attend public universities and colleges, and many of them achieve success, regardless of the reports out of New Haven, Rich Barlow writes in #GlobeIdeas.

Liberals have to reckon with the limits of protests - The Boston Globe Mass demonstrations can be worthwhile. But they also may be substituting for more useful forms of political participation.

“Expression is not, in itself, a political achievement,” Siddhu Pachipala writes in #GlobeIdeas.

GenZ is mimicking my generation’s fashion perfectly. Too perfectly, in fact. - The Boston Globe Students are avoiding the usual pitfalls of teen fashion, and it’s too bad.

Today’s teen fashion is missing the recklessness and imperfection of actual youth fashion trends, Catherine Enwright writes in #GlobeIdeas.

I belong in wilderness - The Boston Globe Black and brown Americans are reclaiming, and reshaping, outdoor culture.

“Communities of color have been removed from and denied access to the land ever since European settlers set foot on North American soil,” Mardi Fuller writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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These key races will divine the fate of the Democratic Party - The Boston Globe The campaign trail is the ultimate arbiter of what works — and what doesn’t. Here’s a guide to the elections to watch this year and next.

Democrats will see what works and what doesn’t on the campaign trail. That’s where the party's big ideological fights will be resolved, and it’s where the next generation of leaders will emerge.

So where should we be looking? Explore the #GlobeIdeas guide to the Democrats’ upcoming campaign season:

A road runs through it - The Boston Globe America’s wild lands are already home to vast networks of paved and dirt roads. Now the Trump administration is about to expand their reach.

“Roads kill ecosystems by a thousand cuts — though given their ubiquity, that idiom understates the case,” author Ben Goldfarb writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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What happened to Amy? - The Boston Globe Statistics show the woods are safe. But the outliers are still haunting.

“When I do go into the woods, I never go alone. It could be experience or age,” @hhoppy.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas. “It definitely has to do with Amy.”

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Wilderness: A poem by Joan Baez - The Boston Globe The singer-songwriter reminds us that threats to our wild lands affects us all.

“Did your parents take you camping in the wilderness?” @joancbaezofficial.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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Why I cut my lawn with an old-fashioned scythe - The Boston Globe Yes, it's a lot of work. And it's worth it.

“It is not a normal thing to mow one’s lawn with a scythe, as curious an act in the country as it is in the suburbs,” author Daegan Miller writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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Turning outdoor recreation into ‘re-creation’ - The Boston Globe Robert Macfarlane thinks getting outside is not just about leisure — it’s a spiritual journey.

“Rivers seem abundant and resilient, but they are actually rare and fragile — they hold only a tiny fraction of the world’s water,” @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social says in #GlobeIdeas.

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Welcome renewable energy to our wild lands - The Boston Globe When Bill McKibben sees a wind turbine on the horizon, he sees something beautiful.

“Renewable energy is booming everywhere around the world except here,” @billmckibben.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas. “Americans have put more carbon into the atmosphere than anyone else, and so we have a deeper practical and moral debt to pay off.”

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The wilds of Mount Washington - The Boston Globe Photographer Mark Ostow spent two days capturing life on New England’s highest summit.

Photographer Mark Ostow spent two days capturing life on New England’s highest summit — through rain, wind, and frigid temperatures.

Explore the Wild Issue in #GlobeIdeas:

The wildness of sanctuary - The Boston Globe As I wandered a Mass Audubon wildlife preserve, I reflected on the paradoxes of such a place.

“If wilderness was once something from which we felt we needed protection, today we ourselves are charged with protecting it,” author Akiko Busch writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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In Maine, one model for our national parks - The Boston Globe Acadia’s enchanting trails showed me the key to managing crowds in parks is opening up more spaces to more people.

“As I returned again and again to Acadia, I developed an infatuation with the trails, their design, and what it takes to keep them alive,” @milesperhoward.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas.

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The key insight fitness trackers are missing - The Boston Globe Health tech is obsessed with metrics. But real flourishing requires something more.

For every self-quantifier optimizing zone two training, there’s someone quietly opting out, discouraged or overwhelmed, David Shaywitz writes in #GlobeIdeas.

Is Mike Felger the most influential person in Boston? - The Boston Globe The dominant figure in local sports talk radio manages to capture — and shape — the mood of this fast-changing city.

In a city where politicians cycle out and owners stay hidden behind tinted glass, sports radio show host Mike Felger has been the loudest, clearest, and most consistent voice, @joon.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas.

Not just in sports — in anything.

I don’t know if I’m proud to be an American. But I am grateful. - The Boston Globe Why I’m thankful to have been raised in the United States.

“Neither being raised by a single dad nor being Indian has limited who I can be,” writes Sidhi Dhanda in #GlobeIdeas.

“Instead, my life has been far more defined by perhaps the most American concept of all: opportunity.”

Watch live: Globe Ideas hosts town hall to mark 250th anniversary of American Revolution - The Boston Globe The event features conversations with historians and contributors to the recent special issue from Globe Ideas titled “The Revolution Lives On.”

250 years later, the fight for American independence is still full of surprising stories and unresolved questions. Watch a live, community event hosted by #GlobeIdeas now:

Join historians and writers at the Old South Meeting House June 26 to discuss the legacy of the American Revolution in a town hall-style event moderated by #GlobeIdeas editor Brian Bergstein.

RSVP: therevolutionliveson.splashthat.com/digBG

‘Adolescence’ is great TV — but not because it’s realistic - The Boston Globe The smash-hit Netflix series is a gripping and powerful story. It’s a mistake to promote it as if it were a documentary.

The smash-hit Netflix series is a gripping and powerful story, writes Rob Henderson. It’s a mistake to promote it as if it were a documentary. #GlobeIdeas

Georgia’s abortion law has reduced a woman to the role of incubator - The Boston Globe Not only have Republican lawmakers stripped Adriana Smith of the right to a dignified death — they’ve denied her family any say over her fate, too.

When Georgia Republicans drafted the state’s abortion law, they weren’t thinking of cases like Adriana Smith’s. And that is exactly the point, says Mary Ziegler in #GlobeIdeas.

Swan song: My mother-in-law, her myth, and me - The Boston Globe She was blessed with good fortune, great beauty, uncommon talent, glittering friends, and a doting family. Why wasn’t any of it enough?

In #GlobeIdeas, Kelly Horan wrestles with the mystery at the core of her late mother-in-law's life:

How could someone graced with all the trappings of good fortune be so terminally restless, dissatisfied, and — most puzzling of all — incapable of being alone?

De-extinction is a colossal disappointment - The Boston Globe Bringing back extinct animals may sound like a great idea — until you look more closely.

“In truth, the dire wolf achievement is not a huge scientific advance and, correspondingly, the excitement at the prospect of future de-extinctions is hugely overblown,” writes Jerry A. Coyne in #GlobeIdeas.

Marathon mystery: Did I really run 27 miles? - The Boston Globe When I failed to hit my desired time, I had to figure out whether I traveled too long of a route — or whether technology was to blame.

In #GlobeIdeas, Jason Margolis has a cautionary tale for runners planning to race the Boston Marathon with a GPS watch to keep their pace:

Tariffs are dumb . . . right? - The Boston Globe Trump’s trade war is reckless. But his appetite for protectionism is more widely shared than you may realize.

President Trump’s trade war is not going well. Does this mean the next president will go back to being all for free trade?

Don’t count on it, says David Scharfenberg in #GlobeIdeas. Both parties have a greater appetite for protectionism than the US has had in decades.

Teachers are using AI to make literature easier for students to read. This is a terrible idea. - The Boston Globe A writer’s voice and style don't just matter to the reading experience, they are the reading experience.

“As an education researcher, I understand the appeal of AI-adapted texts. However, I also have concerns,” writes MG Prezioso. “I worry about how AI-adapted texts will affect students’ love of reading.” #GlobeIdeas

How do we think about the American Revolution in 2025? Historians examine the history and consequences of the American Revolution on its 250th anniversary.

250 years after the start of the Revolutionary War, the fight for American independence is still full of surprising stories and unresolved questions.

Explore them in this special issue of #GlobeIdeas, and in stories to come in the months ahead:

First, they came for the foreigners - The Boston Globe The federal assault on noncitizen students is both a blatant violation of democratic norms and a harbinger of things to come.

The federal assault on noncitizen students is both a blatant violation of democratic norms and a harbinger of things to come, writes Christine Mehta in #GlobeIdeas.

The double helix of science and democracy - The Boston Globe Strengthening both is key to restoring America’s belief in progress.

One of America’s greatest legacies — our ability to produce knowledge that leads to material progress — feels shakier than ever.

#GlobeIdeas and the @museumofscience.bsky.social explore how to reverse that tide:

How about a little thank-you note for Santa? - The Boston Globe Not for Santa's sake but for yours.

Santa gets lots of letters this time of year. How many of them are thank-you notes?

Stephen Lane makes the case for expressing gratitude to Father Christmas — and others, besides, in #GlobeIdeas.