Stowaway Perce Blackborow and Mrs Chippy aboard Shackleton’s Endurance, 1914-1917. Photo courtesy Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge By Laura Gwen Shapiro / 04.01.2018 Novelist and Documentary Filmmaker Whatever currency drives adventure, whether fame or fortune, a stowaway trying to cash in on glory often features in the story. Sometimes, they’re escaping a bad situation; sometimes, they’re wannabe[…]
Photo by stephentrepreneur, Wikimedia Commons By Dr. Patrick McNamara / 03.09.2018 Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry Boston University School of Medicine Although radically different in terms of their content and feel, the rangeof dream states are just as complex as waking states. If we look across an individual’s lifetime, we find that children’s dreams are very different[…]
By Ashley Makar / 02.14.2018 I was excited to die. It wasn’t suicidal ideation or acceptance or resignation. It was a brimming anticipation, in light of my stage-IV cancer diagnosis. It was an astonishment to be so alive and so aware I was dying. I lost most of my family to sickness and death. I want[…]
Day of the dead at a Mexican cemetery. © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Many in the Western world lack the explicit mourning rituals that help people deal with loss. Two scholars describe ancient mourning practices. By Dr. Daniel Wojcik (left) and Dr. Robert Dobler (right) / 11.01.2017 Wojcik: Professor of English and Folklore Studies, University of[…]
The abyss of hell. Sandro Botticelli The meaning of hell might have changed over the centuries, but for devout Christians it remains a core part of their faith. By Dr. Joanne M. Pierce / 04.18.2018 Professor of Religious Studies College of the Holy Cross The recent dispute over whether Pope Francis denied the existence of hell[…]
Plaque with a Priest from the Oxus Treasure, 500–330 B.C., Achaemenid. Gold, 5 7/8 x 2 15/16 in. The British Museum. Image courtesy of and © The Trustees of the British Museum (2013). All rights reserved Looking closely at the objects displayed with the Cyrus Cylinder to find symbols of the ancient religion of Persia—Zoroastrianism.[…]