Adam Smith

Boston July 12, 2024 0

Supreme Court Ruling Has Links to U.S.’ ‘Racist’ Past, Say Advocates

A recent Supreme Court ruling that could influence the lives of thousands of people seeking immigration to the U.S. via consular offices gives renewed life to legal precedents built on anti-Asian discrimination of the 1800s, say advocates and legal experts. The case, decided late last month, was “Department of State v. Muñoz.” It centers on a U.S. citizen’s years’ long attempts to sponsor her husband from El Salvador to live with her and their child. A consular official denied their […]

Arts July 12, 2024 0

Attempts to Ban Books Hit ‘Record Number’

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has a heat map of the United States that at first glance appears like the state-by-state map Americans grew so accustomed to during the Covid pandemic. Texas and Florida are dark maroon, while many other states are hot orange. Massachusetts is a tad lighter, but still fiery. The map, however, is not warning of the danger of disease spread. It’s warning of something just as perilous to Democracy: attempts to curb free […]

Archives June 21, 2024 0

Report: When It Comes to Tapping Into Foreign-Educated Talent, Here’s What the State Can Do

When it comes to tapping into a large number of educated workers, many of whom are bilingual, Massachusetts appears to be missing out. Big time. That’s a takeaway from a new report on the some 240,000 foreign-educated immigrants in the state – 106,000 of whom hold a bachelor’s degree and 134,000 of whom have completed at least some grad school. Many of these immigrants earn less than their U.S.-educated peers and work in jobs that fail to fully use their […]

Arts June 7, 2024 0

In Face of Protest, Skip Schiel Wants You to Picture the Plight of Palestinians, Refugees

Photographer Skip Schiel keeps a photo of a boat full of refugees hanging on his wall in his home in Cambridge. It’s not a photo that he took, but one that was sent to him in a fundraising campaign. “I’m looking at it right now,” he said during a phone call with the Sampan. “It was made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It’s a boat full of people of different colors, maybe a 100 or more, looking […]

Boston June 7, 2024 1

Palestinian-American Speaks Out After Library Photo Reception Taken Over

Laila Kassis had never heard of Skip Schiel’s photography before she was asked to talk at the reception in mid-May for the exhibit “The Ongoing and Relentless Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 to the Present.” Kassis, a Palestinian-American, said when she did see the 14 or so photos in the show, she noted how underwhelming it all was, given the subject. “It was very simple and innocuous.” There was no big statement or in-your-face message, just photos of the […]

Front Page May 24, 2024 0

Report: American Youth Dying at High Rates of Preventable Causes

Despite advances in medicine and vaccines, America’s young people are dying at alarming rates and by preventable causes, according to a recent investigation by a team of U.S. pediatric doctors. The report, published in May in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that in particular Blacks are hit hard by gun violence, whites and Hispanics by motor vehicle accidents and Asians and Native Americans by suicide. Most every group saw a recent increase in drug-related deaths.Most startling: Between […]

Leisure October 6, 2023 0

Humanity, Nature Shine Through Japanese Island’s Dark History

Surrounding Oshima, a tiny island in Southwest Japan, is the calm, blue Seto Inland Sea. The island itself is a place of beauty: Nearly everywhere are manicured trees and shrubs including matsu pines that look like over-sized bonsai, Japanese maples, mountain peach trees, and tsubaki, a type of camellia with deep green leaves that in winter blooms vibrant red flowers. Views of other mountainous islands further out at sea are visible from all over Oshima, especially along the winding trails […]

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