Image credits: Nico Lavaud, University of South Florida By Briggs Collins Murray Introduction On a warm, sunny day in early March 2026, the sun beamed down on the alabaster facade of the National Assembly of Senegal. Outside, Atlantic seagulls squawked as they circled overhead, eyes scanning for prey. Inside, elected deputies cawed as they debated in a hemicycle, setting their sights on a prey of their own: the domestic LGBT community. “I speak to international opinion: h

By Brett Rau, writing from the University of Georgia. (This article was originally printed in the Spring 2026 edition of our print magazine. To see the entire magazine, click here.) “Get up, get up, son of mine, and see if people are at the door; for I am hungry and would eat meat.” The voice was that of a man, seated in front of some red-hot cinders in the middle of the hut. The little boy ran to the door, and, upon seeing two girls standing there, implored them to run away

By Sara Alkelani, a Clemson University student and Fulbright ETA Finalist for Morocco (2026-27). (This article was originally printed in the Spring 2026 edition of our print magazine. To see the entire magazine, click here.) For more than a decade, Syria existed in the global imagination as a country suspended in destruction. Images of airstrikes, collapsed neighborhoods, and mass displacement flattened Syria into a singular narrative of war. In the process, its long history,

Blake Arias A sudden chill shot down my back as I quickly hung up the phone. It was not until that moment that I fully understood the silence —an unordinary silence. The interviewee’s abrupt refusal to continue the conversation when I said “women in Iran” was what struck me the most, revealing a culture of fear so deep that even speaking safely felt impossible. That instant mirrored what many Iranians feel daily: that even a single word can come at a cost. What was meant t