Author Archives: Jordan Trevino

Recently, Pope Benedict’s clumsy handling of Islam, in which he implied it was “evil and inhuman,” has overshadowed the interesting propositions he put forth: Namely, that a faith of the soul cannot be beaten into people through the body. Instead of branding Islam guilty as charged, we should have the courage to hold a mirror »

At midnight, as Sept. 15 becomes Sept. 16, Mexicans traditionally look to their president as he ritually rings a bell and swings the flag in commemoration of the Mexican war for independence. Usually, it is a night of celebration. This year, however, the event will be marked by political struggle as two factions continue to »

Rahmatullah Hashemi’s presence has exposed the democratic frailty of even our strongest institutions. However this issue is resolved, it should be made clear that Yale’s decision to “harbor” such a person has itself produced an opportunity for debate and dialogue that would not otherwise have existed. Unfortunately, this opportunity has largely been missed, and Hashemi’s »

There has been a flurry of attention and even upheaval regarding the publication of cartoons satirizing Islam in a Danish newspaper. I do not mean to strip all the dark humor from a rage of protests fueled by rather bad and silly cartoons, but we should be wary of our tendency toward the kind of »

The summer’s gone and the cold keeps creeping down my spine. But when I hear of the steel and wire some would build across 700 miles of the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, something in me freezes. A “steel and wire” fence: This is an image akin to East Germany and the Berlin Wall. One cannot but »

In his recent piece “Antiwar movement is illogical” (11/14), Xan White argues that liberals betray their principles in urging the United States to abandon its occupation of Iraq. He further attributes this betrayal to ignorance of “the plight of the Iraqi people” — how sweet! Although White commendably wants to make sense — and therefore »