Author / Billie Mandelbaum
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How the Other Half Lives
As sunbathers and tourists enjoyed the attractions of the Coney Island Boardwalk on the morning of July 27, 1937, a different kind of crowd gathered a few blocks away at 2851 West 25th Street. There, 500 people stood outside a four-family apartment building to protest the eviction of William Winkler, his wife, and two young…
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“X” Marks The Diverging Tales of Post-Katrina New Orleans
After Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 28, 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) organized, albeit belatedly, search and rescue efforts. Responders spray painted each damaged building they searched with an X-code, a large “X” that within its four quadrants conveyed information about the findings of the search, from body counts…
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Taking the Wind out of Sctoland’s Sails
Ever since Donald Trump descended an escalator to the tune of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” to announce his presidential candidacy, the real estate tycoon’s campaign has been riddled with controversy. From calling Mexican immigrants rapists to insinuating that Megyn Kelly was menstruating during the GOP debate, the brash Trump has clearly been…
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Exploiting the Sherpas
BY BILLIE MANDELBAUM Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mt. Everest when they ascended the mountain on May 29, 1953. A Nepali folk song, later written to commemorate the successful ascent, describes the expedition: “Our Tenzing Sherpa climbed the highest mountain, pulling Hillary along.” Although Norgay, a…
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Rubbing Salt in Our Wounds
BY BILLIE MANDELBAUM On the evening of November 24, I gathered together with students and community members outside the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office to await Prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s announcement of the Missouri’s grand jury decision on whether or not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael…
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A Paradox of Peace
BY BILLIE MANDELBAUM In 1988, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. The committee hailed the forces for making “a decisive contribution towards the initiation of actual peace negotiations.” However, 26 years later, peacekeeping forces face an increased amount of scrutiny from the international community amidst a…
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A Civil Discourse: Wash U Hosts Panel in Response to Michael Brown Shooting
BY BILLIE MANDELBAUM In his 1953 novel, Go Tell It On The Mountain, James Baldwin wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Rebecca Wanzo, an associate professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, referenced this same quote in her introduction to the university’s August…
