The World in LA; Los Angeles in the World

During the last decade, immigration has taken center stage in many political movements in the West. Frustrations with the apparent shortcomings of immigration fueled the rise of both far-right populism in Western Europe and the current American presidency. The underlying causes of this resentment or suspicion of immigration range from economic stagnation to increasing globalization to purportedly threatened cultural norms, yet the demonization of newcomers, particularly those from Latin American or Middle Eastern countries, is a common thread. However, the economic impact of immigration has long been understood by economists as generally positive, particularly in cases of movement from poorer to wealthier countries. In a novel way of going about opinion writing, Philippe Legrain outlines his support for and dispels negative misperceptions of immigration as a social phenomenon. In what is known as an Open Essay in The Economist , Legrain explains his reasoning for preferring immigratio...

Airports are on the receiving end of endless ridicule, much of which is, in my eyes, unmerited. Given the miraculous nature of hurtling through the sky in a metal tube along with a few hundred other passengers, it would seem fair to accept the groggy line of passengers stumbling through security, to stomach a subpar caprese or stale croissant, and to cede armrest territory to the dozing college student to your left. Indeed, against the wonder of air travel, complaints like these shrink to nothingness. It is unfortunate when delays push back vacation plans or, worse yet, preclude attendance at weddings, funerals, and the like, but I believe a tendency to emphasize and report on failure leads to a distorted perception of the general positive functioning of airports.  Graphic courtesy of Wikimedia Commons More legitimate are the critiques of air travel as an exclusive facet of society, an intrinsic global good, or as a simple mechanism for the relocation from the familiar to...

As my fellow students and I departed from Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) two days ago, I thought I should reflect on my immersion in such a global community. This program, which happens to share part of its name with the Global Scholars program at Poly in which I am currently enrolled, brings students from around the world to participate in intensive academic dialogue and research projects pertaining to a particular field or subject matter.  I was a student in the Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship session, during which I engaged with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, theories of post-colonialism, the implications of expansion and global outreach, and the ethics of international community-building. I deeply appreciated the material that my peers and I covered in lectures, seminars, and capstone projects, but I think the defining characteristic of YYGS—the remarkably international composition of its student body—is what I should discuss here. At the ...