· March, 2014

Stories about Ideas from March, 2014

Why Learning Italian Still Makes Sense

  31 March 2014

As Italian publishing company Alma Edizioni was busy organizing an event about the Italian language in Rome, they received an unexpected letter [it] from someone who defined himself as a “disappointed student”: Why? What's the point of studying Italian today? […] No one wants to study a language that no...

The “Happy Voting” Project Encourages Young Europeans to Vote

  28 March 2014

Drawing on the Pharrell Williams worldwide hit “Happy” and the associated equally renown music video (over 143 million views on YouTube), the Brussels-based film company Full Tunes Production has recently launched on facebook an enthusiastic project  called “Happy Voting” that strives to encourage voting for the next European elections. The project...

Jamaica: Little Universes

  24 March 2014

Our minds are as vast and infinite and creative as the uni—scratch that—multiverse. What does that mean for each of us? For our potential and purpose? A science documentary reminds Jamaican blogger Nadine Tomlinson that she, like every other person on the planet, has unlimited potential.

Barefoot Lawyers Empowering Rural Bangladeshi Women

  13 March 2014

In Bangladesh, around 6,000 “barefoot lawyers” have been trained by the country's biggest NGO under its human rights and legal services (HRLS) program, reports Scott Macmillan at BRAC blog. These women act as one-woman mobile legal services clinics for the poor, especially women in rural areas where the traditional justice...

Less “Experts”, More Thinkers Needed in Jamaica

  13 March 2014

Annie Paul publishes on her blog a tribute to the late Stuart Hall by “three of the younger members of the Faculty of Social Sciences” at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, saying: We ought to use the moment of his passing and the local apathy to it...

VIDEO: T20 Cricket World Cup Theme Song Flash Mobs

  10 March 2014

Bangladesh is hosting the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and the fever is catching on among cricket-loving Bangladeshis. The official song of the 2014 tournament, “Char Chokka Hoi Hoi”, has become popular, and many universities across the country have started arranging their own flash mobs set to the theme song and uploading...

GV Face: What's Next for Ukraine?

GV Face  7 March 2014

What's next for the #Euromaidan movement? Protests and bloodshed led to the fall of a corrupt president. But now, as Russia looms with military might and Crimea considers succession, there are endless unanswered questions about Ukraine's future political moves and relationship to the European Union.

Trinidad & Tobago Carnival in Danger?

  5 March 2014

By all accounts, Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2014 was a rousing success, but a couple of bloggers have concerns about the sustainability of the festival in its current form.

Selfies or Social Entrepreneurship? What's Your Definition For Success?

  3 March 2014

Bangladeshi adventurer and social entrepreneur Muntasir Mamun has some advice for the young people, who have not yet decided about their goal, still haven’t found their place; merely figuring it all out: By placing emphasis on new, different and bigger picture things, we change our definitions of success. Experiment, calculate,...

“It Ain't Easy Being Indian” in the USA

  3 March 2014

Ricey Wild, a Native American blogger at the Indian Country Today, writes about wolf slaughtering in Minnesota, USA. […]My beloved friend Melissa came to get me last month to rally against the wolf hunt in Minnesota and everywhere. We went way up north and joined other people who care and...