Ly Pisey grew up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where LGBTQI+ people are alienated and pushed to the fringes of society. But Pisey — along with the activist organization she co-founded, Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) — is working to change what’s possible for her community nationwide. Today, with cultural acceptance of LGBTQI+ on the rise, Pisey …
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Tragically, the Trump administration is encouraging authoritarian leaders around the world to indulge their baser instincts—and many of our grantee partners and their communities are feeling the repercussions firsthand.
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Today, we mark the International Day of Forests, a day to commemorate forests and to raise awareness about the vital role they play in the lives of people and in the health of our planet. Forests across the globe act as our lifelines. They sustain life for countless creatures, provide livelihoods to millions, and serve …
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“Hey Swattie!” Liz Seth ’98 called over-cheerfully to a jet-lagged Richard Sager ’74 as he entered the lobby of the Raffles Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Adding to his disorientation was the fact that the two had never met in person—Liz only recognized Richard’s name from his and his family’s sponsorship of The Sager Symposium and …
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It was nearly 100 degrees on a February afternoon in the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and we were walking down a busy street with actor Mandy Patinkin. In khakis and a bandana and without his trademark beard, Mandy was nearly unrecognizable as his Homeland character, Saul Berenson. He blended seamlessly with his fellow travelers, …
Read More“Ball, ball,” came the voice from the stroller as we walked down Broadway toward the synagogue one Shabbat morning. I looked around for the ball that evoked my daughter’s first word; no ball in sight. “A ball,” I questioned? “Ball.” My eyes combed the sidewalk, the street, and the shop windows. If there was a …
Read MoreWe are, by nature, creatures of habit. We find comfort in things that are familiar, carving out routines that give our lives order. But repetition also leads to the curious subduing of awareness that we call “autopilot”—the feeling we get when we arrive at work having absolutely no recollection of the roads or steps we …
Read MoreI arched my head back and looked up at a tower of nearly 9,000 human skulls. Rising 62 meters into the air, stacked and piled and encased in glass, the skulls belonged to Cambodians murdered during the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s.[1] This upsetting memorial now stands in the infamous “Killing Fields,” where …
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