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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️

@wearetws.bsky.social
111 followers 213 following 36 posts

We make international travel opportunities accessible to high schoolers from low-income backgrounds, and produce content that embodies our vision of engaged global citizenship. For updates, follow: postcardsfromtws.substack.com

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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
"Though some travellers will miss the nostalgia of collecting passport stamps, many have plans to mark their travels in other ways instead, such as collecting fridge magnets or other souvenirs." There's nothing quite like the handheld/portable memento. Can anything truly take its place? #passports
bbc.com
Why passport stamps may be a thing of the past
As biometric border systems expand worldwide, travellers reflect on what's lost when passport stamps disappear.
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NPR @npr.org · 28/12/2025
TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South. n.pr/3Lgj65w
n.pr
Viral global TikToks: A twist on soccer, Tanzania's Charlie Chaplin, hope in Gaza
TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 28/12/2025
There are more than 1,200 works by 125 artists and collectives in this year’s Bienal de São Paulo, titled “Not All Travelers Walk Roads,” with many of them proposing ways of creating new, kinder, more just forms of existence. Our critic examines some of the exhibit’s most venturesome works.
nyti.ms
Want to Build a Better World? The São Paulo Bienal Has Some Tips
“Not All Travelers Walk Roads,” the 36th edition of the exhibition, sees art as a guide for connecting with each other and with the earth.
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Tamara J. Walker @tamaraw.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
“What I planned as a lovely time in Florence living the life of Hemingway has turned out to be living on a train living the life and observe the diet of Ghandi [sic].”
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 29/09/2025
Last week, I and others reported 5+ ICE flights had landed in Ghana since it began taking third-country nationals on Sept. 5. Now eNCA confirms at least one of those flights held Liberian, Nigerian and Togolese nationals, who were driven to Togo and dumped w/o papers. www.enca.com/news/west-af...
enca.com
West Africans deported by US to Ghana dumped in Togo without papers
West Africans deported by the United States to Ghana are now fending for themselves in Togo after being dumped in the country without documents, lawyers and deportees have told AFP.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Tourists visiting America: *Hand over your social media *At risk of being detained, imprisoned and deported for the vaguest of reasons *Now being asked to pay $250 for the privilege Intl tourists contribute more than $200B to the US economy. But lets fix that problem! www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/v...
cnbc.com
Travelers to the U.S. must pay a new $250 'visa integrity fee' — what to know
Travelers to the U.S. must pay a new "visa integrity fee" to visit, but questions remain as to how and when it will be implemented. Here's what we know so far.
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
A train attendant’s use of both Dutch and French — “goeiemorgen” and “bonjour” — to greet passengers during rush hour last year could easily have gone unnoticed in multilingual Belgium. But it rubbed one Dutch-speaking commuter the wrong way.
nytimes.com
‘Bonjour’ Sets Off a Linguistic Dispute on a Belgian Train
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 19/07/2025
‘My parents got me out of Soviet Russia at the right time. Should my family now leave the US?’
theguardian.com
‘My parents got me out of Soviet Russia at the right time. Should my family now leave the US?’
When he left the Soviet Union for a new life in America, the novelist never imagined he would live under another authoritarian regime. Then Trump got back into power ... Is it time to move again?
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Alternatively, are there things about traveling in 2025 that you’d never want to give up, no matter what? open.substack.com/pub/postcard...
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
For those who don’t know (or forgot) what it’s like, we take a trip down memory lane on our Substack and also ask whether some of that nostalgia is a trap. We’re also curious to know where you land. Is there any part of traveling in the 1990s that you’d like to bring back, or try anew?
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
In case you haven’t noticed, the 1990’s are really having a moment. We’re right in right in the middle of #90sSummer, which is trending as people try to get away from screens and enjoy simple pleasures. Which got us thinking: is it possible to travel like it’s the 90’s? A 🧵
open.substack.com
The July Postcard
This month we're indulging in a bit of 90's nostalgia, but not too much
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 13/07/2025
The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning.
buff.ly
A historic Grand Canyon lodge has been destroyed by wildfire, park official says
The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning.…
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Bellisario Grad Ed @bellisariograded.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
PhD alum Erika Polson is the author of "A global sense of workplace? rethinking the (dis)locality of digital nomads." journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com
A global sense of workplace? rethinking the (dis)locality of digital nomads - Erika Polson, 2025
The growing ‘digital nomad’ movement flourishes amid concerns about the impacts of remote work on workplace culture. This ethnographic study combines a Massey-i...
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Maria G Tuttocuore @mariatuttocuore.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
The U.S. inbound tourism recovery is stalling, not strengthening. June's roughly 3% year-over-year decline masks the real story: overseas arrivals remain stuck at just 80% of 2019 levels, six years after the pandemic. skift.com/2025/07/09/t...
skift.com
Tourist Arrivals to U.S. Drop Again – Now Just 80% of 2019 Levels
U.S. overseas tourism remains 20% below 2019 levels; June arrivals fell 3.4% year-over-year amid geopolitical concerns.
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NPR @npr.org · 12/07/2025
A drastic increase in unregulated production of rare earth minerals in Myanmar is causing serious environmental concerns downriver in Thailand, as China's influence in the sector looms large.
n.pr
In Myanmar, a rush for rare earth metals is causing a regional environmental disaster
A drastic increase in unregulated production of rare earth minerals in Myanmar is causing serious environmental concerns downriver in Thailand, as China's influence in the sector looms large.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 12/07/2025
Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before flood waters swept away children and counselors, a review by AP found. buff.ly/JlzquQZ
pbs.org
Camp Mystic appealed to remove buildings from FEMA's 100-year flood map, records show
Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic's buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the…
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
As usual the answer is: try to "blend in." That works for some people (what about the ones who *can't,* in racially homogenous places like Estonia?) but also it is cowardly. Why not either speak out against or (more likely, for typical WSJ readers) stand in their support of the admin's policies?
apple.news
How U.S. Tourists Are Dealing With a New Animosity Overseas — The Wall Street Journal
Travel agents and travelers share their playbook for overseas visits in the face of antipathy toward the U.S.
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Does the modern way of trip planning, which seems to boil down to searching for hotels, restaurants, and major sites on websites rather than leafing through context-rich guidebooks, make it so we know little more than points on a map at our destinations rather than anything about who lives there?
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Thinking about this again after coming across influencer talking about their vacation to Belize; for which they "did a ton of research, read so many reviews on Reddit and Trip Advisor," but didn't know until they got there that English was the official language. Would this have happened in the 90s?
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Rick Steves @ricksteves.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
John Yang recently flew to Edmonds to interview me for @pbsnews.org, and we had a wonderful time strolling through my hometown, participating in a little civil disobedience, unearthing my 1977 journal & sharing laughs as he artfully drilled into my travel philosophy. Got 10 minutes? Check it out!
pbs.org
Why culture shock is a valuable part of ‘thoughtful travel,’ according to Rick Steves
Millions of Americans are expected to go on a European vacation this summer. Many of those going for the first time are likely to be following the advice of travel writer Rick Steves, host of “Rick St...
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
"Is [USAID] a good use of resources? We found that the average taxpayer has contributed about 18 cents per day to USAID," says James Macinko, a health policy researcher at UCLA... "For that small amount, we've been able to translate that into saving up to 90 million deaths around the world."
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
“[The name] references children of immigrants from ex-colonies. But when we come together, we can create a colony of our own – like ants – to be a nice and powerful force.”
theguardian.com
How three young Londoners set out to explore the countries of their parents’ birth – and redefined the travel vlog
‘No resorts, no tourist traps and no fancy restaurants’ – the friends behind the Kids of the Colony YouTube channel go in search of real connections in their countries of origin
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Lorraine Caputo @lorrainecaputo.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
HAPPY BOURDAIN DAY! To celebrate, let's hit the open road with … ANTHONY BOURDAIN IN LATIN AMERICA latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/a... Safe Journeys! #AnthonyBourdain #BourdainDay #travelogue #TVShow #gastronomy #travelbloggerscommunity #travelblogshare #traveladdicts
latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com
ANTHONY BOURDAIN IN LATIN AMERICA
º Anthony (Tony) Bourdain was one of the first chefs that had a travel show. (Well, he had four gastronomy-travel shows in total, all truth be told.)   But his world jaunts were not only exploratio…
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
There's a lot of content out there about embracing the idea of a 90s summer, which raises an interesting question: what does that look like when it comes to #travel? Is it about using printed guidebooks, maps, and generally going analog as much as possible? Is anyone considering it?
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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 21/04/2025
READ: U.S. citizen and journalist D. Musa Springer was detained, searched, and had his devices seized—for supporting a friend targeted for Palestine activism. mondoweiss.net/2025/04/my-e...
mondoweiss.net
‘My experience confirms that US ‘citizens’, especially Black and Muslim ones, are also targets’ - Musa Springer on their unlawful detention
Mondoweiss writer D. Musa Springer was detained, interrogated, and had electronic devices confiscated by DHS agents upon returning from international travel. Here they detail their experience and…
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CNN @cnn.com · 17/04/2025
Salvadorans share their opinions with CNN after a Maryland man was mistakenly deported from the United States to El Salvador and is currently being held in CECOT, a maximum-security mega-prison.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 17/04/2025
“The Trump administration is asking us to reimagine America as a country that not only does not value public service but actually torments its public servants,” writes @elainegodfrey.bsky.social :
bit.ly
Federal Workers Are Facing a New Reality
The problem for government employees isn’t just low morale. It’s the manufactured chaos.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 14/04/2025
Greenland documentary forces Danes to confront their colonial heritage
theguardian.com
Greenland documentary forces Danes to confront their colonial heritage
As Donald Trump threatens to take over the territory, film claims its cryolite mine was plundered by Denmark
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Carey On Travels @careyontravels.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
This week’s #TravelBlogShare is Fave posts. This one is on language learning, comparing a year of Duolingo and 1 week of immersion class. Interested in hearing your experiences. #TravelBloggersCommunity #TravelAddicts #Portugal careyontravels.com/language-imm...
careyontravels.com
1 Week Language Immersion Program vs. 1 Year Online Learning - Carey On Travels
After a year of daily Duolingo work and a week in a language immersion program, here's my take on how these two different approaches compare.
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Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
NEW: Elon Musk's DOGE guys are dismantling the Wilson Center, a key foreign policy research group funded by private money and Congress. Its head, Mark Green, a former GOP Congressman, resigned after DOGE entered this week. Our @nytimes.com story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/u...
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
"My wife and I accounted for two of the four Black passengers. The dozens of other passengers were white — mostly foreigners, but also a handful of South Africans. It was the other way around for the staff..." #travel #blackskytravel
nytimes.com
A Journey on the Blue Train: Gilded Luxury in the World’s ‘Most Unequal Country’ (Gift Article)
On a trip from Cape Town to Pretoria, a reporter grapples with the whiplash of traveling through South Africa’s two worlds, from majestic mountains to struggling shantytowns.
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Our application for Summer 2025 is now live! If you know any rising high school juniors or seniors who are interested in going to either Italy or South Africa with our partners at Global Leadership Adventures please forward this link (deadline is Friday April 4): www.thewanderingscholar.org/apply
thewanderingscholar.org
Summer 2025 Application — The Wandering Scholar
Summer travel scholarship for high school students
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Moreover, should they be able to travel unencumbered, free of hurdles and hardships, when so many people are being searched and detained coming into the US?
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Something about the way Americans want to sidestep discomfort by hiding behind other languages, passports, and currencies to conceal their Americanness when they travel feels like a cheat. Also: how many of these travelers are also Tr*&^ supporters who simply don't want to suffer the consequences?
nytimes.com
The New American Travel Anxiety: ‘Will They Hate Us?’
In light of recent American foreign policy decisions, many U.S. travelers are concerned about how they will be perceived abroad.
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Lena Haley @lehaley.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
💸 Gutting the Department of Education will hit rural and low-income schools the hardest. Your education shouldn't vary by zip code.
Digital illustration of a large group of kids. In the center, one student is holding a sign that reads, 'every child deserves access to a high quality education.'
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 20/03/2025
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects. (Published July 2024)
propub.li
School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state…
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
If you are visiting the United States, having a negative view of Trump is enough to get you denied entry. If this was coming out of Russia or China, we would deplore such an authoritarian attack on freedom of expression.
"I learned with concern that a French researcher" on assignment for the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) "who was traveling to a conference near Houston was denied entry to the United States before being expelled ," said the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Philippe Baptiste, in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). "This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher's phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy ," he added
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 20/03/2025
András Schiff, an eminent concert pianist who has boycotted strongman rule in Russia and his native Hungary, said on Wednesday that he would no longer perform in the U.S. because of concerns about President Trump’s “unbelievable bullying” on the world stage.
nytimes.com
Dismayed by Trump, the Star Pianist András Schiff Boycotts the U.S.
Mr. Schiff, who has refused to play in Russia and his native Hungary because of strongman rule, said he was alarmed by President Trump’s “unbelievable bullying.”
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Nevis Island @nevisisland.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Leaders from across the #Caribbean are seeking clarity after a draft of a U.S. government list of over 40 countries which could face sweeping #travel bans was made public. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
reuters.com
Caribbean leaders seek clarity as US mulls sweeping travel bans
Leaders from across the Caribbean are seeking clarity after a draft of a U.S. government list of over 40 countries which could face sweeping travel restrictions was made public, a move which could mark the latest in President Donald Trump's crackdown on migration.
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
theguardian.com
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
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Inno Insights @inno-insights.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Quilts as a tool for global learning? Dr. Erin French is pushing the boundaries of quilt-making, transforming it into a medium for storytelling and education. Read how she is reshaping the way we see textiles: www.innovation-and-insights.com/post/breakin... #InnovationInsights #QuiltMaking
innovation-and-insights.com
Breaking Boundaries in Quilt-Making and Global Education: A Conversation with Dr. Erin French
Dr. Erin French redefines quiltmaking, global education, and research, challenging gender norms and fostering innovation in learning.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 16/03/2025
Hey, can I share some historical context with you about “race-baiter” Ebrahim Rasool? When I see a South African who’s a little older, I always check what they were doing before 1990. 🧐 Found something surprising: As a boy, Rasool and his family were expelled from District Six.
A picture of Ebrahim Rasool smiling in 2012. Here wears a black suit with a white undershirt and a pin with the South African and US flags together.
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Sarah Romero @iheartdates.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
This is my new slogan: 🌍 MAKE GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP GREAT AGAIN 🌎 Global citizenship is the idea that individuals are members of a broader global community, transcending national borders, and recognizing shared responsibilities and rights for the benefit of all humanity. #globalcitizenshipsky
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Maria G Tuttocuore @mariatuttocuore.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Tourism is already down skift.com/2025/03/17/t...
skift.com
Trump Travel Ban 2.0: How Many U.S. Visitors Are at Stake?
It's unlikely that any major travel companies will take a big hit from Trump Travel Ban 2.0, but it could be the start of an uncertain era.
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The Wandering Scholar (TWS) ✈️ @wearetws.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Worth noting that they added "dei" to the url (before "sports") to make it fit their category/narrative and justify its excision, but the original remains online: www.defense.gov/News/Feature...
defense.gov
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Andrew G. Cooper @andrewgcooper.com · 11/03/2025
Open letter from Canada Council for the Arts's CEO. "We need the arts right now as a powerful, cohesive force... And we need the arts to let the world know who we are, an open, diverse, and globally minded society." canadacouncil.ca/spotlight/20...
canadacouncil.ca
How Canada’s Arts Sector Can Meet the Moment
Director and CEO Michelle Chawla reflects on how the arts community can meet this moment.
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Ground the Planes @groundtheplanes.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Yes, these travel boycotts CAN work if Americans join them in ways that maximize their impact. If we boycott domestic air travel - a huge industry that Trump/Musk are exploiting & corrupting - we can use that economic leverage to pressure Congress and force out fascists. More: groundtheplanes.com
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Art Candee 🍿🥤 @artcandee.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Wild scenes out of Argentina as protesters are clashing with the police. Cops have deployed water cannons, tear gas, and are shooting people with rubber bullets. President Javier Milei has slashed pension funds, inflation is over 23%, and over 50% of people live in poverty.
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Tamara J. Walker @tamaraw.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
So many of us would not be here without these programs. I got a FLAS and Fulbright-Hays in graduate school and would not be the same person or scholar without them. Entire careers destroyed, among current DOE employees and future academics alike, in one fell swoop.
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