Winter 2020

Table of Contents

The Building Bridges Issue

From the Editors

The Bridges We’re Building

The United States has yet to live up to its foundational ideals of a union where “all [people] are created equal,” and deserving of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Today, we find ourselves polarized along so many different axes—race, politics, gender—that many people have retreated to the extremes. We look at those different from us not just as others, but sometimes as enemies.

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Deradicalization in the Deep South

How a former neo-Nazi makes amends.
DJ Cashmere

The Collective Healing That Is Owed

Reparations is no longer only about a one-time payout to Black descendants of slavery.
Zenobia Jeffries Warfield
A summer 2019 demonstration for the Practical Farmers of Iowa was held at Paul and Karen Mugge’s organic row-crop farm. They showed how to install a beneficial prairie insect habitat. Photo by Practical Farmers of Iowa.

The Way Climate Change Unites Us

The Practical Farmers of Iowa waste no time on partisan politics as they face the challenges of extreme weather and depleted soils.
Lynn Freehill-Maye
Illustration by YES! Magazine

Healing a Divided Nation Begins Face to Face

So say the Better Angels of the partisan divide.
Chris Winters

Yes, You Can Change Someone’s Mind

But facts alone won’t do it, researchers say.
Amanda Abrams

Can We Build a Better Man?

Could a mindful masculinity, freed from toxic notions of “manhood,” end the gender wars?
Imara Jones & Maru Mora Villalpando & Jude Ellison Sady Doyle & Tarana Burke & Alex Meyers & Tony Porter & Earth-Feather Sovereign & Kalimah Johnson & Kendrick Sampson

Bridges Only Work When Both Sides Cross Them

A new walkway connects two post-apartheid neighborhoods, but economic and racial equality are still out of reach.
Mashadi Kekana & Simon Allison

Solutions We Love

Explore Section
Yes! But How?

Wild Yeasts and Ancient Grains

Replace your all purpose flour with these mighty little grains.
Alexandra van Alebeek

Flour Power

Ancient grains. Little-known tiny grains. Mighty locally adapted grains. They are all rising up to replace your All Purpose Flour. It’s not just baking, it’s a battle for our food system.
Liz Carlisle
People We Love

Drag Queen Activists

It’s about more than dancing and lip-syncing to disco hits. These drag queens are working to make the world a better place.
Yasmeen Wafai

Culture Shift

Explore Section

The Lies We’re Told About Appalachia

The old exploitative images are indelible: out of work, White, needy. They obscure the region’s diversity and long tradition of activism.
Ivy Brashear