Eli Torres experienced no problems with acceptance from his family when he came out as a lesbian, first in the third grade and then again in the seventh grade. However, it was a different story when Torres came out as a trans man at 19. His mother reacted negatively, expressing that he had “killed her daughter” and that his “female identity was now gone.” She went from being an ally to someone who consistently used the wrong name and gender for Torres, including incorrect feminine versions of Spanish terms. Eventually, it got to a point where Torres told his mother that unless she offered her ..read more

Even as suicide rates around the world have been dropping in recent years, they have been rising for at least one demographic group, both inside and outside of the United States: Pacific Islanders, which is a U.S. Census term that refers to people of Fijian, Guamanian, Hawaiian, Northern Mariana Islander, Palauan, Samoan, Tahitian, and Tongan origins. Why? That’s what a recent study aimed to explore. Previous research has tended to group Pacific Islanders with Asian Americans. For their study, Elizabeth Cutrer-Párraga and her colleagues zeroed in on the barriers to Pacific Islanders seeking me ..read more

The headlines are everywhere: Americans have fewer close friends and spend more time online. Men, in particular, are suffering the consequences of not feeling seen and connected; many lack relationships of mutual vulnerability and authenticity. Working families are exhausted and overwhelmed–trying to duct tape all kinds of solutions to systemic problems like the childcare crisis and the creep of work expectations into non-work hours. Young people are struggling mightily. It’s enough to make you want to put a blanket over your head and never leave the house. But, in fact, you should do the oppo ..read more

In 2014, Tau Kappa Epsilon at Arizona State University threw a controversial Martin Luther King Jr. Day party—where students served watermelon, wore oversized basketball jerseys, flashed gang signs, and wore Blackface makeup—that resulted in the fraternity being permanently suspended. A decade later, racially charged events are still making the news, many far more severe than racist fraternity misbehaviors. The tragic case of Breonna Taylor in 2020 became a national rallying cry when the young Black woman was fatally shot by police in her Louisville home—a grim testament to the ongoing plague ..read more

Our monthly Happiness Calendar is a day-by-day guide to well-being. This month, we hope it helps you play and find joy. To open the clickable calendar, click on the image below. (Please note: If you are having trouble clicking on calendar links with the Chrome browser, try these tips to fix the issue or try a different browser.) {embed="happiness_calendar/subscribe"} View our other calendars! April 2024 Happiness Calendar for Educators April 2024 Happiness Calendar (Greek ..read more

When Mayra Barragan-O’Brien was 14 years old, she and her mother were smuggled across the U.S.-Mexican border in a truck. What she remembers most about the 1,300-mile journey from Guadalajara was the sweltering heat. It was so hot that the bottom of her mother’s black tennis shoe melted from hiding underneath the backseat, and she fainted so often that Mayra lost count. They were coming to America because the violence in their neighborhood had become life-threatening. Her mother had applied unsuccessfully for a visa several times, and she felt she had no choice but to flee. So she hired a coyo ..read more

Across the United States, the number of Black educators consistently dwindles. In California, more than 78,000 Black students are in schools without any Black educators at all. Why are Black educators leaving the classroom? In a brief report published by the Black Educator Advocates Network, we surveyed Black educators across the state of California to understand Black educators’ views and experiences of their workplace and school culture. The results overwhelmingly revealed the barriers Black educators navigate, which ultimately play a role in their exit from the classroom. The research is cl ..read more

In her book Accidental Saints, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber writes, “It can be dangerous when we self-importantly place ourselves above the world, waiting to descend on those below so we can be the ‘blessing’ they’ve been waiting for.” There’s a name for this phenomenon: saviorism. I feel like I’ve spent much of my 44 years on Earth aching to be a simple blessing to others—and continually learning how complex that prospect actually is. Unlearning saviorism has happened for me in what feel like ever more sophisticated seasons of understanding. Post-college, I had my first humbling. I dragged my hung ..read more

African American history does not provide a great vantage point on the history of human flourishing. Instead, it is one of the most depressing subfields in American history—second perhaps only to Native American history. It tells the story of a people that suffered stark forms of oppression and subjugation in a society where many others flourished. It chronicles a long struggle to achieve full participation in American democracy that has been only been partially successful at best. In this era of #BlackLivesMatter and racism re-ascendant, can we draw meaningful connections between the study of ..read more

What countries come to mind when you think of paradise? If tropical islands are the first images, think again. According to the World Happiness Report, the happiest nations are among the coldest. These include Nordic countries like Norway, Denmark, and Finland. However, a handful of Caribbean nations are on the list. The ones that often appear in the World Happiness Report include Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and Jamaica. I was born in Jamaica, and you might be surprised to hear I grew up believing that the happiest places in the world existed outside of Jamaica—places we of ..read more