How Stories Shape Our World
This issue of YES! looks at the ways new voices are being heard, and at how their stories are transforming our culture.
YES! Article archive
Issues
The Surface Areas of Russia and Pluto Are Extremely Similar
And 25 other facts you should probably know.
Infographic: Why Social Security’s Not Going Broke
Making Social Security solvent in the long run isn't that hard. But who should bear the cost?
Can We Keep the Internet Free?
The struggle to save the world's greatest communication network.
When It Comes to Shaping Public Debate, What Can a Magazine Do?
"Education Uprising," the Spring issue of YES!, connected people across the country and helped catalyze the movement to reclaim education—a living example of how national conversations can change.
5 DIY Musical Instruments You Can Make From Stuff Around the House
Craft instruments from easy-to-find materials and invite more music into your family's life.
Why Politics at the Dinner Table Is Good for Democracy
Our political process, Robert Jensen reminds us, begins with conversation.
This Fifth-Grader Raised $200,000 to Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill by Selling Watercolors
These three young activists found creative ways to tackle issues from climate change to voting rights.
When This Teacher’s Ethnic Studies Classes Were Banned, His Students Took the District to Court—and Won
Curtis Acosta's classes in Mexican American Studies gave kids pride in their heritage—until the Arizona Legislature canceled them. That's when his students became activists, and some real-life lessons began.
When Big Money Controls Big Media, There’s a Big Decline in Democracy
“Dollarocracy” examines innovations in other democratic nations to solve our money-in-politics crisis.
Protecting Classrooms From Corporate Takeover: What Families Can Learn from Teachers’ Unions
Teachers are fighting the privatization wave by connecting with families right where they live.
10 Things Creative People Know
Everyday creative activities like knitting and cooking can boost your levels of serotonin and decrease anxiety.
Unleashing Empathy: How Teachers Transform Classrooms With Emotional Learning
The secret to learning self-awareness, cooperation, and other “social and emotional learning” skills lies in experience, not in workbooks and rote classroom exercises.
You Can’t Bounce Off the Walls If There Are No Walls: Outdoor Schools Make Kids Happier—and Smarter
New approaches to kindergarten offer us a glimpse of what childhood used to be, and still could be—the modern re-creation of the children’s garden. If we looked to these examples, we might be able to rescue childhood.
Recycling One Aluminum Can Will Power a Laptop for More Than Five Hours
And other facts you should probably know.
Legalization is a Human Rights Issue: Latin America Steps Up Resolve to End the Drug Wars
On the heels of pot legalization in Washington and Colorado, the movement for less punitive drug policy is coalescing at every level. Its new leaders could come from the very countries that have suffered the most.
Proponent of Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Law: “I Was Wrong”
In her new book, Diane Ravitch—one of the leading thinkers behind the controversial Bush-era law—explores how the faulty logic of high-stakes testing, charter school expansion, and privatization hinders education.
These Seattle Teachers Boycotted Standardized Testing—and Sparked a Nationwide Movement
Parents, students, and teachers all over the country have joined the revolt to liberate our kids from a test-obsessed education system.
John Lewis’ Moving Graphic Novel Brings the Civil Rights Struggle to a New Generation
In the tradition of “Maus” and “Persepolis,” “March” tells the story of young African Americans who, like its author, rose up from the Jim Crow South to assert their human rights.
This Is What Happened When Scholastic Tried to Bring Pro-Coal Propaganda to School
“The United States of Energy” was a colorful series of lessons on the advantages of coal, aimed at 4th-graders—and sponsored by Big Coal. Here’s how educators and activists worked together to get it out of classrooms.
Remember When We Toppled SOPA/PIPA in Just 24 Hours? How the People Can Still Win on Net Neutrality
When it comes to limiting digital rights, big companies are in cahoots with governments like never before. But the belief that everyone deserves safe, affordable, and private access to the Internet is taking off.
Nothing to Hide? Why Facebook’s Fine Print Is Still Worth Fighting
Devices we use every day are turning our personal data over to huge corporations. But can we win our privacy back?
Why Corporations Want Our Public Schools
There are huge profits to be made in privatization, and much of it will come from teacher pay.
Meet the New Rebels Taking Back Our Public Schools
For decades the myth of failing public schools justified industrial-scale testing and a privatization agenda. Now radical educators are bursting the bubble test, getting culturally relevant, and restoring justice to the classroom.
The Myth Behind Public School Failure
In the rush to privatize the country’s schools,
corporations and politicians have decimated school budgets, replaced teaching with standardized testing, and placed
the blame on teachers and students.
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