Articles By This Author
A new memoir explores why it鈥檚 OK to be uncertain about your identity at any age.
Leigh Finke | May 3, 2018
鈥淵ou have to have people willing to speak out and be visible within the community, and that is not possible given the current climate.鈥
Leigh Finke | Dec 10, 2017
鈥淭he good stuff never applies to people of color, ever.鈥
Leigh Finke | Jun 28, 2017
For these churches, giving protection to immigrants is no longer a matter of if, but when. And what will happen if ICE comes to their doors?
Leigh Finke | Mar 17, 2017
Diplomat Omar Saif Ghobash wants to challenge rigid interpretations of what it means to be a good Muslim in the modern world.
Leigh Finke | Feb 9, 2017
The large refugee community in Minnesota is a big target for bigotry, and tensions are expected to get worse. But they鈥檝e got a plan.
Leigh Finke | Jan 20, 2017
Author Jeff Chang talks about Trumpism, Whiteness, and cultural equity in his new book, 鈥淲e Gon鈥 Be Alright.鈥
Leigh Finke | Oct 5, 2016
With 20 million refugees worldwide, the International Olympic Committee announces a new team to make the games more inclusive for people without a nation to call home.
Leigh Finke | Jun 9, 2016
鈥淣ebraska鈥 writer Bob Nelson on his new film and how economically depressed father and son characters are pulled from his own life story.
Leigh Finke | Mar 18, 2016
Along the Kenya-Somalia border, people have been displaced for decades. A new book profiles nine Somali refugees to explain the political forces that keep them鈥攁nd hundreds of thousands more鈥攆rom getting out.
Leigh Finke | Feb 11, 2016
In Minneapolis, demonstrators are demanding police release video of a fatal shooting of an African-American man. Earlier this week, five were shot by alleged white supremacists.
Leigh Finke | Nov 25, 2015
In her directorial debut, Afia Nathaniel brings the reality of Pakistan's child bride crisis to American audiences.
Leigh Finke | Nov 4, 2015
Can something as simple as watching movies鈥攁nd empathizing with fictional characters鈥攈elp generate more compassion and understanding in the real world?
Leigh Finke | Oct 14, 2015
I interviewed the filmmakers of the new blockbuster "No Escape" to see if they think their movie is racist. Spoiler alert: They don't.
Leigh Finke | Sep 1, 2015
Jason Segel steers away from his usual funny guy persona in "The End of the Tour," and plays the late "Infinite Jest" author David Foster Wallace.
Leigh Finke | Aug 7, 2015
"The Tribe" has no spoken dialogue at all鈥攙iewers must search for meaning through body language and emotion. This is why it works.
Leigh Finke | Jul 17, 2015
For geographer and author M Jackson, knowing climate science isn鈥檛 enough. We need to get our hearts involved too.
Leigh Finke | Jul 3, 2015
For Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, shooting this funny, intimate film was a healing experience.
Leigh Finke | Jun 11, 2015
This Harry Potter Enthusiast Just Came Out as Trans on YouTube鈥擜nd Thousands of People Are Watching鈥
Texas-born Jackson Bird waited 25 years to come out. Here's why he did it online.
Leigh Finke | May 21, 2015
Missoula has a problem鈥攋ust like every other college town in America. A sociologist weighs in on John Krakauer's new book about sexual assault at the University of Montana.
Leigh Finke | May 14, 2015
March Madness is now a bigger cash cow than the Super Bowl, but in college sports the only people not getting a piece of the billion-dollar pie are the players.
Leigh Finke | Mar 20, 2015
In Bryan Bliss' debut novel, 16-year-old Abigail's family follows a charismatic preacher to San Francisco, where they live in a van to wait out the apocalypse. But if you believe completely that the world is coming to an end, what do you do when it doesn鈥檛?
Leigh Finke | Feb 26, 2015
Harry Potter stood up for his world's most vulnerable people. Now, legions of real-world kids are too鈥攂y demanding Fair Trade certification for products sold in their hero's name.
Leigh Finke | Jan 14, 2015
This weekend, thousands converged on one of the world's biggest malls, chanting "Black people cannot breathe while you have a shopping spree." Check out our play-by-play.
Leigh Finke | Dec 22, 2014
To call 鈥淲ild鈥 a redemption film is to minimize the wide range of emotions it works with鈥攏ot to mention the subtlety of Reese Witherspoon鈥檚 performance.
Leigh Finke | Dec 20, 2014
All the main characters are played by white people. It doesn't really have to be that way.
Leigh Finke | Dec 13, 2014
Her enigmatic creator believed women were destined to rule the world. 10 facts about the iconic heroine.
Leigh Finke | Dec 11, 2014
The first video game developed by an indigenous-owned company uses gaming鈥檚 immersive storytelling style to connect players with Alaska Native culture.
Leigh Finke | Nov 22, 2014
鈥淭he center of Marvel鈥檚 storytelling history is the eternal struggle between good and evil, with many of its greatest superheroes having to contend with鈥攁nd rise above鈥攂ullying, in all its forms.鈥
Leigh Finke | Oct 31, 2014
We can learn a lot about the future of culture wars from a 鈥渕ovement鈥 of video game players angry about efforts to make gaming more welcoming for women.
Leigh Finke | Oct 23, 2014
A future where India is the major world superpower, gender is flexible, and energy comes from waves? This writer鈥檚 version of the near future feels much more real than apocalyptic nightmares we鈥檝e come to dread.
Leigh Finke | Sep 13, 2014
鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason you separate the military and the police. One fights the enemy of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.鈥
Leigh Finke | Aug 23, 2014
An ESPN commentator said women should try not to provoke men to violence. The public backlash has proved sports culture can be a fertile place to debate women's rights, after all.
Leigh Finke | Aug 2, 2014
Mass annihilation is depressing, sure. But stories about it force us to imagine large-scale rebirth鈥攁nd what kind of people we want to become.
Leigh Finke | Jul 12, 2014
Earlier this year, a 7-year-old girl urged the toy company to 鈥渕ake more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?!鈥 Here鈥檚 what they did.
Leigh Finke | Jun 11, 2014
They call themselves "nerdfighters"鈥攁nd they're unlike any movement you've seen before.
Leigh Finke | Jun 7, 2014
The PBS classic, which taught a love of books to generations of kids, will be coming back in an online version.
Leigh Finke | May 29, 2014
The fans hope to buy the team and make it into a nonprofit organization like the Green Bay Packers.
Leigh Finke | May 7, 2014
Pretending that a rape never happened is a problem鈥攔egardless of whether it took place in fiction or reality.
Leigh Finke | May 6, 2014
Blockbuster series like Twilight have left their mark on a generation of girls, but what message are they sending boys? Here are a few to look out for.
Leigh Finke | Mar 21, 2014
Shannen Koostachin, a teenage activist who died before ever seeing the results of her work, has inspired a new hero in the DC Universe.
Leigh Finke | Mar 6, 2014
The upcoming Academy Awards will recognize some of 2013鈥檚 best social justice-themed films. Here are some of our favorite past winners.
Leigh Finke | Mar 1, 2014
Kelly Sue DeConnick is a woman author working in the comic book industry, who's had successful titles in both mainstream and independent forms. In this Q&A, she talks about her feminism, creativity, and her love for old-school "exploitation" movies.
Leigh Finke | Jan 30, 2014
Many of the Disney classics contain outdated images of racial and gender groups. Luckily, recent animated masterpieces provide alternatives without sacrificing anything in the way of imagination.
Leigh Finke | Jan 11, 2014
Only 25 percent of STEM jobs are held by women. YouTube science sensation Emily Graslie on how we can inspire them with better-quality pop-culture role models.
Leigh Finke | Dec 25, 2013
This is my first Christmas as a father. Since my baby has never known holiday commercialism, it's made me re-examine what I really want to ask for this year.
Leigh Finke | Dec 14, 2013
What if we used fantasy not as an escape from our world, but an invitation to look deeper into it? How teenage fans are fighting injustice鈥攊n real life.
Leigh Finke | Nov 23, 2013
Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin is not the only NFL player to challenge the league's bigotry and misogyny. These five men stand for a new kind of masculinity.
Leigh Finke | Nov 15, 2013
Four Stockholm cinemas are adopting a system that rates films on how deeply their female characters are developed鈥攁nd how much they interact. It could radically change the way we see movies.
Leigh Finke | Nov 9, 2013
Comics artist Tess Fowler has a second great talent鈥攃ommunicating about misogyny through social media. Warning: This article contains accounts of sexual assault and may be triggering to some people.
Leigh Finke | Nov 2, 2013
Movies have long helped us understand what it means to live on earth and contribute to an ecologically sustainable planet. Here are ten of our favorites.
Leigh Finke | Oct 26, 2013
The idea of having a baby boy scared me: What kind of man will he grow up to be? Here鈥檚 what I learned about what it takes to raise compassionate men.
Leigh Finke | Oct 10, 2013
In just six months, the 鈥淟and of Lakes鈥 went from debating a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, to legalizing it this week. One proud resident on celebrating change in one of our more politically quirky states.
Leigh Finke | May 17, 2013