Winter Issue 2020-2021

When hope was mentioned for the first time in our brainstorm session for this edition of  The Issue, the Star Wars fan in me immediately thought of A New Hope. Even though there is no article in this Issue on Star Wars (perhaps for some other time ), there is a little reference at the very end of this edition. Anyway, A New Hope can stand for many things. Especially during these weird times where hope is sometimes the thing that keeps people positive. This Issue will try to give you some sparks of hope.

The Biden administration could be something that people see as a beacon of hope. Lissette will tell us something about one very remarkable member of this administration, namely Kamal Harris. Lea and Femke will both take a look at what kind of hopeful things this administration possibly has to offer. Lea focuses on the hopes that the LGBTQ community has for the coming years. Femke will shine her light on what the last five years have told us and how what we can learn from it in order to move on to a more hopeful future.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any stories about studying abroad this year due to the pandemic. Hence, we are proud to present a new item about internships. For this edition, Maaike spoke to our former editor-in-chief Loïs Machelessen about her internship at Brand New Congress. Hopefully, this can help inspire some of you to pursue an internship for yourself. Maybe you would ever want to intern at a third party in the US. In that case, you should definitely check out Nick’s story about the politics of third parties.

In times of lockdown many of us are sitting at home and watch a ton of Netflix, right? Well, Esmee and Simon both watched something that they want to share with you. Perhaps both topics do not seem very hopeful at first, it is probably the way that you look at it that could make it hopeful. While Esmee and Simon were watching Netflix, Luc was watching American sports and was intrigued by the phenomenon that is called the draft. In America Explained you can read about this concept that represents the hope of many athletes and fans.

I hope you will enjoy the read!

Luc de Klerk