海角大神

2019
May
21
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

May 21, 2019
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Laurent Belsie
Senior Economics Writer

Here鈥檚 an item from ABC News: 鈥淎 Nepalese mountain guide reached the peak of Mount Everest for the 24th time, breaking his own world record for most summits 鈥 that he set less than one week earlier.鈥

And here鈥檚 a confession: I鈥檝e never understood mountain climbers. If I had to work that hard to travel, I鈥檇 head for someplace warm rather than cold. And with restaurants that serve something other than dehydrated food that鈥檚 spent a week jostling in a backpack next to climbing socks.

Yet here I am, reading in awe. Yes, he really did climb Everest twice in the same week.

Kami Rita says he was doing his job. 鈥淚 did not climb for world records, I was just working. I did not even know you could set records,鈥 he told .

OK, it鈥檚 a job 鈥 an especially dangerous one. What about the people who do this for, well, fun?

Enter Alison Levine, a 5-foot-4-inch mountaineer who was team captain of the first U.S. women鈥檚 Everest expedition and has completed the聽Explorers Grand Slam, which means climbing the highest peak on each continent and skiing to both the North and South Poles. That鈥檚 a feat fewer than 100 people have accomplished. In her book, 鈥淥n the Edge,鈥 she writes:

鈥淣ever let failure discourage you. Every time you get to the base of a mountain (literal or metaphorical), you鈥檙e presented with a new opportunity to challenge yourself, to push your limits beyond what you thought possible.鈥

And now to our five stories of the day, which include a look at the fits and starts toward a new nuclear treaty, addressing global warming one tree at a time, and summer movies for people who don鈥檛 like summer movies.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Punishing a political opponent鈥檚 acts might seem tempting, even just. But in the past, Americans have not rewarded retribution at the ballot box.

Rodi Said/Reuters/File
A Yazidi woman who fled the Islamic State sits with a child at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria in 2014. Many Yazidi women captured by ISIS were forced into sexual slavery. Debating a U.N. resolution in April on sexual violence in warfare, the French ambassador said it is 'incomprehensible that the Security Council is incapable of acknowledging that women and girls who suffered from sexual violence in conflict 鈥 and who obviously didn鈥檛 choose to become pregnant 鈥 should have the right to terminate their pregnancy.'

What happens when the U.S. fight over abortion rights spills onto the international stage? The impact could go beyond abortion to protecting the victims of sexual violence in warfare.

With the end of the INF treaty this year and the New START treaty set to expire soon, Russians are anxious to establish a new arms control regime with the U.S. But they are still waiting for the Trump administration to make an offer.

Depending on whom you ask, carbon offsets might be a vital component of climate action or an ineffective 鈥 even colonialist 鈥 way to assuage guilt. A Uganda nonprofit may have found the key difference.

Jonathan Prime/Universal Pictures/AP
Himesh Patel (l.) and British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran star in 鈥榊esterday,鈥 directed by Danny Boyle. The movie, which revolves around people not remembering The Beatles ever existed, is one of 2019鈥檚 summer releases.

Blockbusters are a part of summer, like cut grass and the ice cream truck. Sometimes, though, people want to be transported by a story that doesn't depend on special effects.


The Monitor's View

AP
Students at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville prepare to walk to their graduation ceremony May 18.

By the end of the 2018-19 academic year America鈥檚 colleges and universities will have handed out nearly 3 million associate (two-year) and bachelor鈥檚 (four-year) degrees. And nearly a million more students will graduate from advanced master鈥檚 and doctoral programs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

For those headed into the job market, the news is good. A low unemployment rate, driven in part by baby boomers exiting into retirement, should make the job hunt easier than in recent years.

What kind of graduates are today鈥檚 employers looking for? Those educated in STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are in high demand. They鈥檒l step into work that will shape innovative areas from robotics and artificial intelligence to genetic engineering.

Parents who鈥檝e paid high tuition fees and students who鈥檝e racked up loan debt can be comforted that these STEM graduates will likely jump into well-paying jobs. For many graduates, in fact, paying down debt will be a top priority: According to research conducted by Bloomberg, student loan debt hit a record high of $1.465 trillion in December 2018.

Yet STEM prowess isn鈥檛 the only skill employers seek. Liberal arts degrees are bankable as well. Employers complain they have a hard time finding hires with 鈥渟oft鈥 skills. Ninety-three percent of employers, for example, say that the ability to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems 鈥 abilities honed in liberal arts courses 鈥 are more important than a graduate鈥檚 major, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Graduates will still face doubting elders who question whether they鈥檙e up to the tasks needed in the workplace. Not so, says Purdue University鈥檚 Brian Leung in a recent newspaper essay. Today鈥檚 young people are a generation toughened by events from the threat of school shootings to the looming threat of global warming. These 鈥渟tudents demonstrate themselves to be resilient, engaged citizens who have learned the importance of calling out injustice,鈥 writes Professor Leung, director of creative writing in Purdue鈥檚 English department.

His confidence is echoed by Simon Peck, group managing director at Engine, a marketing and advertising firm in London. He writes that not only are younger people 鈥渕ore socially, ethically, and environmentally conscious than their predecessors 鈥 this is the generation that coined the term 鈥榳oke鈥 after all 鈥 they鈥檙e also more independent thinkers, willing to disrupt the status quo in favor of a more sensible solution, be it dating apps over dinner dates or Airbnb over hotels.鈥

Wherever it may be, finding a secure spot in the 21st century economy is an important step for graduates. But as this year鈥檚 myriad graduation speakers will no doubt echo, students who go on to do their part to make the world a better place will bear the true mark of a life well led.


A 海角大神 Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication 鈥 in its various forms 鈥 is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church 鈥 The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston 鈥 whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

When clashing political views threatened a longtime friendship, today鈥檚 contributor found that learning more about God as Love enabled her to nurture compassion and patience rather than anger and intolerance, and harmony was restored.


A message of love

Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/AP
Daisies appear in raindrops on a blade of grass in Laatzen, in northern Germany, May 21.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

That鈥檚 a wrap for today. Come back tomorrow when we look at what鈥檚 at stake in EU parliamentary elections.

More issues

2019
May
21
Tuesday

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