海角大神

2025
October
11
Saturday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 11, 2025
Loading the player...

As we kick off a long weekend in the United States, we offer an extraordinary story of two murderers who found redemption through Shakespeare while behind bars.

鈥淭he only way that you change behavior is to change thinking,鈥 says Curt Tofteland, the former director of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, who helped the men stage the Bard鈥檚 plays in prison. 鈥淪o, what you begin to introduce is a different way of thinking, a different way of looking at the world, a different way of seeing each of themselves in the world.鈥

Stephen Humphries tells the full story of just how much Shakespeare transformed the inmates鈥 outlook 鈥 and their lives.


You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

A deeper look

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Former inmate actors (from left) Howard Ralston, Sammie Byron, Charles Smith, and Jerry Guenthner pose onstage after a wedding ceremony in Louisville, July 30, 2025

The organization Shakespeare Behind Bars has helped violent offenders rediscover their humanity. In this story, two murderers come to 鈥渂e wise hereafter / And seek for grace.鈥

To get the breakthrough allowing a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, negotiators decoupled an emotional first phase of the Trump plan from a far more complex second. Much hard work remains to get Israelis and Palestinians to peace.

Books

Corey Hendrickson
Susan Orlean is the author of "Joyride: A Memoir."

Susan Orlean鈥檚 approach to writing involves remaining a perpetual beginner, rather than becoming an expert. She dives into other worlds and subcultures, always chasing 鈥渢he drive of ignorance into knowledge.鈥

Martin Meissner/AP/File
Elderly women sit in the sun at a park in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, April 2023.

The West鈥檚 renewed focus on defense has governments looking to offset spending 鈥 and social safety nets cost a lot of money. Can Europe retain its welfare systems in the face of competing demands?

Carlos Barria/Reuters/File
A worker inspects solar panels at a renewable-energy farm in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, 2013.

China鈥檚 new climate pledge marks a modest step forward for one of the most populous countries in the world. It also reveals how the bar for climate leadership is dropping lower.

Essay

Scot Wilson

Adult coloring books. Roller skating. Young adult fiction. Revisiting childhood hobbies as an adult can evoke wonder and joy. For our essayist, it also revealed how young love evolves and matures over time.


Viewfinder

Becky Bohrer/AP
People gather at an overlook as a double rainbow appears over Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, Utah, after a thunderstorm moved through around sunrise on Oct. 9, 2025. Rainbows鈥 visibility depends on an observer鈥檚 position, as they can only be seen when the sun is behind the observer.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

More issues

2025
October
11
Saturday

Give us your feedback

We want to hear, did we miss an angle we should have covered? Should we come back to this topic? Or just give us a rating for this story. We want to hear from you.