• Summer 2018
  • Out Now
  • Issue 30

Childhood

Cover Art by Supermundane

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

— Gospel of Matthew, 18:1–5

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Front Matters

Front Matters

A nutritious start to a healthy magazine

Struggle Session

Rational Actors

Jenny Brown

In the United States, women face the prospect of becoming mothers without necessary social protections. Many decide it’s not worth the risk.

Friends & Foes

It’s Okay to Have Kids

Connor Kilpatrick

Instead of challenging the pressures that capitalism puts on child-rearing, liberals surrender to it.

A Blueprint for Universal Childhood

Megan Erickson

Children deserve to spend their days in the company of peers, having fun, and discovering the world with the help of loving, well-compensated adults.

Illustration by Pencil & Help

Means of Deduction

Means of Deduction

Math can be fun too

Vulgar Empiricist

Don’t Leave the Kids Alone

Higher social spending leads to better lives for children. The United States has a long way to go.

Transitions

Defunding the Future

About one fifth of American children live in poverty. Their government’s negligence is to blame.

Uneven & Combined

God Bless the Child

The correlation between climbing homicide rates and child migration is too obvious to deny.

Illustration by Esther Aarts

Every Child Needs the Good Enough State

Catherine Liu

The richness of childhood needs to be embraced as a social good.

Reading Materiel

Reading Materiel

Read books together every day

Canon Fodder

The World’s Toughest Job

Miya Tokumitsu

“The perfect mother” is a cudgel to cut down the flesh-and-blood variety.

Cultural Front

Cultural Capital

Snow White exploited slave labor.

Bass & Superstructure

The Beyoncé Treatment

Jonah Walters

No mother should be forced to give birth in conditions Beyoncé wouldn’t accept for herself.

Beyond a Boundary

The Spoils of War

Meagan Day

Participation trophies are actually good — give one to every child.

More Bats

by Jacob Kramer

Illustration by Malina Omut
Tumbrel

The Tumbrel

Our love is not unconditional.

Girondins

Girls to the Rescue

Maria Hengeveld

Workers need independent and strong unions, not corporate-sponsored NGOs, to fight their bosses and support their families.

Thermidor

The Criminalization of Youth

Alex S. Vitale

If we want to offer children a better future, we need to get the criminal justice system out of their lives.

Versailles

Class Clowns

Branko Marcetic

Meet the Silicon Valley “disruptors” who want to teach your kids.

Leftovers

Leftovers

Some parting, warm memories.