Boston Marathon

Do-it-Yourself Terrorism: Al Qaeda’s Ad Campaign and the Domestic War on Terror

On April 15th at 2:49 p.m., two massive explosions detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.1 Cheers were quickly replaced with screams of horror, celebration with mayhem. The two suspects believed to be responsible for this tragedy, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, allegedly used simple household items and over-the-counter materials to wound 264 people […]

Gallery: Boston Marathon Bombing

Andy Robinson is a 3rd year transfer student from Hanover, PA. He is pursuing a B.A. in journalism. All photographs in this gallery © Andy Robinson

Conjectural Journalism: John King is a Jerk

On April 15, after the terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon, we Bostonians rushed towards the explosions to help the injured, and we rushed to hospitals to give blood. In the chaos, we rushed to the internet to find out if our friends were safe. The media responded by rushing to conclusions. After the bombings, we […]

Judith Butler’s: Precarious Life

Judith Butler’s book Precarious Life was a subject of discussion in Prof. Bormann’s Contemporary Political Thought POLS 2332 class this past semester.  This book puts human vulnerability and loss (the precariousness of life) at its center and Butler asks us, against the backdrop of 9/11, what – politically – might be made of our grief […]

Gallery: Boston Marathon Aftermath

All photographs in this gallery are courtesy of Delia Harrington.

Give Me Liberty: The Constitution in an Age of Terror

Benjamin Franklin has long warned Americans that “any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” His warning has been invoked throughout American history, as it has been in light of recent events. Yet it seems decidedly powerless in a country that so readily […]

Gallery: Philip Kravtsov’s Images of Watertown

Philip Kravtsov is a freshman journalism student at Northeastern where he is pursuing a B.A. in journalism. Philip is an editor at RIA Novosti. All photos in this gallery © RIA Novosti /Philip Kravtsov

Precarious Life-Katie Dillon

When your city is terrorized, how do you react? Judith Butler says that we ought not to react to violence with violence. We should take a different approach.  Butler does not suggest that we ignore the perpetrator, or let him or her walk free. Instead, we ought to give the criminal a trial, and not […]

Precarious Life-Brendan Hill

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, the relevance of Judith Butler’s A Precarious Life is a topic worth discussing. Prompted by the attacks of 9/11, Butler’s critique of the US response to fear and mourning is indeed contrary to the average American sentiment. While the official response to the attack on the World […]

Precarious Life-Wendy Chu

I wrote the outline for this essay on Monday, April 15th.  It had been an especially good day: I had even won myself a coveted window seat on the third floor at Snell Library. I was reading Judith Butler’s Precarious Life when I heard the news. I should have panicked. I should have been terrified. […]