Ideas This Week
Ideas This Week is your hub for updates on all things Facing History—from announcements and featured press to expert interviews, impact stories, and essays on the ideas driving our work.
Student Essay: Gay Olympians are Changing the World
This student essay explores the impact of the increasing visibility of gay olympians, particularly at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
![Picture of the ski team in the winter Olympics.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/WinterOlympicsSkiingHeroImageGayOlympiansChangingtheWorldStudentEssayFinalistvytautas-dranginis-588110-unsplash_0.jpeg?h=6d1ace0d&itok=SwNwv1sp)
Advocating for Genocide Prevention: A Q&A With Mike Brand
Genocide prevention advocate Mike Brand talks about the power young people hold in helping to prevent genocides.
![World Refugee Day image.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/Responding_with_Humanity_AP_17257567061052_Medium_res.jpg?h=780e8245&itok=04F_OwYN)
Upstander Story: Memphis Students Unite Their Community 100 Years after a Lynching
This piece describes the student-led activist group Students Uniting Memphis’s effort to gather 500 community members to commemorate the life of lynching victim Ell Persons, and bring awareness to the injustices that occur when we divide people into “us” vs. “them.”
![Picture of Memphis Students Unite Their Community 100 Years after a Lynching](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/FH253180MemphisEllPersonsLynchingCommemorationCroppedHero_0.jpeg?h=b1512c13&itok=h7JN5NKr)
Student Essay: Talking with Water Balloons
This award-winning student essay captures a Chinese-American student’s experience of building community across linguistic barriers.
![Picture of Water balloons](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/photo-1468888702840-41a24ac1a9f9unsplashCROPPEDHERO.jpeg?h=b1512c13&itok=SgRjSdo4)
Student Essay: Wrong in My Own Skin
This student essay captures a Muslim student’s journey of creating space of transformative dialogue in the aftermath of an Anti-Muslim hate crime at school.
![Picture for Student Essay: Wrong in My Own Skin](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/Wrong_in_Skin-1440x560.jpeg?h=b1512c13&itok=NudAbo9M)
Student Essay: Finding My Center
This award-winning student essay describes a queer student’s journey of stepping into leadership and making an impact as an intern at the LGBTQIA+ Center in Greenwich Village.
![Picture of pride flag on wrist.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/Finding_center_1440x560_0.jpeg?h=b1512c13&itok=2yeKhLcS)
Upstander Story: 5 Questions for Pulitzer-Winner Sonia Nazario
In this interview, author Sonia Nozario discusses immigration, reporting during times of conflict, and the power young people have to shape our world for the better.
![Upstander group picture](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/20170427FHAO_UpstanderAw_294%20%281%29.jpeg?h=8534b08b&itok=6haX1rS-)
When Is Fake News Propaganda?
Facebook admits social media can be bad for democracy with the rise of fake news used to sway the 2016 presidential election. But when is fake news propaganda?
![Definition of propaganda on a poster: "Propaganda is the task of creating and directing public opinion"](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-07/PropagandaDefinitionR2.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=tJg54RUF)
My Facing History Journey
A student shares their experience with Facing History & Ourselves' seminal resource, Holocaust and Human Behavior and the class' journey through Scope and Sequence.
![Three students in conversation while sitting at a desk.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/2017_classroomimage_FH260857.jpg?h=e6cb4de8&itok=kIg4HmU9)
Student Essay: Why I No Longer Hide My Rainbow
This student essay captures a gay student’s experience navigating the challenges inherent in being visible as a gay person, as well as the responsibility to honor the sacrifices of movement leaders past by being visible today.
![LGBTQ pride flag on chalkboard.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/LGBTQPrideFlagChalkboard_iStock-929777058%20%281%29.jpeg?h=8e4088dc&itok=R2ov_E-w)
How to Use Online Sources to Challenge Bias and Expand Perspectives
In this guest post, Nelson Graves, founder of News-Decoder, demonstrates how biases work and then provides educators with an exercise to help students challenge their own perceptions to better understand people and the world around them.
![Illustration for the fairy tale "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids" depicting the wolf attacking the kids once he is let into their home.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/wolf_and_7_young_kids_karl_fahringer.jpg?h=03e3bc14&itok=FTnPY_t7)