Articles: Social Justice and Issues

Contact Kristin Ohlson for readings, talks, writing projects, etc.

Following Frank

I first saw Frank when I was twelve, a jittery small-town California girl during my first week in a public school at the weedy edge of town after six years at tiny St. Thomas Elementary School.

Questions of Justice

An unusual class takes Willamette students inside prison walls to discover a new perspective on crime and punishment. 

Just a Memory Before You Sleep Forever

In tasteful black-and-white photos, the nonprofit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep captures the bittersweet farewell of parents and their lost babies.

Somebody's Watching You

Eight million American women—or one in 12—will be a victim of stalking at some point in their lives. So why are law enforcement agencies so inept at handling their cases?

Marriage: For Better or Worse

Census 2000 data imply that marriage is waning. But the figures don’t tell us the full story. Exchanging vows is still the path of choice for many couples—those with and without the legal right to do so.

Deep Pocketbooks

When Martha Drury’s father told her she’d find a few more dollars in her bank account —it would be $3 million, to be precise— she was overwhelmed by more than gratitude. She was also struck by a staggering sense of obligation to others and even fear of the implications of this sudden fortune.