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How Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor became Halloween's theme song

  • Written by Megan Sarno, Assistant Professor of Music, University of Texas at Arlington
imageIn Bach's era, the pipe organ was one of the world's most technologically advanced instruments.Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images

Imagine a grand house on a hill, after dark on an autumn night. As the door opens, an organ pierces through the thick silence and echoes through the cavernous halls.

The tune that comes to many minds will be...

Read more: How Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor became Halloween's theme song

Jewish response to Hamas war criticism comes from deep sense of trauma, active grief and fear

  • Written by Dov Waxman, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Professor of Israel Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
imageA house in a kibbutz In Be'eri, Israel, was the scene of part of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.Amir Levy/Getty Images

In the wake of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response, Jewish people in Israel and around the world have, at times, been posting on social media or otherwise saying publicly that...

Read more: Jewish response to Hamas war criticism comes from deep sense of trauma, active grief and fear

Collaborative water management can be a building block for peace between Israelis and Palestinians

  • Written by Clive Lipchin, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University
imagePalestinians fill drinking water containers at a distribution site in Khan Yunis, south Gaza, on Oct. 8, 2023. Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance via Getty Images

Water is a central element of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel controls several water pipelines entering Gaza, much as it controls most of life there. But water...

Read more: Collaborative water management can be a building block for peace between Israelis and Palestinians

Palestinian Christians and Muslims have lived together in the region for centuries − and several were killed recently while sheltering in the historic Church of Saint Porphyrius

  • Written by Christine Shepardson, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Department of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee
imageChildren at an Orthodox Christmas Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on Jan. 7, 2023. Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images

A bomb struck the complex of the historic Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza on Oct. 19, 2023, killing more than a dozen of the hundreds of Christians and Muslims taking shelter inside and wounding others.

As a hist...

Read more: Palestinian Christians and Muslims have lived together in the region for centuries − and several...

Day of the Dead is taking on Halloween traditions, but the sacred holiday is far more than a 'Mexican Halloween'

  • Written by Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State University
imageChildren trick or treat and wear Halloween costumes for a full week during Day of the Dead season in Mexico.FG Trade Latin/Collection E+ via Getty Images

Many Latinos regularly declare: “Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween.” The declaration is increasingly repeated by non-Latinos too.

Drawing a clear line between the two...

Read more: Day of the Dead is taking on Halloween traditions, but the sacred holiday is far more than a...

In the Israel-Hamas war, children are the ultimate pawns – and ultimate victims

  • Written by Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University
imageBoth Palestinian children in Gaza, as shown on left, and Israeli children, as seen on the right, have been hurt, killed and kidnapped in the Israel-Hamas war.Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images/Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

In 1903, a local mob killed 49 Jews, including several children, and raped and wounded 600 others, in the city of Kishinev, then part...

Read more: In the Israel-Hamas war, children are the ultimate pawns – and ultimate victims

This course uses big data to examine how American newspapers covered lynchings

  • Written by Rob Wells, Associate Professor, University of Maryland
imageMore than 5,000 Black people have been lynched in the US.Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Imagesimage

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

Lynching and the Press

What prompted the idea for the course?

One of my students was reviewing a spreadsheet that...

Read more: This course uses big data to examine how American newspapers covered lynchings

Violent and disturbing war images from the Mideast can stir deep emotions − a PTSD expert explains how to protect yourself and your kids from overexposure

  • Written by Arash Javanbakht, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University
imageImages of devastation, like the one shown here following an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, can take a heavy mental toll. AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman

The past few years have been filled with a seemingly endless stream of painful stories and images coming from across the globe, including the loss of more than 3 million people to the COVID-...

Read more: Violent and disturbing war images from the Mideast can stir deep emotions − a PTSD expert explains...

Louisiana's 'In God We Trust' law tests limits of religion in public schools

  • Written by Frank S. Ravitch, Professor of Law & Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion, Michigan State University

When Louisiana passed a law in August 2023 requiring public schools to post “In God We Trust” in every classroom – from elementary school to college – the author of the bill claimed to be following a long-held tradition of displaying the national motto, most notably on U.S. currency.

But even under recent Supreme Court...

Read more: Louisiana's 'In God We Trust' law tests limits of religion in public schools

More Articles ...

  1. White patients are more likely than Black patients to be given opioid medication for pain in US emergency departments
  2. How to deal with visual misinformation circulating in the Israel-Hamas war and other conflicts
  3. Asteroids in the solar system could contain undiscovered, superheavy elements
  4. Why Elon Musk is obsessed with casting X as the most 'authentic' social media platform
  5. A Halloween party in Boston turned ugly when a gang hurled antisemitic slurs and attacked Jewish teenagers
  6. AIs could soon run businesses – it’s an opportunity to ensure these 'artificial persons' follow the law
  7. 'I see no happy ending' − a former national security leader on the Gaza hostage situation
  8. Back in the 1960s, the push for parental rights over school standards was not led by white conservatives but by Black and Latino parents
  9. UN warns that Gaza desperately needs more aid − an emergency relief expert explains why it is especially tough working in Gaza
  10. I studied 1 million home sales in metro Atlanta and found that Black families are being squeezed out of homeownership by corporate investors
  11. To better understand addiction, students in this course take a close look at liquor in literature
  12. Public schools and faith-based chaplains: Texas’ new combination is testing the First Amendment
  13. Turkey faces competing pressures from Russia and the West to end its 'middleman strategy' and pick a side on the war in Ukraine
  14. FDA advisory panel's conclusion that oral phenylephrine is ineffective means consumers need to think twice when buying cold and flu meds
  15. How often do you lie? Deception researchers investigate how the recipient and the medium affect telling the truth
  16. New House Speaker Mike Johnson leads a GOP majority weakened by decades of declining party authority
  17. When communities face drinking-water crises, bottled water is a 'temporary' solution that often lasts years − and worsens inequality
  18. Polls have value, even when they are wrong
  19. Antisemitism has moved from the right to the left in the US − and falls back on long-standing stereotypes
  20. What are roundabouts? A transportation engineer explains the safety benefits of these circular intersections
  21. Being humble about what you know is just one part of what makes you a good thinker
  22. From morgue to medical school: Cadavers of the poor, Black and vulnerable can be dissected without consent
  23. Israeli invasion of Gaza likely to resemble past difficult battles in Iraq and Syria
  24. TCUS senior editor Kalpana Jain explores Indigenous communities in Indonesia − and learns about their struggles to reclaim land
  25. Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence
  26. Let the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media's crisis of legitimacy
  27. The Rio Grande isn't just a border – it's a river in crisis
  28. Backlash to the oil CEO leading the UN climate summit overlooks his ambitious agenda for COP28 – and concerns of the Global South
  29. Space rocks and asteroid dust are pricey, but these aren't the most expensive materials used in science
  30. How 'La Catrina' became the iconic symbol of Day of the Dead
  31. Hot-button topics may get public attention at the Vatican synod, but a more fundamental issue for the Catholic Church is at the heart of debate
  32. GOP's House paralysis is a crisis in a time of crises
  33. The Israel-Hamas war deepens the struggle between US and Iran for influence in the Middle East
  34. Biological sex is far from binary − this college course examines the science of sex diversity in people, fungi and across the animal kingdom
  35. A layered lake is a little like Earth’s early oceans − and lets researchers explore how oxygen built up in our atmosphere billions of years ago
  36. Key Trump co-defendants accept plea deals – a legal expert explains what that means
  37. For the Osage Nation, the betrayal of the murders depicted in 'Killers of the Flower Moon' still lingers
  38. How much time do kids spend on devices – playing games, watching videos, texting and using the phone?
  39. Hezbollah alone will decide whether Lebanon − already on the brink of collapse − gets dragged into Israel-Hamas war
  40. Delivering aid during war is tricky − here’s what to know about what Gaza relief operations may face
  41. New research helps explain why Indian girls appear to be less engaged in politics than Indian boys
  42. A memorial in Yiddish, Italian and English tells the stories of Triangle Shirtwaist fire victims − testament not only to tragedy but to immigrant women's fight to remake labor laws
  43. Quantum dots − a new Nobel laureate describes the development of these nanoparticles from basic research to industry application
  44. Does chicken soup really help when you're sick? A nutrition specialist explains what's behind the beloved comfort food
  45. New class of recyclable polymer materials could one day help reduce single-use plastic waste
  46. Health care workers gain 21% wage increase in pending agreement with Kaiser Permanente after historic strike
  47. House speaker paralysis is confusing – a political scientist explains what's happening
  48. COVID-19 vaccine mandates have come and mostly gone in the US – an ethicist explains why their messy rollout matters for trust in public health
  49. Hamas was unpopular in Gaza before it attacked Israel – surveys showed Gazans cared more about fighting poverty than armed resistance
  50. What do a Black scientist, nonprofit executive and filmmaker have in common? They all face racism in the ‘gray areas’ of workplace culture