Author: Julia Mattingly

Julia is co-founder of the Louisville Political Review. She is Senior who specializes in rural issues, health policy, and economics.
US, World

Artificial Intelligence May Be Able to Pimp the Pope, but What Else Can It Do?

Last weekend, pictures of Pope Francis dressed in a long, white puffer jacket began circulating the internet. In awe of the Pope’s sudden sense of fashion, I began sending the photo to my friends and family without giving much thought to its legitimacy. Given that it’s now spring and probably not cold enough in Rome to require a full-body puffer jacket, I probably should’ve examined … Continue reading Artificial Intelligence May Be Able to Pimp the Pope, but What Else Can It Do?

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Black History Month, Kentucky, Louisville

The Green Book: How Traveling Black Americans Navigated Jim Crow

Decades before desegregation and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Black Americans struggled to travel throughout the nation with ease, safety, and comfort. However, due to pervasive racism in the form of Jim Crow laws, segregationist policies, informal community traditions, and  prejudiced individuals, the threat of physical danger and harassment constantly loomed for traveling Black Americans. The Negro Motorist Green Book, first … Continue reading The Green Book: How Traveling Black Americans Navigated Jim Crow

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US

The “Religious Issues” of American Politics: How & Why the Fight for Marriage Equality has Run Laps Around the Pro-Choice Movement

Amongst some of the most contentious policy debates in American politics, deeply-held religious issues remain at the top of voters’ minds. For decades, Americans have regarded abortion and same-sex marriage as the forefront of these issues. However, public support for LGBT couples has nearly doubled in the last three decades. And this has been reflected in the increasing support for legal same-sex marriage; since the … Continue reading The “Religious Issues” of American Politics: How & Why the Fight for Marriage Equality has Run Laps Around the Pro-Choice Movement

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Freedom Fall 2022, Kentucky, US

Behind Bars: The Economic Incentive to Incarcerate in Rural Kentucky

For decades in Kentucky and throughout the United States, it has been a commonly held notion that incarceration is predominantly an urban phenomenon. And up until recent years, Kentucky’s urban areas were indeed at the focal point of that phenomenon, incarcerating the largest proportions of their citizens. However, that pattern has altered today, and oddly enough, Kentucky’s rural areas have the highest incarceration rates. How … Continue reading Behind Bars: The Economic Incentive to Incarcerate in Rural Kentucky

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Kentucky, US

The Impact and Implications of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

The Louisville Political Review looks at monumental court cases that have defined the United States, Commonwealth of Kentucky, and city of Louisville. Today we examine Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, its impact on the physical autonomy and bodily integrity of women, and political and electoral implications. Friday, June 24th, 2022 will undoubtedly go down in United States history as a day no woman will … Continue reading The Impact and Implications of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

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Black History Month, Louisville, US

The Western Branch Library: a Beacon of Hope for Louisville’s Black Community

“The library does more than furnish facts and circulate books…the people feel that the library belongs to them, and that it may be used for anything that makes for their welfare.”  -Rev. Thomas Fountain Blue, the Western Branch’s first librarian For centuries, libraries have served as a space for self-enlightenment, a place where people can cultivate thought and ideas and share this in community with … Continue reading The Western Branch Library: a Beacon of Hope for Louisville’s Black Community

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Louisville

How Racism is Built into Louisville’s Infrastructure

Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody. – Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) The true dynamism of American cities comes from the connectedness of its institutions and the people within it. Considered one of the most residentially segregated cities in the United States today, Louisville lags far … Continue reading How Racism is Built into Louisville’s Infrastructure

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Kentucky

Kentucky’s Rural Hospital Problem

One and a half million dollars. This is how much money—annually— my hometown hospital in rural Kentucky has lost since 2012. With less than a week’s worth of operating cash on hand at any given time, the small rural hospital has been struggling to make ends meet for years now. This is not the only rural hospital in Kentucky with this problem; there have been … Continue reading Kentucky’s Rural Hospital Problem

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