Making a new constitution would take a lot of planning especially during COVID-19, but some things are worth the effort.

Happening in the World: Citizens of Chile will have the option to vote this Sunday to decide if they would like to create a new constitution and if so, how the people who draft it would be chosen. This comes after about a year of protests about inequality that has empowered citizens to take control and push to remove the current constitution which was created in 1980 by the military ruler Gen Augusto Pinochet. (BBC)

Happening in the US: AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson both resumed their COVID-19 vaccine trials after having complications arise with study participants. AstraZeneca found a participant contracted a neurological condition but ultimately decided the condition was unrelated to the vaccine. Johnson&Johnson has not stated the exact condition of their participant, but did state that they had an “unexplained illness” that was also not detrimental to the trials. (CNN)

Happening in NYC: Nancy Bass Wyden, The Strand’s owner, released a letter to the public today which spoke about the financial difficulties COVID-19 has brought the bookstore. Business is reported to be down by 70%, and the business took the Payroll Protection Program loan from the government to help support the 69 employees who work at the store. Wyden was also reported as having purchased stocks during the summer in Amazon, UPS and Fedex to take advantage of the economic downturn. (Gothamist)

Happening in the Community: Alumna Claudia Rankine will discuss her book Citizen: An American Lyric in an AlumniTALK on October 27th at 6pm. Citizen was added to the Literature Humanities syllabus this year and explores racial relations in the USA and what it means to be an American citizen in our “post-racial” society. You can register here for the event here.

Film of the Week: The Witches (1990) (dir. by Nicolas Roeg)

the stwand via Wikimedia Commons