Green frog illustration with black text on yellow background.

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Green illustration of artichoke on a white plate with black text on a pink background.

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White and green daisy surrounded by brown text on yellow background.

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Pink triangle over white text on black background.

Silence=Death is a symbol and slogan created in the 1980's by Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Socarrás to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic. The phrase was meant to criticize both the public stigma surrounding the disease as well as the Reagan administration's lack of response. The pink triangle was a symbol used by Nazis in the 1930's and 1940's to identify homosexuals, but by flipping it upside down, the creators of Silence=Death helped to reclaim the symbol for their community. The visual iconography was chosen to make the movement as inclusive as possible. As a result, the group of creators choose not to use photographs, but rather a more general symbol of a pink triangle.  

Silence=Death—and the upside down pink triangle—became a hugely impactful symbol, and eventually was adopted by the organization AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). With its new symbol, ACT UP would go on to fight AIDS both in the U.S and around the world. As of 2024, ACT UP continues to advocate for the nearly 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS. 

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Illustration of a girl in bright colored dress on a scooter with a hat holding multicolor balloons with one letter of black text on each balloon. All on white background.

The Norcross Greeting Card Company was established in the mid-1920s by Arthur Norcross. Early on, the company had its headquarters on 244 Madison Avenue in New York City and was ran by Norcross, his wife, and children. Norcross tapped local freelance artists to design his greeting cards, most popular of which were his Valentine’s Day ones. When the Second World War pulled some of his associates away from the business and into the battlefield, Norcross wrote personal letters to them. The letters not only included company news but also divulged baseball scores and other bits of information that the servicemen could appreciate. When Norcross died in 1969 the company was sold to John Dorance, CEO of Campbell’s Soup. Without the “family way of operation,” however, the company went on a downhill slide, and its remains were auctioned off in 1981.

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The University of Alberta, located in Edmonton, Canada, was founded in 1908 and started with forty-five students and five members of the faculty. Today, it is one of the biggest research institutions in Canada and has over 38,000 students. Students have a plethora of research programs to choose from including nanotechnology, marine science, agricultural & environmental studies, and nuclear & particle physics. The University has had a long impact on the surrounding area offering lectures and library services to the region. It is also where CKUA radio was founded in 1927 and the Banff School of Fine Arts was opened in 1933.

Red text and illustration of tower surrounded by stars on white background.

The Chicago Theological Seminary is a center of higher learning for members of the United Church of Christ. The seminary was founded in 1855 in Chicago and was originally opened to train church leaders. These leaders would then be sent to the American Western boundary and engage the population and teach them the ways of Christ.

While America’s Western expansion has long since subsided, the seminary has kept active in education and social justice. During the 1960's, members of the school marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and demanded civil rights for all. On the education side, the seminary became the first of it’s kind to have an accredited Master of Divinity degree which was received in 2013.

Photograph of McCain on left with red and white text on white, all on dark blue background.

The 2008 Republican presidential primary was a crowded field with eight candidates vying for the party’s nomination. At the outset, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was the frontrunner but was quickly beaten back by Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Huckabee, after winning the Iowa caucus, seemed to have the necessary momentum behind him to win the primary altogether. However, Arizona Senator and wartime hero John McCain picked up speed after winning the New Hampshire primary and ultimately overtook Huckabee to secure the nomination. In September 2008, McCain was officially selected as the party’s presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Initially, the odds appeared stacked against McCain. He failed to raise more money than most of his opponents and trailed in the amount of positive media coverage. Despite these setbacks, McCain was the “dark horse” of the 2008 Republican primary and landed a comeback victory that very few saw coming. Though he went on to compete against his Democratic challenger Barack Obama, he ended up losing the presidential bid and continued to serve as a senator until his death in 2018.

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Ronald Reagan was the Republican nominee for the 1980 presidential election against the incumbent President Jimmy Carter. The Reagan-Bush ticket promoted Reagan’s first campaign with his running mate George Bush. Their campaign advocated for defending against the communist threat posed by the Cold War and situation in Iran. They also urged for a reduction of big government. Reagan was elected president on November 4th, 1980, with 489 electoral college votes against 49, and over 50% of the popular vote. This election set the record for oldest president-elect in United State’s history to that point.