OTTAWA SCHOOLS WASHINGTON | | |
The UN's host country — the nation that has done more than any other to build the postwar order — seems determined to turn that order completely upside down. And in doing so, it is squandering nearly every advantage it has.
America's neighbor to the north, meanwhile — the country that Trump has trolled as the “51st state” — has "pwned" the U.S. with good ol' traditional diplomacy. Rather than trade insults, Prime Minister Mark Carney has outmaneuvered Washington by building with everyone else.
Days before the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September, he worked with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, striking a deal to make Canada the EU’s first-ever “associate” member — a status so innovative that it doesn’t even exist yet. The next day, Carney addressed the European Parliament in France (a rare slot for a leader outside the body), outlining how cooperation on trade, AI, defense, and critical minerals could benefit all.
Carney also trolled Trump back: “We are not fair-weather allies,” he said. “We do not pursue zero-sum deals. Our commitment to the rule of law, and our unyielding defense of human dignity, individual freedom, and democracy share the same deep roots, the same unwavering dedication.”
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Then, in New York, Canada joined Australia, Barbados, Brazil, the EU, India and Kenya in launching Partners for Multilateralism (P4M), a coalition of middle powers and developing nations committed to international law and to making the UN system deliver. Within days, 15 more countries had signed on, from Norway to Uruguay.
“Nations are strongest when they build together,” Carney posted on X. “At the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Canada is choosing to step forward. To lead. To shape what comes next.”
None of these efforts involved dropping bombs, issuing tariffs, or bullying from the pulpit — just heads down and elbows up. (And buckle up: If Carney receives a Nobel Peace Prize this week, who knows what chaos that will trigger in the Oval Office?)
To read more about Climate Week, key speeches from island leaders (like Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, pictured inset), and the race for the UN's next Secretary-General, read the full Brooklyn Story Lab blog.
| THE TEETH THAT CHANGED HISTORY | | |
They were just baby teeth, the kind children lose and parents save in small envelopes. But between 1958 and 1973, more than 320,000 of them, collected by scientists at Washington University and ordinary citizens across St. Louis, became the evidence that changed American nuclear policy.
The Baby Tooth Survey, as it came to be known, tested children's teeth for Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope produced only during nuclear fission, carried east by wind from test sites in Nevada (100 above-ground tests conducted) and New Mexico (one above-ground test conducted, but the very first one). The results were unambiguous: fallout was building up in children's bodies at alarming levels. The tooth study was alluded to by President Kennedy (noting “the number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones) at the signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 — one of the most consequential public-health victories of the 20th century.
Now, more than 60 years later, the study is the subject of a new book. Joe Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) — a Brooklyn Story Lab partner — and one of America's leading scientists tracking the public health effects of nuclear power, has written "Bombs and Baby Teeth," published by the Missouri Historical Society Press. The book is being published at a critical moment: Harvard is currently conducting new tests on the original teeth, and, frighteningly, President Trump has recently resurfaced the idea of resuming above-ground nuclear testing (seriously?), renewing fears about fallout and its effects on public health that the Baby Tooth Survey first brought to light.
RPHP vice president and actress-activist Christie Brinkley and actor-activist Alec Baldwin — both RPHP ambassadors — have moved to raise public awareness about the ongoing dangers of nuclear reactors, which continue to emit Strontium-90 and other isotopes into surrounding communities. Recent tooth-collection efforts from Long Island to Florida have found higher cancer rates in children born near nuclear reactors during their peak years of operation in the 1980s and 1990s.
This month, Mangano will speak in St. Louis at an event (October 15th, Missouri History Museum) marking the book's publication — returning to the city where citizens and scientists first joined forces to protect their children, and where that coalition's legacy is more relevant than ever.
| | A MOTHER'S HIDDEN PAST, UNCOVERED | | |
"You think you know your mother. Until you don't."
Those are the opening words to "My Underground Mother," an astonishing documentary by filmmaker and journalist Marisa Fox about her own mom, Holocaust survivor Tamar Fox.
Or was it Hela Hocherman? Tamar denied ever having been in the Holocaust — even on her deathbed. But after her mother passed away, there were enough clues for Marisa — over more than a decade of investigating and globe-trotting — to find out that her mother had been trafficked as a 14-year old by the Nazis, and held in a women's forced-labor camp, where all of the young girls were subject to sexual assault.
There are many more twists and turns to the story — assumed names, cloak-and-dagger spy stories, unbelievable discoveries — which you should see for yourself.
Earlier this month, Brooklyn Story Lab had the pleasure of interviewing Marisa for the "Eva Haller Salon Series," hosted by the amazing Heidi Groshelle and Eva Haller. Eva herself is a Holocaust survivor, and has her own remarkable story (for another time).
You can watch the interview with Maris on the Salon series website here.
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FRIENDS OF BROOKLYN STORY LAB
This month, we highlight four books and a documentary from the extended Brooklyn Story Lab community: a Broadway performer-turned-finance executive with a "rollerskating" guide to reinvention; a novelist tracing a wartime family secret across decades and continents; a cult-classic children's book returning after 50 years in all its glorious absurdity; a Wisconsin novelist exploring friendship, desire, and reinvention in midlife; and a veteran music critic whose New York Times piece became a revelatory film about the queer architects of rock.
Note: Whenever we include a link to a book or other project, we always aim to showcase independent bookstores — and not Amazon.
"Can You Rollerskate?"
Lisa Morris — Broadway performer, entrepreneur, investor, finance executive, and philanthropist — has written the book for anyone standing between the life they know and the life they haven't figured out yet. As someone who has worn multiple hats (including all of the above), she cheerfully acknowledges that her journey included plenty of moments of figuring it out along the way. (And that's a pretty good credential for writing this book!) Profits go to animal rescue and veterans' causes.
"The Glassmaker's Secret"
Laura Rowley crafts a dual-timeline mystery in the winter forests of the Baltics, following a woman who travels to Estonia to uncover the wartime secret her late grandfather, a glassblower, never revealed. She finds herself drawn into unexpected romance and a battle to preserve a fragile legacy. Past and present converge on Christmas Eve in a novel about the ties that bind us across generations, and the courage it takes to forge our own path.
"Who Needs Donuts?"
Mark Alan Stamaty, renowned illustrator and cartoonist, returns with a reissue of his 1973 cult children's-book classic — a magnificently absurdist tale of a boy, a world-class donut collector, a coffee-flooded basement, Pretzel Annie, and the timeless question of whether love can ever truly compete with (checks notes) donuts. A kid-friendly Hieronymus Bosch and Where's Waldo?, one need not be young nor glazed to enjoy.
"Girlfriending"
Susanna Daniel, award-winning author of "Stiltsville" and "Sea Creatures," delivers her third novel: a lively, taut exploration of a divorced mother's navigating relationships in a second act. She sets out to date 10 women in what she calls her "lesbian adolescence" — with the fierce support of her best friend and a small but mighty community. A novel about friendship, desire, and what it means to remake a life midstream.
"Rock Out"
Jim Farber, veteran music writer and former chief critic of the New York Daily News, co-produced this four-part docuseries with Oscar-winning filmmaker Dustin Lance Black — adapting Jim's own New York Times piece, "The Gay Architects of Rock." The film tells the story of how an influential circle of British gay men in the 1960s managed and promoted the A-list of classic rock, injecting their sensibility into a movement that changed music and fashion forever — as well as the definition of masculinity itself. Featuring interviews with Roger Daltrey, Jann Wenner, Ramones manager Danny Fields, and one of the final interviews with Dolly Parton. Now streaming on Revry.
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Though the Trump Administration has banned references to many, there are social-awareness days or tentpole events every month that can help organizations like yours connect to a larger, purpose-driven audience. By creating content connected to these key dates, you have the potential to create viral experiences. Here are the global dates with a social-good focus that stand out to us in October.
OCTOBER
9/15-10/15: National Hispanic Heritage Month
9/28-10/2: 28th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO): Rome, Italy
9/28-10/2: 70th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission: Hobart, Australia
10/1: International Day of Older Persons
10/1-10/2: 17th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Hyderabad, India
10/1-10/2: 44th UN-Water Meeting: Rome, Italy
10/4: World Animal Day
10/4-10/8: IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition: Glasgow, UK
10/5: World Teachers Day
10/5-10/8: Pre-COP to the 2026 UN Climate Change Conference: Suva, Fiji
10/5-10/9: 2026 Climate Week 2: Baku, Azerbaijan
10/5-10/9: Nairobi Convention COP 12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
10/5-10/12: Nobel Prize Announcements: Stockholm, Sweden
10/6: World Habitat Day
10/7-10/8: OECD Forum on Green Finance & Investment: Paris, France
10/8-10/16: World Food Forum: Rome, Italy
10/8-10/10: 2026 Arctic Circle Assembly: Reykjavik, Iceland
10/11: International Day of the Girl Child
10/11: World Migratory Bird Day
10/11-10/13: World Health Summit: Berlin, Germany
10/12-10/13: Forum of Mayors: Geneva, Switzerland
10/12-10/14: 22nd Annual General Meeting of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development: Geneva, Switzerland
10/12-10/16: Intergov. Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 65: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
10/12-10/18: 2026 World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meetings: Bangkok, Thailand
10/13: International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
10/14-10/16: Blue Earth Summit: London, United Kingdom
10/15: Global Handwashing Day
10/15: International Day of Rural Women
10/16: World Food Day
10/17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
10/19-10/30: UN Biodiversity Conference (a.k.a. COP17): Yerevan, Armenia
10/21-10/22: International Conference on Water Security and Sustainable Development: Nanjing, China
10/24: United Nations Day
10/25-10/27: World Investment Forum, Qatar, October
10/25-10/31: Global Pro Bono Week 2026
10/31: World Cities Day
Ask us how to create noteworthy content that connects with these dates for your purpose-driven organization or brand — or how to get more attention for your social media, digital media, or feature stories.
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