2018
February
13
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

February 13, 2018
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Two Americans stood on the Olympics podium Tuesday: gold medal halfpipe snowboard winner Chloe Kim and Arielle Gold, the bronze medalist.

They were great. But you can make a case that it's the American in fourth place, Kelly Clark, who offers the most indelible example of Olympic ideals. Clark is a five-time Olympian and a mentor to Ms. Kim and Ms. Gold as well as other women snowboarders.

For Clark, the journey began 20 years ago, when she watched the Nagano Olympics on television. She made her Olympic debut, and won gold, in 2002 – when Kim was just 22 months old. But the path to Olympic gold can be a self-centered journey. The focus and sacrifice required to reach the global pinnacle of success almost demands it.

Yet Clark’s legacy isn’t just about inspiring the next generation of halfpipe aerialists. Perhaps her more enduring gift is nurturing a sense of purpose that goes beyond the podium or even nailing back-to-back 1080s. Since 2002, as the Monitor’s Christa Case Bryant observes, Clark herself has dramatically redefined how she thinks about success and others have followed in embracing causes beyond the slopes. 

Now as the spotlight rightly shifts to the sensational 17-year-old American of Korean heritage, Clark’s wisdom shines as bright as any medal: “If your dream only involves you,” she says, “it's too small of a dream.”

Now to our five stories selected to illustrate paths to progress, including Oklahoma City urban renewal, Costa Rican justice, and security for women in India.


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Today's stories

And why we wrote them

Christa Case Bryant/The Christian Science Monitor
Oklahoma City's initial round of capital projects included transforming a district of abandoned warehouses into a shopping and restaurant district known as Bricktown.
Guillermo Granja/Reuters/Files
Ecuadorean inmate Leandra Alcivar and her daughter, age 2, look through the window of her room in a prison in Quito. From Mexico to Argentina, Latin America is struggling with prison overcrowding, and tough drug laws play a big part. Just over 75 percent of women in prison in Costa Rica are there for drug-related crimes. A narrow but revolutionary reform for women's sentencing has helped decrease the population of women in prison over the past several years.

Briefing

Photo/AP; Karen Norris/Staff

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A message of love

Armin Weigel/dpa/AP
With vintage gear and in vintage garb, participants compete in a ‘nostalgic’ ski run in Sankt Englmar, Germany, Feb. 13. Participants and spectators gather in the Bavarian town’s Kirchplatz square and make their way to the slopes accompanied by a brass band.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris and Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Come back tomorrow for the next installment of our “Reaching for Equity” series: We'll look at whether India’s new all-female police squads are the best way to improve security for women.  

More issues

2018
February
13
Tuesday
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