This September, the people of Scotland will vote in a referendum on whether or not Scotland should be an independent country, ending its 300-year union with the United Kingdom. The journey to the 2014 Referendum has been burdened by a slew of political oppositions and controversies, burdens that are sure to remain as the date of Referendum draws nearer. Here’s everything you need to know about Scotland’s history of devolution and how Scotland’s independence will impact the UK and the world:

More and more of our jobs are replaced by software, robots, and other forms of technology. Of course, in their mad quest to cut payroll, corporations forget that, bereft of a paycheck, not to mention will (thus far, anyway), technology can’t buy their goods and services as theirs and other corporations’ paid employees would. For now, we’ll just file that under the category of “Suppose They Threw an Economy and No One Came” and move on to the theme of this post.

Author Junot Diaz recently published a critique of the “whiteness” of MFA programs in The New Yorker's blogs section. This is a shortened version of his intro to the VONA anthology, Dismantle: An Anthology of Writings from the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop.