Managing Editor Fay Schlesinger looks back on her favorite features from 2018.

It’s been a big year for OZY, and for me personally. When I think back to what made me move 5,360 miles from Great Britain to California and from The Times of London to OZY this summer, it comes down in part to … houseflies.  

After being introduced to OZY and starting to follow its content avidly, I came across this story about why Ugandans had fallen in love with houseflies and was taken by the unusual entry point to a weighty global issue.

Compelling stories, told thoughtfully and articulately and accompanied by stunning video, visuals and audio, are what I most enjoy about OZY. I’m also incredibly proud of our newest and most of-the-moment TV show, Take On America, and of The Thread podcast, which traces the surprising connection between various historic figures or events each season.

As we enter the New Year, I hope you get as much curiosity-piquing pleasure from OZY as I do — and relish our 2019 offerings even more (with or without houseflies).

Take on America: This is what happens when 100 Black men discuss race, Donald Trump, policing and fatherhood.

What happens when you get a room of 100 Black men from Baltimore discussing new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh? Or Colin Kaepernick and policing? What about President Donald Trump and the economy?

You get the first episode of Take on America With OZY, taped at the War Memorial in Charm City with the midterm elections right around the corner. Unlike most town halls, this wasn’t about politicians answering questions from a cherry-picked crowd. The spotlight wasn’t on the celebrity guests but the people: civic leaders, businessmen, activists, students, educators and everyone in between. Before a televised audience, they tackled stereotypes and assumptions head-on. And they had plenty to say.

Married women in Uganda are employing an unlikely weapon against a patriarchal society: Demanding money from husbands for sex. 

Schoolteacher Annet Nanozi was mad at her husband. A vehicle mechanic, he was refusing to help raise their four children. She realized he was instead spending his paycheck on alcohol and his time sleeping with barmaids. The 34-year-old decided to teach her husband a lesson. Now, when he comes home and wants sex, he needs to pay her first.

It’s a controversial strategy, but it’s picking up across Uganda, as increasingly emboldened women — backed by rights organizations — battle a patriarchal society where responsibilities and moral norms are both skewed against them. What started out with isolated instances in the capital, Kampala, has exploded into a tactic more and more Ugandan women are employing to get their husbands to pay up for household expenses and atone for refusing to take on home chores.