Out of the Closet and into the Community
While it is unlikely that the utterance of a phrase like, “with my ogles, I varda one hot dish of chicken…he’s one hell of an omi-polone hoofer”, would be met by anything other than confused, blank stares today, this was not always the case. In fact, responses might have ranged from furrowed brows to undone trousers in 1960’s Britain, as the ability to comprehend what appeared to be a distinctly English-adjacent language spoke volumes about one’s social status. Read More
Addressing Current Issues in Healthcare for Transgender Individuals
In a society that has long struggled to shake off the effects of discrimination and disenfranchisement, we have looked to our institutions to act as neutral mediators, unbiased by constructs of race, gender, class, or experience. Yet we have found that our public services, our courts, and our bureaucracies have often functioned with prejudice. Medicine is no different. Read More
Lab Musings
The right-side stairwell will take you below the biology lectures to the underbelly with a narrowly extending hallway dimmed by the generous spacing of fluorescent bulbs highlighting the walls of zoomed-in mutated fly eye posters, colorless and captured by scanning electron microscopes. Read More
Looking for God in Harry Potter
Despite its massive success, the Harry Potter series has its fair share of critics. Large numbers of conservative Christians have denounced the books for their supposed promotion of witchcraft and occult practices, which are forbidden by the Bible. Conversely, many liberal Christians have praised Harry Potter for its reflection of religious themes, and some have gone as far as arguing that Harry is a modern-day depiction of Jesus Christ. Read More
The Heartbeat
“Don’t you remember when our eyes were blue? We were in the winter of our lives.” She looks at me and then at the mottled gray dashboard, her chipped, purple fingernails tapping against the steering wheel. The rain peppers the window, the small spots of moisture intensifying the colorless world outside. The words she just whispered are echoing inside me. Don’t you remember when our eyes were blue? Read More
The Effect of Indian Social Structure on the Perception and Development of Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu, Southern India, and is known for its elegance, beauty, and ability to express ideas and stories. This enchanting dance form suffered throughout history due to the stigmatizing nature of the Indian caste system in regards to the values and perceptions that the dance form held. Read More
Marlboro Lights
I told them I quit smoking but I didn’t. The reasons don’t matter, I mean, they do matter, and I’m just saying that to try to lessen the blow. I get it ain’t the biggest deal in the world, this type of relapse. I can explain. Read More
Internet Trolls: A Causal Discussion of Online Deviance
Trolls insult and mock children, adolescents, grieving families, and minorities with equal levels of blithe. These actions are defined by outsiders as deviant due to the extreme, blunt measures that are taken. However, trolls’ actions have a purpose to members of this subculture. Additionally, these actions may not be as foreign from the mainstream culture as an outsider might believe. Read More
Aids Denialism: How to Legitimize a Conspiracy
In the era of haphazard proclamations that credible journalism is “fake news” and conspiracy theories sensationalizing real-world events, it is clear that information is no longer made to inform the masses, but to be shared by the masses. Newsworthy events are blown out of proportion and exaggerated to the point of near absurdity, or even worse, distorted to create a conspiracy. However, this phenomenon is not new. For decades, the AIDS epidemic has been manipulated to become the catalyst for huge conspiracies. Read More
Building the Modern Woman: A History of Sacrificing Women's Health, Bodies, and Lives
At puberty, priming and pruning begin the transformation from human to woman. The concept of constructed womanhood is not new—performativity theories have long postulated that gender is a construction. The foundation of this construction and the direction of influence is complicated. A self-identified woman is not entirely her own creation, but rather a product of compliance with or rejection of the values imposed on her. Read More