For the average museum-goer, looking at art is a passive experience – concerned mainly with the aesthetic presentation of what we see before us. However, taking a critical approach to the diversity of artists represented reveals the insidious and exclusionary practices that exist in many “respected” institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New…
Against a backdrop of a biblically proportional man-made drought, the quiet detritus of human anguish that tumbles down empty sidewalks, and a garish peacocking of wealth native to the region of Los Angeles, there’s an ambient sense of unease in the air.
Featured Art by Shahzaad Raja “I have always thought that if women’s hair posed so many problems, God would certainly have made us bald.” This quote, taken from Marjane Satrapi’s critically acclaimed graphic novel Persepolis, reflects the sentiment of younger Satrapi as she’s forced to navigate the complex prism of childhood while simultaneously growing up…
You’re 16 and you’re gazing out at the sky. Your retinas are met with the glimmering lights of a magnificent Southeast Asian metropolis, contrasted by the subdued darkness of the night. As the average high schooler within this big city, you exist within a bubble of linear algebra, sneaking into 18+ horror movies & going…
When I was getting ready to move into my college dorm and leave my lifelong home, all I could think about was the past. All I could think about were the friends I’d probably never see again, my younger sisters that I wouldn’t see grow up, the past that would always remain history. These were…
From spontaneous drives in the dead of night with people I had just met to unexpected benders filled with expectedly reckless behavior, I was eager to take every opportunity I had missed having spent the past year as a freshman online. Along the way, I met someone who I instantly clicked with.
My mother never liked talking about her childhood. I grew up thinking she was from Los Reyes, Michoacan, Mexico; when I started writing this piece, I learned this was a lie. My mother is actually from Los Pallilos, Michoacan, in other words, el rancho. She describes this place as simple, a simple town with simple…
Despite the few pickup rounds of HORSE I played with my brother circa 2008 and my limited knowledge of Devin Booker and Kendall Jenner’s five minute relationship, my grasp on the game of basketball is scant. I’ve always been attracted to the sport, but I could never put my finger on why it seemed so…
Music and songwriting are crucial pieces of my identity, but as a woman I have begun to feel out of place in the music world. Music did not always feel so gendered. In elementary school, writing songs felt natural; a childish burst of creativity stemming from the same place as the urge to throw mud…
When I was ten years old, I started noticing the shoes boys wore in my class. They wore a mixture of Jordan 3s and 4s and I was envious. I rushed home to ask my dad to buy me a pair, but he refused, claiming they were a boy’s shoe and didn’t suit me. So…