Writes
The temperature aboveground was brutally frigid. Levi — who for the past two nights had been laid out on a bench inside a heated train car on the A, C, and E line — lowered his eyelids protectively over his retinas and climbed out into the low winter sun, stumbling onto the sidewalk and falling... Continue Reading →
Throughout my life, I have struggled with the amount of time I take to process my feelings and the feelings in my surrounding environment. That isn’t to say that I dislike this aspect of my personality. In fact, I choose to use my time in this manner. Moreover, I admire the way in which this... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary about the HSBC money laundering scandal. For those of you as unfamiliar with this scandal as I was, essentially the powerful international bank, HSBC, was knowingly manipulating regulations to funnel drug cartel money from Mexico and Colombia through the U.S. financial system. Being a bank that is... Continue Reading →
On the phone the other day, my mother expressed her excitement about the new CVS Photoshop-Free campaign. Like my mother, I support the anti-Photoshop movement. I believe it is a positive start in rectifying our body image issues. Yet despite the fact that I approve of companies, celebrities, and influencers jumping on the anti-Photoshop bandwagon,... Continue Reading →
It can be difficult to understand the privileged mindset. And for many of us, it can be hard to relate to. But I recently came across a video[i] depicting extreme animal cruelty at one of the nation’s biggest dairy farms, and it make me consider this: as humans, we are all privileged; and we all... Continue Reading →
A New York Times[i] article from last month inspired me to write about a global issue with a pernicious impact: the lack of comprehensive reportage and the passive reaction modern society has towards hard news. I believe that an essential component of effective journalism is the reporter’s ability probe beyond the superficial particulars of critical... Continue Reading →
The United States is a culture that idealizes the individual. On a daily basis, we are bombarded with depictions of the successful persona; of the idea that a single individual can build a multinational corporation, form a successful start-up, become a famous musician, an inspiring influencer, or a multimillionaire solely from personal talent, grit, and... Continue Reading →
I have been contemplating the negative conditioning that the majority of us have in regards to help. In general, it is difficult to receive help from a primarily empathetic standpoint, where the individual helping is assessing the person-in-need’s capabilities, passions, past history, fears, emotional attachments, and the base requirements that they may lack. Instead of... Continue Reading →
Recently, I have been questioning the manner in which we punish and penalize in our society. A lot of our punitive measures seem driven by our tendency to place people into polarities: as good or bad, kind or mean, angel or devil, moral or corrupt, laborer or artist, hard-working or lazy, as ‘once a cheater... Continue Reading →