Progress This past year we’ve been saturated with rhetoric surrounding “progress.” Trump’s election was widely hailed as a “step backwards,” undoing the years of positive change that allowed Hillary Clinton to declare that “America is already great.” But this semester kitsch wonders: have we really been moving forward? Can we even conceive of history as … Continue reading
Latest Entries
There is literally no such thing as good English: on rejecting “standard american english” and embracing language change
By Jagravi Dave The way we speak ties us to where we’re from. Our speech is infused with linguistic markers, some extraordinarily salient and others more subtle, that identify us as coming from particular places so significantly that The New York Times was able to create a dialect quiz for the United States that identifies, … Continue reading
Aladdin, WY
By Nathaniel LaCelle-Peterson I took Kory’s picture in front of the sign—yellow safety vest, a grinning face (also grimacing into the sun), and a sticker-covered Fuji steel frame with a neat, streamlined blue pack bound onto the rack about the rear wheel. We each ate a granola bar and drank deep gulps of what was … Continue reading
The Paradox of the Bong Woman: class divide and feminism in Bangladesh
By Nuha Fariha A quick Google search of Bengali women, or “Bong” women as they’re colloquially referred to, reveals an interesting picture. Bong women are portrayed as daring, well-read, cultured feminists, partiers, and foodies. In other words, it reveals the perfect reflection of the myth I’d been told growing up. Out of all the countries … Continue reading
Why Are You So Obsessed with Me? the conventional wisdom of social media
By Viri Garcia I confess that I’m on social media most of the day, but I promise it’s not for reasons you would expect. I don’t go on social media to retweet, repost, like, and share things. I go on there to laugh. To laugh at what we’ve become, while I quietly panic on the inside … Continue reading
Alternative Structures of Government: a conversation with Eastern Farm Workers Association
By Sophia May It may be time to admit that our system is failing us. Economically, our representatives continue to support policies that increase the broad income gap between the wealthy few and the impoverished many. This is perpetuated by a political system under which representation is skewed so that companies can make contributions to political … Continue reading
The L-Bench: a seat for Newton’s alt-boys
By Sophie Galowitz While many people expect political tension over Thanksgiving break, I thought I would be returning home to my oasis of liberal consensus in Newton, Massachusetts. I remembered that even as the national conversation exploded in the spring of 2016, in this very liberal Boston suburb, my high school’s mock primary debates were argued … Continue reading
Urban Flavors: religion and urbanization in the Middle East
By Lela Robinson For those with sophisticated palettes, I recommend the urbanism. Not an obvious choice, but if you’re an erudite progressive who enjoys the bitter taste of sophistication over the hearty flavors of reality, I can assure you, you would like nothing less. It’s on the side, under feminism and above Marxism. Don’t bother reading … Continue reading
Dismantling America’s Immigrant Fetish: how rabid anti-xenophobics can still be dicks
By Jeremiah Kim SCENE: A pho restaurant. Amidst the streams of sweat, spit, and speech spilling out between steaming bowls of hot brown broth, a table for two sits silent and spotless. LOVER: So uh…it says in your bio that you speak two languages… (Leans forward conspiratorially.) Does that you mean you’re like…not from here? … Continue reading
I Am Gagged: a lesson we can learn from America’s sixth president
By Angelina Shi In 1824, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams ran for president. At the start, it seemed Adams was the likely winner; he was the son of a previous president and a former secretary of state with a brilliant international relations background. He was Harvard-educated, while Jackson could barely spell. It didn’t seem … Continue reading
