By Zé Fernández Guerrero How often do you scroll through your Facebook feed and find trendy news on 30-second to 2-minute videos? If you’re part of liberal circles, these kinds of videos are commonly produced by BuzzFeed News, NowThis, AJ+ and even the Dodo. Except for the environmentalist and animal rights oriented vids that the Dodo puts forth, the others usually talk about social and … Continue reading Extra but Not Enough: snippets of social media activism

By Yabework Abebe Kifetew The first time I heard Mashrou’ Leila, I was sitting with friends on a balcony overlooking Cascadilla gorge. My friend showed me the song “Lil Watan” with much enthusiasm. I don’t recall much from that first encounter, but I remember sitting outside on a high wooden stool looking at all the green of the canopy and thinking: it’s an indie band … Continue reading Mashrou’ Leila: third culture kids and the building of global citizens

Art and article by Olivia Bono “Why do you insist the Earth is flat? For what reason?” I was truly struck by this question, posted by Jer9999 on the Flat Earth Society’s online forums. I stumbled upon this comment after spending an embarrassingly long amount of time scrolling through a thread titled, “Does Flying Around the World in 1 Direction Prove the Earth is Round?” … Continue reading Why Do I Want to Believe?: the truth was inside us all along

Art and article by Kathie Jiang Portmanteau of information and commercial, infomercials are half-hour long advertisements with the appearance of a news program and the intention of providing in-depth information about a product. Many infomercials air between 1am and 5am to cut costs of airtime. Infomercials sensationalize their products—which can be too novel or difficult to sell—in exaggerated and tacky ways: narration from energetic salespeople, … Continue reading Aesthetics and Rhetorics of Late Night Infomercials

By Erin Lynch As the world becomes increasingly extra, the doctrines of simplicity and individuality that guided the great thinkers of the mid-19th century have all but disappeared. Transcendentalist ideologies are at odds with many modern societal changes that have been widely accepted as progress. The motif of adventure that has been threaded into the history of the human race has nearly disappeared as the … Continue reading Shackles of Society: the revival of transcendentalist ideals

By Abby Eskinder Hailu One day, I was at lunch back home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at my grandfather’s place. My father and I walked into the dining room and proceeded to greet everyone with a handshake and kiss on each cheek—the traditional way. I said hello to one of my grandfather’s friends in Amharic. “Wow,” he said in Amharic, “you said tenaystilign instead of … Continue reading “Hi” vs. “Tenaystilign”: the subjectivity of extra

By Stephanie Carmody Looking at Urban Dictionary’s definition of “extra,” I’m reminded of an older, but equally popular phrase: “drama queen.” Growing up, my mom (lovingly) called me a drama queen for what she deemed excessive or over the top behavior. I remember one time in particular when I was in desperate need of a pink flip phone as all the cool kids at school … Continue reading Extra: a Gendered Term?