I cannot find my high school id card, but let me describe it to you. I was 13 and my hair had been relaxed for precisely 11 months. It hung straight down to my shoulder blades, prone to waltzing in the wind. I am smiling, and I cannot remember why because I had just gotten […]

  For the past week I’ve spent more time than I’d care to admit staring into the depths of the first-ever image of a black hole and contemplating my insignificant existence in the face of this void. As the image of the black hole rapidly spread across the internet another picture spread with it: a […]

It’s an overcast spring day in Chelsea, purple and gray-blue tinted everywhere like a bruise finally deciding to refuse its body’s resistance to healing. I have many kinds of family, including queer family, but today I am walking along in Manhattan with my blood family; a funny expression to use given that my little sister […]

In doing research for my thesis (finished now, woohoo!), I stumbled upon something I probably should have a long time ago – the critical field of video game studies. Considering how often I write about video games from this perspective, I’m a little surprised I hadn’t heard of the field prior to this. The field […]

I miss The Beach Boys. I seldom listen to them anymore. So, in searching for a substitute of my much beloved summer music I stumbled onto Jukebox The Ghost. Truly. One wonders, what makes music sound like “summer?” I spend all my summers indoors. In that aspect, I should be telling you the gloomy, sparse, chords […]

It’s Jummah. Every Jummah I wake up to the beautiful recitations of the Quran on the Echo Dot in my living room. The smell of kababs on the burning stove. The sound of laughter and teasing as my siblings argue about who will shower first. I wake up to bliss, to peace. Ready to release […]

I spent some time watching Olivia Jade Giannulli’s Vlogs.  I watched her spend ten minutes humble-bragging about expensive Christmas gifts. I skipped through her travels to Fiji, which served as a destination backdrop for trying on outfits. I listened as she wandered the USC campus, asking a friend when class was done, so she could […]

There’s something amazing about exploring a new city for the first time and experiencing an array of new sights, smell, and sounds. Eating new foods, picking up words from a foreign language, and experiencing a different culture. And it’s even more amazing to be alone while doing it. Not being tied to another person’s likes, […]

Some mornings, I wake up an hour earlier in order to reserve extra time to cake my face. A process I enjoy thoroughly. I sculpt my face, highlighting features, and concealing features I dislike. Some days I can’t drag myself out of bed early enough to dress my face, at all. On those days, it’s […]

“I always filter my water. All of the water around NYC is dirty, so you know our [tap] water is too.” —NYC Resident New York City residents have a lot of different feelings and opinions about their tap water. The wide range of impressions leaves one to wonder whether or not NYC tap water is […]