When I was a kid, I wanted my first car to be a Ford Focus. I dreamed of whipping my cool, worldly friends around my tiny Texas town in a 4-cylinder sedan, blasting all the music that didn’t play on my parents’ favorite Christian radio station. The reason I wanted a Focus was simple: When…
When I was a kid, I used to rewatch Monsters, Inc. all the time, enough that I wore out the family VHS tape. Do you remember that scene when one monster comes out of his door with a sock on his back, and the Scare Floor erupts in chaos? If you really think back, you…
Coming to Washington, D.C., for college, I looked forward to my first Women’s March. In the weeks leading up to the event, I ordered red bandanas from Amazon to resemble Rosie the Riveter and scrolled through Pinterest for poster inspiration. When the day finally came, my roommate and I trekked across the Francis Scott Key…
Pope Francis’ announcement that Catholic youth from around the world would convene in Panama City for World Youth Day 2019 provoked an expected enthusiasm in many Panamanians. For a small, very Catholic country, receiving the Pope would be an incredible experience. Together with hosting the large number of people who would share in this huge…
A few weeks into my first semester at Georgetown, I noticed an open music room—a rare sight in the perpetually busy student center—and made a mad dash to claim it. I sat down at the piano, giddy with the excitement of securing a room and relieved to be alone for the first time in weeks….
“Do you speak Korean?” asked my friend, sitting on the floor of my freshman year dorm room. “No…” “Well, have you ever been to the country?” “No,” I responded, “but—” “Well, then, you’re not Korean. So stop pretending to be.” *** When my dad moved to the United States at four years old, he didn’t…
One journal is striped, slightly water-stained, and held together with a hair tie. Another is sturdy and black with “Carpe Fucking Diem” printed on the front. One is covered in bright orange bunnies, and another is thick, college-ruled, green, and filled with graphite threatening to disappear. On the occasional lazy day when I’m back home…
Content Warning: Sexual Assault and Abuse In 2005, MadTV parodied R. Kelly’s urban opera, “Trapped in the Closet,” in a skit called “Trapped in the Cupboard.” Within the first minute of the skit, Jordan Peele, playing Kelly, sings, “A voice calls out ‘hey baby’ / My woman comes in the scene / I think ‘oh,…
The World Wide Web is a beautifully bizarre land where a Kickstarter for a man making potato salad can raise $55,000. At the same time, the 2017 Women’s March, the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history, can become a reality through a grassroots Facebook campaign. “Weird” doesn’t even begin to cover the stupidly influential amalgamations…
Content Warning: Physical and sexual violence, harassment “Would you be opposed to undressing me and smothering my naked body in peanut butter?” I’m the Tinder girl most Tinder boys seem to hate. You know, the one who carries on a basic conversation but suddenly stops responding out of nowhere? How annoying, right? I’m the silent…