When game designer Luke Crane asked a deceptively simple question on Twitter: “Why are there so few lady game creators,” he might not have expected an overflow of responses from women creators themselves. Using the hashtag #1reasonwhy, hundreds of female video game players and developers provided painstakingly detailed anecdotes that revealed the multifaceted sexism in…
Washington’s geographical center is saturated with Greek revival columns that tower over thousands of scurrying suits. Plaques, giant obelisks, and statues remind passersby that decisions of great political weight are and have always been made on the very ground they tread on. Of the 100-odd monuments in the District dedicated to individuals, fewer than 10…
with contributions by Caroline Wilkerson, a former student at Pepperdine University Caroline: No one can warn you about what a mass shooting feels like. Nothing can prepare you for the sudden emptiness, or the random hugs, or the tears running down everyone’s faces. On Nov. 7, 2018, someone tried to shoot my friends. They…
The weight I carried with me while wandering the streets of Dublin at four in the morning is difficult for me to express. The vacation had been planned months earlier—presented as a Christmas gift that my family would share. My parents wrapped a bar of Irish Spring soap and put it under the Christmas tree…
When I first started practicing Buddhism at age 11, I became the odd one out in my family of Catholics and atheists. Piles of sutras, Buddha images, and prayer beads crowded my room. I took a trip to see the Dalai Lama at Emory University during my sophomore year of high school, and I constructed…
Nearly every night I can remember from my pre-kindergarten years, my mom would read with me. It was almost always my choice what book we would dive into that evening; I had a bookshelf of stories we would rotate through. I’m sure for my mom this was a less-than-exhilarating routine of re-reading my favorite installment…
Lunch was inevitable. In the few months I’ve been rock climbing, I’ve learned to recognize the predictable rhythms of angling my foot just so, willing energy into my shoulders to grasp for the final hold, and listening to the ache in my stomach telling me it’s time to call it a day. We set off…
While studying abroad in Dublin last fall, I finished almost three seasons of Love Island. It was a source of laughter and excitement during a period of situational depression. Out of a desire not to fail all my classes, I didn’t venture back into the world of Love Island until deciding to watch the most…
On September 13, Felicity Huffman will be sentenced for her involvement in the college admissions scandal, a multimillion dollar conspiracy to gain access to the nation’s top universities. Other indicted figures, like Lori Loughlin, are awaiting trial. While these individuals have received their share of public backlash, less attention has been paid to the ways…
Sometimes politics feels like a hellhole. Whether it’s in the Twittersphere, on CNN or C-SPAN, or even just in everyday conversations, it can feel like an inescapable purgatory. This should go without saying, but politics shouldn’t be hell. Donald Trump’s presidency has shown nothing but hatred—hateful policies and hateful rhetoric—fueling this hellishness that Americans wake…