14 Jun 2013
Mark Anthony Neal is a professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. Dr. Neal received his PhD in American Studies from University of Buffalo. He is the author of five books, including the recently published Looking for Leroy: Looking For Leroy: [...]
9 Jun 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi Many people object to the phrase “rape culture.” They don’t understand how a culture as civilized as ours can be defined by a force as destructive as rape. They deem it an overstatement, an “over-analysis” by angry bra-burning feminists. Some even consider it an oxymoron. And others [...]
5 Jun 2013
By Bruna Lobato In my first creative writing class as a Brazilian international student at a private American college I received my fiction assignment back with comments and a tall slender “A” written in green ink. I was glad to see validation that I, a non-native speaker, could write well [...]
3 Jun 2013
By Ashley Yenick Do millennials know of any famous feminists in our society? There are many feminists mentioned in this video: bell hooks, Audrey Lorde, Peggy McIntosh, Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, and Michelle Obama. I was intrigued to hear that Michelle Obama was considered a feminist. I think the interviewee’s [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
This piece was written in the liminal space after the Boston Marathon bombings had occurred, during the initial firefights and manhunt, during the time when the first bomber was killed and the second bomber was being hunted by the police, and before the second bomber was found. The essay was produced for and read...
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By: Angela Willey “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Todd Akin’s now infamous claim in August of 2012 destroyed his credibility and his reelection bid. His comments propagate a long history of victim-blaming by implying that some rapes are not really rapes. ...
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By: Isaiah M. Wooden and Darnell L. Moore In a different presidential election year, 2004, Comedy Central’s ever-popular sketch series, Chapelle’s Show, featured a boundlessly funny segment called, “I Know Black People.”1 Inspired by a conversation with a white viewer who suggested that the show was perhaps offensive to its black audiences, the segment...
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It’s a strange time to be a young woman in America and to be facing voting for the very first time. When women are still making only 77 cents to every man’s dollar and when states like Arizona have recently passed legislation that requires all schools to leave abortion out of any lessons about...
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By: Samuel “Basil” Soper In first grade, my teacher asked, “Do you know who your parents are voting for?” I announced to my peers that my parents supported George Bush Senior. “Personally, I like the other guy,” I added. Bill Clinton seemed so much more hip. He played the saxophone. While I knew nothing...
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I’m feeling very ambivalent about voting and electoral politics more generally these days. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’m ineligible to vote in the United States and I’m also ineligible to vote in my home country of Canada. In effect, my itinerant life has left me disfranchised both where...
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For the students enrolled in Latino/a Pop at UT Austin, Fall 2012. Is it a coincidence that Disney launched the promotional campaign for its first Hispanic Princess Sofia weeks before the 2012 Presidential election? Maybe. But I can’t help but ponder the larger implications of thinking through “Hispanic” activists being “pissed” about the new...
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Over the course of this election season, TFW has wrestled with the idea of issuing political endorsements. As a Collective, we are committed to a future that makes human flourishing possible. For us, this future is one that depends on radical self-reflexivity, naming the insidious workings of racisms, sexisms, heterosexisms, and nationalisms, alongside acting...
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Sarah Mantilla Griffin “And I say all of this tonight not just as First Lady…and not just as a wife. You see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still ‘mom-in-chief.’ My daughters are still the heart of my heart and the center of my world.” – Michelle Obama In...
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More than 2,000 people have been exonerated of serious crimes since 1989 in the United States, according to a report by college researchers who have established the first national registry of exonerations. Researchers say their registry is the largest database of these types of cases and showcases some of the major issues with the criminal justice system, including...
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12 Jun 2013
Diana and the face of the moon another night you are . turning your face ………………….. i am already gone and you are throwing stones . Diana swearing never ….. swearing never …… swearing never ………………………………………… again just say what you are trying [...]
5 Jun 2013
By Kristy Webster The Bee Trap Some girls have eyes like invitations, and some girls wear glasses and scarves, walk with a whistle in their mouth, Some girls leave the window cracked open, they need more air always more than the breeze will bring and some people [...]
29 May 2013
from Narrative & Nest by Danielle Vogel Toward Untraumatizing the Sentence— If anything comes through in spite of all this, it is a miracle, and probably no book is born entire and uncrippled as it was conceived. —Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own I’m beginning [...]
13 Jun 2013
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30 Apr 2013
The Guardian