Thoughts

Yes. I am going to write a piece about a song from a young adult fan fiction remix. But there is a reason it has resonated with so many (including me) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14H8OzTzne4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyYTcMFKFXY From staggering wealth inequality to the grim realization that they are at the wealthy's mercy for climate change mitigation, young people today fully realize the times they are living in and the costs of inaction. Many times we simply distract ourselves from the horrifying possibilities of our futures. We distract ourselves from the reality that water will soon be a scarce resource, that variable weather and climate change will cause our stomachs to growl with hunger we have never yet experienced, and question our ability to have resolution as we tuck in our basements time and time again while storms charge through with increased intensity and severity than ever before. But I think what scares young people most, is the realization...

Our America  is a non-fiction story that chronicles the lives of two inner city Chicago boys, LeAlan and Lloyd. The boys were given a microphone to record their experiences and thoughts growing up in the south side of Chicago in the early to mid nineties. Our America is the transcribed version of these stories. This essay intertwines LeAlan and Lloyd's stories with the stories told by black artists through the decades. _____________________________________________________________________________ Our America: A Look Beyond the Veil Introduction “We want to give you kids in America a message: Don’t look at ghetto kids as different. You might not want to invite us to your parties, you might think well rob you blind when you got your back turned. But don’t look at us like that...We have a hard life, but were sensitive. Ghetto kids are not a different breed--were human” p. 83 Public Enemy: Don’t Believe the Hype “BACK!” Chuck D spits, and it pops like a guns...

the sexualization of women weight lifters bothers me. It also kind of bothers me that I can't quite articulate why it bothers me. So here I am trying to articulate for you, but mostly for myself, why it bothers me. To start, I think there are some endearing things about man friends on my Facebook posting sexualized photos of weightlifting women. It might sound strange but I'm not being disingenuous. I think it's a way of saying I think women who are strong and powerful are sexy. And I think there is something really nice about that sentiment. It's a way of going against masculine norms (while unfortunately still following them) and saying these women don't intimidate me, they arouse me. <--strange, but that's what it's saying. So why does this bother me then. What bothers me is the types of videos they choose to post. It bothers me when women have huge fake breasts in these videos. It bothers me when they are wearing booty shorts or tight lace...

What We Build On It was a brisk October day. My breath hung in the air. Tourists huddled around me with their hands wedged tightly in their coat pockets, and they breathed into the cold with pursed lips. We stood there, feet grounded on the marble bricks outside the Historical Society. Our tour leader greeted us. Frosty air rippled out in smoky chains from her mouth as she spoke. “Shall we begin?” she asked. We smiled, mumbling our agreements, and began our historical tour of Bascom. Bascom Hall, and the Hill it sits on, has represented the regality of the University of Wisconsin campus since its construction in 1857 [1] , but many forget about the history beneath the hill. This is a story of the silent, the overlooked—the invisible. This is a story of soil. This is a story of what we build on We made our strides in long lunges as we hoisted our bodies up Bascom Hill. This was a story my legs understood. This was a story of great energy. Roughly 18,000 years ago, the University o...