Alli Armijo // Blog Writer What defines something as realistic? And who has the authority to decide what is realistic? Especially in the realm of literature, realism can often be subverted for drama or fantasy, which is beneficial in the sense that…
Rachel Tarby // Blog Writer Zami: A New Spelling of My Name was written by the profound poet Audre Lorde, who is most well-known for writing about her experiences as both a lesbian woman and a Black woman. The book…
Ana Hein // Blog Writer There are some books that feel like rites of passage into the club of the “true reader.” There’s a transformative air about them perpetuated by the literary public: you read this book, you will never…
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer How do you define “queer”? Do you see it? Do you feel it? Use one definition or many? Is it an assault, or a celebration? I guess that depends. Alison Bancroft, media culture specialist from…
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer In 2008, the City University of New York published a magazine issue composed of essays from different academics about gender essentialism in regards to transgender students attending a women’s college. Each essay creates a new avenue…
Lauren Simpson // Blog Writer “It occurred to me that if I were a ghost, this ambiance was what I’d miss most: the ordinary, day-to-day bustle of the living. Ghosts long, I’m sure, for the stupidest, most unremarkable things.” With…
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer Drag is a cultural phenomenon popularized by the hit TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race. But what Drag Race does wrong is provide a misconception of drag as an art form. After all, drag queens—whether they…
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer Art is an outlet to relieve the frustrations imposed onto people by society. Especially prevalent in today’s world, the examination of how art is used to convey the appropriations of gender and race is an…
Lauren Simpson // Blog Writer The Bluest Eye, the first novel by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, is a compelling piece drawing attention to the expectations of women in regards to beauty through the eyes of a young black girl…
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer Queer literature is fantastic, but why is it almost exclusively fantastical? Elizabeth Whitney’s article, “Capitalizing on Camp: Greed and the Queer Marketplace,” does not directly approach this issue: it rather focuses on how queer content…
