Featured Illustration: Daniela Jordan~Villaveces I’m in my early 20s. Still in university. Single so far. Muslim. Indian. And marriage is a trigger word to me. Not really. It’s not that the very word induces panic. Or that I can’t fathom the idea of it or that I’m against it. But when I’m made to think […]
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Featured Image: Stefany Andrade On the stage and facing glaring back at me doesn’t feel the same. The applause isn’t quite as fulfilling, the sounds aren’t quite sitting correctly and all I can think about is them. Picturing their faces in the audience instead of the unfamiliar faces of my peers feels more comfortable. A […]
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The Case for Gratitude by Ushbah Al-Ain Artwork by Joumana Medlej To say that we are emerging from a pandemic that has fundamentally changed our lives is an understatement. The staggering impact of the past few years has left people feeling disoriented collectively. Yet the pressure to keep grinding persists: to keep providing, creating, and consuming […]
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It was in 2019 that I met Megha Rao at the very first open mic I attended. I was enchanted by her piece which took me to lands I’d never known, seeing things I’d never seen. That’s what her poems are, they’re so much more than what they seem. Her latest publication, Teething, is what […]
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Featured Image: Lucxama Sylvain Aged eleven I knew Black was not beautiful That my 4c coils, dark brown skin, and protruding curves Made me too big, loud, and ugly Not blond enough, small enough, or white enough I was a sore thumb in a sea of white A sidekick in some white girl’s life Nice […]
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South Africa lost a much-loved leader in Nobel Peace laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, in December 2021. A kind and principled man and the moral compass for our country both during apartheid and after democracy in 1994, he fought vociferously to bring about change. He was an avid campaigner for international […]
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Disclaimer: This review may contain spoilers for ‘Maybe I Don’t Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery’ by David Harewood (Bluebird Books). . . . MAYBE I DON’T BELONG HERE, the black-and-yellow poster on the wall of the subway in London shouted to me, on a visit last September. As a South […]
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Featured Artwork: ‘Anxiety’ by aaakeith Trigger Warning: Eating Disorders . . . Catherine comes over the night before Thanksgiving with her mother She was my first best friend my unofficial older sister the girl I wanted to be when I grew up I was six She was nine We had just read […]
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Featured Illustration: Abbey Lossing I’ve always loved celebrating the New Year. On December 31st, we’d feast as we waited for the clock to strike midnight, and I’d look up to the sky to admire the fireworks, despite harboring deep resentment for loud noises. In pre-pandemic times, my village hosted dinner parties, which were the only […]
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