MENTAL HEALTH, POETRY & PROSE

To Fill a Paper

My teenage years often feel some sort of sick competition, as I watch college applications and academic success swallow so many students like myself. Though it may not actually be the case, the feeling of having your future determined by the actions you make as a seventeen-year-old is terrifying. In addition to that, being surrounded […]

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CULTURE, MENTAL HEALTH, OPINION

The M Word

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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EMPOWERMENT, MENTAL HEALTH, THE ARTS

The Case for Gratitude

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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FEMINISM, MENTAL HEALTH, POETRY & PROSE

Stereotypes

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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LIFE, MENTAL HEALTH, WORLD ISSUES

Goodbye, Arch: Sharing Sorrow

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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FOOD & NUTRITION, MENTAL HEALTH, POETRY & PROSE

Catherine

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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