LITERATURE, POLITICS

Banning Books, Silencing Voices

Featured Illustration: Jane Mount I have been watching the escalating trend of banning books in the USA with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. It’s a bit like reliving a nightmare, since the banning of books was an apartheid staple. Having travelled through the south of the United States of America […]

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EMPOWERMENT, OPINION, WOMEN'S HEALTH

Embracing Ageing

I spent the morning at a chair yoga workshop recently, talking about the effects of ageing on the body. While I’m not quite ready to get off the mat, there were definitely pointers to share with my mum and adaptations to consider when aches and pains give me a nudge (as they do nowadays). This […]

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CULTURE, POLITICS

The Death Penalty and Its Implications in Lynching

Featured Illustration: The Appeal In Sumter County, Florida, in 1902, a Black man by the name of Henry Wilson was condemned to death and subsequently hanged before a violent, white mob. He was accused of murder, and his trial spanned over the short period of just two hours and forty minutes. This trial was accompanied […]

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CULTURE, EMPOWERMENT, POETRY & PROSE

Side Effects

Featured Image: Hanifa Abdul Hameed Over the sewing machine Among the steady hum  Of the needle gliding into the fabric I hear  ‘Ladkiyon ko zyaada nahi parhaana chahiye Unki soch badal jaati hai. Ladkiyaan zyaada parh leti hain Toh bahu banna bhool jati hain.’   Girls shouldn’t study too much Their way of thinking changes […]

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CULTURE, POLITICS

School Inequality: A Thin Mask on Racism

Featured Artwork: Yasmine Gateau On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States of America gave its decision on the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education, deeming racial segregation of schools unconstitutional. After its 9-0 ruling, the Court stated that: “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and that it violated the Equal […]

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