Algorithm-driven social media platforms shape perception by enclosing users in personalized content bubbles, where engagement-based recommendations reinforce and amplify exposure to increasingly polarizing information. The morning after the 2026 Super Bowl, the first post on my Instagram feed was a billboard at Bad Bunny’s halftime show performance, captioned “The only thing more powerful than hate […]
Despite my love of making crafts for my friends and family, I often feel hesitant to share my love of sewing. For many non-sewers, sewing evokes the image of a 1950s housewife and homemaker, making interest in the craft seem like a nostalgic return to a more restrictive past for women. Yet, interest in sewing […]
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children under the age of nineteen in the United States (Rencken et al. 2025). In America, twenty-five percent of mass shootings happen in schools (Nassauer 2025) and continue to increase unabated (Capellan and Gomez 2018). Mass public shootings in the United States from 1984 to 2015 […]
I was first cast as a “dumb blonde” in seventh grade. A few years later, that typecast grew into the kind of character who was still stupid, but also used her desirability to get ahead. This typecast has yet to fully disappear. There have been moments where I have caught myself accepting this stereotype as […]
The ideal female athlete is incredibly strong, lifts heavy effortlessly, yet remains perfectly lean and toned to avoid looking “too masculine” (Camacho-Miñano and Gray 2021). Mainstream media representations shifted away from the extreme “skinny” ideal of the 2000s, but these new, allegedly healthier standards carry the same toxic weight. They simply promote exercising for appearance […]
While many people credit an influential teacher or parent as a pivotal influence, for me, it was something different. For eighteen years, I grew up alongside Tabby, a scrappy rescue from the South who taught me how to be a better person. She helped me develop empathy and emotional awareness, and even influenced my career […]
I was diagnosed with type one diabetes my freshman year of high school. I was suddenly thrown into a whirlwind of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists teaching me how to keep myself alive. Upon my initial diagnosis I was quite confused; the diabetes my healthcare team described to me was completely different from the sugar-filled, obesity-caused, […]
“A case was referred to us in which a boy – just fourteen years old – was badly beaten and robbed. The young man who did it was facing three years in prison. I went to speak with the survivor’s mother…she said to me: When I first found out about this, I wanted that young […]
Machismo is a burden that plagues the Latin American community. As a queer Latin American myself, I’ve often faced machismo, whether it’s been within my own family or outside of it. From hearing the stories of abuse victims, to witnessing catcalls directed at my sisters, to seeing my father transition from being my greatest role […]
College students face growing pressure to do well in school, and oftentimes this comes with higher levels of stress (Cooper 2017). To cope, some have turned to illicit usage of prescription stimulants meant for treatment of ADHD (Rolland and Smith 2017), in order to help with large amounts of difficult schoolwork. This misuse of Adderall […]
