Feb 16, 2023
Making the Grand Romantic Gesture
In our seven years together, we’ve thrived on routine. We’ve done long-distance before, but never quite like this.
How to Say I Love You in Bangla
At the kitchen table, Jason reminded me, “It’s our wedding. I think you can say whatever you want, in any language.”
Feb 14, 2023
Who Deserves Love In the Nineties Rom-Com?
Somewhere between the one-dimensional BIPOC sidekick and the final, showstopping kiss, I forgot that I was consuming love stories built on exclusion.
Feb 13, 2023
In Horror Films, the Newest Nightmare Is Getting Canceled
Men around me speak about cancel culture with such hyperbole and terror, you’d think it was a supernatural force.
Feb 09, 2023
When Food is the Only Narrative We Consume
Chinese culture can’t be made bite-sized for mass consumption.
Feb 08, 2023
Wearing My Grief On My Sleeve
And somewhere in there, as my hands ached from the work, I began to grieve
Feb 07, 2023
Bad Friend Art
Colin Farrell’s friend breakup in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is eerily similar to my own. His is just more cinematic.
Feb 02, 2023
Even the TV Characters Know It’s Time to Riot
The rise of radical politics in shows like “Andor” offer me a surprising source of hope.
Feb 01, 2023
All Clothing Is “Handmade,” Even When You Can’t See It
Factory-produced clothing still requires human hands. When we pay less for our clothing, it is the cost of labor at play.
Jan 31, 2023
Making Connections Through the “Trans Trade”
The act of the trans trade, and its ritualization, came readily to hand for me, but it’s a distant possibility for so many of us.
Jan 30, 2023
New York, I Love You—But Are You Bringing Me Down?
What parts of me are still fed by my New York environment? Are other parts of me getting hungrier? For more, or for something else entirely?
Jan 26, 2023
My Kwik Trip Gas Station Has Always Been There for Me
I want to preserve this old gas station because it feels like preserving myself.
Jan 25, 2023
Is HBO’s “The Last of Us” Anything Like the Games?
For all of its commitment to diverse representation, the game was fundamentally another apocalypse story about the reproduction of white patriarchal violence.
Jan 19, 2023
An Ode to Kraft Dinner, Food of Troubled Times
While the world has continued to change, Kraft’s product has remained the same, somehow evading inflation at one or two dollars per box.
Jan 19, 2023
Untangling the Horrors of Being Parented Resentfully
In the ‘Beloved,’ ‘The Baby,’ and ‘Barbarian,’ Black women grapple with vengeful mothers and children. In my life, I’ve broken that cycle.
Jan 12, 2023
What Is “Skin-First” Beauty Actually Selling?
Rebranding beauty rituals as self-acceptance does nothing to remove the obligation that says we must aspire to be beautiful.
Jan 11, 2023
Learning to Take Risks Like the Queer Pirates in ‘Our Flag Means Death’
Love and connection require emotional risk. After the harrowing nature of the last three years, I needed ‘Our Flag Means Death’ to remind me.
Jan 09, 2023
What “The Mindy Project” Did (and Didn’t Do) for Brown Girls on TV
The critiques Mindy Kaling received shaped the representation we see on-screen today as much as her successes did.
Jan 05, 2023
Prince Taught Me a Whole New Love Language
“Sign o’ the Times” is candy for a cute little he/they like me.
Jan 04, 2023
Unraveling the Perfectionism of Christmas, Ballet, and ‘The Nutcracker’
I aged out of leotards and ballet—not perfectionism. But tight buns suck. And so do tightly scripted holidays.
Dec 13, 2022
