by Kristin Wagner I am packing for Alaska now, and each item I put into a suitcase reminds me that I have to plan for the inevitability that at some point on this trip, my body or my mind will fail me. This trip was supposed to happen last year. We wanted to go to Alaska last summer, but we didn’t. The reason sounds spoiled and selfish when I explain “Well, we didn’t have quite enough frequent flier points to fly…
by: Fahrin Kermally In early 2005, I was in the middle of graduate school, planning my career, and thinking about the fabulous life I had ahead of me. What I wasn’t thinking about was my health. I ate well, was physically fit, and it didn’t occur to me that anything could possibly be wrong. Even the continuous spotting I had been living with for two years didn’t make me pause. Not until I casually mentioned it to a friend. “You’ve…
by Andrea Crowley-Hughes Barcelona is a city that has called out to me several times, first during college, where I studied the language and culture through cinema, and most recently on vacation. Taking a second look at the city only deepened my love for this cosmopolitan and artistic center. It is still a place where old traditions and new trends of thought meet and dialogue with each other, where nature is reflected in architecture and where one can enjoy mid-day…
An Interview with Dr. Christine James by Lauren Jonik Last fall during election season, I noticed that the more I watched the news or scrolled through my Facebook feed, the more stressed out I felt. Though I think cultural dialogue is crucial in a democracy, it seemed that I was witnessing a kind of unraveling. Instead of people talking about issues, friendships were fraying at the seams. What was once a fun way of connecting had turned into a political minefield,…
by Tana Tymesen In a tertiary plotline in 2000’s Oscar-winning Almost Famous, Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel) runs off with her boyfriend to become a flight attendant. As she hugs her little brother William goodbye, she whispers to him to look under his bed — that there he’ll find his freedom. William lugs from the dark beneath his mattress a large bag stuffed with Anita’s albums as the opening lines of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” play in the background. “Let us be…