#TransInCollege
Nationwide, transgender people are faced with gender norm policing and oppression by cisgender privilege daily. While visibility around trans oppression has increased socially, agency and resiliency within the trans community has received less attention — particularly on college campuses. Dr. Z Nicolazzo made you forget...
Queerness, Latinidad and Joy
“I don’t think we allow ourselves to experience joy,” said queer Latinx writer Gabby Rivera. “A lot of our narratives are centered around oppression and the diaspora and the fact that we are here because of chattel slavery. So it is really important to highlight...
Underrepresented Students Navigate Higher Education
Students of color and first-generation students often find themselves working twice as hard to adapt to university life, though their additional effort is largely ignored by their institutions. Impossible to ignore, however, is how this additional effort and other factors affect their mental health. The...
From School to Prison and Back
Edgar Fuentes* was 10 the first time he smoked meth, 12 the first time he went to juvenile hall, and 13 when he was sentenced to 27 months. His sentencing was a failure of the justice system to recognize his underlying struggle with mental health....
Past and Present
Though underreported and underappreciated, Black people have been present in the territory that is now Santa Cruz County for centuries. In 1995, late professional researcher Phil Reader compiled a timeline outlining the history of Black individuals in Santa Cruz County. This is a continuation and...
Unlocking Social Constructs
Two teenagers, one black, one white, reflect on their pasts from their prison cell — one shot his neighborhood bully and the other killed his friend by accident. Awaiting the sentences from a predictably biased justice system, the two piece together the shards of their...
#BlackLivesMatter
The hashtag is familiar — it’s reached millions through the bright screen of a smartphone, fueling conversations about the violence conducted on Black bodies by police in America. #BlackLivesMatter was created in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer by three queer,...
Up Close and Personal
After applying for tickets through a lottery system, about 45 attendees arrived for a mystery show at a small yoga studio turned concert venue, the location of which wasn’t announced until that same day. The audience discovered the lineup just moments before the three acts...
Bitter and Frustrated: A Retrospective of Pop Music in 2017
With political and social tensions increasing in the U.S., disturbance from this broken climate consumed American pop music in 2017. Artists responded to a frustratingly chaotic year with more down-tuned, grim and drained music — an appropriate companion to the multitude of global problems. 2017’s...
Grammys: Still So White?
Last year’s Grammys left people so astounded that Adele’s “25” took album of the year over Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” even Adele cracked her Grammy in half. “Lemonade,” a 12-track reclamation about being a Black woman in the American South, became the third best-selling album worldwide in...