We Believe Dr. Blasey Ford
Why are you afraid of flying? Why do you have two front doors? What music was playing when you were leaving the party? None of these are relevant or appropriate questions to ask a potential rape survivor. But the relentless and condescending panel of senators…
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…
Status Over Survivor
*Trigger warning: this editorial contains references to sexual harassment. When he rubbed her neck, she felt uncomfortable. When he squeezed her, she froze with shock. When he grabbed her hands and placed them on his hips and kissed her, she cried in a bathroom stall…
Pulitzer for Washington Post, Exile for Snowden
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was on a plane to Hong Kong in May 2013 when media outlets, including The Washington Post, began publishing leaked documents describing the U.S.’s post 9/11 domestic surveillance programs. By the time he landed, the U.S. government had already issued…
Looking Past the Screen
While I was in Paris, the city experienced flooding so extensive that boats couldn’t fit under bridges. The excess water halted the usual traffic of tourist cruises on the Seine River and museums were closed to save the artwork from water damage. On my way…
Black Lives Are YOUR Future
Now that I am entering my senior year at UC Santa Cruz, I have learned firsthand how to navigate the predominantly white institution through the “veil.” The “veil” is a metaphor coined by Dr. W.E.B. DuBois in his novel “The Souls of Black Folk”, which describes how a Black person…
Stalling on Trans Rights
Four years ago, Vice President Joe Biden said transgender discrimination “is the civil rights issue of our time.” North Carolina’s blatantly transphobic bathroom law proves that’s truer than ever, but the deeper concern is the formidable opposition to dismantling traditional conceptions of gender. The Private…
America Prioritizes White Immigrants
When I tell people I was born in Russia and moved here when I was 5 years old, they’re surprised. And I can see why. I don’t look like an immigrant. I don’t sound like an immigrant. I’m the traditional image of an American —…
Over-the-Counter Control — Finally
People go to the pharmacy for over-the-counter products like sleep aids, acne cream or cold and flu medication. Now in California, birth control is on that list. Earlier this month, California joined Washington and Oregon as the only states in the U.S. that allow access…
No Parent Left Behind
Being a new parent is hard — sleepless nights, dirty diapers, unforeseen expenses. Worrying about getting paid time off work to take care of a child shouldn’t be one of them. Yet, for the majority of Americans, that’s unfortunately the case. On April 5, San…