Published in An Injustice!·Feb 2, 2021Whiteness Isn’t Just About PrivilegeHow focusing on white privilege misses a critical component of whiteness — Antiracists often talk about the unearned privilege that people get just for being perceived as white. But what if whiteness isn’t just about opportunity? In her book, Waste of a White Skin, Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard makes the convincing argument that the other side of white privilege is white misery. …Equality9 min read
Published in 3Streams·Jan 14, 2021Why We’re Not Trending Towards a Second Civil WarAnother U.S. Civil War is never going to happen. Here’s why. — Is the United States trending towards a second civil war? Several political pundits have suggested that the intensifying political divide and the heightened civil unrest in the nation indicate the potential for the outbreak of a civil war. In September, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said the political climate…Politics5 min read
Jan 8, 2021What Creates Political Stability?If political stability is not won through elections, how is political power actually secured? Tools for Interpreting the Crisis In this prolonged moment of political instability, it’s more helpful than ever to engage with the work of Italian, Marxist philosopher and politician Antonio Gramsci. …Politics8 min read
Published in The Startup·Dec 24, 2020Say It Like You Mean It: How changing our language can change the worldThroughout the past few years, I’ve seen the same nickel-size stickers popping up around New York City. In the middle of these colorful, star-shaped stickers is a two-word message; “healin it.” When I’m able to spot them, I know that my friend Nora has been hard at work in her…Linguistics4 min read
Nov 4, 2020Parasite Revisited: The roots of deceptionIt’s been over a year since the South Korean film Parasite (2019) made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to garner international attention and acclaim, including the Oscar for best movie of the year. For all of the hype, there has been relatively little effort to…Movies6 min read
Published in The Startup·May 11, 2020Is Bill Gates Our Savior or the Antichrist?He has enough power to directly affect all of our lives, but can we trust him? — Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we’ve been hearing a lot about Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. For the past few weeks, he’s been interviewed dozens of times and has offered opinion pieces advising the public on how their governments should mobilize to mitigate the spread of the virus. His…Covid 196 min read
Feb 28, 2020The End of the Neo-MarxistWhenever I hear the term “neo-Marxist” it’s a clear sign that the person talking, or writing doesn’t fully understand Marxism. Modern-day Marxists never use the combining form “neo” to describe themselves. That’s because to distinguish the Marxist thinking of today from that of the past misrepresents what Marxism is. So…Theory4 min read
Published in The Startup·Dec 11, 2019How Would We Deal with Dr. Seuss’s Racism in Today’s Context?If you’ve only known of Theodor Seuss Geisel for his work in producing some of the most popular children’s novels of all time under the pen name Dr. Seuss, then, like me, you might have idolized him for his strong moral compass. Even a half-century later, his books continue to…Social Justice6 min read
Published in The Startup·Oct 7, 2019What the Selfie Generation Can Teach Us About Self-LoveRecently, I was at a series of “healing workshops” with a diverse group of ten teenagers. At one point they were all handed printed portraits of themselves. What happened next shocked me and the other adults in the room. Each of them looked at their portrait for two seconds and…Politics4 min read
Aug 6, 2019How my partner and I made it through our toughest year, thanks to his other loverAs we stood on the dance floor, I said I didn’t think Andreas and I would stay together until the end of the year. It was October so this was more my way of declaring the relationship’s finality than a true sense of uncertainty. I recited the argument that I…Polyamory6 min read
