Visibility, for lesbians, has never been a simple matter of being seen. It is about recognition without distortion, presence without erasure, and community without fragmentation. While cultural shifts might suggest broader LGBTQ+ acceptance, lesbian-specific spaces, histories, and identities are increasingly at risk of being flattened, absorbed, and LOUDLY sidelined.

The Disappearing Space

One of the most tangible markers of this erasure are physical spaces. In the 1980s, the United States had an estimated 200 lesbian bars. Today, that number has dwindled to fewer than 30, which has increased from only 15 in 2019. The dwindling of these spaces is a huge cultural loss, because they’re not “new” or “trendy”—they have rich histories that prove the persistence and resilience of the lesbian community across time.

Lesbian bars are not just nightlife venues: they are sanctuaries. They are places where lesbians can exist without explanation, without translation, and without fear. In a world that often demands invisibility or conformity, these spaces offer something rare: ease.

The sharp decline is tied to a mix of factors: gentrification, rising rents, the rise of dating apps, and the broadening (and sometimes blurring) of queer spaces into more generalized LGBTQ+ environments. While inclusivity matters, it has also, paradoxically, contributed to the dilution of spaces specifically centered on lesbians.

What happens when a community loses its place to gather without negotiation?

Visibility vs. Assimilation

Lesbian identity has long been subject to reinterpretation, often by outsiders and within the broader queer umbrella. Increased media representation has not always meant accurate or affirming visibility. Too often, lesbian characters are hypersexualized, written for the male gaze, killed off, and/or positioned as temporary phases in narratives that ultimately center heterosexuality, and more specifically, men.

In a way to undercut lesbian relationships, many (mostly those in the manosphere or in conservative spaces) will refer to the statistic from a CDC survey stating 43.8% of lesbians reported having experienced IPV (intimate partner violence). However, upon further investigation, 72% of those 43.8% experienced violence at the hands of men.

Even within LGBTQ+ spaces, lesbian identity can be overshadowed. The expansion of language around gender and sexuality has been liberating in many ways, but it has also created tension around specificity. While the term ‘lesbian’ is traditionally defined as a woman attracted to another woman, modern definitions have expanded to “non-men loving non-men”, with broader terms like “sapphic” or “lesbian-identifying individual” used as more inclusive umbrella-terms for non-binary and trans lesbians. Within the lesbian community, there is still tension around terms, definitions, and the value of exclusivity–having places just for lesbians–because contrary to popular belief, you cannot tell a lesbian by their looks.

Visibility, then, has become complicated. As with many issues often overlooked due to white supremacy or heterosexuality, it is not about being included, but about being understood.

The Data Behind the Reality

• Lesbian couples are statistically less represented in media compared to gay male couples, despite comparable population sizes.

• Studies have shown that lesbian relationships receive significantly less screen time, and are more likely to be depicted as unstable or short-lived.

• Lesbian women often face a dual marginalization: sexism and homophobia. This impacts everything from healthcare access to economic stability.

• Community surveys continue to show that many lesbians feel underrepresented, even within LGBTQ+ advocacy spaces.

These are NOT abstract issues. They shape lived experience; how safe someone feels holding their partner’s hand; how easily they can find community; how often they see themselves reflected in the world around them.

Why Visibility Still Matters

It would be easy to assume that in 2026, visibility is no longer urgent. That would be a mistake.

Visibility is about young people having language for what they feel. It’s about ensuring that lesbian identity does not become a footnote in the broader story of queerness.

Weeks like Lesbian Visibility Week are not solutions, but signals. They point to what still needs attention, protection, and care.

Reclaiming Space, Reclaiming Narrative

There is, however, a quiet resurgence happening. New lesbian bars are opening in cities that haven’t had them in decades. Pop up events, collectives, and digital communities are carving out space where none existed before. Independent media is telling more nuanced stories. There is a deliberate effort, especially among younger lesbians, to document, archive, and celebrate their identities on their own terms.

Visibility, in this sense, is evolving. It is no longer confined to physical space, though that space remains deeply important. It lives online, in art, in fashion, in language, and it still requires intention.

Without intention, erasure happens gradually. Quietly. Until one day, you realize something that once felt undeniable now feels impossible to find.

Lesbian Visibility Week asks us to notice that — and to resist it.

Not just for a week, but every day.

*Fun Fact*

The shift of RuPaul’s Drag Race from Monday nights to Fridays (specifically starting with Season 9 in 2017) had a significant, disruptive impact on gay bars and, by extension, queer spaces like lesbian bars that often hosted viewing parties.

This article has been edited and approved by our humble lesbian supreme, Hannah 💅

Sources

Queering Place: The Case of the Lesbian Bar

There are only 15 lesbian bars left in the entire country. This campaign is trying to save them

What Happened to All the Lesbian Bars?

THE LESBIAN BAR PROJECT

Why finding a lesbian bar near you is almost impossible

Number of lesbian bars in the U.S. from 1977 to 2021

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to a close, the conversations it sparks cannot end here. This week is more than a moment of awareness, it is a reminder of an ongoing public health crisis that continues to impact Black women and birthing people across the United States every single day.

I was first made aware of just how severe maternal health disparities are for Black women long before I ever had my son. Around that time, a friend of mine from high school, a Black woman, was experiencing a difficult pregnancy, and it forced me to pay closer attention. That awareness deepened when I read an article around that same time while doing some research and learned how Serena Williams quite literally had to save her own life after giving birth.

After delivering her daughter via emergency C-section in 2017, Williams, who has a history of blood clots, began to feel short of breath. Recognizing the symptoms of a pulmonary embolism, she immediately alerted medical staff and requested a CT scan along with blood thinners. Her concerns were initially dismissed, and she was instead given pain medication. As her condition worsened, further testing was finally conducted, confirming multiple blood clots in her lungs. The severe coughing that followed caused her C-section incision to reopen, leading to additional complications and multiple surgeries.

Her experience is a stark example of what so many Black women face not only during labor but in healthcare in general: not being listened to, even when they know something is wrong. While Serena Williams had the knowledge, resources, and platform to advocate for herself, many Black women do not, making these outcomes even more dangerous and, too often, fatal.

Organizations like the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) have spent years pushing this issue into the national spotlight, they are actually the key original organizers of Black Maternal Health Week. Their work centers Black mamas and birthing people, advocating for research, policY change, and cultural shifts that prioritize equity, dignity, and care. The data they’ve compiled tells a story that is both urgent and impossible to ignore.

In the United States, Black women are three to five times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women. In 2024, that reality looks like a maternal mortality rate of 44.8 per 100,000 live births, compared to 14.2 for white women. Even more devastating is the fact that over 80% of these deaths are preventable.

Despite an estimated $111 billion spent annually on maternal, prenatal, and newborn care, the United States continues to have some of the worst maternal and infant health outcomes among high-income nations. The issue is not simply access, it is the quality, consistency, and equity of care being delivered.

Black women are more likely to experience preterm labor as well as life-threatening conditions such as preeclampsia, embolisms, and hypertensive disorders. They also face higher rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, all of which increase the risk of complications during pregnancy and postpartum. A powerful experience shared just yesterday was by artist Jennifer White-Johnson who reveals her experience:

These disparities do not exist “just because”, they are rooted in systemic racism.

Research shows that even when accounting for income and insurance, Black women still receive lower-quality care. In fact, 22% of Black women report experiencing poorer treatment in healthcare settings, and a national study found that 67% experienced race-based discrimination when seeking reproductive or family planning services.

The impact of this goes beyond individual experiences. Chronic stress caused by racism and discrimination has measurable effects on the body, increasing risks during pregnancy and contributing to long-term health complications for both mother and child. Black women are also more likely to experience preventable chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, as well as reproductive health disorders like fibroids and endometriosis.

Economic inequality further deepens these outcomes. Black women are typically paid just 62 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men, with median wages significantly lower overall. This gap limits access to stable housing, nutritious food, and consistent healthcare. Workplace discrimination compounds these challenges, as many Black women are forced to return to work before they are fully healed or face penalties for taking necessary leave. Nearly three in ten pregnancy discrimination claims have been filed by Black women.

Access to care remains another critical barrier. Nearly half of U.S. counties lack an obstetrician-gynecologist, leaving millions without essential maternal health services—especially in rural and underserved communities.

Still, there are solutions, and they already exist.

Community-based care models, including doulas and midwives, have been shown to improve outcomes by providing culturally competent, continuous support throughout pregnancy and postpartum. These approaches reduce emergency interventions, lower healthcare costs, and help bridge the gap between patients and providers.

As this week comes to an end, it is important to remember that Black Maternal Health Week is not the conclusion of a conversation, it is a continuation of one that must remain at the forefront.

Behind every statistic is a life, and ensuring that Black mothers are heard, respected, and protected is not just a health issue, it is a matter of justice.

Sources

Black Maternal Health Alliance

Black Maternal Health Statistic Issue Brief

New York Times Article on Serena Williams Birth Complications

How Serena Williams Saved Her Own Life

Serena Williams: What my life-threatening experience taught me about giving birth

After my brain tumor surgery, my pituitary gland, hypothalamus, and my metabolism no longer functioned properly, and therefore I started to gain a lot of weight. I was 11 years old, and only weighed about 75-80 pounds at the time of the surgery. I started gaining weight rapidly, and was diagnosed with Hypothalamic Obesity, a condition which affects weight and hunger in many brain tumor survivors. My weight is something I still struggle with18 years later. No matter how many diets I’ve tried or how much I’ve exercised, I’ve constantly faced an uphill battle.

I remember walking into Justice with my mom the summer after my surgery, to do some back-to-school clothes shopping, and suddenly realizing that not much of what they had there would fit me anymore. After finding the few things they had that I liked, we left, my mom saying she’d pick up some more clothes elsewhere for me before I went back to school.

Throughout the rest of middle school and all of high school, I struggled to find clothes that fit me that I actually liked. While some stores offered plus-sized clothing, most of what I could pick from looked like something my grandmother would wear, and was never even slightly close to resembling the style of clothes that my friends all wore. Occasionally, of course, I’d find something cute in the plus-size section, but the chances of that happening was slimmer than winning the lottery. And finding dresses for dances or parties? Especially a cute dress? That was like the shopping equivalent of Mission Impossible. I’ve lost track of the amount of time I’ve spent browsing aisles at the mall, hoping, praying that I’d find something, anything, that didn’t look like a dress you’d wear to a funeral in my size. All the while, my extreme fatigue (a side effect of my tumor and stroke) made the experience even more unbearable.

Because of this, I never really got to develop my own sense of style. My closet mostly consisted of T-shirts, jeans, sweatpants, and leggings. Sure, I had a couple of cute outfits, but most of the time, I was stuck wearing boring, old-lady-like clothes.

This trend of unfashionable plus-size clothing is still something I struggle with when shopping. It makes dressing rooms intolerable, unwelcome hell pits. I do most of my shopping online now, holding my breath when I open the packaging, praying that what’s inside will actually fit, and look good on me.

But still, even now, I have a difficult time finding fashionable, plus-sized clothing for myself. It’s like fashion designers think that the only people needing plus-sized clothing are old ladies who sit at home binge-watching TV while stuffing their faces with cake. It’s like they don’t think that younger women, moms, working women, or teens need plus-sized clothing. I don’t think it’s fair that just because someone’s built differently, they are forced to wear clothes that don’t have any style or flair to them. What a confidence booster that would’ve been for me in high school, to be able to wear clothes that fit me and actually looked remotely similar to the things my friends wore, and feel good about myself for once.

According to an article by Vogue Business: “Across 198 fashion shows, only 12 brands included any plus-size models (five brands in New York, five in London and two in Paris). The article mentioned that plus-sized models only accounted for 0.3% of models on runways, a significant decrease from already low numbers. If inclusivity is such a big trend in every other industry, why is it almost nearly omitted from fashion? Another article noted that taking away plus-sized styles and brands in the fashion industry doesn’t just mean less clothes for the plus-sized community, it causes a decreased amount of self-confidence in that whole population. “Fashion isn’t just aesthetic,” says Heinen, “It’s psychological scaffolding. When that scaffolding is absent — when someone walks into a store and sees nothing made for their body — it creates more than inconvenience. It creates emotional erosion. And over time, that erosion leaves a trace in how people speak about themselves, in how they show up socially, and in how much space they allow themselves to take up”.

Fashion is not just a form of how we dress, it’s a form of expression. It’s how we display to the world who we are. In addition to stripping away a form of self-expression, taking away plus-sized styles and brands is another way of reminding the plus-sized community that our bodies need to be fixed, and that they aren’t good enough or pretty enough. Vogue’s Business article noted that “When women’s rights are restricted, there’s often a corresponding pressure to embody an ideal that is not only physically controlled but also hyper-feminine and submissive to male desire.” Why is the women’s fashion industry so concerned with what guys want? Because the fashion industry is now so focused on pleasing men by showing thin models, body image and eating disorders are now increasing.

Additionally, when we no longer see clothes made for us, or models in our sizes, we become disconnected from fashion completely. I constantly look at the outfits my sisters-in-law’s, or my friends or co-workers wear, and think to myself, “Gee, I wish they sold that in my size, I would totally buy that!” Honestly, I’m not sure why more stores, brands, and designers haven’t started selling the cute clothes they make for regular sizes in plus sizes. They’d make a killing. It’s 2026. Why should I have to be a size small and as thin as a stick to be able to dress fashionably?

Edited by Lottie Bowden

Sources

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326974302_Images_of_Thin_and_Plus-Size_Models_Produce_Opposite_Effects_on_Women’s_Body_Image_Body_Dissatisfaction_and_Anxiety

Moreno, Silvia & Servian Franco, Fátima & Paso, Gustavo & Cepeda-Benito, Antonio. (2019). Images of Thin and Plus-Size Models Produce Opposite Effects on Women’s Body Image, Body Dissatisfaction, and Anxiety. Sex Roles. 80. 1-10. 10.1007/s11199-018-0951-3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326974302_Images_of_Thin_and_Plus-Size_Models_Produce_Opposite_Effects_on_Women’s_Body_Image_Body_Dissatisfaction_and_Anxiety.

Shoaib, M. (2025, March 17). The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2025 size inclusivity report. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/the-vogue-business-autumn-winter-2025-size-inclusivity-report

Tovar, V. (2025, July 14). The psychological cost of the Plus-Size retail collapse. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/virgietovar/2025/07/12/the-psychological-cost-of-the-plus-size-retail-collapse/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/virgietovar/2025/07/12/the-psychological-cost-of-the-plus-size-retail-collapse/, 2025

https://www.vogue.com/article/the-vogue-business-autumn-winter-2025-size-inclusivity-report

I never thought of the area where I live as too urban, or to be lacking in green spaces. I was raised in the South of England, by parents who found it vital that my younger sister and I spent our childhoods in local nature as much as possible - so that we would learn from it, and grow to care for and protect it as we grew into adults. I was lucky enough to live close to both the sea (Bournemouth’s expansive coastline) and also a sizable area of the New Forest only a twenty minute drive away, alongside various park and river walks only a stones throw from our front door. I never really paid attention to the keep out signs, the barbed wire separating me from stretches of empty green fields. I was quite content sticking to the paths.

I’m not sure what it was about my morning walk today that shifted my perspective. I didn’t have my headphones with me, my phone was in my back pocket, untouched. I was bathing in the nature surrounding me as I walked, listening to birdsong and the wind whistling through the trees. I was walking along a fairly narrow stone path, higher up from the riverbank pathway on my left, which was closed off due to flooding, and had been for the majority of the month. My gaze turned to my right: a vast, green field, lush and primed for agriculture or farming or whatever use it had. In the distance, just on the edge of this field and totally isolated, was a barn and farmhouse that looked more or less abandoned, the perfect setting for an apocalyptic survival movie, I thought briefly. The more I walked, the more I stared, and the more I thought - so, so much land, serving a purpose unknown to me, and totally inaccessible to anyone who didn’t have the ‘right’. The narrow path I walked was segregated from the rest of the landscape by barbed wire. And all of a sudden, it occurred to me how hostile this once quaint landscape had become, all from the work of a few strategically placed fences.

By any stretch, I am adequately privileged in the amount of walks, forests and fields that I do have access to so close to home; so many across the UK are not so lucky. In fact, the 8% of England (statistic from Right to Roam) that the public do have access to is mostly largely detached from civilisation: mountain ranges, expansive moors, in the deepest hearts of infinite forests. Not exactly somewhere you can go for a quick, peaceful dog walk. Furthermore, the places you can go in your local area have even more restrictions applied: these paths are for walking only. No kayaking down the river (something I did as a child with my father at our local river which has since been banned), no cycling, no camping or picnics, don’t let your dog off the lead. And whilst these rules have been put in place to protect local nature from people who don’t care for it as much and will treat it poorly, it also stops the vast majority of people from doing more than just passing through a green space; interacting with it. Being in it.

Two writers whom I treasure, Wyl Menmuir and Guy Shrubsole, have both spoken on this issue in their separate novels: The Heart of the Woods (Menmuir) and The Lost Rainforests of Britain (Shrubsole). Within these beautifully poetic yet scientific and relevant non-fictions, each contains a chapter dedicated to ‘peaceful trespassing’ and the ramifications they encountered from doing so. Essentially, going on a walk beyond a ‘Private land’ or ‘no entry’ sign, for no nefarious reason, just to wander through the land you belong to, and not being afraid of facing the consequences of an angry, wealthy landowner who doesn’t like to share. And if you’re thinking that these restrictions surrounding public and private land feels political, that’s because it is.

1% of the wealthy own 50% of England’s landscapes. That is a statistic that is so outrageous to me, so baffling, that I had to fact check it from several sources. But just like most things that you hear about the ultra rich, it’s true, and it’s a means for the wealthiest of Britain to have total control and ownership of our land, essentially making the majority of the public, visitors in our own country. Because how many nature reserves, sections of forest, open fields, do you have to pass a fence through to access, or question whether it’s ‘legal’ to even go through in the first place? All in the name of privacy and land ownership, but nature is meant to be walked in, meant to nourish us, meant to allow us in so we can protect and preserve each other. Not kept locked away behind electric wire.

Walks in green spaces and being close to nature is still one of the top natural ‘cures’ for mental illnesses as preached by the professionals, so imagine the contradiction when it’s those same people in power who are restricting the average man’s access to said green spaces just to benefit those same landowners, to keep them happy? It’s no coincidence that England ranks bottom both in nature connectedness and nationwide mental health. This is becoming more and more of a social and political issue. And of course, I’m not talking about treasured institutions like The National or Woodland Trust, who dedicate their budgets to protecting and preserving some of the most beautiful locations in the country whilst still allowing people to visit. Yes, there are memberships and fees involved with accessing these areas, but that’s for a reason; these areas are fragile, potentially under threat, or perhaps just haven’t had much exposure to humans and the Trusts intend to keep it that way. Wildlife needs to be protected, especially when we already have so little of it left. I’m talking about landowners who buy acres of land just because they can, and then keep it off limits to literally everyone else. Why? Who knows. Maybe they just don’t like people, or they’re plotting world domination from the heart of their estates and don’t want anyone getting too close. The more I learn about the world and its inhabitants, the less it surprises me.

I have experienced this spoiled hostility myself. Walking with my parents one early misty morning through an abandoned golf course that had been sold to a company who planned to raze the land and build flats on top of it. A shame, because in the absence of rich, loud golfing parties, the land had flourished into a haven for wildlife. Deer, swans, rabbits, birds of prey, could be seen like hallucinations through the fog as we walked with our two well behaved dogs, all of us taking in the nature we so rarely got to see like this. That is, until, a shout from our right and a Barbour clad figure emerged from the mist some 50 metres away. “You can’t walk here! Path is that way.” Blunt. Final. ‘Get off my land’ in a mildly less aggressive tone. We did as we were told, albeit my Dad muttering and swearing the whole way about being told off like a naughty schoolboy, and no sooner had we made it on to the path that was fenced off from the golf course haven, did we see three other figures appearing from different areas of the field to join the first, all of them staring at us obviously, from a distance, as we walked off. They had been watching us the whole time.

Realistically, if a large group of people walked onto private land and made a big, peaceful day out of it, said landowner couldn’t walk out his front door with a rifle and start shooting at everyone. That would be murder, and would end very badly for him. But that’s still a real threat, even in England where gun ownership is scarce. The only thing he could do, really, would be to call the police, who most likely wouldn’t show up for a few hours, giving said protesters plenty of time to scarper. Putting it like that sounds so silly; so much fuss over where you can and cannot walk!

Another point worth making is how these green spaces are so tightly entwined with our country’s history and culture. The sacred art of rambling, of rural festivals and rituals has been an innate part of England’s historical culture for centuries. And with green spaces and access to our gorgeous forests dwindling, those traditions are dying out, rapidly, simply because people do not have interest in the things they do not have access to. Rural pubs and businesses are suffering, parts of our countryside staying largely unexplored all because we are losing more and more access to it. And it doesn’t seem to be any kind of priority to any of our political parties gunning for office. I wonder why that is?

I’ve already made my point quite clearly, but it needs to be reinstated why laws need to be put in place for governing the public’s right to privately owned land, and for rules to be put in place that would stop landowners from taking away walking paths as and when they please. Why it’s so important. Without access to nature, specifically local nature, accessible nature; we’re less likely to care about it, and therefore unlikely to protect it when the time comes, which is now if anything. With the climate crisis heightening in severity with each day that passes, our planet is screaming at us to do something, anything. And that starts small, with preserving what’s around you. It can be disheartening, when you think that in the grand scheme of things, the main and most beneficial difference can only be made by the billion dollar corporations, the oil rigs, and the fossil fuel industry. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t try. We have to try.

When I think of my home country, I think of a united people, from all walks of life, all living and breathing under a canopy of thick forests and rolling fields of green. I picture summertime, and having the freedom to pass a gate into a hazy woodland thick with heat, a gentle breeze and the song of birds. And it’s quiet, but not because there’s nobody around, not because this land is off limits. It’s quiet simply because that’s just how nature is, and I pity anyone who wants to take our country’s green fields away from people.

Edited by Natalli Newman

Research / References

• Right To Roam:

https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/

• The Lost Rainforests of Britain:

https://lostrainforestsofbritain.org/

• Weird Walk:

https://www.weirdwalk.co.uk/

• Wyl Menmuir:

https://www.wylmenmuir.co.uk/

• Gov.Uk: https://www.gov.uk/right-of-way-open-access-land/use-your-right-to-roam

Digital art surged in popularity with the launch of Photoshop and the boom in personal computer use in the 90s. Nowadays, digital tools such as Procreate or Blender offer an easy entry point for any artist with a laptop or phone who cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars on materials. Over the past few decades, mixing mediums has become more accessible than ever, and, as a result, art has become more integrated with social media.

This merging of creation and consumption brings both benefits and drawbacks. To explore these, I reached out to several North Florida-based artists for their unique perspectives. Max Elton, a digital artist, illustrator, and designer, operates a beautiful Instagram page and Etsy shop, where he showcases nature-themed work. Amanda Boekhout Diefenthaler—also known as divinefem—is an artist, mother, wife, and teacher who creates multimedia works centered on the spiritual realm. In the center of Tallahassee, the Venvi Art Gallery displays local talent while targeting a more corporate market to attract buyers. Together, these viewpoints form an intriguing picture of how social media has reshaped artists and their art in Tallahassee, a city not typically seen as a major arts hub.

Increased Accessibility

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​Social media enables artists to circumvent limitations in location or gallery accessibility by providing global reach. This can be especially helpful to Tallahassee artists because it doesn’t limit them to local events and markets that often don’t drive large crowds. Instead, an artist could post their work for hundreds to see in just a few minutes.

“Once I started using social media to promote my art, it helped my reach as an artist immensely, and I was able to get many opportunities I wouldn’t have been able to get without the help of social media,” Max Elton said.

Artists can now sustain a career without relying on physical exhibitions. This is evidenced by Elton’s successful Etsy page and Diefenthaler’s comprehensive website, which features products ranging from art prints to yoga courses. This success stems from the positive impact of social media algorithms, which direct users to artists and works they are likely to resonate with and consider purchasing.

“Instagram has definitely expanded my reach, and in turn, I have sold more art without having to constantly have gallery art shows,” Amanda Boekhout Diefenthaler said. “It has invited an alignment with people who resonate with me. The audience changes all the time as I evolve with my work.”

The Algorithm Trap

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Most social media algorithms learn which types of content users interact with. They then push more of that content to keep users on the site for as long as possible. While this feedback loop can positively affect artists by directing their work to potential fans, it can also keep users away from content the platform deems “not eye-catching enough.” As a result, many Instagram-based artists feel forced to adhere to trends and prioritize virality over what they truly want to create. This constraint hinders artistic freedom and unrestrained expression.

“Social media does have its downsides,” Elton said. “It can be hard when you just want to post your art, but you also have to consider social media algorithms.”

There has been a substantial shift in the composition of artists on social media over the past decade. What began as a relatively simple way to build a niche community around one’s work has now become a gladiator-style fight for views and engagement as platforms shift from social networks to interest engines: systems focused on exploiting the user’s engagement habits rather than connecting them with pages they’ve connected with. If your post doesn’t fit into the engine, it may not even be pushed to your followers.

This instability has taught Diefenthaler the importance of not becoming consumed by the numbers. The content that is popular now may not be a few years from now, so there is no point in getting hung up on what is appealing over what one is passionate about creating.

“I’ve been on IG as @divinefem for 12-13 years. It’s changed a lot, and my relationship with it has changed along the way. I had a phase where I was drinking the Kool-Aid and trying to work the algorithm,” Diefenthaler said. “I found that prioritizing the ever-changing ‘rules’ of socials took away from my connection to my creativity. IG is fun and inspiring, AND I am not going to rely on an app to build my art reach. It could change, crash, or disappear anytime.”

Limits of the Screen

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Walter Benjamin, in “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” defined aura as the authenticity, history, and presence an artwork acquires from existing in a particular time and place. This idea introduces tension when we consider how art is often consumed online, confined to a small, pixelated screen. On a screen, the viewer loses connection with the work’s aura, a quality preserved in a gallery, where every brushstroke, color, and layer can be fully appreciated.

“Venvi Art Gallery was established well before social media became central to how people discover art. As social media evolved, it became a complementary tool rather than a replacement for the gallery experience,” manager Rachel Smith said. “Social media has expanded our reach beyond the gallery walls, allowing people who may never physically visit Tallahassee to become familiar with our artists and exhibitions. However, our curatorial approach has not changed; we still prioritize depth, craftsmanship, and the work’s physical presence. Social media supports visibility, but the art itself continues to lead.”

Given these dynamics, the role of social media for artists needs to be balanced. Letting engagement and input take over can leave an artist dissatisfied, feeling bossed around by the algorithm. On the other hand, refusing to use social media means sacrificing access to a massive audience that might view, share, or even purchase art if they saw it in their feed.

“Before IG, my art was created to be experienced in person, in real time. I love that I had so much time without social media being a part of the art-making process. It felt more raw and ephemeral,” Diefenthaler said. “It’s so powerful to be with art in real life. The little screen on a phone will never do art proper justice.”

A Tool, Not a Master

Social media and its unstable algorithms can be used as a tool, but they cannot be viewed as the master of one’s art. It can foster rapid growth and enable art consumers to discover a distinctive style with which they will connect deeply.

“Yes, social media has contributed to the growth of the gallery, particularly in visibility and accessibility. It has helped us reach new collectors, artists, and collaborators who discover Venvi through shared images, exhibition highlights, and behind-the-scenes moments,” Smith said. “Growth has come not from volume, but from meaningful connections formed through consistent storytelling and presentation.”

Social media provides diverse revenue streams for artists: direct-to-consumer e-commerce, print-on-demand merchandising, brand partnerships, commission-based services, and ad revenue. Not every artist utilizes these devices, but they are present for those who need an extra boost in clientele, as seen in the experiences of all the artists I inquired with.

“There have been times when sharing on socials resulted in a lot of art sales. I would say financially, I have pretty similar results every year with slow and steady growth,” Diefenthaler said. “I don’t really consider my art a business. It’s my life.”

Social media has transformed art making and sharing—offering powerful opportunities but also introducing challenges to creative freedom and authenticity. Overall, social media is best used as a funnel leading people to engage with heartfelt work and find artists they wouldn’t find otherwise. Still, it doesn’t hurt to visit your local art galleries and absorb what is right in front of you.

“Social media may introduce an artist, but a gallery provides context, credibility, and a curated environment where the work can be fully experienced. Many visitors come in already familiar with an artist’s work from online platforms, yet their understanding deepens when they see the scale, texture, and emotional presence of the artwork in person,” Smith said. “Rather than competing with social media, we focus on offering what it cannot: thoughtful curation, dialogue, and the lived experience of art in space.”

Edited by Natalli Marie Newman

As a woman who battles chronic illness, I also battle, much more often than not, the voices that come in the dark: the doubts of other people. Despite the obstacles I face, I still try to dream big and influence others for God, and in a positive way. I refuse to believe that God has brought me this far, just to let me sit here and be stagnant. So I keep pushing forward. I choose to dream the unimaginable.

Have you ever felt like people roll their eyes and shake their heads at what you’re trying to do in life? Like what you’re trying to do is impossible, and you’re stupid to waste your time fighting for it? But you can’t see their reasoning at all, because something deep inside of you is telling you to keep fighting for it.

This doesn’t come without people doubting me. I’ve had people nearly laugh at what I’m trying to do. I’ve been told that what I’m trying to do is pointless, worthless, even. They tell me I’m not strong enough, not smart enough – incapable, too exhausted, too broken to make much of a difference. When will I find the time to do that?

In fact, I’ve heard the question, “Are you sure you can do this?” an innumerable amount of times. I’ve let this stop me from doing things I’d dreamt of – from truly living out loud. But over the years, I’ve realized something: it doesn’t matter what they think. They’re not me. If I believe in something, if I love doing something, I should reach for it. Because for the million reasons people will give me for why I shouldn’t or can’t do something, I can come up with ten million reasons for why I can, and will. Instead of dwelling on the what-if’s, I think of all of the amazing things that could happen when I succeed.

One thing I’ve learned from my journey and my condition is that no one is promised tomorrow. Not one of us. We must live for today. If we sit and wait for others to put their stamp of approval on our dreams, we’ll never achieve anything higher than mediocrity.

You see, it doesn’t matter what others think, or whether they believe we can accomplish what we’re trying to do, if we believe in it and fight for it, with all our heart and soul. Especially when we’re struggling with chronic illness, we’re often told by those around us – doctors, coworkers, even friends and family – that what we’re trying to do is out of the question. We should just sit back and let someone who has more energy, more strength, or who is more qualified do it.

People often focus on the reasons why something hard is unimaginable, reminding you of all of the things you’re not seeing, or considering why you can’t accomplish something. If you believe in your dream with all of your heart, don’t back down, don’t give up, just because the world says it’s impossible, or it can’t be done. If you believe in something strong enough to fight for it, don’t let the world’s shouts of discouragement become your background noise. Instead, listen for that still, small voice inside, and repeat it enough to yourself, so that it drowns out everything else around you. My background noise is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Maybe your background noise is something different, but whatever it is, don’t let it be the shouts of doubt.

Edited by Jacquie Galvano

The last few times I’ve been in the hospital or the emergency room, I’ve had some horrendous experiences. And these were with multiple healthcare systems, including the big ones, like the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Virtua, and University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). Unfortunately, one thing that I’ve learned from these hospital and ER visits is that our healthcare system isn’t what it used to be.

I went to the ER at CHOP for an extremely bad headache. Now, you might be wondering why I’d go to a children’s hospital as an adult. Because I had an extremely rare brain tumor and was treated there as a child, I was eligible to go there upwards of 25 years old.

I was admitted into the hospital so doctors could figure out what was happening, and why nothing was helping my headache. My mom and I both begged the doctor(s) on my care team to give me an MRI, considering I’ve had two brain tumor resections and radiation for a brain tumor in the past (no one would). They kept insisting that I just had a migraine headache and that they were going to just treat me for this. I’ve never had migraines before, nor was the headache I was experiencing in any way indicative of a migraine. One day, after days of being in the hospital, the doctor came in while I was sleeping and tried to wake me up. My mom had told me that they tried to wake me up—and couldn’t. The doctor proceeded to take my vital signs, and when my mom cried out, “Can’t you see she’s not waking up, this isn’t normal!”, the doctor replied, “Oh, she’s awake, she’s just faking” (spoiler alert: I wasn’t faking). As we were telling a different doctor assigned to my care how frustrated we were that no one had ordered an MRI, especially as my symptoms had gotten worse since I’d been admitted, she replied that, “I’m not going to lie to you, you’ve been around long enough, and so have I—our healthcare system is broken. Doctors aren’t in charge here anymore. We have to follow standard protocol.”

I once had a neurologist from Penn tell me, “If you ever get a bad headache that won’t go away, call me before you go to the ER. I work for Penn, but our ER is a mess.” I recently found out how bad it was when I went for an endocrine-related issue. As we sat there waiting, we heard a nurse telling a patient in the waiting area, “Yes, I know we took your vitals earlier, but that was 4 hours ago; we need to retake them.” And as we were waiting to be called back, other patients who had been taken back earlier were being rolled back into the waiting room, on stretchers, with IV tubes hooked up to them. We finally ended up leaving after hearing one nurse say the wait was around 6 hours. I could go on with countless other traumatic stories of terrible things I’ve experienced in the ER and hospitals, but I’d be here all night. Every experience is the same; the doctors don’t listen. They don’t care. They have another patient to see, more money to make. They just do whatever standard protocol tells them to do.

I recently watched a documentary called Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. One doctor actually states, “If I spend five minutes with you, and then put in one of these stents, I would get paid $1500. For me to spend forty-five minutes with a patient, and try to figure out what their true problem is, I would get paid $15.” This quote, sadly, only proved there was truth in what the doctor admitted to us. Doctors aren’t paid anymore to actually do their job—they are paid to meet quotas for the big healthcare corporations they work for. They are taught standard protocols to implement for every patient they see. During one of my hospital stays, I had written a poem, containing this line, “These doctors don’t listen, these nurses don’t care. It feels like they just try what works for everyone else, as if they don’t even realize I’m lying here.” At the time, I hoped I was just being dramatic, but as I’ve experienced more and more of the same, I’ve realized that this is, in fact, reality.

According to this same documentary, “30,000 medical recipients die every year in America, from care they didn’t need. That’s the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every week.” One doctor in the documentary makes such an excellent point, stating, “If the aviation industry killed as many people, we’d be up in arms.” It is so true that if any other industry killed 30,000 people per year, it’d be all over the news, and there’d be protests and riots. Instead, because it’s the healthcare system, we say that they were just trying to help, and push it all under the rug.

Yet, are we closing our eyes to reality? You see, the healthcare system isn’t aimed at helping people anymore; it’s aimed at making the healthcare industry richer. The U.S. spends a much higher amount compared to other countries on healthcare (16.5% of its GDP), and yet ranks last in overall healthcare, access to care, and health outcomes, when compared with ten other countries. One analysis reports that the US spends 16.5% of its GDP on healthcare—4.6% more than France and 4.8% more than Switzerland, the next two biggest spenders. However, out of the ten countries this analysis compares, the US ranks last in overall healthcare, access to care, and health outcomes (Blumenthal, Gumas, Shaw, Gunja, & Williams, 2024).

I don’t understand the point of spending so much on a healthcare system that ranks dead last in overall healthcare. Where is all of that money going? Certainly not toward bettering the health of the people of our country, or paying to be able to hire more healthcare workers. No, it’s going right into the fat pockets of the big corporations. Rather than paying more doctors, hospitals are encouraging the doctors they do have to up their productivity. In other words, the more patients they see, the more they get paid. This is why we’re seeing things like boarding in emergency rooms. The College of Emergency Physicians President stated, “Boarding is when a patient remains in the emergency department, even after a disposition has been made in terms of what their care should be, sometimes even for days and months and weeks.” (Rascoe, 2023).

The same article noted how many people now go to emergency rooms because of the lack of access to care our nation has. So people are going to the ER for anything and everything. The emergency room has now become a safety net for those without insurance or healthcare access. “Essentially, we are the jack of all trades, if you will, and we’re there 24/7 to care for patients. The problem with boarding is that it’s really interfering with the inherent function of the safety net, because when we can’t move patients, essentially the whole system backs up. We just don’t have physical space. So, we find ourselves literally going into the waiting rooms to take care of patients from there or taking care of patients in the hallway.” Doctors are so rushed in trying to take care of everyone at once, trying to up their productivity to meet their organization’s quotas. They don’t have time to actually care about helping their patients anymore. If healthcare professionals actually treated patients, then the healthcare industry would stop making money. Shouldn’t healthcare have a lot more ‘care’ in it? Is our country so brainwashed into thinking that faster is better—that we believe we’re actually receiving the best healthcare—when in fact the opposite is true?

Edited by Isabelle Hampton-Zabotti

Sources:

Blumenthal, D., Gumas, E. D., Shaw, A., Gunja, M. Z., & Williams, R. D. (2024, September 19). Mirror, Mirror 2024: A Portrait of the Failing U.S. Health System: Comparing Performance in 10 Nations. The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/sep/mirror-mirror-2024

Rascoe, A. (2023, June 25). The COVID-19 emergency is over, so why are hospital emergency rooms still crowded?. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/06/25/1184198834/the-covid-19-emergency-is-over-so-why-are-hospital-emergency-rooms-still-crowded#:~:text=According%20to%20NPR%2C%20emergency%20rooms%20are%20still,Lacerations%20*%20Orthopedic%20injuries%20*%20Broken%20bones

YouTube Movies & TV. (2012). Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare [Video]. YouTube.

The Oxford Dictionary defines horror as “a painful emotion compounded of loathing and fear; a shuddering with terror and repugnance; strong aversion mingled with dread; the feeling excited by something shocking or frightful. Also in weaker sense, intense dislike or repugnance” (OED), while the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as, “painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay”, “intense aversion or repugnance” or “the quality of inspiring horror : repulsive, horrible, or dismal quality or character” (Merriam-Webster). But how is this tied to the novel Jane Eyre?

A few of the horror elements are seen in the characters Mr. Rochester, the first wife, and the own personal turmoil that Jane Eyre struggles with throughout the novel. Mr. Rochester is around 20 years Jane’s senior and is keeping many secrets from her, including the existence of his wife. During the time of which this novel was written, this age gap and the reason for his wife’s captivity are not as unusual for the time as they would be now, as some of the other options would have been institutions (which were dangerous and horrible at the time) and the audience was meant to sympathize with Mr. Rochester, as was Jane. But his acts were still deplorable and repugnant, leaving Jane no longer able to marry this man as he is already married, which, in itself, is a horrifying realization for a young 19 year old girl who wants nothing more than to marry the love of her life. The marriage and secrets are amplified in the other iterations of Jane Eyre by adding more horrifying twists to the characters. In Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Maxim de Winter is a widowed man due to his first wife dying due to a boat “accident.” Maxim is still 20 years the senior of our main character while also hiding a secret: he killed his wife. Both characters are cold and calculated with how they treat their supposed loves and treat them as though they are only decorations, even as they pursue them, hiding their first wives away with embarrassment. With a clear difference in Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood’s main male love interest; Magnus Rochester is kinder and closer to the main character’s (Andromeda) age. The domineering nature from the original Mr. Rochester is put into Andromeda’s mentor, Jember. He is abusive and cold towards the girl he raised.

Next, the first wife or “the mad woman in the attic” is seen in all three novels in different ways. In Jane Eyre, Bronte has Bertha Mason haunting the house. Jane hears the laughter she gives when speaking to another worker in the house, Grace Poole. Jane describes Bertha as terrifying and compares her to a vampire often because of what she looks like and does. Bertha is terrifying to Jane and haunts and stalks her throughout the novel as even being in her room one night, not doing anything but staring at her in an almost Edward Cullen from Twilight kind of way; continuing the vampiric mannerisms she has. While Rebecca is haunted by Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca. She haunts both Maxim and the FMC throughout the novel in different ways, mostly tormenting Maxim mentally as he deals with the idea of his haunting and fear of being found out to be her killer. The only difference is, again, in Within These Wicked Walls where the “mad woman” is the Evil Eye, a curse, actual supernatural occurrences that are attached to Magnus and his house.

Lastly, the inner turmoil that Jane deals with is a different set of psychological monsters. All three female protagonists deal with their inner confidence and independence from those they depend on and feeling as though they are not good enough for love or the good things they receive. While this is not a stereotypical kind of horror characteristic, it is a realistic, psychological horror that breaks the reader from the figurative or literal supernatural happenings and they relate with the main heroine in a way that shows the horrifying real world they were trying to escape from by reading the novel. Their own struggles with their looks, past traumas, and current wanting to be loved but not feeling as though they deserve it.

But if these elements can be seen by modern authors attempting to adapt Bronte’s original 19th century gothic romance, why is there little to no discourse on the matter? When looking for any discourse on the subject of horror within the novel Jane Eyre, not much pops up unless it also involves another novel. Adrienne E. Gavin speaks about a different descendant of Jane Eyre in her article “‘deepen[ing] the power and horror of the original’: Caroline Clive’s Paul Ferroll as Descendant of Jane Eyre”. Gavin talks about Caroline Clive’s Paul Ferroll and how Clive took already horrific characteristics and amplified them. Gavin states that, “After a few years, each man takes dramatic action to rid himself of his unloved wife. Rochester by keeping Bertha secretly locked up as a madwoman in a third-storey room and Ferroll, ‘deepen[ing] the power and horror of the original,’ by actually killing his first wife Anne as she sleeps” (Gavin, 36). She continues speaking on the fact that Rochester and Ferroll are both cruel and calculating when it comes to how they treat their second wives, “​​Rochester and Ferroll are prepared to dishonour themselves and their second wives for love. This might be seen as nobly putting true love above all else were it not for the cruel streaks in their natures that see them using their positions of power to test their lovers’ feelings in heartless and selfish ways” (Gavin, 39). Confirming the idea that Rochester is, in a sense, a horror character and this is ignored by the fact that the audience is seeing him through the eyes of the young and naive main character.

The audience can be a lot like the main character, Jane, because, like her, they want to ignore the red flags and finally have someone who wants to love them as well, even if they are keeping live women or skeletons in their attics. The ultimate fear is that, if they leave that one man, no one else will love them. Especially those like Jane where they have no family or friends to turn to if anything were to south. While also believing that their history and childhood was much worse than any future that they can gain from the man.

Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder & Co, 1847.

Blackwood, Lauren. Within These Wicked Walls. Wednesday Books, 2021.

Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca. Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1938.

Gavin, Adrienne E. “‘Deepen[Ing] the Power and Horror of the Original’: Caroline Clive’s Paul Ferroll as Descendant of Jane Eyre.” LISA, vol. VII – n°4, no. Vol. VII – n°4, 2009, pp. 64–86, https://doi.org/10.4000/lisa.839

Edited by Lilli Eve

Statement dressing extends beyond bold colours or heavy jewellery; it stems from how you style those pieces. Statements are defined by the garments, proportions, and styling decisions that construct a distinct visual identity.

Statement dressing operates through form rather than immediate visual impact.

However, the traditional understanding of statement dressing is now undergoing a shift, from being anchored in immediacy or overt visibility to being fixed within construction, proportion, and form. It relied on boldness, it commanded attention, but now it operates through restraint. In an environment saturated with visual expression, boldness has become somewhat predictable, so the move is towards more nuanced forms of expression. As a result, statement dressing requires closer attention and longer engagement than delivering visuals that are immediately recognisable.

In traditional forms of statement dressing, the impact of a garment was largely defined by how eye-catching it was, either through bold prints or through striking accessories.

Increasingly, however, the “statement” no longer exists in how it is perceived, rather it exists in the construction of the garment; how it is built, how it moves and how it subverts traditional construction expectations.

This shift becomes more apparent when we see how the garments are constructed. As seen with Vivienne Westwood, it started as a punk brand, rejecting social norms in favour of rawness and disruption. Today, the rebellion has shifted towards a more structured, thoughtful approach.

As statement fashion shifts, construction irregularities, which were once considered imperfections, are now deliberately integrated, through asymmetry, uneven hemlines and slight disruptions in print. These are controlled deviations that hold attention by reinforcing a quieter approach to statement dressing. We can see in brands like Rick Owens and Rei Kawakubo, which rely on an alternative sensibility but, through sculptural designs, differ from traditional gritty punk, traditional proportions, and silhouettes.

There is broader saturation of visual culture, where overt expression no longer carries the same impact it once did.

There is also a growing sensitivity among designers and the audience towards design, so the focus shifts from surface-level identity to construction and intent, and the emphasis is no longer on being instantly seen, but on being understood.

When we see designers and houses like Maison Margiela and Jil Sander, we can observe that the statement is embedded in the garment’s construction rather than its surface; there is a restrained yet deliberate design. Proportion, material and the cut of the garment replace the overt surface ornamentation.

This shift has to carry such an intention that the slightest deviation in structure carries significance

Statement dressing is no longer about commanding attention through excess ornamentation, but about sustaining through precision. Impact is now built into the garment rather than applied to it.

Edited by Hanna Villegas

The concept of time banking largely originated with US civil rights lawyer and political activist Edgar Cahn in the 1980s to directly address social inequity and communal isolation. In the past decade, the number of individuals participating in time banking in the US has nearly doubled. This growth could be due to a variety of factors: the increased use of time-banking apps, the isolation of the COVID-19 quarantines, and the growing value placed on the invisible economy of simple acts of caretaking alongside companionship.

The fundamental rule of time banking is that one hour of providing a service equals one time credit or time dollar. Unlike traditional economic systems or bartering, time banks do not value one type of service over another—teaching someone Spanish is as valuable as fixing someone’s brakes—and you can bank as many hours as you’d like. But what keeps people engaged in communities that provide goods and services without any monetary exchange?

Power of Connection

“When I joined the community, and I joined the time bank, I didn’t know many people. It helped me connect with the community and meet other people because I felt lonely…What can I offer the community? My sign language, that’s what I like and love to do because of my daughter.” – Susana Santillan

Susana Santillan has been a member of the Mesilla Valley Time Bank since 2020, beginning her experience as an American Sign Language (ASL) teacher, a practice she’s continued to this day. Santillan noted the time bank allowed her to interact with people she’d otherwise never meet, something she was especially grateful for when she joined in the height of COVID-19 quarantines. Santillan, a very giving person, was immediately drawn to the time bank to strengthen connections with her community.

“I don’t count that time as money or anything like that… to me, all I concentrate on is that I give, and if I receive, that’s a big help… If I can help, I help. That’s part of me. I enjoy helping… I’m able to meet a lot of people that I wouldn’t have ever met if I hadn’t joined the time bank. I started meeting all these people, and it’s wonderful, and they have different skills. There are authors that have a book club, [and there’s] arts and crafts. I’m not very good at arts and crafts.”

Although Santillan began her time bank experience through giving, she has also received much in return. The service she offers naturally helps her and her daughter navigate the community, since her daughter is legally deaf. Santillan has received many time credits from those interested in her classes, and in return, she has used them for a variety of services and experiences, including fence repair, car service, yard work, and even joining a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

“I like to do it because I like to be with people… Sometimes we say we’re volunteering, but we don’t realize how much we get back until you think about it. And some people are like, ‘I’ll go to the meeting once or twice and see how it is,’ but it’s hard at first, because, you know, there are people that think, ‘why would I do [this for] free?’ It’s because you realize people do stuff for free because they want to be around people, or just to help. The sense of helping people is a big reward.”

Time banks are highly effective at fostering a tight-knit community that values individual skills not for their monetary value but for their emotional value. Each experience Santillan shared revealed a new way in which people who would have been strangers could share a moment of camaraderie. Time banks strengthen community and deemphasize personal wealth by placing everyone on the same level; it doesn’t matter if you’re able-bodied or disabled, unhoused or housed, employed or unemployed. They focus on what someone can do rather than what they cannot.

Changing Perspectives

Patricia Mendoza currently serves as the Director of Doña Ana Communities United and the Mesilla Valley Time Bank Coordinator. Mendoza began her journey as a shy stay-at-home mom desperate to break outside of her tiny bubble and become involved in the larger local community. The time bank provided the perfect outlet for creating community, inspiring Mendoza so much that she quickly took on an executive role.

“It brought up the confidence in me to be able to talk and motivate others as a sort of ‘if I could do it, you can do it ‘ kind of thing. And honestly, it sounds cheesy, but I do believe everybody has something to offer… a degree is important, but just because you can’t afford one or didn’t have the time to get one doesn’t mean that you don’t have skills or something to give to the community.”

Mendoza further emphasizes how the time bank values all skills regardless of how much they would “cost” in any other economic system. Capitalism is so deeply ingrained in the way most Americans view the world around them that every act, no matter how charitable, is viewed with a dollar amount beside it: “time is money.” Given this mindset, one would not be able to exchange kitchen help for an astrological reading, but this is a situation Mendoza was happy to find herself in.

“One of the first ones that I exchanged was with a time bank member who is immunocompromised, so she cannot go to group gatherings and such, and she does astrological chart readings and tarot card readings and things like that. So I thought that was very unique and nice, that [the time bank] took that in as a skill. Because in other places they would be like, ‘that’s not a skill to be marketable,’”

As a first-generation graduate who placed much time and effort into attaining a degree and getting a job, Mendoza found herself holding biases toward the impoverished, unhoused individuals in her community. The time bank provided an outlet for these community members to engage with people of different economic statuses in a nonjudgmental exchange of skills. Mendoza’s exposure taught her to treat unhoused members as equals, and she kept in touch with some after they left the program.

“I was very biased against unhoused individuals. I was scared of them. And so the previous director taught me that they’re humans, and you need to treat them equally. They’re not gonna hurt you, like I know it sounds foolish now that I said it out loud, but… being part of the time bank opened my eyes to other parts of the community, and [it increased] my empathy for others and sympathy… There are a few time bank members who are not active anymore, because obviously they are going through their issues, but if I see them around town, I’ll give them a blanket or, you know, if they need extra cash… So I think that was a lasting impression for me when it comes to personal growth.”

Mendoza has obtained a great number of friendships through her experience in the time bank. “Grumpy” Ben, a notable time bank volunteer, first intimidated her with his loud excitement, a stark contrast to her usual quiet introversion. But over time, the duo became integral to time bank brainstorming. Kelsey is another member Mendoza mentioned because of her particularly interesting time bank service: group Pokémon Go hunting. Mendoza’s relationships provide a powerful example of what kinds of connections can grow after the initial awkwardness or nervousness of a time bank exchange.

“The biggest challenge is trusting people because they’re strangers, and the first reaction is, ‘I don’t want a stranger in my home,’ which I wouldn’t want a stranger in my home either… Our time bank’s goal is to reduce social isolation, so we focus a lot on connections and group gatherings. I would suggest, if there are monthly socials, monthly potlucks, a group exchange, go to those, even if it’s one or two, so you can meet those time bank members, and you get to meet others. Google them, search them online, on social media, make yourself feel safer around them, and meet them in a public space.”

As a leader within her time bank, Mendoza has had to learn to let go of her micromanaging tendencies and place great faith in the volunteers and team members. This collaboration has given Mendoza the opportunity to lean away from hyper-independence and allow herself to seek help from the people around her. It truly does take a village to uplift a single person in a community, and the time bank has provided the perfect outlet to create that village.

“It is harder to receive than to give, because we all have this mentality that I am strong and independent and I don’t need help from anybody... but we always need help from somebody at some point, and any small skill or help that we can get will make a difference and make the other person feel important and valuable in society.”

Learning to Give

McKenzie Yazzie-Martin found the time bank through his position as a program manager for the nonprofit organization “Brighter Bites.” Yazzie-Martin needed volunteers to help distribute fresh food to local families and schools, the time bank was the perfect place to find them.

“Sometimes I get more people who are willing and wanting to help… So I’ve had some people kind of just, not standing around, but wondering how they could help ‘Brighter Bites.’ Yeah, and in this case, I have people who I give a bag [of fruits and vegetables] as well as appreciation. I mean, overall, the challenge that I’ve had is managing a bigger team than I anticipated.”

As a volunteer coordinator, Yazzie-Martin found the time bank system particularly unique because it allowed him to reward volunteers with service hours they could use to receive services for themselves. Exchange of services creates a beneficial cycle rather than people feeling as if they are “wasting time” by volunteering because it has no monetary value. The time bank also provides “Brighter Bites” with a wide variety of skill sets, ranging from highly involved leadership to simply spreading the word about the organization.

“I see the skills of other people in terms of what they bring to ‘Brighter Bites.’ A lot of them have leadership skills or organization skills. A lot of them communicate, kind of elaborating on what the program is, and then sharing that knowledge with parents who are within the public or within the community schools… we’re helping the community create a more diverse nutrition aspect… [the time bank] also helps me bring up my skills as well with the leadership part and the management part.”

Overall, Yazzie-Martin has found the volunteers from the time bank to be extremely communicative, helpful, and loyal to the people they help. The interactions within this program have become less like transactions and more like a family. Members are deeply invested in spending time together and supporting one another.

“Everybody is super communicative, very loyal to the people that they help. It’s their own community, where it’s kind of more like a friendship, and the majority of the people think of it as like a family initiative, to the point where they spend a lot of time with each other.”

Although Yazzie-Martin hasn’t yet ingrained himself in the Mesilla Valley Timebank by providing his own services, the community has already inspired him to view his hobbies through a different lens. He has offered photography and yard work services to much appreciation, but he has struggled with asking for services outside of “Brighter Bites.” Sometimes, giving freely is a lot easier than receiving freely, but both are essential to the reciprocal nature of the time bank.

Redefining Wealth

The current political climate, especially in the US, is extremely divisive, frightening, and lonely. The most important thing to foster in this moment is community. Increased online connections have led many people to avoid in-person interactions, even when those interactions can arise from small, seemingly insignificant acts. Not every interaction within one’s local community needs to be a structured “hangout”; even being in the same space as someone, chopping some vegetables, can create a meaningful connection.

One does not need to be an expert on, well, anything to be part of a time bank. Think of the things you enjoy doing for yourself or others: playing board games, baking pastries, reading books, patching clothes, or planting flowers. All of these acts are given the same “currency” as an hour of someone else’s time. Just an hour of your time could be the first step in weaving together your local community. There is no bar of entry for a time bank.

There might be a time bank near you! Websites like “hOurworld.org” and “TimeBanks.org” could help you find one in your area. If you are unable to find one in your area, consider starting a chapter yourself! It only takes one person to make a real difference.

My boyfriend says he can’t marry me unless I delete pictures of my ex who passed away. About 9 years ago when I was in high school I had a relationship of 2 years, he was an incredible guy but we just didn’t work together well romantically as much as we wanted to. About a month after we broke up he OD’d, this was heartbreaking. All this time later I still have all of our photos and videos together, I could never bring myself to delete them even though at the we weren’t together. None of my partners in the past have ever made me feel bad about keeping them, but my current partner (of about 9 months) said he always felt weird when pictures of us would come up in memories, and yesterday he sat me down and said he’d been thinking about it and he can’t consider marrying me if I don’t get rid of all our pictures and videos. I feel so weird about this and don’t know how to move forward. I feel like he’s out of line for being jealous of someone who’s dead, but also am I holding on to something I need to let go of?

First, I want to reflect something clearly: You are not holding onto a boyfriend. You are holding onto a chapter of your own becoming. What you experienced was not just a teenage romance. It was young love, rupture, and then death. That kind of loss imprints on us differently. When someone dies—especially by overdose—the grief does not neatly organize itself according to relationship status. The psyche does not say, “Oh, we had broken up, so this won’t matter as much.”
The soul does not calculate like that.
The soul gets marked, like scars, they stay with us.
You are not clinging to a fantasy of being with him. You are preserving evidence that something real once lived. Sometimes we resist letting go, of pictures, of memories as if letting go means erasing the importance of things. In depth psychology, we understand that photographs are not just images. They are containers of memory. And memory is not the enemy of new love.

Unintegrated grief is. There is a difference. Your current partner’s discomfort is understandable on a human level. When “memories” pop up and he sees your face intertwined with someone else’s, it can activate comparison, insecurity, or the ancient fear: Am I competing with a ghost? That is not irrational. But what matters is how that insecurity is handled.

A request born from vulnerability sounds like:

“Sometimes I feel insecure when those memories come up. Can we talk about what he means to you now?” An ultimatum born from fear sounds like: “I cannot marry you unless you erase him.”

Those are very different postures of love. Love does not require erasure of your history. Love requires integration of it.

If you were still emotionally fused with your ex—if you were secretly wishing you were still with him or comparing your current partner against him—that would be something to examine. But keeping photos of someone who died is not evidence of romantic attachment. It is often evidence of unresolved grief and sacred memory. There are many layers to consider here, are you holding onto pictures because you haven’t processed the grief? That relationship, however imperfect, shaped who you are. The heartbreak shaped you. The loss shaped you. The compassion you likely carry around addiction and mortality were shaped by that story. I would gently turn the inquiry toward you: Are the photos a shrine, or are they an archive? A shrine keeps something alive in the present tense. An archive honors something that has been integrated into the past.

If you cannot delete them, that does not mean you are stuck. It may simply mean you have not yet ritually honored the grief in a way that allows it to settle differently in your body. Perhaps the answer is not deletion, but transformation. Moving them off your phone, printing one photo and placing it in a memory box. Creating a ritual where you consciously say: Thank you for who we were. I release the unfinished threads.

Your partner’s jealousy is not about a dead man. It is about his fear of not being chosen fully. But being chosen does not mean pretending you were never someone else before him.

You are allowed to have a past. You are allowed to grieve someone who hurt you and whom you hurt. You are allowed to carry tenderness for someone who is no longer alive.

The real question moving forward is this:
Can your partner expand enough to love a woman with history? And can you differentiate between honoring memory and clinging to unfinished longing?

Marriage is not built on the deletion of ghosts. It is built on two people strong enough to sit at the table with them and say, “We see you. And we are here now.” If he cannot tolerate the fact that you loved before him—even someone who died—that is not about your photos. That is about his capacity for emotional maturity. And if you feel a quiet knowing inside that you are not clinging but simply honoring—trust that.

Grief is not disloyalty. Memory is not betrayal. And love that demands erasure is not yet secure enough for marriage.

— Paula Santos, LP

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All submissions remain anonymous or confidential unless otherwise requested within the submission.

I love scrapbooking and crafting. I’ve been scrapbooking since I was 11, and have been crafting for as long as I can remember. To me, there’s something peaceful about the process of creating something that’s your own. And growing up, a lot of my friends had craft supplies (paints, markers, paper, stickers, posterboard, etcetera) lying around their houses. But with the increasing cost of craft supplies, will that still be the norm in the future? Or is crafting turning into a luxury only the wealthy can afford?

Lately, prices on supplies that I’ve never found expensive in the past are skyrocketing. When I ordered a set of paints and a small pack of 8x10-inch canvases, it cost me about $40. My last scrapbooking purchase (an album, a paper pad, and some sticker sheets) cost me well over $100. According to an article from the Digital Journal, there are currently 71% of consumers in the United States that identify as crafters. (Insights News Wire, 2025). While this is an increase seen since 2020, will it start to die down now that craft supplies are getting so expensive, with crafters spending an average of $3200/year on craft supplies (Daily Insights Wire, 2025)?

While craft sales have shown increases since 2020, are these supplies still accessible to low-income families whose jobs have been either eliminated or decreased since COVID? Many who are low-income struggle to find the time and the money or resources to be able to engage their children in arts and crafts, due to their lower wages and decreased amount of time spent at home.

Parents and crafters aren’t the only ones spending money on craft supplies, though. Teachers and educators also spend money on craft supplies for their classrooms and students. According to the Association of American Educators, “97% of teachers purchase their own classroom supplies, including arts and crafting materials, with their own money, spending an average of $673.00 per school year” (Yahoo.com)

It is so important to maintain a sense of creativity in our world, and especially to build a love for creating and crafting in our future generations. An article by Tiffany Spire states that there are many benefits to doing arts and crafts. These benefits included muscle and brain development, reasoning skills, confidence building, as well as math, science, engineering, pre-writing, and writing skills. Additional skills included those that strengthen character, such as flexibility, perseverance, and patience, as well as social skills (Spire, 2025).

Unfortunately, we live in a world where revenue reigns over creativity and recreation, and the companies making and selling craft products care less about helping people to access the tools they sell, and more about how much it makes them. If this inclination for expensive craft supplies keeps trending upwards, will crafting and creativity still be available to everyone? Or will it gradually become something only the wealthy have access to?

Sources:

Choi, M., Tessler, H., & Kao, G. (2020). Arts and crafts as an educational strategy and coping mechanism for Republic of Korea and United States parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. International review of education. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Erziehungswissenschaft. Revue internationale de pedagogie, 66(5-6), 715–735. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09865-8

Insights News Wire. (2025, November 17). U.S. craft industry revenue surges to $51 billion as DIY movement reshapes consumer spending habits. Digital Journal. https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/news/insights-news-wire/u-s-craft-industry-revenue-surges-178843421.html

Shelton, S. (2024, July 19). 97% of teachers buy classroom supplies out of pocket. Yahoo! News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/97-teachers-buy-classroom-supplies-192522233.html

Spire, T. (2025, March 10). Why it’s important to do arts and crafts with kids. The Budding Artists. https://www.thebuddingartists.com/tips/why-its-important-to-do-arts-and-crafts-with-kids

https://www.yahoo.com/news/97-teachers-buy-classroom-supplies-192522233.html

Almost everything in our lives is influenced by gender. Looking around my room, I can find a wealth of examples of how the things I enjoy or have been conditioned to enjoy are related to my gender. I have two bottles of red wine on my desk, which I am saving for a special occasion. I am more likely to enjoy this beverage because I grew up closer to women who relax with a glass of wine than to men who tend towards beer or straight liquor.

A glance to my left reveals my closet, where I hold far more clothes than I need. However, I have always felt the need to be especially fashionable to attract positive attention from those around me, and women have to try much harder than men to create a standout outfit. Men can just pull up some cargo pants with a tasteful button-up and receive applause for their ingenuity.

Even the giant corkboard displaying only a fraction of the pictures with friends I hold close to my heart is an extension of my gender. Femininity is tied to color, kitchyness, and a wider knowledge of aesthetics. All of these aspects can be found on this corkboard: saturated images, bright postcards, and sparkling pins and buttons. Also, I can’t help but wonder whether I would display these images with such fondness if I had grown up as a man, as another important and socially ingrained element of femininity is the profound ability to care for others.

I have struggled with my gender identity in the past as someone who doesn’t feel like they fully fit into female spaces, but also definitely does not fit into male ones. Sometimes I have wondered what life would be like if I were absent of gender. However, my mind can hardly comprehend the idea wherein all of society decided to leave gender behind. Gender structures run so deep in our contemporary world, but what if, with the snap of one’s fingers, we could leave the performance behind?

A Centuries-old Performance for Power

The system of categorizing people into two distinct groups is an act of control rather than a vie for individuality. We know this because, historically and currently, people assigned to the male category have been given greater social, economic, and interpersonal power. Those assigned to the female category are taught to be subservient, peaceful, and uncombative about the disadvantages imposed on them by men.

In our society, man is seen as the default while woman is othered. This means systems ranging from medical research to architectural design are framed around a man’s body, experiences, and needs. Many men do not actively seek opportunities to dominate women, but they all passively attain higher wages, gain more respect, and reap the benefits of heightened political representation.

Gender is a performance that all of us are born into, but there are some of us who attempt to reject it i.e. gender outlaws. Kate Bornstein’s ‘Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us’ describes the idea of someone who defies the rigid binary of masculinity and femininity, and in turn heteronormative expectations. Bornstein proposes that gender categories constitute a class system that preserves power by forcing people into boxes, with one box being given significant privileges over the other.

“The gender outlaw is a person who has stepped outside the boundaries of the gender system,” Bornstein writes. “To the extent that we continue to maintain the gender binary, we continue to maintain a system of oppression.”

Bornstein argues that fashion has been turned into a semiotic system that allows people to infer one’s gender, class, and social role. To imagine a world outside of gender, we would have to remove all clothes from the gender they are associated with. Instead of wearing a skirt to appear feminine (submissive) or a suit to appear masculine (dominant), people would be more inclined to reflect their individual moods and aesthetic preferences.

This observation is interesting, especially in our current social media landscape, where everyone feels the need to fit into an aesthetic box. If one wants to be viewed as gentle, feminine, and sweet, they wear frilly skirts, pastel colors, and tons of bows. Still, not many allow themselves to move beyond their chosen Pinterest aesthetic, preferring to attach their identity and personality to a single style.

Within Bornstein’s framework, one could wear a drab pantsuit one day and a sequined gown the next without it being a statement about gender, but rather a simple change in mood and preferences. Personally, I yearn for a world where clothes are used for their comfort, aesthetics, and functionality rather than as an essential statement of one’s positioning in society.

How We Define Sexuality

The way we define our sexuality has always been attached to gender. Bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual— all of these terms refer to sexual attraction based on gender, attraction to both genders, the opposite gender, or the same gender. We base our attraction on the perceived gender, or lack thereof, of the other individual. How would this change if society removed gender completely?

According to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in ‘The Epistemology of the Closet,’ the gender of one’s partner is only one axis of sexuality that, if removed, would force one to focus more on other more descriptive axes of sexuality. Because our world is highly gendered, we treat one aspect of sexuality as the only one that matters, but there is much more that goes into sexual attraction.

“It seems to me that many of the most important things that can be said about people’s sexualities—about the textures of their desires, their fantasies, their practices— don’t have much to do with the gender of their partners,” Kosofsky wrote.

According to Kosofsky, instead of focusing on gender, our society would shift to focusing on power dynamics, sensory preferences, the number of partners, and the specifics of a sexual act. A small percentage of contemporary society already focuses on these axes; many people craft their online dating profiles around kinks—non-mainstream sexual preferences—or feel comfortable sharing their preferred number of sexual or romantic partners.

This non-traditional way of viewing sexual experiences is nearly completely detached from gender, as one may focus on the self-assigned label of dominant, submissive, polyamorous, monogamous, etc., as the core of their sexual identity rather than focusing on the gender of the other party. Further, this community separates its labels from the assumed power dynamics of heterosexual relationships where man is dominant and woman is submissive; any label is available to anyone regardless of anatomy or gender identification.

A shift in sexual identity would also change romantic relationships entirely. Outside of the bedroom, relationships would be centered on partner compatibility across all areas of life rather than on gender identification. Current societal scripts pressure women to take charge of housework and men to be the breadwinners, but without these expectations to fall back on, partners would have to communicate about all aspects of sharing a life together. Labor in and outside the home would instead be divided by one’s skills and schedule.

The issue of class and power disparity may still be present. Still, an absence of gender would lead people to seek out partners for their unique personality and skills rather than shallow, gendered aesthetics.

Technology as a Bridge to a Post-Gender World

Current technological advancements may be, in many ways, frightening, but many feminist writers have theorized about how humans interlinking with technology may lead to the desired post-gender utopia. Technology is inherently genderless, possibly one of the most gender-free human advancements, as language, agriculture, and economics have always been tied to gender.

Radical feminist Shulamith Firestone argued in ‘The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution’ that gender inequality is rooted in biology, specifically, the burden of pregnancy and childbirth. According to her, a society could never be genderless with complete equality if one sex is responsible for maintaining the entire species. The burden of pregnancy on women not only leads to inequality in health and well-being, as pregnancy comes with many risks and side effects, but it will also always differentiate those born as women from those not.

The central technology required to create this utopia is artificial wombs, which our society is coming closer and closer to creating. If gestation could occur outside of the human body, the biological necessity of female reproduction would be moot. This, in combination with the theories presented earlier, would lead to less necessary distinction between those born female or male, as pregnancy could be completed by a robot.

An alteration of this intrinsic part of female-male dynamics could also make child-rearing a less gender-dependent job. The common idea of the biological family unit would be completely erased. There is no “provider” or “mother.” With a lack of gender completely, children would likely be raised in a more communal environment with no emphasis on the child bearer completing most of the emotional and physical labor.

Technological advancements would not only affect pregnancy; this is only a glimpse of what could change in a technology-first society. The performance of gender would no longer be necessary, as the societal “stage” would be completely altered and adapted around the average person rather than the average man.

A world without gender is not a world without identity; rather, it is a world where identity is finally liberated from the constraints of a centuries-old performance. By dismantling the binary through social defiance and technological innovation, we move toward a society in which nature is no longer a tool of control. In this post-gender utopia, we are free to be gender outlaws, not defined by the boxes we fit into, but by the unique textures of our desires, the functionality of our choices, and our shared capacity to care for one another as equals.

Edited by Sonal Butley

Sandy Laing celebrates spring in a big way with their SS26 show. Major elements being bright colors, light fabrics, flowy silhouettes, and fun. Sandy Liang looks require play, and play we get with these gorgeous looks, ranging from ‘I could wear this to the office’ to ‘ frolicking in a tulip garden’, truly showcasing their full range. Sandy Liang brings back childhood whimsy and effortlessly elevates it, in a way that is utterly captivating. Gifting us 37 whimsical looks this season.

Here are some of my top looks.

Edited by Lillian Paulo

i think my boyfriend thinks i’m stupid or something and i dont know what to do. every time i make a statement or tell him something he always double checks me, he’ll look it up online or ask someone else for confirmation or if ive been telling him something for weeks or months he just brushes me off, but if one of his friends tells him the exact same thing he listens immediately. i feel like its started making me second guess myself. like every time i get ready to tell him something i look up an article to prove myself. how do i make myself more believable or serious?

There is a particular kind of erosion that happens in relationships, and it does not arrive loudly. It happens quietly, almost invisibly, in small moments of dismissal. When someone repeatedly double-checks what you say, looks things up as if your word is insufficient, or only accepts the same information once it comes from someone else, especially a friend, something begins to shift internally. It is not just about facts. It is about credibility. And credibility is deeply tied to dignity. At first, you may tell yourself it is harmless. Maybe he just likes to verify things. Maybe he is detail-oriented. But when the pattern becomes consistent—when your voice is brushed aside for weeks or months, only to be validated instantly when echoed by someone else—the message your nervous system receives is not neutral. It begins to learn that your words alone are not enough. Over time, this creates a subtle but powerful internal shift: you start preparing proof before you speak. You begin attaching articles to your opinions. You rehearse your statements in advance. You brace yourself for dismissal.

This is not a sign that you are unintelligent. It is a sign that your sense of authority is being slowly destabilized. In depth psychology, we understand that when someone continually seeks external confirmation over their partner’s voice, it often reflects something internal to them rather than something lacking in you. It can point to insecurity, to a need for control, or even to unconscious bias about whose voice holds weight. Sometimes people feel safer trusting information that comes from outside the intimate bond, because trusting their partner fully requires vulnerability. To grant you credibility means to relinquish a subtle position of intellectual dominance. Not everyone is aware they are holding that position, but the body feels it.

The more important question is not, “How do I make myself more believable?” The deeper inquiry is, “Why am I working so hard to earn something that should be a baseline in love?” In a healthy relationship, there is an underlying assumption of mutual competence. That does not mean partners never fact-check. Curiosity is natural. But tone matters. Posture matters. There is a difference between collaborative exploration and corrective skepticism. One says, “Let’s look at this together.” The other says, “I’m not sure you’re reliable.” When this dynamic repeats, the impact is cumulative. You begin to second-guess yourself. You hesitate before speaking. You shrink your voice to avoid being subtly undermined. And that shrinking is the real harm. Not because you need to be right all the time, but because your right to participate as an equal is being quietly compromised.

It is also significant that when his friends say the same thing, he accepts it immediately. That is not about data. That is about hierarchy. Whether conscious or not, he is assigning more weight to their voices than to yours. And that can feel deeply destabilizing, especially in an intimate bond where safety should be mutual. The work here is not to become more convincing. If you attach citations to every sentence, you are reinforcing the idea that your word alone is insufficient. The work is to reclaim your internal authority. To speak without over-preparing. To notice when you are bracing. And then, gently but directly, to name the pattern.

You might say, in a grounded way, that you have noticed he often verifies what you say or seems to trust others more readily, and that it has begun to make you question yourself. This is not an accusation. It is an invitation to awareness. His response will tell you much. If he is capable of reflection, he will consider how his behavior impacts you. If he dismisses your concern again, that gives you important information about the larger dynamic at play. Love should not feel like an ongoing audition for credibility. You should not need to defend your intelligence in order to be taken seriously by the person closest to you. The right relationship strengthens your sense of self; it does not slowly chip away at it. You are not stupid. You are perceptive enough to notice that something in the dynamic feels off. And that noticing is wisdom. The real question is whether your partner is willing to meet you in that awareness—or whether you will continue doing the emotional labor of proving your own worth in a space where it should already be recognized.

— Paula Santos, LP

Submit your questions here!

All submissions remain anonymous or confidential unless otherwise requested within the submission.

It is the year of the horse. Which means intense energy, rapid, unpredictable change, and a push for forward momentum, independence, and bold, adventurous actions (according to google). It makes sense in a way, but I do have to ask.. why is the horse actively stomping on me? A common theme this year has been a nonstop flaw-state. Going from having a beautiful flow-state to a major flaw-state is jarring. Especially considering that mercury wasn’t even in retrograde at that point (I don’t know what that means but people use it in a negative connotation so…).

The stars misaligning is the only explanation to my front door handle breaking off in my hand, my skin breaking out, and forgetting my phone charger on a day I really needed it. This streak of bad luck is getting so out of hand, that I am trying to find good signs that may or may not signify a changing of the tides. One being a lady bug coming out of my purse (how it got in there is a mystery to me), an almost car accident, and a random sighting of Waldo, of ‘where’s Waldo?’ in the wild. Truly grasping at straws over here.

I will say, if you are going through the same thing, directing your negative thought spirals into positive thought spirals makes a world of a difference. I think it’s like a manifestation thing. Lately my mantra has been “GOOD THINGS ARE COMING”, and screaming that into the ether in an almost threatening way, genuinely works. Every time I use that mantra, good things do tend to happen.

Something I can attest to for a fact, is that January was the biggest flop, and February is fighting for that title. Though I refuse to let that happen, no more flopping allowed! The rest of this year will go amazingly well for all of us. Cue a moment of silence here, because guess what? Good things are coming. Good things are coming, I repeat as I rock back and forth, in a very Spongebobian way.

2026 has been rough, and we are only 2 months into it. I like to think that maybe that’s just all the bad energy clearing out. It is understandable to fall into a mental block because of everything going on in the world, and in your own lives. Being a human being is incredibly difficult, and going at it alone is close to impossible. Talking through it all helps, no matter how small your issues might seem in comparison to the state of the world, but they still matter. I think that if something is enough to bother you even just a little, then it matters, because it is affecting you, and you are allowed to feel however you feel.

A lot of people tend to find comfort in the thought that the universe is incredibly vast, and at the end of the day we are so minuscule in comparison, that technically nothing really matters. However I’m not one of those people. That thought freaks me out, if it helped you, then that’s amazing. But, if that thought also freaks you out too, then we can close our eyes, take a breath, and allow that thought to disappear. Our minds shape our realities, and if we constantly exist in this mental ideology of everything being difficult and out to get us, then our brains will only focus on that and filter out most other good things that come. I am trying my hardest to get my brain to focus on the good, and filter out all the bad, but it is difficult. Though I think it is incredibly possible and just trying already sets us on that path.

If you had a bad or difficult week, just know that once the week is over, it’s over. That’s it, it ceases to exist. How freeing is that? There is something so beautiful about that. Nothing is forever, so applaud yourself for getting through it, and open up your heart and mind to accepting that good things are coming. So get back on that horse, and ride the year out, the journey might just surprise you. Ponder on that ‘til next time.

This article was going to compare and contrast the film and the novel, but there are honestly few similarities between the adaptation and the original novel. So, let’s talk about it.

Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The novel is notoriously argued to reflect the ideals and social norms of 19th-century Victorian England, which of the time were incredibly conservative. People of color were rarely ever noblemen or above the social class of laborers and professionals. The novel had some pushback due to the ideas and darkness of the novel, as it goes from a tragic ‘love story’ to a haunting ghost story, ending with an ending of generational trauma and stopping the repeat of history with a twist of depravity, cruelty, and violence within the tragic story. Many critics remarked things as such: “How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors” (Britannica).

Our story follows the Earnshaw family: Catherine, Hindley and his wife Frances, and their father; Heathcliff; the Linton family: Edgar and Isabella; and the subsequent children that these characters have, as well as Ellen “Nelly” Dean, Joseph, and Mr. Lockwood.

The Moors

So, what did Fennel get right? The Moors. For those who haven’t read the novel (which I highly recommend reading), Brontë wrote the Moors as a hauntingly romantic and forebodingly uncomfortable setting. If you haven’t been to England, it honestly is very foggy, it is rainy, and clouds are common, which, of course, Brontë would know as she took inspiration heavily from where she grew up in Thornton, Yorkshire, England.

I do believe that Fennel depicted the Moors correctly. The setting in which the film takes place is picture-perfect to what they look like as it was filmed in Yorkshire. Probably the easiest thing to get right as well, since Brontë’s landscape setting is real. Another thing I believe Fennel got right was where the houses are in reference to each other…a website talking about the Moors actually featured a map as well. ​​

The running, breathlessness and having to take a car or horse between houses makes complete sense, while I do think the way they had Heathcliff and Catherine sneaking around as a little farfetched because the novel and film showed these places as being rather far apart, close enough to walk during the Victorian age yes, but how Edgar wouldn’t have figured it out sooner makes no sense, even if he is out during the day, the servants are not stupid.

This film was so incredibly, aesthetically beautiful, and while I do not believe that was something Brontë intended for her setting, I do think that is something done to many adaptations of gothic novels, no matter the form of media in which they are adapted.

Heathcliff

Let’s talk about Heathcliff. Now, as I said earlier, the race change was the least abhorrent, as Heathcliff is not a white character. He is quoted as “a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect” in chapter 1 by Mr. Lockwood, or as “if you were a regular black; and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly” by Ellen in chapter 7. While you can try to make the argument that this man is just a tanned white boy since his son with Isabelle is a pale, sickly boy, it would negate all the complex, sadomasochistic, degrading, and micro-aggressive undertones within the novel that Fennel just does not touch.

Now, the reason the race change is the least abhorrent thing I witnessed is because Fennel still makes nods to the fact that this man is not supposed to be white. Certain parts show close ups to Jacob Elordi’s (Heathcliff’s actor) skin that are a lot darker than that of Elordi’s natural skin color. And this may have just been my own personal perception and take, but Elordi is not usually that tan, and during that time, a white man, in a foggy moor, would also not be that tan. They barely see the sun, and we are meant to believe that this man just tans or is just that tan? Even while he is rather pale in other scenes, which weren’t always scenes that were time jumps, so season changing and tanning and working in the sun don’t quite add up.

Ghosts

The film ends about halfway through the novel’s plot. It ends with Catherine’s death and the death of her baby. While the novel has Catherine die during childbirth, they combine Catherine’s death and Heathcliff’s death as he dies in the novel by not eating and going into a depression after being haunted by Catherine’s ghost and waiting for her to come back. Instead, they have Catherine die that way, mixed with a miscarriage. Fade out.

They took out the entire ghost story from the novel and the tragic ending to the rest of the family members, and the children’s happy(ish) ending after their families are gone and they are no longer haunted by Catherine’s absence and Heathcliff’s presence. I believe this does change the point and plot of Brontë’s novel from the intergenerational trauma and interracial struggles of the time period that caused the pushback it received after its publication.

Opinions

There is so much more I can talk about, but I think I’ll let some other people go into way more detail than I can for this article. So, mentioned below are some video essays, podcasts, and/or social links for you to check out the opinions of others. But for now, in short, the movie sucked. If you want soft porn or a shirtless Jacob Elordi, then this film is for you. Otherwise, only the historically inaccurate and aesthetically pleasing outfits, and the Moors, are the good things about this film.

Sadly, Wuthering Heights Discourse Is That Deep

i watched wuthering heights so you don’t have to 💔📖🍳 (2026 wuthering heights review)

Wuthering Heights: Analyzing Heathcliff’s Whitewashing | TikTok

Emerald Fennell Comments on Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff | TikTok

glossing over the british “raj,” partition, star vat-ion, g*cide, and ... | Margot Robbie

Exploring the Controversial Wuthering Heights Adaptation | TikTok

Comparing Wuthering Heights and It Ends With Us | TikTok

Understanding the Significance of ‘Wuthering Heights’ Title | TikTok

Edited by Sonal Butley

Works Cited

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Penguin Books, 2003.

Ostberg, René. Edited by Britannica Editors, Wuthering Heights | Book, Movie, Characters, Summary, & Facts | Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/Wuthering-Heights. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.

Thompson, Paul. “The Moors.” The Moor around Wuthering Heights, wuthering-heights.co.uk/locations/the-moors#google_vignette. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.

I understand that this authorization was put into place to promote those with disabilities in the workplace. At the same time, things have changed since it was enacted almost 100 years ago! People with disabilities are no longer institutionalized or denied access to educational opportunities as frequently as they were in the 1930s. I just cannot understand why we make such a big deal over inclusion in education and recreation, but not in the workplace.

Plus, for those of us with chronic illnesses, we may experience flare-ups on some days that might hinder our work performance slightly, but that does not mean on days without flare-ups, we don’t work just as hard or as passionately as someone who doesn’t have our condition. If anything, on those symptom-free days, we work harder than our able-bodied co-workers, because we know that our energy may not last long. People with disabilities have to put in an increased amount of dedication and effort to reach the same outcomes as their able-bodied co-workers, because, on top of our work responsibilities, we are also dealing with unmet modification needs, along with systemic barriers and stigma.

For employees with disabilities, we are not only doing our jobs, but also putting in more effort than our non-disabled co-workers because we have to navigate and adapt to physical or social barriers in a workplace not designed for us. In fact, according to a study by the Institute of Corporate Productivity, “3 out of 4 employers ranked disabled employees to be just as good as – or better than – others in terms of work quality, attendance, and motivation” (People Business, p. 1).

Additionally, assistive technology and devices did not exist back in 1938, but we have made great strides in this area. We have screen readers, speech and voice-recognition software, E-readers, ramps, electric wheelchairs, and so much more. We have made many advancements in science and technology that help better support people with disabilities in their workplace environments.

While I do understand that this legislation is extremely important for those who have more severe developmental or socio-emotional disabilities, it is not fair to those of us who have disabilities and are more capable of doing things on our own, be it with assistive devices or not. I completely get that this legislation is mostly for those with developmental disabilities. However, who is to say that if an employer finds out that the person they are hiring has a disability, they won’t decide to pay them less because of that, even if the disability doesn’t hinder their work performance?

I know that this legislation helps those with developmental disabilities, but for those of us who have conditions that affect us differently, it can be crippling and diminishes our value. The wording of this law shouldn’t lump all impairments into one category. Not all limitations are the same or affect everyone in the same way. Employers are very quick to translate disability to liability, but that isn’t the case for every person with a disability. This is why I strongly believe it is critical that this piece of legislation be changed, or at least reworded, as soon as possible.

Edited by Jacquie Galvano

Sources:

People Business. (2025, March 3). Employing people with disabilities - blog. https://www.peoplebusiness.co.uk/employing-people-with-disabilities/

Sawo, M., Ferrante, D., & Weaver, A. (2025, January 14). It’s legal for some employers to pay disabled workers less than the minimum wage. Ending this practice is just a first step toward supporting their economic stability | Urban Institute. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/its-legal-some-employers-pay-disabled-workers-less-minimum-wage-ending-practice-just

“Updated July 2024: Trends and Current Status of 14(c).” U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (USDOL, 14(c) Certificate Holders, 7/2024). American Community Survey (ACS, Employment Data, 2022). APSE, 7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 680, Rockville, MD 20855. Accessed October 2023.https://apse.org/final-14c-statement-3_26_19/

I am 25 and my girlfriend is 35, Currently been dating for 2 months and everything is going perfect. The issue is im starting to feel a bit of anxiety when i think about how close we are getting or how vulnerable I’m being with her or if I’m enough for her or if I’m satisfying her. It’s getting to the point where I’m feeling nervous or feeling stressed around her and i don’t know why.. could it be that I’m falling for her and don’t want to accept it or is this normal when people start new relationships? It’s affecting me because I’m constantly stressed or feeling worried and I’m not even having the feeling to be intimate since my stress is so high

What you’re describing is incredibly common when something starts to matter. When we move from attraction into attachment, the nervous system often panics before the heart settles. Especially when the connection feels good. Especially when there’s something at stake. And in your case, there’s more than just chemistry. There’s:

– An age gap
– A woman who may feel more experienced
– A sense that “everything is going perfect”
– Emotional closeness happening quickly

That is a lot for a nervous system. Let me translate what might be happening beneath the surface.

When intimacy deepens, the psyche asks:
Am I enough?
Will I be chosen?
Will I be exposed?
What happens if I lose this?

Anxiety in early love is rarely about the other person. It’s about the part of you that is terrified of being seen and found insufficient. You mention wondering if you’re satisfying her. If you’re enough. If you measure up.

That’s not about sex.
That’s about worth.

And when worth gets activated, the body often responds with stress. Elevated cortisol. Racing thoughts. Reduced libido. It makes perfect biological sense. The body does not prioritize sexual desire when it perceives threat—even if the “threat” is emotional vulnerability.

Here’s the deeper layer.

You are 25. She is 35.

Even if she has never made you feel small, there may be an unconscious narrative inside you:

She’s ahead of me.
She knows more.
She’s evaluating me.
I need to perform.

Performance anxiety doesn’t just show up in the bedroom. It shows up in the soul. And the more
“perfect” things feel, the more pressure builds. Because now there’s something to lose. You asked a very insightful question:

“Could it be that I’m falling for her and don’t want to accept it?”

Yes. Sometimes anxiety is the body’s resistance to surrender.
Falling in love means losing control. It means dependence. It means someone else can hurt you. If you are someone who values independence, or has been hurt before, closeness can feel destabilizing. But here is the most important distinction:

If the anxiety feels like fear of vulnerability — that’s workable.
If the anxiety feels like something in you is saying “this isn’t right” — that’s different. From what you wrote, this doesn’t sound like intuition warning you away. It sounds like attachment anxiety rising as the bond deepens. Two months is exactly when this tends to surface.

The novelty wears off. The fantasy softens. Real emotional stakes begin.
The solution is not to push yourself to perform.
And it’s not to withdraw and shut down.

It’s to slow down.
You don’t need to decide if she’s “the one.”
You don’t need to prove you’re enough.
You don’t need to match some imagined standard of a 35-year-old man.
You need to regulate your nervous system.

A few gentle suggestions:
– Notice when the thoughts start spiraling. Don’t argue with them. Just label them:
“comparison,” “performance fear,” “catastrophizing.”
– Ground your body. Anxiety is physiological.
– Separate sex from performance. Intimacy is not an exam.
– Consider telling her, in a simple way: “I really like where this is going, and sometimes that makes me anxious because I don’t want to mess it up.”

Vulnerability often reduces anxiety more than avoidance does. Stress shutting down your desire does not mean you are not attracted to her. It means your nervous system is overwhelmed.

The paradox of intimacy is this:
The more we care, the more exposed we feel.
The more exposed we feel, the more our old fears surface.
That doesn’t mean the relationship is wrong.
It means it matters. The real inquiry for you is not:

“Am I enough for her?”

It’s:

“Can I allow myself to be loved without turning it into a performance?”
Love is not an audition.
And a healthy 35-year-old woman is not looking for perfection. She is looking for presence.

Slow it down.

Let yourself be human.

Let your body catch up to your heart.

Anxiety at the edge of love is not a red flag.

Sometimes it’s just the tremor before surrender.

— Paula Santos, LP

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There are innumerable examples of artists who have manipulated this pigment to tell an unspoken story to their audience, instilling the average museum-goer with a rush of intense emotion. In Caravaggio’s “Saint Jerome Writing,” the saint’s bright red robe contrasts with the dull, black background and harsh, Baroque-style lighting. The color emphasizes the figure’s passion, devotion, sacrifice, and crucial spiritual importance, the weight of which is further underscored by his hunched, almost pained position.

The power of red cannot be understated, and an artist who tamed the wild tone (or vice-versa) was the post-impressionist and widely proclaimed “master of color,” Henri Matisse. The man evoked emotions ranging from soothing serenity to energetic chaos, never shying away from the striking hue.

On the more peaceful end of the spectrum is Matisse’s “Le Bonheur de Vivre” or “Joy of Life” (1905-06), a mash-up of vibrant colors meant to represent a joy-filled, pastoral landscape. This painting exemplifies Matisse’s mastery of color, as one cannot confidently identify the primary shade of the piece: it contains striking greens, oranges, blues, purples, yellows, pinks, and the slightest tinge of red.

The thin strokes of red outline the oddly shaped figures strewn throughout the dreamlike landscape. The choice to outline the figures in red rather than sticking to the less intense surrounding palette may have been to evoke a feeling of liveliness, motion, or division between the figures and the natural landscape. However, red was minimized in this piece to keep the mood tranquil and idyllic, evoking feelings of pleasure and contentment.

But what happens when red consumes the entire painting? This is the case in Matisse’s “The Dessert: Harmony in Red,” an overwhelming composition whose red is interrupted only by a female figure, a window, and blue accents. The painting was commissioned initially with the intention that the primary color be blue. Still, Matisse was dissatisfied with this rendition and repainted it in his preferred color of a radiant, raspberry-like red:

“Where I got the color red—to be sure, I just don’t know,” Matisse is quoted as saying. “I find that all these things... only become what they are to me when I see them together with the color red.”

The overwhelming use of the same fiery scarlet color reduces the painting’s dimensionality; the red fabric melts into the red walls, which are hardly distinguishable from the slightly darker red chairs. This lack of dimension may be because the piece was mounted as decoration for a dining room. The flatness of the red hues evokes a sense of comfort and warmth rather than chaos or tension due to the consistent decorative elements breaking up the excited hue. These feelings may also stem from the red being on the cooler side, meshing with the blue detailing and greenery seen through the window.

Looking at the last piece, at least one can say that the red table, chairs, floor, and wall are somewhat distinguishable. Matisse’s “L’Atelier Rouge” or “The Red Studio” brings the artist’s unrestrained use of red to its extreme. Similarly, the hues of this painting make the room feel flat, lacking the perspective evident in a traditional interior portrait.

However, this red is much more chaotic and aggressive. It is a bright, extremely warm shade that indiscriminately covers the entire six-by-seven-foot canvas. Further, the hue is entirely flat, with no shadow and extremely minimal linework, leaving no distinction among the wall, dresser, table, chair, and clock. These items are timidly bordered with negative gaps that often find themselves bleeding into the fierce background. The whole composition changes the viewer’s concept of space, clearly placing them at a particular perspective but refusing to allow them to feel a part of the room.

This painting represents Matisse’s workspace. The confrontational color screams at its audience to look at it, while the cooler hues of the items of importance in the space draw attention to their inclusion: pieces of artwork, a plate, art supplies, a plant, sculptures, a glass, and a small window. Notably, the grandfather clock is absent of hands, symbolizing a sense of time suspended as Matisse works in his oasis. This red background imbues his artistic space with an energy no other color could accomplish.

Matisse seems to have felt a deep, personal connection to this excited shade. He used the force of this color to resist traditional definitions of depth and reaffirm his position as a master of post-impressionism, a movement defined by bold colors, deep symbolic meaning, and personal significance to the painter. Matisse used red to an evocative extent, likely learning how to best harness the hue from his mentor Gustave Moreau, who saw color as a spiritual language:

“Colors must be thought, dreamed, imagined.”

Edited by Natalli Newman