The End of the Road: Escaping through Privilege in My Own Private Idaho
“I’ve been tasting roads all my life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.”-Mike Waters Mike Waters is a tragic character. Played by the late River Phoenix, he’s a young gay sex worker whose life is perceived as a fun escape to his best friend, Scott Favor. Mike’s situation was...
“Overthinking: Am I Doing Enough? Or, Too Much?”
We all have had a lot to think about in 2020. We are all juggling classes, work, extra-curricular activities, clubs, mental and physical health, and human connection while staying extremely cautious about our outings since the pandemic outbreak. The combination of all these stresses could cause us to feel overwhelmed—I know I felt that. In...
That Distant Black Flag: The Intricacies of Familial Love in Chang-rae Lee’s A Gesture Life
“Japan” by YoTuT on Creative Commons “Let me simply bear my flesh, and blood, and bones. I will fly a flag.”(Lee 356) Chang-rae Lee’s novel, A Gesture Life, is a slow, emotional exploration of the complications that arise in the diasporic communities of the globalized last century. Chang’s quiet narrative hints at the darker complications...
Becoming a Global Citizen
Throughout my childhood I was never a person who liked to take risks, preferring to stay within my comfort zone. Two years ago I had never left the country without my parents. However, despite the unfamiliarity, I decided to embark upon a journey to a foreign place where I did not speak the language and...
Spring Will Come Again: Story, Song, and Sorrow in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown
“Orpheus with his lute made trees And the mountain tops that freeze Bow themselves when he did sing: To his music plants and flowers Ever sprung; as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Every thing that heard him play, Even the billows of the...
A Classic for Halloween: The Horror Behind Frankenstein’s Monster
[Source: Frankenstein by twm1340 on Creative Commons] As Halloween approaches, decorations and displays of classic creatures of the occult such as vampires, werewolves, mummies, and zombies go up on storefronts and homes. Frankenstein is no stranger to it. His combination of green skin, bolts and stitches, staggering height, and strange black and white hair should...
