Media Overload, Doomscrolling, and Pseudo-intellectualism in the Social Media Age — Every time I pull down my Twitter timeline to refresh it, at least a few dozen new tweets appear. Some are jokes or memes that prompt a giggle, or at the very least a long nose exhale. Most often though, I’m inundated with breaking news, or discourse about a horrible…

Like it or not, Zendaya is not a Black woman. Race is a social construct. It is shaped by society’s values and perceptions of race at the present time. In the early days of European settlement in what is now the United States, the idea of whiteness was not well-defined…

The Modern Day Bard: Examining Young Thug’s Mastery of Poetry I’ve loved Young Thug’s music for almost a decade. I fell in love with his music shortly after the release of Slime Season 2, and my views on rap music have never been the same since. I don’t just think…

The joint rested on the corner of his unsmiling mouth. The unforgiving wind crept into my turtleneck, which I had paired with a thin leather jacket that was not designed for the January Parisian night air. I could barely feel it, so I didn’t care. The rum made me warm…

Joseph and I sat on my porch, waiting for his brother Michael to arrive with his truck. It had been a hot summer day, and the sweltering heat of the afternoon had slowly faded into an idle night breeze, beckoning the crickets and owls and raccoons and all the other…

“Do I not seem like I’m worth being treated like a woman?” — In July 2020, Megan thee Stallion accused fellow rapper Tory Lanez of shooting her in the foot, and absolute pandemonium broke out on Twitter. I could scarcely keep up with the flurry of tweets, some in support of her, others in support of her shooter, and still others treading the…

Your favorite celebrity is not your bestie. — I scrolled on Twitter mindlessly as I often do, rolling my eyes at this tweet, giggling at that tweet. Right as I was about to exit the app, I came across a tweet that made my jaw drop: “I wish Nicki would just die so people would finally respect her.”…

Charles stared down at his shiny gold-plated watch, doing it mostly for the benefit of the realtor standing in front of him with his arms crossed. While Ella was almost always late to anything of importance, it was nearing two thirty and he was getting more worried as the minutes…

Or has the institution of therapy been devoured by the cogs of capitalism? As 2022 rapidly approaches, so does my year-long anniversary of therapy. My therapist recently sent me an evaluation form, asking me how I felt about my mental health services, whether I was satisfied, and how she could…