Language can be the biggest barrier to entry in a foreign country. It can be really tough to express yourself to others when you don’t have the words to do so. This is a song about basketball. I learned how to integrate into a Chilean subculture through playing basketball every day at a park near my house. […]
Archive | Issue 4: 2018
first stroke
I wrote this poem after coming home from being a part of a lesbian feminist drum circle in Quito, Ecuador. I was invited earlier that day by one of the members, not really knowing what it was. She told me it was an “ensayo,” which means rehearsal or practice. We were unsure what they were […]
Basking in the Basque
I arrived in San Sebastián secure and with a strong foundation, but as I basked in the beauty of this shadow, I saw a reflection of myself on the blank wall before me, waiting for the light of this wonderful city to leave me, too, with a beautiful pattern, adding another layer to myself. One […]
They were. And then they weren’t.
No number of grade school World War II units, Holocaust documentaries, or survivors’ memoirs can prepare you for the brutal reality that is Auschwitz-Birkenau: grossly enormous, bizarrely modern, and disconcertingly quiet. With over two million visitors a year, the grounds see thousands of people each day. But throughout my lengthy day spent at the camps, […]
Moroccan Opus: III. Dissonance (Ifrane/Fes)
I visited the cities of Ifrane and Fes back to back and was shocked by how different they were. While physically close in proximity, the two cities seemed to exist in two different time periods of Moroccan culture. While in Ifrane, we were able to take Moroccan and Islamic history classes at the local university. […]
Beyond the Plate
Food is everywhere. Food surrounds us, controls us, moves us. Food sends us far away and brings us back home. But then again, what is home? Is it where we hang our coats, or where were born? What is it about homestyle cooking that is so comforting? Is it what is on the plate, or […]
♫ ♪ I’m a Barbie Girl, Torn Between Two Worlds ♫ ♪
Everywhere. Billboards, ads, commercials and stars on TV. Here-there, next to the grocery aisle Beauty essentials. 100 spf. Bleach Here! Every soap, and every lotion, shampoo straightens too Rain or shine, umbrellas for one dollar At the beach, long sleeves, scuba suit? Here-there, “I didn’t recognize you!” What does it mean to be Filipino […]
Questions I’ll Never Be Able to Answer
I went to India full of expectations. A big part of me believed that I would return with an understanding of myself and of the world. But being abroad was confusing. I questioned human intention after attempting to meditate in an ashram—fleeing the mountain temple more fearful than when I arrived. The grey garbage flooding the streets deeply […]
Stranger in a Strange Land
This piece was written while I was studying abroad in Amsterdam. It was driven by my experiences in the Anne Frank house, in an exhibit at the Stedelijk Museum that interviewed refugees with queer identities from various regions around the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as visiting a former prison that had been […]
Part 2: Disorientation
Disorientation occurs when we lose our bearings, but it allows us to rethink our usual orientation to the world. How we reorient ourselves gives us a new sense of how things should be. Stranger in a Strange Land by Geoff Lloyd Questions I’ll Never Be Able to Answer by Ali Rosen I’m a Barbie Girl, Torn Between Two Worlds by Alyssa […]