Category Archive: Lifestyle

Chanel Jaali: Glow Photo

Displaying the glow of black and brown women...

I have never seen a 12-month calendar that only contains black, positive faces. But, there are annual calendars for sale in stores like Walmart and Target filled with the “perfect photos.” You know a Caucasian mom and dad, a son, a daughter, and a little dog—huddled together, cheesing hard behind a white picket fence. These types of calendars have been around for as long as I can remember, with primarily white families as the focal point, supposedly displaying a perfect life and the “American Dream.”
But now in 2020, it’s a different day. And, I’m proud to say my desk calendar displays an “African-American Woman’s Dream,” which can be found in the Glow Photo series 2020 calendar. It’s filled with candid shots of African-American women of beautiful brown shades, and all different shapes, and sizes.

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Bong Joon Ho: Living Legend

I knew I had to see the movie Parasite as soon as I saw the trailer last fall. I rarely go to the movies, but last November, a friend and I immediately made plans to see the South Korean film when we learned it would come to an independent theater in our college town. Frustratingly, after we arrived at the first screening of the weekend, the theater ran into technical difficulties; we had to leave halfway through the movie and return later to watch the second half. In hindsight, though, I’m glad we did. The emotional sucker punch that is Parasite would have been overwhelming for me to view all at once. 

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Judy Smith: Crisis Averted

It seems like this is happening more and more. A public figure accidentally mentions something meant for private ears over an open mic. Someone else makes an ill-willed joke, possibly not realizing the consequences of that action. After all these blunders, the phrase “crisis management,” takes on a new meaning. Taking care of these problems requires a special kind of person - an expert in the field of fixing errors. Judy Smith is that person.

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Greta Gerwig: Committed To The Woman Onscreen

The novels assigned to students in American English classes throughout grade school are often labeled “classics” such as “Of Mice and Men,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Pride and Prejudice,” etc. Rarely do students understand the essence of the story they are assigned, nor do they care enough to venture into anything other than the Sparknotes summary. I know this because I was one of those students, feigning apathy in the face of yet another classic slammed down on our desks. 

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Robert Pattinson: Work in Progress

Ever since the Beatles and Elvis divided a sea of screaming fangirls in the 1960s, mainstream media has been pitting male entertainment professionals against each other. Right on the heels of the Backstreet Boys vs. N’Sync rivalry, these celebrity match-ups came to a head in 2008, when we saw adolescents sort themselves into Team Edward and Team Jacob with the release of the first installment in the Twilight film series. For many of us, this was the first time that the chiseled Robert Pattinson appeared on our horizons. It wouldn’t be the last. 

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