Butt Waxing: A Cheeky Ass Experience
"Yes – it was my ass. An ass that needed grooming. " In this comedic essay – nearly a standup skit – Gaurav Dewani recounts his first butt-waxing experience
Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Black Fathers, and White Women
EIC Zoe Patterson weaves together an analysis of Kendrick Lamar's new album with grief over her relationship with an absent parent
Spectacular Faults
TW: physical and sexual abuse
An excerpt from Sondra R. Brooks’ unpublished memoir, this personal essay paints a childhood haunted by the damaging spectre of hypermasculine, alpha father figures
Flee
In this rich personal essay, Augusté Nomekaité feels the weight of history on her Lithuanian identity, family, dating life, and her grappling with the horrors of the present: the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Two Auditions
In this memoir piece, Ernestine Whitman looks back on her journey as a young girl to becoming a professional flutist
The Pandemic Radically Altered My Relationship with India. I Don’t Know If I Can Ever Go Back
A personal essay explores navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the surrounding political turmoil, and their effects on identity and belonging
An Archive of Absences
In this personal essay, Susanne Niemann considers her family history and roots in Germany, and the need to document memory
Down and Out in the UAE Badlands
Film camera in tow, Benjamin Kirby heads to Al Dhaid in Dubai, where he meets an enigmatic TikTok-famous travel agent and muses on the urban landscape in this new essay
A Knotty Problem: Politics of My Hair
When cutting your hair is a radical act – Lubnah Ansari unpacks the social paradigms surrounding the politics of female hair in the South Asian context
Accent Politics
In this personal essay, Zambian-born Mbiko Mayaka explores her relationship to language, touching on code switching and the manifestation of social hierarchy and inequalities on the tongue
On Artists and Institutional Stigma
What do artists and institutions truly want from each other? How can this relationship tread the tightrope between exploitation and care? Artist and creative practitioner Mays Albaik opens up the conversation in this essay
Psychics
A personal essay on astrology, alcohol, and a dark family history by Sophie Ewh
Sorry to Bother You: Reflecting on Modern Capitalism and Satirical Black Cinema
As part of our new "b-roll" film column, Vamika Sinha revisits Boots Riley's Afro-surrealist Sorry to Bother You, and why it offers important commentary on the intersections of race and late-stage capitalism in 2020.
Fighting for Scraps: Class Relations and Murder in 'Parasite'
Kicking off our new film column "b-roll", Toby Le reviews Bong Joon Ho's Parasite through the lens of a pivotal murder sequence.
Hungry City
A sprawling essay engaging with ramen, New York, Teju Cole’s fiction, and hyphenated identities, by Vamika Sinha.
Everyone Wants a Working Class Origin Story Without having a Working Class Origin Story
“The problem in America then and now is that we muddle morality and social class. The bigger problem is that our country’s only worthy narrative is the rags to riches motif” – Samantha Neugebauer discusses class inequality and the American dream in this new essay.
Paula Rego's Delightful Violence
Zoe Patterson explores the pain and wonder of childhood in Paula Rego’s Peter Pan Illustrations.
The Historical is the Personal — Reflections on Postcolonial Guilt, Mi Koo Buns, and Writing History
In this incredible essay, Tzy Jiun Tan brings together food, personal history, languages, postcolonialism and myths to talk about human narrative.
Through the Forest
A short story of mystery and suspense set in Indonesia, by Dayin Wijaya.
The Joy of Jollibee
In this lyrical personal essay, Louise Gerodias reflects on the importance of the Jollibee fast-food chain in her own life and in Filipino culture at large.