shifting perspective

ramell ross’s unconventional approach to nickel boys

originally published in bright wall/dark room

during my final semester at brown university in spring 2024, I needed one more film class to fulfill the requirements for my degree in modern culture and media. I’d spent one entire semester watching movies from the french new wave, analyzed every hitchcock film, and read laura mulvey’s seminal essay “visual pleasure and narrative cinema” more times than I could count. I was craving something different—a departure from the clichéd “film major” canon…

photo: l.kasimu harris/amazon mgm studios

pornotrauma

archiving wounds of womanhood

originally published in the prospector, spring 2024 issue 1: bodies: the lustful, bestial, and abnormal

in his auto-theoretical book testo junkie, paul b. preciado defines pornography as media that “tells the performative truth about sexuality. it is not the degree zero of representation. rather, it reveals that sexuality is always performance” (preciado, 270). preciado’s suggestion that the highly contentious medium of pornography might reveal the truth about sexuality rather than detract from its essence is a revolutionary stance that is echoed by certain thinkers and challenged by others…

sentiments from a super senior

originally published in the brown daily herald

I anticipate that the enduring identity of brown’s class of 2024 will inevitably center on our scattered start to college in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic. it will be mentioned in speeches throughout commencement weekend and at reunions down the line…

intimacy of a wax

originally published in xo magazine

during the spring and summer months, I get waxed every five to six weeks, religiously. I dislike the way my pubic hair bunches in a bikini bottom and seeps with sweat when I walk from place to place, let alone work out. but during the winter, my vagina hibernates with the rest of my body and mind. the hair protects me and keeps me warm…

art by kendra eastep

a farewell to brown

reflections upon commencement and the legacy of jeffrey eugenides’ the marriage plot

originally published in post-magazine

during my senior year of high school, I took an honors english seminar. its thirteen spots were awarded to a cohort of rising seniors who satisfactorily completed a pre-requisite essay response to roland barthes’ from work to text. each week we dove headfirst into different subgenres of literary theory, our backpacks weighed down by the menacing brick that is rivkin and ryan’s 1650-paged book, literary theory: an anthology…

media by junyue ma

basking in la solar

utopian performances and performatives at a medellín music festival

originally published in post- magazine

driving into medellín feels like skating across a blanket of stars. the city is nestled between two mountains, each of which is scattered with lit-up homes that make them glisten like a galaxy. when my cousin and I arrive at the park where la solar festival is held, the mountains glimmer in the distance…

media by stella tsogtjargal

the bucket list curse

list-making apps as commodification of culture

originally published in post- magazine

“abroad planning,” “barcelona bucket list,” “travel to book,” “running to-do list”: the top four lists I see when I open my notes app, and those are just the ones I have pinned. I have 1830 notes (and counting) on my phone. I used to consider this addiction a great accomplishment, but recently I’ve come to view it as a curse…

media by ella buchanan

alone in crowded rooms (and boats)

my solo trip to the venice film festival

originally published in post- magazine

five days after I drove off the universal studios lot in 100-degree heat for the last time this summer, I flew to europe for my semester abroad. my internship at amblin entertainment felt like a distant memory by the time my spanish immersion program began two weeks later in barcelona. after my first five days in spain, I found myself again on a plane, this time headed to la biennale di venezia for the premiere of amblin’s newest netflix film, maestro…

media by junyue ma

learning from my mother to just say yes

originally published in the jewish women’s archive

on what would have been my grandfather bruce’s 83rd birthday, my family gathered at his final resting place for the unveiling of his gravestone. rabbi laura geller, a longtime family friend and fellow jwa board member, led the ceremony and invited us to share stories and blessings…

my boyfriend died by suicide during my junior year at brown university. 6 months later, I'm still grieving the loss.

originally published in insider

last september, I called a few therapists in providence, rhode island. I wanted to equip myself with a tool kit to support my boyfriend, jameson, through his ongoing battle with depression. I was a junior and he was a sophomore at brown university…

the glitch generation

the beauty of digital loss and ephemerality

originally published in post- magazine

june 6, 2008 was the first time i saw an iphone. i was sitting in a jewish deli next to the hospital where my mother was in labor with my brother. at the time, i only knew the flip phones i saw in movies and the blackberries my parents used…

media by icy liang

a love letter to babylon

an ode to hollywood and the films that celebrate it

originally published in post- magazine

my grandfather, a motion picture exhibitor, used to declare every film he saw the “best picture of the year.” I can still hear the natural inflection of that phrase in his voice revealing his pure, unadulterated delight. my grandmother would walk out of the theatre and tell him she couldn’t believe they’d both seen the same movie…

media by hannah zhang

sawayama's melodrama

surrendering my music taste to the algorithm

originally published in post- magazine

this summer i switched to spotify. i was always petrified to reveal my identity as an apple music user, but i was equally stubborn to admit that the platform was inferior. unsurprisingly, it was a boy’s pleas to have access to my playlists that ultimately tipped the scale…

media by anasemi owate-chujor

x

the film, the factor, and the epoch

originally published in post- magazine

lights flicker and reflect across our frightened faces as we pick popcorn kernels out of our braces. we laugh uncontrollably, to mask the pure terror that resides beneath. desperate to encounter an adrenaline rush like the drugs we’re too young to take…

media by eliana reynolds

reverberating rainbows

remi wolf, live at the boston royale

originally published in post- magazine

bouncing vivaciously around the stage in athletic track pants, a purple t-shirt, and pink mini ugg boots, remi wolf is electric and eclectic. and so is her audience: the boston royale is packed with flamboyant fans of all ages, many sporting merchandise from her official collection…

media by milo harris

full house, fuller heart

remembering bob saget

originally published in post- magazine

“when you’re lost out there and you’re all alone, a light is waiting to carry you home…” “everywhere you look” by jesse frederick, better known as the full house theme song, floods me with a special type of sentimentality each time i hear it…

media by ooviya sathiyamoorthy

unsent unlove letters

originally published in the college hill independent

my sexual awakening came in the form of an unrelenting crush on my childhood best friend’s older brother. he was four years older and presumably wiser than my pre-pubescent peers, and I idolized everything about him…

illustration by hannah park

heavy metal drummer boy

originally published in the college hill independent

i feel my top lip tremble each time my tongue stretches up to lick it. they’ve been chapped for a week now, and mom says they won’t get better unless i use the stupid lip balm she brought home from the pharmacy. but every time i put it on, my lips tingle more…

illustration by lola simon

wistful whispers

how adele's 30 tells time

originally published in post- magazine

i’m on the commuter rail back from boston when the clock strikes midnight on november 19. a hush falls over the conversation i’m having with my friends. “the album is out. i can’t listen to it,” one of them says. but i’m ready…

media by joanne han

some notes on "some notes on attunement"

originally published in post- magazine

joni mitchell is one of those artists i’ve always loved but never known. or as zadie smith puts it, “the first time i heard her i didn’t hear her at all.” mitchell’s chilling runs and wails didn’t play throughout the soundtrack of my childhood the way the beatles, abba, or electric light orchestra (thanks, mom) did. i heard her occasionally, but i didn’t appreciate blue in its entirety until the album was approaching its semicentennial…

media by talia mermin