Column

It’s time for the Biden Administration to protect the American people from “forever chemicals,” forever Teflon. An invention as American as apple pie, it has been used in everything from coating pipes in the Manhattan Project to everyday use in kitchens to coat non-stick pans. Teflon was so popular that in the 1980s that former […]

In parallel with the pope, U.S. must address the impacts of environmental issues on BIPOC communities On Jan. 22, 2021, President Joe Biden became only the second Catholic president in history, with former President John F. Kennedy being the first. While I personally have no qualms with an Irish Catholic president named Joe, a lot […]

The Capitol riots signal the threat of extremism, leaving teenagers especially vulnerable for online recruitment All hope was yet to be lost. During a “Save America” rally on Jan 6., former President Donald Trump rang the last battle cry. Holding on to claims of election fraud and ballot harvesting, Trump’s words gave his supporters the […]

Separating anti-vaccination rhetoric from vaccine hesitancy by rightfully skeptical communities of color As misinformation chipped (and continues to chip) away at the faultline between public trust and science, the Trump administration wasted no time in causing more divisive fractures by promoting uncertainty around the effectiveness of mask-wearing and loose enforcement of stay-at-home orders. Former President […]

Gavin Newsom’s failed environmental commitments need to be addressed with actions, not words From rumors of recall to criticism about his handling of reopening the state, Governor Gavin Newsom has been in the news a lot lately. Although I wouldn’t go as far as endorsing an absolute recall, I would like to highlight Newsom’s many […]

We shouldn’t readily accept all forms of representation in media Asian American identity is both fluid and inarticulable, characteristics that betray its self-determined creation. In 1968, UC Berkeley graduate students Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka  coined the term Asian American to describe different groups of Asian descent; Its creation was a “radical label […] that […]

Eurocentric beauty standards affect Asian women in harmful and toxic ways “White is clean, white is pure, white is beautiful,” declares an advertisement from Japanese cosmetics company Mosbeau—a portmanteau of “most beautiful”—which specializes in skin-whitening creams and supplements. The 30-second video-ad features a Filipino model who credits her confidence and good looks to the brand’s […]

In a small corner of California, the Biden administration’s climate policies and promise to protect public lands are about to be tested Two universally accepted principles of our country’s plan to fight climate change are the development of renewable energy and protection of open wilderness across the nation. California is a great example of this […]

All the world is an Instagram grid, and all the people are merely posing In July 2010, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger made the first-ever Instagram post. His shot of a random marina marked the birth of an app that will rule our generation, but, ironically, it also breaks every unwritten rule our generation has created […]

The swift deportation of an American influencer in Bali highlights a phenomenon of “digital nomads” who bypass immigration rules and perpetuate wealth inequality Kristen Gray, an 28-year-old American woman in Bali, Indonesia, has recently come under fire after her Twitter thread encouraging other foreigners to move to the island during the pandemic went viral. In […]

In the last weeks of his presidency, Trump’s Administration just barely recalled a decades long policy by the EPA despite outcry from the scientific community As President Joe Biden attempts to turn a new leaf and focus on the future, the Trump Administration’s final decisions continue to cast a shadow over many of his choices. […]

How discourse around the mental health of reality stars shapes the way we handle stigma The birth of a reality TV star begins and ends in a limbo ripe with contradictions.  They are cogs in the machine of reality television: necessary for our entertainment, but so plentiful that when they are churned out, they are […]