Gun violence seems to be at an all-time high. According to the CDC, as of 2020 more Americans had died due to gun-related injuries than any other cause. Mass shootings are a near daily occurrence at this point, and with each one, the laws protecting guns get stronger and more impenetrable. There’s barely any time…
With temperatures reaching record highs in Texas, routinely going beyond the hundreds, the great outdoors may not be looking that great this summer. But that’s okay! There are plenty of ways to have fun that don’t involve being outdoors, being sticky, or worst of all, waiting in lines while experiencing the heat wave. The notion…
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Norma McCorvey, otherwise known as “Jane Roe”, nullifying Texas’s abortion ban and citing that women had the constitutional right to choose for themselves whether they had abortions without governmental interference. Now, nearly 50 years later, Roe V. Wade has officially been overturned, firing off…
Per my mother’s request, I attended Catholic private schools from the time I was a toddler all the way up until my high school graduation. This had a prolific impact on me, and not in the way my mom had hoped for. I recall being in seventh grade Theology class, in which we had a…
I first heard about Natalia Sylester while interning at Austin Bat Cave because she was the judge for a youth writing contest my manager led. Natalia was born in Lima, Peru, and has lived in Texas and Florida. She graduated from UMiami with a BA in Creative Writing. Her most recent novel, which features…
Time to break out the fireworks, grab those red, white, and blue flip-flops, and start grilling, it’s Fourth of July weekend. Though this year, things might feel a little different. In light of recent events, the stewing civil unrest, the ever-increasing amount of mass shootings, as well as the laws being passed seemingly interfering with…
Last week I was invited to watch an early screening of Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, a full-length movie based on a character that was popularized over ten years ago. If I’m honest with you, I had my reservations. While I knew of the YouTube videos that inspired the movie, I was worried that…
Considering Juneteenth only just became a federal holiday in 2021, you may not know what it is and why it’s celebrated. Allow me to enlighten you. While President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that freed all enslaved people, in 1863, the news didn’t reach everyone. It wasn’t until two years later in Galveston,…
I first discovered Angel Joy Flores in Season 6 Episode 2 of Queer Eye. As a fan of the show, I tuned into what I expected to be a heartwarming good time. Which, of course, it was. What I was not expecting, however, was a raw insight into what it looked like to navigate transitioning…
