Last week I had the opportunity to attend SXSW for the first time. This was a huge honor, as SX isn’t just a music and film festival, but their conference is home to one of the biggest gatherings of panels and speakers in the nation. I’m talking mega-celebrities from world-renown scientists to major musicians, and…
It’s been nearly 80 years since The Zoot Suit Riots took place in Los Angeles, California in June of 1943. The riots were initially a clash between Mexican-American youth and servicemen in the Los Angeles area, which became a turning point for the Mexican community while signifying the complex racial and political tensions between minorities…
The romance genre in film and TV. shows spout a rhetoric of love that is perceived as idealistic and gives the notion that without a relationship life can be unfulfilling, which can lead to needing external validation. The media promotes the idea that in love there is no risk and love is all you need….
In the United States book banning, or even the burning of books has long since been a way for those in power to control what information the public has access to. During the 1980s, largely due to the Cold War and divisive political climate, book banning reached an all-time high, leading to the first-ever Banned…
When I first spoke to Jerry Garcia, the Baritone Captain for the Austin Gay Men’s Chorus, the main thing that struck me was his light. He had a joy that radiated off of him, a deep gratitude for the community he’d received through the chorus, and an intense passion for sharing his story and the lessons he’d taken…
By Carlota Vasquez “I often find that, for those of us who submerge ourselves in literature on a daily basis — whether that be by reading it, writing it or both — the images and stories swirling in our head can flood out in a dozen different ways. While I was coming up with scenarios…
By Anna Martinez According to Mexico’s statistics agency, 6 million Mexicans are deaf or hard-of-hearing. 17-years-old Estrella Salazar from Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, is on a mission to help this population. Salazar developed an app that allows people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to communicate more easily. The app is called, “Hands with Voice,” and it helps…
En Texas, donde el calor parece nunca terminar y el frío nunca comienza, puede ser difícil adentrarse en el ambiente acogedor y tibio de la temporada de otoño. Por eso he investigado y juntado una lista de las 10 mejores películas para ver durante la temporada de otoño. !Así que prepara tus palomitas, toma tu…
When I turned the corner into Congress Avenue on that mid-March afternoon, I was greeted by what felt like hundreds of people, all there to honor the late great Selena. The Queen of Tejano Music was in every corner of the crowd. On backpacks, in T-shirts, in hand-rhinestoned jackets, and hand-held posters. The fans in…
