The ramming together of radical self-expression and greater conscious awareness can create a beautiful, egoless, self-portrait. Costumes are a huge deal at Burning Man. Next to the ticket and car/RV rentals, that’s usually what Burners drop the most cash on. Just check the InstaG tag #BurningMan. A solid majority of…

The first installment of my experiences at the one week, radical arts festival in the Nevada desert, in 500 words (more) or less. “You can’t hold it?” “For seven hours? You crazy?” It was a quarter after 2pm and I was tightening my goggles so my scarf would cover my…

By Diara J. Townes. August 16, 2017. November 2008 was a turning point for America. We made a step forward in race relations. A step towards a future millions of Americans never thought they’d see. November 2016 was a turning point for America. Election Day was a punch to the…

By Diara J. Townes. July 26, 2017. The power of the Oval Office was flexed yet again today as a new proclamation spilled from the President’s personal megaphone: No transgender people in the military.

Expressions of an Artistic Outcast — By Diara J. Townes. June 8, 2017 For Jacob Schaffer, making music with others is his dream. But first he had to escape his nightmare. Raised in the suburbs of New Jersey, the 23-year-old indie artist recalled his demoralizing experience in school as a child. “People were afraid of me because of my emotional response to school…

By Diara J. Townes. May 1, 2017. — New Yorkers in the Class of 2021 could be the first college graduates to leave school debt-free, thanks to a new law by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Excelsior Scholarship program, passed by state legislators on April 10, allows families earning less than $100,000 a year to send their kids to…

“People are just screaming their opinions at each other.” Diara J. Townes. Feb 20, 2017 An estimated 13,000 people came to a Facebook-organized rally in New York City in mass protest of the 45th President of the United States. NYPD patrol and community affairs officers lined the streets on this…

by Diara J. Townes February 5th, 2017. Technology has seen amazing developments within the field of communication in the 21st Century. It has enabled connections not thought possible decades prior. The advancement of the printing press, the radio, the television and now the internet, paired with mobile devices, have challenged…

By Diara J. Townes. February 4th, 2017. The rise of minority-owned newspapers, publications, television shows and so on since the 1960s is greatly attributed to the failure of mainstream media’s ability to fully and responsibly cover these social groups (Cory, Center for Media Literacy). By only reporting and producing specific…