Culture-Bound Illness

I just learned that Japanese women do not experience hot flashes during menopause. In fact, they don’t even have a word for “hot flashes”. Psychologists believe that this is due to the fact that in Western culture, a woman is seen as losing value as she ages, so stress induces hot flashes…

The Artistic Merit of Video Games

Art is a paradox when it comes to boundaries. For something as freeform and open to individual…

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the most feared and stigmatized mental illnesses. In our present age, we treat it with antipsychotic medication, such as Haldol or Abilify. In some cultures however, these hallucinations, or visions, are seen as positive and revered by other members of society. How do we define…

Miracle Dreaming Music

Since midterm season is coming up, I know many students who cannot sleep at night because of the large amounts of…

Do Dreams Reflect Experience in Real Life?

I cannot believe that three weeks of school have already passed by. I just realized that I have about two days to write my rough draft, so I have to get in some research. After the ambling invention exercise, I thought about why I chose to research about…

Please Just Get a Trans Actor For Your Movie

After the past year and a half of COVID-19, I think I have consumed more media content than in the past five years. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I often find my Netflix recommendations with various queer stories. We get plenty of gay stories, like Call Me By Your…

Digital History in D.C.

For almost every summer up to when I left for college, my parents and I would venture out for a family vacation. I…

Music and Film

When I was consulting with a classmate a few weeks ago about the direction of my research on stories, he wisely spitballed that a film’s score/soundtrack can swing a viewer’s emotional response as much as any other cinematic element. Just as Alan Silvestri’s grand Avengers score imported pain, danger…

More Tool Than Game?

I think I can reasonably state that most people would not consider Microsoft Word a video game nor art. Yes, you use it on…