mysterious as a 1975
alchemical creation concocted out of 132
perfumes from her symphony of sweet florals
dusky ambers & oceanic linens
all fused with her natural
chemicals and last night’s kimchi stew
yet her underlying melodies
simply untraceable like the base
Returning home to Kerala, my home state in India, is as exhilarating today as it was the first time when my parents brought our young family from America. I was five years old. I remember incessantly pestering my mother, asking, “Are we there yet?” Annoyed, she handed me a brochure with pictures of Kerala that captivated me. The greenery and the lakes were a stark contrast to what I witnessed in Atlanta.
Perhaps the most dreaded facet of online learning is the Zoom Breakout Room, a wasteland of black screens and muted microphones and often silent, unrequited group work in a shared Google Document. And like Grant Wood’s “American Gothic,” the Zoom Breakout Room has come to define itself as a somber event of cultural permanence. It’s s the ultimate battleground of the virtual college experience and more deeply, one of the darkest underbellies of social interaction.
My mother taught me, however unintentionally, about love through her life stories. She would tell me how when she was younger, her father would make extra money by fixing other people’s broken household appliances. She explained how when her birthday was approaching, he would pray that people’s appliances would break so he could afford to buy her a dress, even though she never expected anything. My mother showed me home videos she found from 1998.
Much of what has been passed down to me has gone unwritten. It’s been demonstrated over and over again by my family, through actions, whispers or demands. In an effort to preserve what I have inherited, I decided to write it all down. So today, on February 9 at 2:00 am, I’m going to teach you how to make an Ecuadorian-style avocado salad.
For this dish, you will need:
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Three Avocados
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Three Limes
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Two Large Tomatoes
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One Red Onion
Jojo Siwa, a 17-year-old singer, dancer and YouTuber whose primary audience consists of children younger than her, recently came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community through two social media platforms, TikTok and Twitter.
*Content warning: this article discusses abuse and suicide
“What’s PAT?”
“I didn’t even know that was a thing here.”
“So it’s not through the College of Engineering?”
Whenever I tell people that I’m in the Performing Arts Technology department, they look at me like I told them that I just saw a leprechaun.
*Content warning: this piece discusses sex trafficking and sexual violence*
COVID-19 wasn’t the only nightmare South Korea was dealing with last March.