this week
taylor swift and travis kelce [A&C]
by Evan Gardner on November 29
Long ago, a girl with golden locks and cowboy boots beneath her princess dress declared: “there’s more to life / than dating the boy on the football team.” And so there was. The little girl went on to grant the gifts of a fairy godmother ($55 million in bonuses to her Eras Tour crew), make the ...
am i still your type? [A&C]
by Eleanor Dushin on November 15
Sometimes I feel like I’m running out of time with the people who love me. I watch the date change on my phone as 11:59 turns to midnight, wondering which day they’ll decide that I’m not their type of person anymore. I think I’ve found my people: they know me, they love me, and they make this ...
writing ‘around,’ as guided by jensen mcrae’s “good legs” [A&C]
by Alaire Kanes on November 15
Serendipity is not a feeling I’d expect to experience often, but somehow, I do. Songs, words, and people seemingly come into my life right when I need them most.
the girlhood renaissance [A&C]
by Malena Colon on November 8
For anyone with access to the internet, especially any woman-identifying person in her teens, twenties, or thirties, 2023 will go down as an unforgettable amalgamation of transient “girl” TikTok trends: girl dinner, girl's girls, for the girls, the girls who get it, girl math, even Gwen Stefani’s ...
the bucket list curse [A&C]
by Dorrit Corwin on November 8
“Abroad planning,” “Barcelona bucket list,” “Travel to book,” “Running to-do list”: the top four lists I see when I open my Notes app, and those are just ones I have pinned. I have 1830 notes (and counting) on my phone. I used to consider this addiction a great accomplishment, but recently ...
rippling [A&C]
by Ana Vissicchio on November 1
The trumpeter swan pokes his nose through the water’s surface. Staring back at him, a wavering mirror radiates from his small, pointed beak. As he takes one step in, ripples ricochet from his thin legs to the tip of the shore. He delicately situates himself on top of the surface, admiring the dancing ...
even where the grass grows over [A&C]
by Sarah Kim on October 25
Every year, the tulips on my front lawn grow. Even after we cut down the small, short tree with the hanging arms of leaves you could climb underneath, and even after we covered the dirt where Grandma used to sit with us on Sundays to plant flowers (small pink and orange garden-ready ones and tulips, ...
america's sweetheart [A&C]
by Sofie Zeruto on October 25
The year was 2008. I still remember the golden glow of Taylor Swift’s Fearless gleaming on the rack like a homing beacon for little girls across the country as I strolled through the Target CD aisle with my mom. “Love Story” was a smash hit on the radio, a song we both already knew and loved. ...
how to be a girl [A&C]
by Olivia Cohen on October 18
Little girls' brains are sticky as flytraps. When you're young, every facial expression you see, every word you read, and the smallest fragments of information all collect in the back of your brain. These details combine to form a kaleidoscope of beliefs that color everything around you, distorting ...
ode to the crossword [A&C]
by Samiha Kazi on October 18
Pieces of praise. Type of poem. Flattering lines. Homage in verse. Ode!
the road back home [A&C]
by Samiha Kazi on October 4
I fumble with my keys as I try to juggle my umbrella, lanyard, and packages without dropping everything. I finally get a grasp on my green-nail-polish-spattered key, and sigh with relief as I slide it into the keyhole. I turn it to the right. The door doesn’t budge. I try again; the door remains shut. ...
hours were the birds [A&C]
by Eleanor Dushin on September 27
In August, it rained for two weeks straight. I had only packed one sweater for a two-month internship, and the threads were thinning out at the cuffs. It was 1:30 a.m.—the latest I had stayed up all summer—and I sat in the corner of my host family’s guest bedroom. I held the fading knit fabric ...
when country’s culture wars forgot its artists [A&C]
by Evan Gardner on September 27
Ask anyone about the summer of 2023 and they will tell you it was the summer of Barbenheimer. What they won’t tell you, however, is that it was just as much the summer of country music.
alone in crowded rooms (and boats) [A&C]
by Dorrit Corwin on September 20
Five days after I drove off the Universal Studios lot in 100-degree heat for the last time this summer, I flew to Europe for my semester abroad. My internship at Amblin Entertainment felt like a distant memory by the time my Spanish immersion program began two weeks later in Barcelona. After my first ...
like a dream barely remembered [A&C]
by Emily Tom on September 20
In the months before I first left for college, I started recording my friends. Not video, just their voices: the stories we exchanged in the car on the way to the movie theater, the way we said goodbye to each other after a day at the beach, the jokes we told at sleepovers—which we only found funny ...
live from the airport mcdonalds [A&C]
by Sarah Kim on April 27
Monday, 4:33 p.m.: I am sitting at the McDonalds in the Barcelona airport and the world feels off-kilter.
chopin on the beach [A&C]
by Leanna Bai on April 27
The first chord of Chopin’s Nocturne No. 13 is a low, resounding C that beckons you—slow, crashing waves meet your feet as the moon gazes at your form. Hands alternate between soft bass notes that sink into your core and a high-pitched melody that yearns. This dance drives you through the scene, ...
