All stories must end. Magic dies out. Kids become adults. But shows like “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show” left us to think about them, reflect on why we were so happy, and remember the lessons the characters learned.
Filling out the PPP's many forms was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing how many pieces it’s composed of, or what the final image looks like. Oh, and you intermittently get new pieces, some of which actually belong to other puzzles.
"Tommorow's Harvest" does not merely mourn the world that was. It seems to wonder at the world ours could still become. This push and pull between present and future is what keeps me returning to the album; it paints a better world that is out of reach, but still tantalizingly close, just inches away through a synthesizer veil.
Combating systemic racism appears to boil down to a couple taps of the thumb: Instagramming a black square or re-Tweeting a Malcolm X quote. As companies that profit directly from White supremacy hide behind posting vague platitudes lamenting racism, social media activity threatens to conceal true attitudes and inaction under the impression of engagement.
The show's status as the first of its kind does not exempt it from a recognition of its shortcomings. Rather, in the wake of its bold, highly-anticipated release, Never Have I Ever opens itself to a challenge from viewers who demand its deficiencies be addressed. Perhaps its second season will better take on that challenge, elevating the show from its initial role of exposure to a more robust one of empowerment.
As a kid, I always enjoyed reading sci-fi – reading about other cultures, new places, and the technological innovations that made getting to these worlds possible. When I started studying Latin America, though, I started wondering what critic Brian Slattery once wondered: “Where’s the Latin American science fiction?” As it turns out, the answer is simple: hiding in plain sight, waiting to be discovered.
Bluegrass, the slick younger cousin of string band, old-time, and a myriad of other musical influences, emerged just eighty years ago, and its reach is ever-expanding. As the genre’s audiences begin to approximate the diversity of the national identity to which it is so intimately tied, the political and cultural fractures that shape American life appear among its listeners.
Every day, I think of something else I wish I had told someone in person. Because it doesn’t feel the same to share feelings from “I can’t describe how much I miss you” to “you mean the world to me” through a screen. The weight of the words we lock inside ourselves crashes down on us hardest when we feel like we no longer have the means to express them.
Singapore's commitment to “engagement” with its civil society will be tested with time. The litmus test of this brand of consultative politics is its willingness to accept dissenting opinions and policy suggestions that sit uncomfortably with the status quo, and to dispel any lingering worries that these critical perspectives might result in reprisals.
