culture Tag

I would like to share something that happened to me on Facebook earlier this week, and no, it had nothing to do with cat videos or a political yelling match. Monday afternoon I came across this piece in Gizmodo. For the “too long, didn’t read” crowd, it is a case study in Facebook’s community standards. User Erin La Ninfa, who runs the blog “Just Another White Hoe,” created and posted the above image to Facebook to find that she and the friends who shared it were flagged and the imageRead More

Being the social media guru that I am, I like exploring and discovering new accounts on Instagram. I look for inspiration, funny, motivation, and adventure-seeking. Many people I know also look for fashion and beauty fixes. Instagram is filled with so many things to spice up your feed, here’s some top accounts you should be following… If you’re into sports… Serena Williams- @serenawilliams Besides being athletic, she also has a silly side. Her IG features fun Dubsmashes, outfit pics and action shots.   If you’re into fitness… Kaisa and Jennifer-Read More

Last week, the greatest item to ever be listed on eBay was sold, and we all missed out big time. A replica of Game of Thrones‘ much-coveted Iron Throne sold for just over $1,000 to a lucky bidder. But this was not just any Iron Throne. This Iron Throne was unlike any other replica out there. Why? Because this Iron Throne is not adorned with swords. Instead, it is adorned with dildos. Check out the listing on eBay here. Measuring 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and 3.5 inches deep, this epic Dildo Iron ThroneRead More

It is a sad time for us all. Winter has come, tears have been shed, and a week ago, Season 5 of Game of Thrones came to a (tragic; for many reasons) end. If you’re an obsessive Thrones watcher like I am, you might be staring into the bleak landscape of another 9 months without television’s best show. If you’re a sports fan like I am, this is only made more intolerable by the fact that most major sports are in the offseason. But worry not, friends. There is hope forRead More

All’s fair in love in your twenties where rules are meant to be broken and mistakes are meant to be made (except where condoms are concerned). I’m officially past the point that’s considered “mid-twenties,” by numerical definition — as “mid” generally signifies, um, the middle of something. I haven’t had a one-night stand with a narcissistic writer with mommy issues, and an awful name like, let’s say, Donald, in awhile. (This may have something to do with having a boyfriend who smokes cigarettes after Sunday morning hikes. The one withRead More

I’ve been in low places, like on the floor — in a matching sweat suit that wasn’t mine. While crying and kicking my feet, a teensy bit, like a two year-old in the peak of his tantrum. And the matching sweat suit was gray and didn’t belong to me and was the kind you purchase at Target in the men’s section for $11.99. And it belonged to my decently androgynous roommate who dated a pretty androgynous woman who wore the same kind of underwear. And when they walked by onRead More

My third grade self had planned on getting married when I was twenty and having children when I was twenty-two. (Even then I knew I would need at least a year of designated binge drinking before being responsible for another human). I was going to be a writer when I grew up and I was going to live by the beach. I loved the beach. It was inconceivable to me that there might be restrictions to the planning of these life events. It might be hard to find a husband.Read More

I am not a doctor. I do not hold a PhD. I am not writing this from a research lab strewn with papers on the subject I am (sort of) going to discuss. I am a 23-year-old creative writing graduate that lives with her parents. I am currently student teaching high school English. And I am writing from this bed where my clean clothes still lie in a pile (and will probably never be put away because that’s just how I roll). I have no authority on this matter andRead More

I am obsessed with order, symmetry, perfection. I hate gray areas, in-betweens, grounds of ambiguity. Last year, I strove for an all-or-nothing “balance” that I thought would regulate and organize my life. However, what I’ve realized is that balance is not about “extremes” leveling each other out. It is not always about saying a hard yes or a hard no. It isn’t about making a definite decision. Rather, a true balance is about finding the middle ground that I have hated so much. Last year, in an effort to maintain aRead More

When I started college last year, I averaged about five hours of sleep a night. As the year tolled on, my alarm clock chirped an hour earlier. Four hours of sleep definitely wasn’t something I enjoyed, but it was a routine necessity just like everything else on my to-do list. I enlisted it as another adjustment to becoming an “maturing.” Adulthood meant being career-driven and hungry for success—so naturally, sleep deprived, right? Unfortunately, even only a few months, in the human body realizes that it simply cannot operate with soRead More

I am the biggest sucker for sunsets, and Los Angeles particularly seemed to know that. My first time there was enough to have me stumbling over, in love. The term “takes my breath away” has always been a cheesy one. Walking into the sunset is clichéd. But that was exactly what LA was – sheer beauty – and no other way to describe it. LA punched me, slapped me – enamoured, enthralled me. I gazed with glassy eyes over sunsets brighter, bloodier than any I had ever seen. I stumbledRead More

I’ve made it back home after a three week solo roadtrip on the west coast – and I am in one piece. My limbs are all still attached, my physical state is intact except for a bike scrape on my ankle. I’ve returned with all my possessions present, minus one lost hair elastic and one tube of lipstick. I would consider my sanity partially stable, and my mental health only mildly shaken. My bank account will need a whole year to recuperate, but I feel exponentially richer than before IRead More

We can’t stop, and we won’t stop—Well, you should stop. New Year resolutions are great—if you’re the type of person who is so self-disciplined that you can actually follow through with your promises for longer than one week—aka, you’re probably not human. So, as imperfect humans, we are typically more prone to listen when we are told no, don’t, STOP. The negative is always more powerful, and I’m going to put that to the test.   15 Stop-It’s for 2014 Stop spending more on material goods than on experiences. It’s greatRead More

There’s something about engaging in a (slightly) revolting activity in the presence of an attractive individual that is not preferable. By presence, I specifically mean sitting one inch away from a nice-looking Canadian man on an airplane, and by revolting I mean unwrapping a half-devoured, room-temperature burrito in your lap from a mock “Chipotle” in the Dallas airport and spilling black beans on your shared armrest. Excuse me, sir, care for a luke-warm lentil?  I had four more hours of traveling next to my burrito and this Canadian man andRead More

All men everywhere, I am certain, have wondered at least once what their underwear choice says about them. And let’s not disregard the neurotic women of the Millennial generation that Google-search this exact title moments after Paul, or Greg, or Jeff with the butt-chin has left her sexed sheets on a Sunday morning. Mark Twain insists that one should “write what you know.” After years of observations, demonstrations, and ruminations of friends, landlords, brothers, and a significant others of the straight and semi-straight variety and their chonies I feel confidentRead More