“Why do you have to make your whole life about being gay? Like, WE GET IT. Not everything in life is about who you want to date. Maybe people would accept it if you didn’t make it your new personality.” That’s the Instagram message I received from a cis gay man after I had confronted
Tagdiversity
Exploring Queer Experience: Who Am I? Queer Labels and Their Absence
Like many queer children, I felt out of place growing up. Although I was not uncomfortable with femininity, I experimented with masculinity by cutting my hair short and wearing more “masculine” clothes. My family and acquaintances often displayed their discomfort with my gender expression. Even if their comments were not always negative, I remember being
The Good, the Beautiful, and Diversity: An Interview with Geoff Lehman
It was a brisk but sunny day in the spring semester of 2016, in a Forms of Love seminar on the Symposium taught by Geoff Lehman, when my approach to my studies shifted entirely. The Republic, I admit, to my enduring shame, did little to convince me of its worthiness of study, but Beauty — ah!
Perspectivalism Without Relativism
This post originally appeared on Public Seminar. Republished with their kind permission. Earlier this month, Susan Henking, President of Shimer College (my alma mater), wrote for Public Seminar what she called “my educated hope for Shimer and for liberal education,” a hope “rooted in a criticism of the ways we have been commodified, [forced to] meet
An encounter with “The Family without Borders”
If you thought Pankow was the most boring, uneventful borough of Berlin – think again! Only ten minutes from the U-Bahn station lives the most fascinating, unique family you will find in Berlin – “The Family Without Borders.” The Alboths are a travelling family who together with their small daughter Hanna decided to live their
Photo Essay: What’s On Your Shelf?
As intelligent and emotional (well, for the most part) beings, we humans tend to hold on to things. We collect objects that remind us of places, people and experiences – or in some cases, even ourselves. In college, however, the physical load of things we keep is significantly reduced. What is it then that college
15th Art Festival: 48 Stunden Neukölln
Known for its scope as the largest annual art festival in Berlin, this year’s 48 Stunden Neukölln, taking place from the 14th to the 16th June, managed to attract a lot of media attention and visitors to the often disregarded Berlin district – Neukölln. The specific aspect of the festival is its openness when it