Photo taken by Siya Sharma at a CAC event Close up photo of UCLA students holding up flower bouquets at an event hosted by The Word on Wednesday. Depression can be such a confusing presence. It lingers in the body like a fog, keeping things cloudy enough for frequent feelings of apathy, interfered by brief moments of clarity. Often, the first instinct is to chase those moments, and extract whatever happiness may come from them, but usually all that follows is another cycle of ‘bad days.’ Over time, life can become a hollow pursuit, littered with days spent in weighted blankets, searching up la ..read more

Image courtesy of Rares Fota Centered on a plain black stage with dark purple and blue backlighting, Rares Fota stands powerfully with one hand on his waist and the other draped and posed over his head. He wears black high heels, black stockings, and black mini shorts with an opened white button down, black shoulder harness, and tied red neck scarf.  Being the punctual attendee I am, I arrived fifteen minutes before showtime to the Northwest Campus Auditorium on a rainy Saturday afternoon, to the Bruin Burlesque Pussycats’ first performance of the year: the Bruin Burlesque Cabaret. I admi ..read more

Design by Erin Choi A recreation of the Feeling Through movie poster, showing two people sitting at a dimly-lit bus stop. Instead of the film’s characters, the people sitting at the bus stop are the two who spoke at UCLA. Their names, Doug Roland and Pastor Francis Casale, are written in yellow font, as is the movie title. On March 9, live from the De Neve Plaza Room on UCLA’s residential hill, the UCLA Disability Studies and Inclusion Labs welcomed award-winning director Doug Roland and DeafBlind pastor Francis Casale in a discussion that underscored the impact of inclusive media in transform ..read more

(Image description: A girl on the left wearing a white tank top is held back by two girls, one wearing a pink tank top and the other in a black t-shirt. A girl in a grey button-up holds back another girl in a white t-shirt on the right-hand side. This image takes place at a park with a man-built lake. Via Letterboxd)  “Mi Vida Loca,” a movie about girls in a street gang in pre-gentrified Echo Park, is the ideal and quintessential coming-of-age movie. Following the example set by movies like “Boyz n The Hood” and “Menace II Society,” “Mi Vida Loca” uses the gangster genre to tell the comin ..read more

Design by Erin Choi Image description: A bald eagle is clutching the flags of (from left to right) Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Iran in its claws. In 2003, United States President George Bush invaded Iraq, claiming that the nation had an arsenal filled with weapons of mass destruction, an imminent threat to the frail state of a post-9/11 United States. The Second Persian Gulf War (or Iraq War) ravaged Iraq and saw the United States unleash a series of air strikes and land invasions, torture prisoners, and capture the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. In just one of the U.S. prisons in Iraq called “Abu Gh ..read more

Design by Ashley Luong Image description: A pregnant Black mother sits inside a pill bottle clutching their hair. A note in front of the bottle reads, “America is failing Black mothers.” Going across the bottle, a stock vector arrow points up. There is a light blue background. Disclaimer: I recognize that folks have diverse gender identities and strive to use gender-inclusive language when applicable. I also recognize that not all birthing folks may identify as a mother.  Pregnancy should be a time filled with joy and happiness; however, for many Black mothers, this is not the case. Black ..read more

Designed by Erin Choi. Image Description: A girl with long brunette hair, rosy cheeks, and teary eyes sits daintily atop pink floral bedding in a traditionally girly room while holding a white porcelain mug with a pink flower painted onto it. She is eerily surrounded by floating eyeballs that are staring at her. invisibly strung atop linen sheets are limbs of a girl, cupping china in delicate hands tied to an ever-present puppeteering of movements judged for their beauty I am so disconnected from this body of a performer, I forget it is mine,   somewhere, in the encumbered air before me i ..read more

Designed by Erin Choi. Image description: Large red circle superimposed with images of a hummingbird in flight reaching for two hanging flowers and two long curves framing the figures. The image has been created on a light brown parchment-like background. Mama when you wait for the hummingbirds I feel happy  that you’ve taken a moment for yourself   We’ve seen enough and heard much worse The words have scraped the walls — left slices in the paint even when we tread softly on floors they creak through the hardwood   But your motherhood  resembles the birds you love … thrummi ..read more

Designed by Cassandra Sanchez. Image Description: a child in a purple t-shirt sits with orange and yellow watercolor rings behind them, building a small house on stilts out of dust. i speak in an american accent when i talk to my great-grandma in tagalog. (she really speaks illocano, but they don’t teach that here.) i speak one word, and she laughs. “opo,” she chuckles; yes, with respect. i see my family at christmas for the first time in years stranded in the middle west of the u.s. snow on the ground and chill deep in my bones my lola gets me a filipino cookbook and i spend an hour poring th ..read more

Image sourced from the Tichnor Brothers Collection at the Boston Library.  A vintage illustrated postcard titled Westwood Village, California. It is an idyllic scene with vintage cars and sunny skies. Too many of us Westwood renters have apartment nightmare stories, whether it’s with creepy neighbors, mold, or utterly unreasonable landlords. Fortunately for us, there are some available resources and laws for renters out there that can protect you, your deposit, and quality of life as many of us are forced to pay Westwood’s suffocatingly high rent rates.  Here is a quick guide to gene ..read more