personal essay

A person watches a Seattle Seahawks game in a living room wearing a 'Wagner' jersey and backwards Seahawks hat.

March 26Sports

Proud to be a fan

Being a fan of anything isn’t about being rational. It’s knowing that your passion might not be rational, and caring anyway.

Caleb Peterson

A girl with blonde hair lights a cigarette in the mouth of a girl with dark hair, both of them leaning against a pole

February 27Culture

Google, how do I untie the knots in my heart?

In my first year of college, I decided to go to a drag show for the first time.

Tiana Khandelwal, Photos by Saumya Kamra

Two people about to kiss and holding each other's faces. There's a glass brick wall behind them.

February 27Culture

First steps

For as long as I can remember, the idea of ‘family’ has been an entanglement of comfort and tension — years of feeling torn between what I thought a family should be and what it actually felt like.

Anonymous, Photos by Saumya Kamra

Hands holding a book open, with snow in the background.

February 26Culture

Me, my parents and the elephant in the bedroom

I was a smart kid. I read above grade level and teachers called me a pleasure to have in class. But as the lady flipped through pages and talked about body parts in a cheery voice, my forehead furrowed deeper and deeper.

Joyce Park, Photos by Saumya Kamra

A person with light brown hair with bangs holds a strip of red tape reading "DANGER" over their eyes.

February 25Culture

A fragmented account of your local kinkster

Forget about the exact time of day — I don’t even remember the month or year of my initiation into the world of sensuality.

Aditi Mankar, Photos by Saumya Kamra

Two people hold books in front of their faces so only their eyes are exposed as they look at each other. The one on the left has red hair, a red top and glasses, and the one on the right wears a black beanie and fingerless gloves.

February 24Culture

Search bar

As a child, there was nothing more sacred than my uninterrupted, unsupervised computer time.

Ava Dunkel, Photos by Saumya Kamra

Illustration of a rack of clothes, a floor lamp, books and household items with thrift store tags hanging off of them.

February 8Culture

Do you smell it too?

Every Value Village has the same smell. If you know it, you know it. If you don’t, it can be best described as dust, cigarette smoke, peculiar perfumes and other mysterious odours all mixed together. I also happen to know what it smells like if you take that smell and set it on fire.

Ava Dunkel, Illustrations by Abbie Lee

An illustration of a person running through the hall of an airport with a suitcase while wearing a backpack.

January 28Features

Tradition: Catching the flight

I have a tradition I keep for myself: catching flights between two lives.

Srijaa Chatterjee, Illustrations by Emilia Onar

An illustration of two silhouettes sitting under a Christmas tree through a window. The star on the top of the tree illuminates the room in yellow and the tree is decorated in red ornaments.

January 28Features

Tradition: Abbi and our dopey Christmas tree

School was out but winter break never felt lonely because we had each other: two peas in a pod, built-in best friends.

Erin Greenwood, Illustrations by Emilija Vītols Harrison

An illustration with a swirly orange and yellow backdrop. In the forefront are two sets of hands extending from either side of the frame. They are outlined in black. The pair on the right holds a bowl of stew and is handing it to the pair of hands on the left.

January 28Features

Tradition: Silent threads of home

There is a language only women speak — heard in the clatter of pots at dawn and in the simmering broth that carries the memory of old kitchens across oceans and years.

Syeda Sunehra, Illustrations by Abbie Lee

An orange wreath with a skull sitting inside it hangs on a wooden door. Through the windows, there is a lit-up room containing silhouettes of Ronald McDonald, the Lorax and Ghostface.

January 7Culture

Why Halloween is what I'll miss most about university

This might shock people — especially those from the west of the globe — but Halloween is a foreign concept to most international students.

Thea Turner, Illustrations by Emilija Vītols Harrison

A girl with long brown hair rides a yellow bike. She is wearing a dark green raincoat and brown pants, and the trees behind her are blowing in the wind.

December 3Culture

South of the English Channel

The first half of my undergraduate studies took place in Normandy, France. For two years, the perpetually rainy city of Le Havre hosted me, my awkward French and my growing assortment of rain gear.

Michelle Huang, Illustrations by Eylül Kara

Lower half of a person in a mud-stained pink dress, with dark brown skin and bloodied knees. Teal and blue geometric shapes are in the background.

November 28Culture

Beneath the umbrella

The day doesn’t feel like it’s really started. My alarm flashes 08:00, but there’s no light leaking through the slats of the blinds.

Srijaa Chatterjee, Illustrations by Emilija Vītols Harrison

An open laptop on a table with a teacup beside it. A window is visible in the background, displaying a slightly aged-looking building.

November 19Culture

I was a tea person in Poland for two weeks

Let’s address the elephant in the room: tea is dull, right?

Joyce Park

An illustration of a mother walking her daughter through a forest path. The mother looks over her should smiling down at her daughter while the daughter looks up in wonder.

November 13Features

Holding dear: If I should have a daughter

To my daughter.

Syeda Sunehra, Illustrations by Emilia Onar