Health


December 15, 2017
As a society, we love to follow the trail of a murder case or missing persons case with close attention as the media sensationalizes the events (some more than others). However, when such a horrific mystery happens so close to home, the feelings change. Hannah Graham’s...

Art by Kirsten Hemrich
November 15, 2017
I’m not one to hide the fact that I’m on my period. “Feminine hygiene products,” in all their shrouded mystery, are really just a necessity. This isn’t always the mode of thinking. The start of menstruation is classically hailed as the day a girl becomes a woman; it is also the day she starts to hide this womanhood. From the moment we are labeled women, we learn that the supposed “essence” of womanhood is a taboo for everyday conversation. We discreetly slip tampons or pads into shoes, waistbands, or sleeves before heading to the bathroom during class.
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Photo taken by Natalie Anna Jacobsen, originally published in C-Ville Weekly.
November 14, 2017
Do you know that feeling when someone starts talking, and you can immediately tell that they’re brilliant, and you’re instantly captivated? This feeling doesn’t happen very often, but it’s a wonderful surprise every time it does.
When I first heard Rachel Zaslow speak, I knew she had a point of view that was unlike anyone else I had ever met. She was quick-witted, intelligent, and had insight into issues...

September 27, 2017
At 3:30 in the morning, my head resting on the toilet, I decided to give the whole vegetarianism thing a try. Food poisoning is a bitch that tends to change how you see things--in this case, my juicy cheeseburger from the night before looked much less tantalizing on the way out than on the way in.
Finals were looming and I was soon going to be home, with the comfort of an oven and a full-sized fridge, hugely different from the mediocre dining halls of the previous nine months. I...
![Skin Deep [photo of cosmetics for face]](http://iris.virginia.edu/sites/iris.virginia.edu/files/styles/article_image/public/field/image/Skin-Deep.jpg?itok=FL778kBF)
April 17, 2017
I’ve had acne for as long as I can remember. Seriously, the combination of my parents’ genes was just not conducive to clear skin. In kindergarten, one of my fellow classmates asked me why I had so many ant bites on my forehead. I was confused because 1) I definitely would know if ants had bitten me on my forehead and I could not recall this happening, and 2) what did she mean? What was wrong with my forehead? In kindergarten my skin wasn’t bad at all. I had a few really small blemishes but that was probably from running around and sweating all the time...

April 03, 2017
Recently, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Nigerian author and feminist, said some pretty off base things about transgender women. I thought about addressing these comments, but I don’t think we need to give her any more attention. Besides, black trans women have already ...
April 02, 2017
There are four of us in the room including our meditation guide. He sits straight, a relaxed gleam in his eye. It’s not my first time meditating, but already I can tell that the session will be different. Not bad or good – just different. Earlier that day, we have a conversation about silence in one of my classes. We talk about silence as transcendence, silence as a reprieve, silence as a tool to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Before we begin the session, I can feel the silence pressing down on my ears, and I wonder if the silence is so outstandingly present that the Sufi masters...

February 11, 2017
About a month ago, in the midst of the chaos of exams and three days before I was scheduled to go home, my mother sent me a text that read “No clean drinking water here, not sure when it will be resolved.” I wasn’t really surprised by this message, as contaminated drinking water isn’t out of the ordinary where I live. Corpus Christi, Texas, where I was born and raised, sits on the coastal part of the state, and is littered with refineries as you move inland. My hometown had undergone water boil advisories in the past, mostly due to an excess of chlorine in the water or something...

December 14, 2016
You’re at a party. You’re laughing, probably holding a cup of something, or using those hands to wave high in the air, dancing, or grabbing a friend around the shoulders, drawing them into a tight hug. You’re physically there, your feet are firmly planted on the ground,your face branded with a wide grin, elastically stretching and contracting to produce laughs and words. But you feel entirely absent, as though you’re plastered to the ceiling, looking down on your autonomous body down below. On the surface, anxiety disorders, but specifically,...

November 16, 2016
This October, a new kind of clubhouse opened on New York’s East 20th Street. The space offers up a cafe and comfortable workspaces; a...
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