It is so much easier to see the world as binary; you are either one thing or the other. We prefer to have the line clearly drawn in the sand, to have things and people neatly tucked away. But the simple truth of the matter is: people are diverse. We cannot be simply drawn in…
Author: Blair Clemente
Categories
Life without sight
It is easy to take for granted the vision most of us have. However, there is a significant chunk of the population that must navigate life without their sense of sight, and much more are visually impaired in some form or the other. Blindness is a condition that comes in different forms. There is absolute…
Fanfiction is a genre that has greatly benefited from the social nature of the internet. Born from communities centered around existing bodies of work, the act of consuming and creating fanfiction is inherently a labor of love. By pushing the very boundaries of the source material, fanfiction fundamentally alters something that a target audience already…
Gender is all around us—from the clothes we wear to the institutions we inhabit. Individuals are all seen as having a gender and are thrust into this system that dictates everything from one’s appearance to their behavior. This on its own is reason enough to warrant the study of gender, to see how it is…
In the blistering crowds of urban life, it can be easy to lose yourself in the routine of life. Surrounded by strangers and being in a bustling environment lends little respite. With the earliest everyday routines starting by squeezing into crowded public transportation and the constant company of other busy people, the last thing any…
The Amazon—a major rainforest that covers nine countries, namely Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, and Ecuador—is still burning. This puts thousands of species in danger, reducing a diverse and substantial number of plants into ash, and forcing animals to either flee from their natural habitat or suffocate due to the smoke.…
Gender is a contentious matter in the Philippines. Right at the intersection of topics such as bodily autonomy, feminism, and identity politics, our standards on gender are mostly shaped by a Western and religious point of view. The Philippines is a Catholic country; the fact that the Philippines is heavily reliant upon gender roles is…
Mass-market publishing is a tremendous result of human ingenuity and economies of scale—letting a text that’s been weeks, months, or even years in the making get sold at a fraction of a day’s wages while still earning a profit. Due to the hardy, long-lasting nature of books as a medium, there has always been a…
With Pride Month having come and gone, the distinct shift of things returning to the status quo will eventually roll over. From things as mundane as the shifting back of company logos to their non-rainbow color schemes to others as noticeable as the general lessening of discourse in popular culture about being queer now that…
As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects cells of the immune system and destroys or impairs their function, causing the eventual deterioration of the system. It can be transmitted in various ways: unprotected sexual intercourse and/or oral sex with an infected person; transfusion of contaminated blood; sharing of…