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The Poppy War series has generated a lot of chatter in a lot of different book communities, and for good reason: it’s a fantastically well-written and well-researched historical fantasy based on twentieth century Chinese military history. The series is a trilogy, with the first book, The Poppy War published in 2018, followed by The Dragon […]

The book I’ve been chipping away at this semester is “The Big Goodbye: China and the Last Years of Hollywood”. It’s a historical look back at the 1974 noir film, Chinatown. It was one of the last films in the golden age of Hollywood, and the final line “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown” remains one

Poetry overall tends to have a reputation as being overwhelming, dense, hard to understand, and highly intellectual, and much of that stems from how many people’s only experiences with poetry are in educational settings where the poems are written with antiquated language, and the reading experience is one solely based on analysis. Since April is

For the second year in a row, Easter will look a lot different than it usually does. Despite the changes COVID-19 has brought on, I hold on to hope that next year my family will be able to carry out all the traditions we usually do. My family has always made a big deal out

Since I come from a big family, holidays are always a big festivity and each has their own traditions and special place in my heart. For example, on Christmas day we have family brunch with my mom’s famous breakfast casserole, we read the Christmas story, open our stockings, and then normally open presents in the

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays to spend with my family. Our traditions used to begin on Good Friday when we would color eggs at my church with my dad’s side of the family, followed by a church Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning. My church is rather small, so most of

Easter is the most important holiday of the Church calendar for Christians. It’s a feast day in the Church, and my family certainly celebrates that. We have the assigned candy baskets, of course, one for each of my many siblings, and we often take the fake plastic grass from the bottoms of the baskets and

When you think of Rock and Roll, where does your mind go? Sister Rosetta Tharpe is likely the last person you’ll think of. Her pop gospel jazz music was a precursor for the modern age of Rock and Roll we all know and love today. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is known nowadays as the “Godmother of

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) was a poet and academic who dedicated her life and work to confronting injustices of race, gender, and class. She was a self-described “Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two, including one boy, and a member of an interracial couple”. Lorde was raised in New York City by West Indian immigrant parents,

In 2018 tv producer Ryan Murphy, the man who brought us “Glee” and “American Horror Story”, set out to tell a different kind of narrative than one might have expected. The show “POSE” was created to explore the vibrant history of queer people of color in New York City during the 80’s. This show faces