November 21st, 2007
From #10: The Beauty Issue Feb/March 2006
By Taryn Hillin
“French women don’t get fat,” or so says the top-selling book by Mireille Guillano. But Americans do. America is getting fatter by the second. With every 64-ounce Big Gulp and double Big Mac, America is packing on the pounds. Of course, none of this information is new. We all saw the triumph of the independent film Super Size Me and we all heard claims that people actually stopped eating at McDonald’s. However, 33 percent of America’s adult population is overweight. It seems to me like we should all go on a diet!
Wait a minute, I’m confused. America spends over $50 billion per year on weight-loss pills. Since 1997, there has been a 465 percent increase in plastic surgery rates, while there are now more low-fat, low-carb, and no-sugar foods than ever before. Over 90 percent of companies now offer employees fitness promotions, which a majority of their workers take advantage of. It actually seems that we are all diet-obsessed. How can we …
November 8th, 2007
By Lucineida O. Fonseca
An old Cape Verdean fable recounts the story of how the Christian God realized on the seventh day that he still had a few specks of dirt in His hand, which he did not know what to do with. He knew that these specks would grow nothing, sustain nothing, and provide nothing to those whom he had asked to populate the earth. But, He decided that no one would find them anyway. So, He flicked them off His hand and they landed in the ocean much closer to one of the large continents than he had anticipated. Those specks of dirt became Cape Verde.
Cape Verde? Where is that? Off the coast of Florida?
NO, it is not off the coast of Florida. The number of times I have been asked that question is probably a function of both the small size of the country (a bit smaller than Rhode Island) and the embarrassingly low level of geography education among Americans (“such as, and like, …
October 31st, 2007
By: Danielle K. Smith
Photo by: Dieter Spannknebel/Getty Images
Dizzy* wandered home to the New Haven Coliseum sometime last night around midnight, and he’s planning on doing exactly what he did yesterday. It’s 7:00 in the morning and this six-foot two man in his late twenties is waking up as usual amidst his makeshift bed of cardboard boxes and blankets, which I imagine cover very little of his lanky frame. He limps a bit, and favors one side of his body, probably a result of many nights of uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
After clearing up his belongings and packing them into his backpack, he leaves the Coliseum and heads to Chapel Street to make his rounds visiting friends, mainly store owners and street vendors that he passes each day. It is now about 9:00 a.m. and several shops are beginning to open. He stops into Starbucks, drops in the newsstand, and Atticus Bookstore and Café. He’s in no rush. He’s not late for work – he lost his job three years ago. He lost …
October 26th, 2007
By Brittany Robinson
Visiting Beijing and in need of a Big Mac? No cause for stress; everyone craves a burger every now and then. And thanks to the urbanization and commercialization of Beijing over the past two decades, the empty calories you’re yearning for are just within reach. In fact, they can be found at nearly any street corner you stumble upon, since McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut, Beijing’s three most popular fast-food chains, have come to pervade the downtown area of this city in recent years. Some assume that this recent proliferation of Western fast-food chains in China’s capital signifies an equivalence of the fast-food experience in this city and those of the West, but such is not the case. The neon-lit logos posted on these restaurants’ facades do not, necessarily, guarantee equality of service, setting, or selections inside. The menus, décor, and overall experience associated with Beijing fast-food restaurants are notably dissimilar from those in the West. A dining experience that, …
October 24th, 2007
By Christina White
In Cuenca, Ecuador a portion of the ruins of the great civilization of the Incas stands tall almost directly in the center of the city. Surrounded by tall, official-looking buildings, fast food restaurants, and a shopping mall complete with movie theater and insufficient parking, this massive structure of crumbling stones appears to anchor the city to a time, a people, and a culture, that in the past many have been desperate to forget.
In our history classes we are told the victory of the Spanish Conquistadores over the ill-equipped native populations of South America was swift and complete. In their ruthless religious fervor and greed the Spanish, aided by a handful of highly contagious diseases, obliterated the indigenous culture and people, in a flash, destroying centuries of tradition. What our history books fail to mention is that these native populations were not just unorganized bands of people awaiting the arrival of their brothers from the west, they were great empires, and great empires die hard.
Cuenca, a city of …
October 18th, 2007
This past summer Sarah Cunningham took an intensive language course in Arabic. It took her from Tanja to Asilah, Chefchouan to Tetuon and Fez. What follows are a few snapshots of her whirlwind travel.
Colbalt blue… to keep the bugs away.
Cactus fiber blanket.
A quarter in the city of Fez.
October 17th, 2007
By Dayo Olopade
College campus sex is a topic on which many passions, of many kinds, are aroused. Those who study sex apply the microscope at universities because it’s easy: campuses contain a critical mass of unmarried, libidinous young people in the midst of an education of all kinds. We are told that this mix is dangerous, that in high enough doses it may lead to sex out of wedlock, an action that has no place in the lives of good boys and girls. The reasons are moral, religious, political, or personal—and the words preached are not necessarily those practiced. But as human society evolves and the sex we have changes with us, conventional assumptions about sex and marriage are ripe for re-evaluation.
To approach the topic in an academic sense, the reasons for the social taboo on premarital sex have waned over the long course of human sexual history. In previous times marriage was important because sex left women—in every sense—unprotected. A woman who engaged in intercourse without a husband put …
October 12th, 2007
By Alexander Toussaint
Quincy always picked at the stubble on his chin and neck when he didn’t feel like speaking. Grasping at skin with nails chewed low, he would isolate one, sometimes two bumps of raised skin among the patchy black bristles and go to work. He’d hated shaving ever since it became an issue, choosing to do so only because “he couldn’t sing like Anthony Hamilton.” Shaving meant bumps, bumps meant ingrown hairs and ingrown hairs meant something for Quincy to do when he didn’t feel like speaking. For Quincy, talking was what people did when they didn’t have anything better to do. His chin, more often than not, was a better use of his time.
Ingrown hairs were easy to pull out with tweezers and a mirror. It took no skill. Out in the world however, he was flying blind; all he had were his thumb and forefinger to act as guide and extractor. When he was bored or done listening to other people, it wasn’t long before he would …
October 4th, 2007
By Sonali Bloom
Flanked by raucous bars, mediocre beauty salons, and deserted parking lots lies a true jewel in New Haven’s culinary crown. Belonging neither to the classic “Big Four” of Chapel Street, nor to the newly-discovered giants of the Ninth Square, the outwardly unremarkable Nikkita provides a dining experience for any occasion—and any budget.
The interior décor is immediately more amusing and eclectic than the relatively blank red façade; umbrella frames adorned with sparkling Christmas-tree lights separate Nikkita’s bar from its dining area, an important division of the mid-size premises. The bar is hopping on weekend nights, as New Haven locals arrive and order their favorites from Nikkita’s extensive list of miraculously cheap flavored martinis. A mere $6 investment returns a cocktail glass, the contents of which may taste like a caramel apple, an oatmeal cookie, or skittles, to name a few personal favorites. Not a fan of “girly” drinks? Don’t worry, wine and beer abound.
On the table-filled side of the glittering umbrellas one finds another menu quite as …
October 3rd, 2007
By: Loren Krywanczyk
You have undoubtedly heard numerous arguments lately for equal rights, like gay marriage rights and gay adoption rights, for queer individuals (gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning persons, to name a few). Some of these arguments work to try to convince you that homosexuals are “just like heterosexuals.” In making points like these, gay rights supporters maneuver within a heteronormative society, one in which heterosexuality is the norm and all other sexualities must be expressed in heterosexual terms in order to be accepted or understood. Heteronormativity is not the same as heterosexuality – the negative implications of heteronormativity hinge on the “othering” and marginalization of all sexual “deviants,” those not perceived as “normal” or heterosexual. Heteronormativity, though difficult to define, assumes the heterosexual partnerships as natural. This assumption is often accompanied by the enforcement of rigid codes of masculinity and femininity. The oppression of individuals with non-normative sexualities is undeniably a result of pervasive heteronormativity. Moreover, there is an insufficient regard for the suffocating pressures heteronormativity exerts …
