Is Love Really Blind?

I enrolled at Emerson, as Love Is Blind hosts Vanessa and Nick Lachey would say, “sight unseen.” In a way, I fell in love with the idea of Emerson without ever seeing it. Part of me was terrified to visit the campus, worried I would regret my decision, and dread starting my Freshman year.

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Isa Luzarraga
What They Don't Tell You About "Hope Core"

Comment sections flood with users begging for more videos labeled “Hope Core,” expressing that they make them cry or help them find faith in the world again. I will admit that these videos have made me sob and have felt like an escape from the dizzying amount of negative news. 

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Izzie Claudio
My Martyr Complex

The thing is, martyrdom has been so excessively glorified that many of us have deluded ourselves into aspiring it. And for what, the chance that we’d be appreciated for it? I’ve learned, painstakingly, how that’s hardly a reason for doing something. 

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Ayaana Nayak
Good Boys Go To Heaven But Bad Boys Bring Heaven To You

We’ve all heard about him. We’ve watched him smolder and lie and still get away unscathed. He’s been with us for years. The one who is a little bit damaged, a dash lost, but on the crest of being saved. He’s two steps from the ledge and three steps from your arms. The bad boy from the pages of my and many other readers’ guilty pleasure: contemporary romance books.

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Yuli Hachmon
The Bookworm That Doesn’t Read

As a self-proclaimed bookworm and literature student, there’s a sense of panic that arises when someone asks that dreaded question, “What’s your favorite book?” The last book I read that I deemed a “favorite” was from high school, which was only a few years ago, so why wasn’t that a valid answer? The truth was that I hadn’t read enough since then to even begin choosing a favorite.

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Hailey Kroll
Song Cycles

Music has the power to bring back lost memories while simultaneously creating new ones. It also evokes emotions you’d never think would resurface. Songs like “Rock the Casbah” have the same effect as so many others, because music is held in a special place in both our brains and hearts.

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Tierney Mckeown
Beatlemania and the Anthony Fantano Effect

As a self-proclaimed music-lover and the current music coordinator at a Boston-based radio station, I have encountered my fair share of misogynistic indie men. Sometimes they express their hatred loudly and unabashedly. But other times, they let their biases lurk silently under the surface, until one day, they accidentally let it slip. 

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Claire Dunham
Uncanny Couture

The use of artificial intelligence has infiltrated almost every aspect of fashion marketing and, most recently, has posed a serious threat to the existing modeling industry. It is becoming increasingly popular for brands to utilize AI software to create “models” for their new collections, and while these advertisements truly are captivating, the implications for instituting these non-human models into the world of fashion are potentially dangerous.

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Gigi Sipiora
The Reality Of Sephora

When I first landed my job at Sephora, I wanted it only for the free products and discounts on beauty products. I’ve always had a passion for makeup, but I didn’t know it was going to be one of my best and worst jobs yet. 

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Emily Martinez
Is it Stage Magic, Or Is It Real?

There’s some powerful thread that connects every individual member of the audience, the actors on stage, and the crew that creates the show. For the time that everyone is in a theater, the outside world, the ‘real’ world, is forgotten. The world of the show takes over.

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Sky Hermanson
I Was An Eight Year Old Deadhead

The Grateful Dead is long past its heyday, yet their music has withstood the tests of time. With each generation, the music, culture, and messages are passed down. Calling themselves “Deadheads,” the devotees spread joy to those who are willing to listen.

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Lucy Latorre
Your New Favorite Reality Show

Though sports fans can say that they were invested in this scandal because it perfectly embodies the stereotype of American soccer parents—petty, ridiculous, and Karen-esque—and at the end of the day, everybody loves some good old-fashioned drama.

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Vivian Nguyen
The Intimacy of Sound Engineering

 Those moments are what makes music magical and tangible, when you can physically feel the grainy guitar riffs or heavy beats vibrating through you. With concert ticket prices skyrocketing that ineffable feeling seems further than ever, but thanks to a little place called YouTube.com it’s not so distant. 

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Minna Abdel-Gawad
More Than The Music

In the past two decades, the way that we share music with each other has been utterly overhauled. In an instant, we can share a song with someone thousands of miles away with just a push of a button.

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Ensor Stull
Bursting Your Parasocial Bubble

All artists subject themselves to the public light once they are famous, it’s part of the unwritten rules that come with the spotlight. Some may argue, they subject themselves to this form of abuse by just existing, but online fan culture has brought parasocial relationships to an entirely new level.

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Lauren Smith
The Lightning Thief Stole My Heart

When I say that we need to make more original work and fewer spin-offs or adaptations, I am not talking about Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I will complain about another live-action remake of a beloved Disney animation, or the twentieth book in a YA series initially published fifteen years ago, but all bets are off when it comes to Percy. 

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Olivia Flanz
Let’s Talk About 'Fleabag': The Hot Priest

Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag has become my most beloved piece of media. With quick Brit-wit, relatable subject matter, and monologues that will make your father cry, there is not much you can’t love. Season two introduces the notorious Hot Priest, whose on-screen chemistry with Fleabag is so palpable it has you feeling like you should look around to make sure no one sees you intruding.

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FeaturedVara Giannakopoulos
Does Barbie Have Flaws?

Growing up, I always brought my DVD copies of Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, Barbie: Fairytopia, and Barbie of Swan Lake to sleepovers (so 2000s, I know). What I loved about these movies was how magical they seemed. I was able to escape into the life of a fairy, or a princess, or a mermaid; all things that my inner child desired to be.

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Rachel Tarby