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  • A Timeline of Challenges and Progress in Addressing HIV/AIDS

    In the 1980s and 1990s, fear, paranoia, and confusion over the enigmatic and epidemic HIV virus marked American culture. HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus, weakens the human immune system and can easily spread through bodily fluids. It is often transmitted through needles and unprotected sex. HIV is especially noteworthy and dangerous because it…

  • Eat the Damn Bruised Apple

    The other day I was in the dining hall and decided to grab an apple. Naturally, I rummaged through the stack of apples for a minute or two until I found the perfect, unscathed apple, because God forbid there is a dent in my apple. As I searched for the perfect apple, I realized something…

  • Judgments About Food as a Proxy For Class

    “Like little ships set out to sea, I push my spoon away from me.” I grew up eating dinner with my family every night. Once my parents had both gotten home from work and my sister and I had gotten home from school, the four of us would sit down at our dining room table.…

  • My Love Story With Judaism (And Bacon)

    My classmates in high school knew the $4.29 Bacon Double Cheeseburger as the centerpiece of my infamous Friday lunch. When my friends would spot me in fourth period with greasy fingers holding a crumpled Burger King bag, they’d shake their heads and groan. They knew I had consumed my favorite meal yet again. The tradition…

  • What Black Women Bring to Food Justice

    To Bobbie Sykes, the farm-to-table movement is not new; it’s something that’s coming back around. Bobbie, a 66-year old Black woman, moved to St. Louis with her family when she was four years old and returned to her native Mississippi every summer growing up. There, on her grandmother’s farm, she grew to love fresh vegetables.…

  • Immigration: A Thanksgiving Tradition

    2.4 billion pounds of sweet potatoes. 254 million turkeys. 659,340 tons of green beans. 7,600,000 barrels of cranberries. These are the average annual production quantities for some of America’s favorite Thanksgiving foods. Although these figures account for a year of production, a whopping 20% of the above totals go toward the Thanksgiving feast each year.…

  • On Food, Body, and Self-Love

    Content Warning: Mention of weight and disordered eating. 5 YEARS OLD I stand on tiptoes so that I can reach the big silver bowl in front of me, leveraging my tiny body over the counter to mix the thin batter. My mother patiently oversees my slow, unsteady contribution until she takes over, whisking quickly. I…