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Hair: Chronicling My Journey to Queer Joy

The hardest part about being a Brown person who was socialized as a girl was enduring the constant jabs about my hair. I hit puberty at 9, which meant that there were years and years of constant insecurity about my hair. It was too much, too messy, and there was always hair in all the wrong places. The hair on my head was beautiful, thick, and long, but the hair on my body was ugly, thick, and wrong. As a Brown person, my facial and body hair were always under scrutiny, especially because my hair grew at faster rates (and was much thicker) than my other peers. I was tormented for my Frida Kahlo-like brows, for my arms that looked like a werewolf’s, for my body not being up to par with white, cishet beauty standards. One time, my aunt cruelly joked that she was going to gift me money for laser hair removal because the hair on my arms was too much for her.

A Revisit

In July 2021, I decided to revisit my childhood school, Eisenhower Elementary. I decided to go because I had felt so many emotions from the culmination of so many situations, relationships, experiences, and lessons, and I was left with this feeling like I was losing myself. I had recently discovered I was attending UCLA, and much of what was tying me back to the Bay Area was slowly dissipating. The days felt like a blur, like reading the pages in a book and realizing you’ve made it to the end of a chapter and you remember nothing. The sense of liminality and being in a transition plagued me. I was looking for definition from the abstract, something concrete from the abyss.

Growing Together

My dad was, at best, very uncomfortable with queerness before I came out to him. For him, this discomfort stemmed from two prominent aspects of Latino culture:  Christianity and machismo. Today, 77% of Latinos in the United States identify as Christian, and traditionally, Christianity has rejected queer people (with some exceptions of more progressive Christian denominations; however, these branches are not predominant in Latino culture).

Queer Spaces in Outdoor Places: An Examination and Reflection of Green Space Inequities in Los Angeles

Today’s discussions of environmental science almost always touch on environmental justice and inequities, and for good reason. Green space (any space covered in trees, grass, or shrubbery) is extremely beneficial to communities in more ways than one. Research shows us that access to parks and green space is a significant health factor and has been linked to increased general health, lower mortality, and healthier babies because green space reduces air pollution, encourages healthier practices like exercising and sleeping, and relieves stress. Outdoor spaces are important in many other ways, too.

Our Bodies: A Study on Beauty Standards and Body Image in the Queer Community

It’s summer time! And you know what that means: driving with the windows down, ice cream sundaes, and all of our body image issues that we concealed under winter clothes being brought to the surface! 

Drag, Deafness, and Defending Queer Youth with The Mother Birdie: Disability Pride (Month) Spotlight

Photo by The Mother Birdie As we make it to our fifth piece in the Disability Pride (Month) series, I am excited to introduce our spotlighted advocate, Birdie (they/them). For those who are on TikTok, you may know them as…

Finding and Standing Up For Yourself with Walela Nehanda: Disability Pride (Month) Spotlight

Photo by Walela Nehanda (They/Them) **Content Warning: brief mentions of abuse** This article will highlight the moments when the CW is relevant, but regardless, please read at your own discretion.  Welcome to the fourth installment of our Disability Pride Month…

Colorfully Controlling One’s Identity with Juniper Harwood: Disability Pride (Month) Spotlight

Photo by Juniper Harwood In this next piece for the Disability Pride Month series, we are spotlighting Juniper Harwood (it/xe), an Autigender artist who brings aspects of its life and xyr opinions into its artwork, including the mediums of embroidery,…

Radical Visibility and Accessible Fashion with Sky Cubacub: Disability Pride (Month) Spotlight

Photo by Sarah Joyce For the second spotlight of this series, we have Sky Cubacub (pronounced Koo-BAH-Koob), an exuberant and innovative fashion designer and artist currently working in their hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Sky (they/xe) is the founder of Rebirth…

What’s HER Problem?: 5 Issues in Trans Dating

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He)Co-Written by Lorely Guzman (They/He/She) and Mia Riedel (She/Her) Dating can be a messy experience, but when you’re trans, it’s a minefield. Even amongst the queer community, who tend to be more open-minded than their straight…