Image via UCLA ResLife When first-year Melissa Pagela learned she would be living in De Neve Acacia’s new Gender, Sexuality and Society themed floor this year, she wasn’t sure what to expect. “I asked a friend about their floor’s theme…
Let’s Act! And Move Our Campus Forward
Photo via www.voteletsact.com While going to UCLA may feel like a dream, it hasn’t been easy for all of us. Annual fees have risen from under $8,000 when I applied to over $12,000 this year. In just the past year,…
Social Networking and Sexuality
Tumblr What has become particularly interesting to me of late is the encounter between sexuality and the internet—in particular, Tumblr. Anonymity has always come as a double-edged sword, but for those of us who located ourselves within the queer community,…
Photo-essay: Vietnamese Culture Night
The 33rd annual Vietnamese Culture Night produced by the Vietnamese Student Union presents Unrequited: Đường Một Chiều, which translates to ‘one-way road’ or ‘one way traffic’. The show challenges the, often conservative, Vietnamese ideas of gender roles and perception of…
UCLA Spotlight: Amadeus Leopold at Royce Hall
My Thursday night was queerer than yours; I watched a Korean-American protégé play his violin in a leather thong and a pair of high heels. Last Thursday the violinist Amadeus Leopold, formerly known by his Korean name Hahn-Bin, performed at…
Straight Girls Kissing and Heteroflexibility
Photo by Dominic Alves/Creative Commons I am coming out of the closet: I have made out with straight girls (before and after coming out as a lesbian) at parties on several occasions. I am not ashamed to identify with this…
UCLA Spotlight: BBQueer
It’s an overcast day in Westwood, and it’s pretty quiet on campus. But in Sunset Rec, people are gathering to eat with, meet, and greet fellow queers. BBQueer was one of the last major events to finish off National Coming…
UCLA Spotlight: NCOW Military Panel
Photo by Tim Evanson/Flickr Before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Lieutenant Smith’s work office was completely devoid of any personal belongings. There were no gifts, pictures, or mementos that would indicate that he had a personal life outside…
UCLA Spotlight: Women’s Bodies, Women’s Votes, With Gloria Steinem
Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr On October 7, 2012, Gloria Steinem came to UCLA to offer a lecture called “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Votes,” and, amidst the crowded hall in Broad (one which she would comment later as disliking—as she does many…
Spotlight on UCLA: The Williams Institute
Despite its compelling message, I feel that our queer generation has forgotten this message and instead succumbed to believing the stereotype that gay people are only in WeHo, San Francisco, and similar explicitly gay-friendly urban areas. The Williams Institute’s Census Snapshots of the United States and of each individual state reveal that there is much truth behind “we are everywhere” and that same-sex couples truly do reside in nearly every pocket of the country.