Between the lines: utilizing music to shape mood in fiction
Music is woven into our everyday lives. It starts our mornings, softens our nights and sustains us through the difficult moments between. A single song can brighten a day. A familiar melody can feel like coming home. It is no surprise, then, that music plays an equally vital role in the stories we tell. Music doesn’t merely sit in the background of our favourite movies and television shows; it shapes how we feel, what we notice, and what we understand about the characters before they even utter a word. Sometimes, music whispers secrets to the audience that even the story itself is too timid to reveal. This rings especially true in queer stories, where music expresses desire and intimacy and evokes emotion that the narrative might otherwise leave unspoken.
Between the lines: utilizing music to shape mood in fiction
Music is woven into our everyday lives. It starts our mornings, softens our nights and sustains us through the difficult moments between. A single song can brighten a day. A familiar melody can feel like coming home. It is no surprise, then, that music plays an equally vital role in the stories we tell. Music doesn’t merely sit in the background of our favourite movies and television shows; it shapes how we feel, what we notice, and what we understand about the characters before they even utter a word. Sometimes, music whispers secrets to the audience that even the story itself is too timid to reveal. This rings especially true in queer stories, where music expresses desire and intimacy and evokes emotion that the narrative might otherwise leave unspoken.
What Trump’s gender manifesto says about trans power
As you read this article, the Trump administration is attempting to rewrite history by erasing evidence of transgender Americans’ existence over time. At the start of 2025, the Trump administration released an executive order defining the parameters of sex and gender titled “DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,” also called Executive Order 14168. This order aims to limit the government’s ability to advance the goals of what Trump terms “gender ideology” (or the belief in the fact that sex and gender are two separate identities) by requiring government agencies to acknowledge sex and not gender, defunding gender affirming healthcare and excluding transgender resources from mental health agencies, prisons, schools and more.
The Sims 4 Introduces Items For Trans Players
On Jan. 31, 2023, the Sims team announced that “The Sims 4” was getting an update to include something for trans Simmers to enjoy, including binders and top surgery scars for transmasculine people, and shapewear specific for transfeminine people. “The Sims 4” is known for its increasingly inclusive gameplay. Recently, Simmers have been able to enjoy a breadth of new skin tones, hairstyles, romantic preferences, and new traits that make gameplay feel a bit more realistic.
Breaking Boundaries in Beauty: The Love Story of Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico
Imagine attending a beauty pageant, not knowing what to expect. Maybe you end up with a tiara and some press, maybe you leave with some great memories, or, just maybe, you get the chance to meet your future wife. This was the case for beauty queens Fabiola Valentín and Mariana Varela, known as Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina respectively.
Roe v. Wade: What’s Next?
Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022 reversing 49 years of legal precedent in the U.S.. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has made it clear he does not plan to stop there, and gay marriage could be next up to take a massive political hit.
Fair Contracts Now: The Largest Strike In Academic History
Chants such as this one have echoed across campus since Nov. 14, the first official day of the UAW strike. The turnout was amazing, with graduate students, undergraduate students, and even some faculty showing up for the largest strike in University of California and U.S. history…
National Center for Transgender Equality Announces Launch Date for 2022 U.S. Trans Survey
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) recently announced that the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey (also known as the USTS) is set to launch on October 19th.
The Realities of (Mis)Representation
This article was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“ We’re constantly told as queer people that representation matters. There is this pervasive narrative sold to us that seeing our faces in high…