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.
Do Progressive High Schools Facilitate Queer Joy?
In the fall, I discussed how internalized homophobia produced complicated feelings about my old middle school’s increasingly progressive attitudes towards queer identities and rising numbers of “out” queer students. I unpacked my slight resentment toward those queer students, who seem to have an easier time exploring their queer identities out in the open since they exist in a less oppressive environment.
Letter From The Editor: On Queer Joy (Spring 2022)
Dear Reader, I would first like to introduce myself. My name is Christopher and I am OutWrite Newsmagazine’s resident trans/(gender)queer Marfanoid and now Editor-in-Chief. I am finishing up my third year as a part of the OutWrite family and UCLA community, having grown from a hopeful, L-G-B-T, physically exhausted pure Mathematics major to the proud queercrip and rejected art student studying Communication and Disability Studies, who led two of the biggest disability rights actions in the University of California’s history. It’s been an interesting few years, and our collective isolation has allowed me plenty of time to reflect.
La Loteria Queered
This project was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“ The artwork for La Loteria was originally introduced by the Spaniards in 1769 to the Indigenous people of what is now Mexico. It…
Achilles Lamenting The Death of Patroclus Queered
This series of photos was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“ This photoshoot queers the iconic painting “Achilles Lamenting The Death of Patroclus” (Gavin Hamilton, 1963). Credits:Photographer: Zoë Collins (She/Her)Editor: Christopher Ikonomou…
![digital illustration of a tiger roaring and bearing its teeth against a textured gray background interspersed with yellow chains. Written in red text across the illustration is “SHAKE YOUR CHAINS TO THE EARTH LIKE DEW YE ARE MANY, THEY ARE FEW”.]](https://outwritenewsmag.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/mask-of-anarchy-chrys-marr-640x450.jpg)
The Mask of Anarchy
Illustrated by Chrys Marr (She/They) This illustration was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“
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…
I Don’t Get To Choose Who I Love: An Essay on Bisexuality
Photo by Zoë Colliins (she/her) I used to wonder if there was something wrong with me. I had an affinity for all genders but was often told that it was impossible because, eventually, I’d have to “choose” my future lover…
In Light of Florida Bill 1557: An Analysis of Isn’t That Bisexual? (Fall 2013)
*This article is a modern analysis of the themes and content of “Isn’t That Bisexual?“ (Fall 2013), the eighth installment of our From The Archive series.* The fact that misunderstandings regarding pansexuality presented in “Isn’t That Bisexual?” still persist today indicates…
“Sort Of”: A Queer Lesson on Storytelling
Still from HBO’s “Sort Of“ **This article contains minor spoilers for HBOMax’s “Sort Of”** When I first saw the trailer for HBOMax’s “Sort Of” featuring Bilal Baig, — the first queer, South Asian, Muslim actor to lead a Canadian primetime…
