For a special edition of the Disability Month Spotlight series, I was fortunate enough to interview our very own Editor-in-Chief, Christopher Ikonomou (xe/he).
Queer Next Up: ggggrimes
ggggrimes (they/he/she) is a Black non-binary artist from the Bronx, NY. Their work portrays queer people of color living beautiful, colorful, and honest lives, with a focus on trans people.
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.
Whale Cart
Created by Zoë Collins (She/Her) This piece was originally published in our Spring 2022 print issue “Reflections of Radiance.“
Roots
Illustrated by Chrys Marr (She/They) This piece was originally published in our Spring 2022 print issue “Reflections of Radiance.“
“Filthy Animals”: An Exploration of Queer Sexuality and Masculinity
I recently read “Filthy Animals” by Brandon Taylor, which was released last year in 2021. I’d been looking to read more explicitly queer novels, ones that explored themes outside traditional YA themes. “Filthy Animals” is an exploration of queer sexuality and masculinity, a book that seems to understand the contradictions between all levels of queer identity. It is a book that aims to explore generational trauma, the past haunting its characters like an ambivalent ghost where the characters crave an intimacy they haven’t before.
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.
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.
Palomino Festival Displays Country Music’s Progress Toward Diversity
As a queer Indian-American, the country genre has always seemed antithetical to my existence, a mix of hypermasculinity and overwhelming whiteness. Observing country artists like Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan, I perceived country as music for the white man and…
Tied Too Tight
Illustrated by Steph Liu (She/Her) This comic was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 2 print issue “Wanting: A Queer Beauty & Burden.“
