What it Means to Be P*l3stinian
I wish I was born with a handbook on how to go about life. Something to show me how you’re supposed to live knowing your people are being ethnically cleansed, knowing that the place your grandparents grew up in is in complete and utter destruction. How do you go about life feeling guilty because it […]
Letter in Solidarity with Palestine
The staff of Ink Magazine want to make an unambiguous, decisive declaration of support for a free Palestine. As a VCU student publication, we want to show support especially to the student organizers and protestors who have been treated unjustly by university administration, as well as the VCU, Richmond City and Virginia State Police. Student-led […]
A Letter to the Forever Young
From: Aurelio Herrera-BabbitSuburbs of Richmond, VA March 13, 2021, 8:17 PM To: You Location Unknown I was parked outside a drug dealer’s basement. Inside it was carpeted concrete. Two lazy boy recliners across from one couch, forming a loose triangle. Occasional footsteps echoing overhead. And the steady “BZZZZZZZ” of cicadas pulsing through the thin plaster […]
Assigning Horror Movies to Your Confessions
As Halloween passes us by, it’s only right that we spend the following days embracing our fear through music, outfits and festivities. If you’re lost for ideas on what you could do this month, let us help you out. Here at Ink, we believe movies are a great way to start. One good movie can […]
Yuniform: The Peace You Find in Nature
Bringing the Black Community Together in a Unique Way Yuniform’s exploration of Jump Rock and Viewing Rock in Goshen, Va. Photo courtesy of Youssef Hussein. Amid our hectic lives, it’s difficult to fully cherish the moment and engage with our surroundings. In the 21st century, most of our time is spent glued to media. With […]
On Being Cultureless
A woman stands in a room filled with heavy perfume. The aroma is sweet, regal, and composed of different branches of scents that all stem from the same tree. Her own branch is soaked into her fabric and is cut in a design that has been worn by several mothers before her. Gold accompanies this […]
Our Weekly Roundup: One for the Ladies! (and Walker)
Hassam: I finished rewatching “The Nanny” around a week ago and I literally haven’t been able to stop thinking about the Moschino piano dress she wore as a skirt in the last season like it’s actually so perfect. Walker: Since this semester has decided to overwhelm me with schoolwork, I’ve had to lock in at […]
The Paradoxical Rousing Banality of Donald Trump; or, Why I No Longer Feel Civil War is Imminent
Last year, over winter break, an originator of 23 of my chromosomes told me, with slow, earnest head-shaking, I’d been “brainwashed” by the “liberal media.” If you haven’t guessed, this same individual has supported, and continues to support, Donald J. Trump, née Drumpf. It’s a bit of a tradition for us to enter into a […]
Our Weekly Roundup: Ethel Cain Distracts Us From the AI Apocalypse
Naomi: Pluto is entering Aquarius and the next 20 years will be ruled by global themes of technology; the world feels like it’s on the brink of collapse and the AI takeover is impending. This has spurred on my obsession with big skinny robots. In the film “Castle in the Sky,” robots tenderly care for […]
Empathy Everywhere All At Once
I witness the material sins of my father in the form of a dripping flame while I’m parked near the corner of Broad and Gilmer. He’d assured me that my true blue 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer — a car that’s a beater in every universe — had just passed a safety inspection. Regardless, when I crack […]
Yanking The Ribbons From My Hair
When you search the word “coquette” on Pinterest, you’ll be bombarded by a million different images. Women in hairbows; lacy dresses; skinned kneecaps; submachine guns laid on pale pillowcases. It’s a visual language that is vaguely French and Lolita-esque, an indescribable dream that simultaneously celebrates girlhood and twists it into something acrid. It rose out […]
Our Weekly Roundup: Philosophical Thoughts and Catwalks
Taylor: Women who, by their thoughts and insights alone, should be considered philosophers, but who, for various reasons (most succinctly misogyny), are written off as crystal-licking lunatics, or mommy bloggers or otherwise vapid bestseller genre self-helpers. Namely, prolific writer and ex-presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson, Liz Gilbert of “Eat, Pray, Love” fame, and Glennon Doyle, author […]