Category: The Challenge Issue (Spring 2019)
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Proud, Driven, Leading: The Experience of First-Generation Students
Written by Christina Lopez. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– For Antonio Limon, college was never a question of if, but where, he was going to go. He remembers his mom always encouraging him to achieve A’s in his classes and volunteer to boost his prospects of […]
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The Almost-Christmas Spirit
Written by Dila Sarikaya. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– As my Mom and I did some casual window shopping, I looked over my shoulder and saw a big Christmas tree– one of the extravagant ones shopping plazas put up during the holiday season. Its lights, sparkle, […]
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American Refugee
Written by Brooke Quach. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– The volleyball struck him in the head so hard that he only recognized the impact after his scrawny body fell on the floor. His ears rang, but he could still hear the big white boy with the […]
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The Good, the Bad, and Ethical Cultivation
Written by Hector Osegueda. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– Since time immemorial, humans have struggled with the concept of good and trying to understand what makes a good person. Conversations about the relativity and subjectivity of goodness go back thousands of years to the earliest civilizations […]
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An Open Letter to my Mother
Written by Yulissa Chavez. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– Growing up in a Latina household, forced me to comply with the idea that my body was the property of God. This mentality may suggest that I learned to appreciate my body, but instead, I grew up […]
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Finding Myself in College
Written by Taylar Henderson. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– I don’t know who I am. For my entire life, I’ve relied solely on what other people defined me as. In elementary school, I was creative, loud, and outgoing. In middle school, I was weird, nerdy, and […]
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Piecing Me Together
Written by Anonymous. Graphic by Emma Robinson. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– **Content Warning: Sexual Assault** I don’t like to be figured out. I wasn’t one to easily confide my personal life in others. I would occasionally share a secret with a friend but never the same one twice. I would […]
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Procrastination
Written by Allison McCarty. Graphic by Peyton Cabaniss. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– Months. Weeks. Days. Hours. Minutes. It usually comes down to minutes. Assignments, papers, tests, they’re all posted months in advance. The dates on the syllabus are distant, almost inconceivable. No need to think about it, there’s plenty of […]
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In Love and In Academia
Written by Peyton Cabaniss. Graphic by Peyton Cabaniss. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– When Dr. Keely Finkelstein came to the University of Texas, she brought her research in astrophysics and a fascination with all things extragalactic. Her partner, Dr. Steven Finkelstein, brought his interest in galaxies big and small as […]
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OV-99
Written by Shini Meyer Wang. Graphic by Peyton Cabaniss. Originally published as part of the Spring 2019 “Challenge” Issue.– threads of smoke from the ether unravel down the sky it is that tin-can shuttle rubble hurtling across America’s TV boxes the space voyager “Challenger” a reverie turned fireball our frontier is beyond the fishbowl beyond […]