generations

I write this column in the throes of “Maycember,” that hectic time of year when every minute of every day feels spoken for. If you’re a parent of school-age children, you’ve got concerts, plays, sporting events, award ceremonies, and graduations. Here in…

Attending Belmont High School feels a bit like a monthly subscription. Although public school is supposed to mean free education, our high school is set up like a “freemium” service, where the best features are locked behind a paywall. Whether it’s on…

It happened again. I was sitting in my 11th grade English class last month when an announcement came over the intercom: “We are entering shelter-in-place,” a deep, urgent voice warned. I was immediately spooked. So was most of the class. My teacher…

It’s late, and I’m lying down in bed with my phone inches away from my face, scrolling endlessly. Story after story pops up. A headline screams about violence and war. A mother cries on my screen, talking about how she cannot afford…

“What are your concerns about your face?” I’m in Katie O’Brien’s brightly lit office at Renascence Aesthetic Dermatology on Belmont Street. Katie is down-to-earth and welcoming, but I still feel nervous and exposed. I have a lot of concerns about my face,…

Most of the conversations I have with my friends go a little something like this. We talk about some classes and our weekend plans, and then, slowly, the infamous question appears: “So, what do you want to do?” It’s the question that…

For a long time, Asian characters in Western media were easy to predict. They were often side characters, defined by accents, martial arts skills, or other one-dimensional stereotypes. Rarely were they the center of the story. That started to change when COVID-19…