By Arya Mehta I won’t lie, I have a lot of deadlines for Monday and I have quite some exciting things happening in my life, but I did want to give you guys a good article. My opinion this week: SEXUALLY ACTIVE PEOPLE SHOULD TRY USING LUBE. The use of lube can literally transform your…
Grades are Dumb
By Arya Mehta I know this is quite a cliché/cheesy opinion column article in college magazines or even high school publications but I think in Week 11, when we’re all struggling to get to the finish line, this serves as an important reminder that our grades don’t define our worth or predict our future. I…
Racism in the Netherlands – Through Gloria Wekker’s “On White Innocence”
By Arya Mehta The Netherlands is often portrayed as this safe, liberal haven with its egalitarian ideals and ‘colorblind’ values. But, as Gloria Wekker, inspired by Toni Morrison, points out in her lecture on “White Innocence” (linked in the bibliography, fantastic read), this colorblind outlook does not translate into non-racism. In fact, it does more…
On Freedom
By Arya Mehta This semester, UCR has chosen the theme “Cultures and Institutions of Freedom”, which I find to be a paradoxical expression. Institutions are inherently a tool of the state and do not, and cannot, provide ‘absolute’ freedom (if that is even possible). UCR, as a Western institution, is limited to Western epistemology and…