#gradtaxwalkout

Hello! After a long silence in this platform, I would like to address a very important issue that affects me and my fellow grad students: the GOP proposed tax bill. Among the reforms, there is a direct attack to graduate students who receive tuition tax waivers. According to the National Humanities Alliance: ...the bill amends Section 414(t)(2) …

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Diving into life

Lately, I have felt lacking the energy or the inspiration to write in my blog, partly due to the different goals I set to myself for the next months. I am preparing before starting my PhD at UCSB, where I will also work as Teaching Assistant, doing a lot of academic reading, organizing my data, …

The Movable Container

"Every object in that room is equally a form by which people have chosen to express themselves." -Daniel Miller, The Comfort of Things   When I found out I would be moving to the U.S., the first question my mom and I asked each other was What should I bring with me? I immediately thought …

Hung up on details

When the protests in Venezuela started again, I felt the need to pour my energy and anxiety into something useful. I tried to volunteer in everything I could, write as much as I could, share information with my family, keep myself informed, retweet, like, share, donate, and so on. This has been positive for me …

Exceptional enemies, exceptional violence

A brief analysis about the use of "justified violence" in times of colonial crisis. The British colonizers justified their occupation of other regions, such as India and Australia, as altruist missions that, contradictorily, based on physical and psychological violence. For these methods to be acceptable, the colonizers reshaped those foreign territories into an “exception” which, opposite …

Saudade

“I put you here so that if your spirit ever wandered,  you would know where home was.” -Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing On August 10 2014, I was packing my suitcases and saying goodbye to my family. The next day I was flying to the United States to begin my studies and a new life. That was …

The Execution of Columbus

In the past weeks, Venezuelans have been protesting in the streets against the current government and their oppressive system. I believe this wave of resistance started taking place in 2015, when the people gave power to the opposition leaders to be the majority in the National Assembly. For those who do not know too much about …