Author / Serena Lekawa
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Use your emojination: the cultural politics of modern messaging
Anyone with half a brain and a smartphone (which is to say, a brain and a half) knows that modern society celebrates the emoji as a mode of expression that is visual, experiential, and succinct like nothing else. Emoji popularity is so widespread that last year, it was almost no surprise to see the laughing-so-hard-I-am-crying…
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An Interview With Dr. Paul Farmer
In this Q&A, Dr. Paul Farmer gives insights on student activism in global health, and methods for combatting health inequality. Dr. Farmer is a physician and anthropologist, co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health (PIH), and Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The…
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Ayurveda in the Modern World: Traditionally Effective, or Effectively Traditional?
BY SERENA LEKAWA For many, the word “Ayurveda” might bring to mind things like acupuncture, yoga (pants) and the smell of burning incense. Some might imagine hippie-healers sitting cross-legged on the floor, feeling each other’s energies and holding each others’ hands. Others still may imagine someone with a Staten Island accent sneezing through the word…
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Equality? I “Like” It
BY SERENA LEKAWA Facebook has been looking a little geometric lately. Scrolling down my newsfeed, it was impossible not to notice the pink-and-red equal sign appearing again and again: a small icon next to a friend’s name, or a large, bold upload. I was into it. What an exciting day in the history of human…
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Mr. Smith Threatens to go to Washington
BY SERENA LEKAWA By definition, ‘filibuster’ is an informal term for an attempt to block or slow down a Senate action or bill by refusing to finish debating it. The origins of this quirky tool are not found in the Constitution, but rather in the perversion of a loophole in the Senate rulebook. Originally, the…
