Category / 2019 / Featured / Fire

  • What’s Hot this Season?

    From designer handbags to cotton t-shirts, millions of tons of merchandise each year meet their fiery fate at the mouth of an incinerator. In July 2018, British designer brand Burberry admitted to tossing $36.8 million of merchandise into the flames to prevent their high-end products from falling into the wrong hands. Facing backlash and boycotts,…

  • Ashes Unify: The Aftermath of Notre Dame

    On the evening of April 15th, horrified onlookers huddled at the banks of the River Seine while one of Paris’s most iconic monuments was engulfed in flames. The Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, more than 850 years old, has long stood in Gothic glory as a symbol of the French nation. Having both endured desecration during…

  • Drawbacks of the E-Cigarette Ban

    In a recent Oval Office press conference, President Donald Trump proposed plans to implement a wide-scale ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarette products after several deaths were found to come from mysterious pulmonary illnesses associated with vaping. This move prompted many states, such as New York and Michigan, to announce or even implement their…

  • Don’t Touch My Hair

    A ten-year old me sat in between Ms. M’s legs as the smell of burning hair filled her living room. She was stroking my beautiful brown curls with two plates of metal heated to 450 degrees, the burning point for hair. I would cringe when she got too close to the scalp and a sense…

  • Change the Narrative: Corporations and Climate Change

    The day after I turned eighteen, I participated in a citywide climate strike. Along with over a hundred students from my high school, I walked out of class onto the field outside our school to protest stronger action from our government to combat climate change. We then joined thousands of other students from around the…

  • Connecting Around the Campfire

    As the subtle orange light of the campfire flickered a soft glow onto my face, I found myself deep in thought. I found myself in my own universe, free from the chaos of the rest of the world, hypnotized by the glow, lost in my own thoughts and completely focused on those around me.  The…

  • Down Wind: Pollution and Discrimination

    At Midnight one Tuesday, I was working on Calculus when a GroupMe notification drew my attention. Apparently, my suite was on fire. Or at least, the smell of smoke had permeated most of Rutledge and may have been from my suite. Opening the door, I immediately discerned a smoky, almost metallic odor filling the space.…