New Comm Ave

Deconstructing a Billboard of Fear

Cultural Analysis
by Ryan Jung

In 1949, Pittsburgh, Charles Harris snapped a black and white photograph of a political advertisement mounted on a billboard on the side of the road in Pennsylvania. In the photograph, there is a cartoon image of a little girl with her mouth agape in fear, and she is holding a doll in one hand. The doll is black. The girl is standing on the right side of the billboard, and on the left side, there are two very large, evil looking hands reaching out for her.

Trix are for Kids

Literary Realisation
by Donovan Sithan

“The end. The scope of my life once wide has narrowed to nothing. No purpose, no reason. Though blood flows through my veins and keeps my heart beating, the soul is long dead. When once her smile gave me the very reason for life, it is now a simple reminder of the suffering I bare for us both."

America's Last Dance with MaryJane?

Research

by Michael Cerniglia

Let’s face it America, we are too stoned. High off our wagon, one can guess it’s the culture to blame and the blissfully ignorant to penalize. At least, that’s what today’s media and political prohibitionists would have you believe. But can you really blame them? Could the legalization of marijuana elevate our society to new highs or send it free falling to its certain doom?

You Don't Understand: I Am America's Next Top Model

Cultural Analysis
by Allie Yap

One is hard pressed not to admit the ubiquity of reality talent shows these days, especially after having seen an advertisement for ESPN that parodies ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Just how far-reaching are reality talent shows? As the economy moves increasingly towards service-providing professions and we present ourselves more and more in terms of what it is that we can give, it does not seem very far into the future until we, ourselves, become the products.

Cryogens

Personal Essay
by Steve Flaherty

They took us by surprise, the Tet Offensive of the 26th Century. Seething grunts crashed against our hull and banshees shrieked above our heads. And while the brilliant minds of the human race were brought low by the blows of brutish beasts, forth stepped Steve, from his cryogenically induced slumber, a Molinjir battle rifle poised against his shoulder. Fearless. Cue disembodied monks chanting an eerie tune.

January 19, 2007

Memoir
by Laura Holzwasser

It is almost two years later, and I still feel guilty for my feelings that day, and the days to come. More so, I feel guilty for the feelings that never came. I wasn’t completely empty, void of any emotion, but I feel like I wasn’t affected enough.

More Autobiographical Than Philosophical

Literary Interpretation
by Cheryl Hamilton

Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus “never embraced the label” of Existentialist, and yet decades later, many literary critics are still lumping him into this category. Since Camus himself did not endorse this claim, it is interesting that more critics have not questioned the legitimacy of this characterization. In reading other critiques of Camus’ The Stranger, it is also hard to ignore the many philosophical and theoretical “–isms” that Camus supposedly sanctioned or explored.

Learning to Breathe

Personal Narrative
by Kim Heil

After five days it was Thursday. Thursday we did not work; Thursday we drank. Water. More water than most of us drank in 3 days. Thursday night we would be participating in a traditional Navajo sweat, and we were preparing for what would be an arduous night.

View from the Bike Rack, October 19, 2008

Prose Poem
by Jackie Otto

I am locking my bike up on the bike rack outside of Target. I do it all the time so I don't need to pay attention to it. I get to look around. A very pregnant "of latino origin" totters into the Target with three tadpole children orbiting her protruding belly. An elderly white couple look on with an air of such self-righteousness. I hate them.