Caitlin

My First Pride Parade

About two weeks ago I attended my first Pride festival in my state’s capital of Austin, Texas. Even though National LGBT Pride Month was declared every June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Austin likes to be weird and have their celebration in September. I’ve been out for a number of years so it was a surprise to may of my friends that this was the first Pride celebration I’d ever been to. It didn’t feel odd to me however because I’ve never been so vocal about my sexuality to where I felt pride was necessary. I know that sentence may come off as strange because Pride is all about celebrating diversity and acceptance and togetherness but for a long time the thought of publicly waving a rainbow flag around… Read more »

How I Went From An Uninformed Voter to a Voter Deputy

National Voter Registration Day was this past Tuesday and with the last day to register to vote being October 6th, that means that getting yourself registered is more crucial than ever. I’ve never really considered myself a political person. I voted in my first election back in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected, but when I went to the ballot box the only candidates I knew anything about were the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. I don’t even remember the other candidates I voted for. I was 18 and I was an uniformed voter, but I was still exercising my right. Two years later, and now in my third year of college I’ve become a lot more active on campus. Through my campus’s feminist student organization I’ve learned the intricacies of… Read more »

Net Neutrality: What It Is and Why It’s Important

Net Neutrality. Two terms that have been popping up in debates on the Internet and elsewhere for a while, but I can almost guarantee that although you’ve heard the words before, you don’t know what they mean. Allow me to clarify it for you. John Oliver, on his HBO news re-cap Last Week Tonight cleared things up for me back in June after I watched his 13-minute video on the topic. Oliver’s exactly right when he points out that the reason net neutrality is being overlooked by the people it effects the most is because it’s being presented in a language that doesn’t engage them. The term net neutrality is actually a good thing. In its most simplistic explanation it means that the Internet is neutral. It’s a level playing… Read more »

Nicki and Jenny: Different Approaches To Being One Of The Guys

I have a love for music videos. I remember getting ready for middle school and having VH1 on (The Top 20 Video Countdown remember?) in the background. I would stare at the women on the screen and idolize them. To me they were the epitome of fame, beauty, and femininity. As I’ve grown older my love for music and music videos has remained with me, but one thing has changed dramatically. Now I view every piece of media I consume, not just music videos, through a critical lens. I hate to admit it, but sometimes it takes the fun out of a piece of media that, had I just consumed blindly, I would’ve completely loved. But it makes me realize just how important it is that the media that is… Read more »