When it comes to the nature versus nurture debate, I believe nature created the systems that produced me, while nurture shaped the essence of my soul. I am a product of my environment, and this is what I want to examine. My hope is that, in tracing these steps, you might recognize pieces of your own life and find community in the overlaps. I was born in Newark, New Jersey, in October 1997, and raised in Maplewood/South Orange. My version of the American Dream is inherited — s

Apple’s marketing under Steve Jobs often centered on collective identity, belonging, and collaboration. This is vastly different from the Shot on iPhone campaign launched in 2015, which engages “community” by featuring a collection of users’ work, ultimately producing a false portrayal of collaborative creation. Under Jobs, campaigns like Think Different (1997) positioned Apple users as part of a shared lineage of thinkers, innovators, and disruptors. The Think Different camp

“There’s a storm coming Mr. Wayne, You and your friends better batten down the hatches, cause when it hits, you're going to wonder how ever you thought you live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” – Selina Kyle Selina Kyle warns in The Dark Knight Rises of the impending collapse of Gotham, an urban fever dream steeped in despair. Gotham is notorious as a cauldron of crime, a city rotting from the inside out. Built on inequality, it allows the wealthy to hide the

When I started watching YouTube, I was searching for something I didn’t have access to in real life. Sometimes it was practical—natural hair care advice from @heyfranhey. Sometimes it was laughter, via @jennamarbles. Other times it was guidance on navigating African identity in the diaspora from @dontjealousme, the beauty of womanhood from @jackieaina, or the promise of coming from nothing and becoming something through @arnellarmon. Each of these creators holds space in my p