by Elbert Joseph In the Caribbean, Carnival can simply be described as the ultimate expression of pure joy. This expression of joy is reached while the sweet sounds of Soca music are played and people dance through the streets. It is probably the most colorful event that ever happens in the Caribbean. The events of Carnival can be divided into four parts: J’Ouvert, Kids’ Parade, Adults’ Parade, and Last Lap. Carnival is the essence of the people of the Caribbean. Every year thousands of people flock to various islands to participate in the Carnival festivities and traditions of those islands. Although all of the islands celebrate Carnival, each island celebrates…

by Justin Rojeski The air is filled with lovely aromas of turkey, yams, and cornbread as I walk into my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps even more exciting than the meal in which I am about to enjoy is how important this dinner is: this is the first time my wife’s family will be sitting down for a meal with my family. I take a seat in the living room and wait for the remaining guests to arrive. There’s a knock at the door and all 12 of my wife’s family members enter. We make ourselves comfortable in the living room as we wait for the table to be…

by Beth Pipkin It is the rarest kind of awakening from sleep that allows you to gently glide from dreamland back to the physical world with eyes closed, body still and the rest of your senses doing all of the work to remind you of where you are. Once reality is all pieced together in your mind as you lay there, you smile because you remember and crawl out of bed to make sure that it is real. I was seven years old when I discovered paradise. Asleep in my Umma and Uppa’s bed is where it all started, with my dark brown hair cut into a bob, like Mary…

by Elbert Joseph While growing up on this mystical island there was never a shortage of things to do and places to go. From one adventure to the next, I spent my childhood exploring the beautifully untamable rainforest of the Nature Isle of the Caribbean. Swimming in many of its 365 rivers and finding secret beaches made growing up on this island  the experience of a lifetime. So, if you want to go on a vacation that is full of adventure and exploration, then you should visit Dominica. The island isn’t like one of those cookie cutter touristy islands with massive hotels and crowded beaches. In quite a contrast from…

by Annie Thorndike When I was growing up, I would go to the beach every summer on the coast of Tillamook County, Oregon. No matter where you went in Tillamook County, there was bound to be an ice cream shop, and homemade waffle cones that smelled like angels’ dreams combined with vanilla scented Yankee candles. This scent flowed through every street for 2 blocks around its source. It felt like home. It touched my sinuses like hands on puppy fur, warm and downy. ***** In New York City, between every blink, breath and step is a sensory cacophony. Mish-mashed and tangled together are the sounds of people’s steps, subways, cabs,…

by Annie Thorndike Almost all of us know someone who has or currently cuts themselves. It’s become so common these days that some people even joke about it; there’s a popular satirical diagram circling the internet reminding kids to “cut down the river, not across the street.” However, it wasn’t always this way. Cutting and self-mutilation, also known as NSSI (non-suicidal self-injury) was not a popular coping method until very recent years. A few decades ago, medical professionals would have likely reacted the same way as Leonard Sax, M.D, who described it as “weird” when he witnessed a case of self-harm in 1985 as a Psychiatry resident. In the early…

by Crystal Dalison I recently received a clipping from the Sydney Morning Herald in the mail. It reported on a study of the Australian brushtail possum population. A rare genetic disease that had previously been found only in Tasmanian possums had suddenly begun to appear within the populations of 5 of Australia’s 6 mainland states. Scientists were attempting to discern whether the gene which carried the disease had mutated independently in all of these regions, which is highly unlikely, or if a number of Tasmanian possums had successfully stowed away on ships bound for various ports. Much to my chagrin, I may be able to provide an explanation for this.…