Prism Guest Writer

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Jennifer Chowdhury

On Sept. 1, Hamed Ahmadi tweeted a picture of a few slices of stale chicken breast and melon in a styrofoam container with the caption, “Not complaining but this is what I got last night for dinner and the next meal is 12 hours later. Refugee life might be safe but never easy & favorable.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Ahmadi had worked on the ground in Afghanistan for several years.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Jessica Helen Lopez

After 140 years, nine young Lakota relatives who lost their lives at a Carlisle, Pennsylvania, boarding school were recently brought home and ceremoniously laid to rest at the Sicangu Rosebud Reservation of the Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

by Montse Reyes

This story was originally published at Prism.

Michigan’s largest insurance companies have announced they will stop free treatments for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 starting Sept. 30, joining other states across the country who have sunsetted their fee waiver programs. Vaccines and booster shots will remain free.

By Lakshmi Gandhi

This story was originally published at Prism.

Millions of Americans are entering Labor Day weekend knowing that one of the key unemployment benefits that has been keeping them afloat throughout the pandemic is coming to an end. States across the country have announced they will not be extending the specially created federal pandemic unemployment beyond Sept. 4, leaving workers and advocates scrambling to figure out what to do next.

by Umme Hoque

This story was originally published at Prism.

The battle over how schools teach students about the roles of slavery, racism, and other forms of oppression in American history and life may be ideological, but the consequences are real and growing—particularly for teachers of color.

By Aimee Registe, J.D. and Jasminee Yunus, J.D.

This story was originally published at Prism.

At midnight on Sept. 1, our greatest fears became a reality in Texas under Senate Bill 8, which bans abortion before most people even know they’re pregnant and deputizes strangers to sue anyone who supports or assists another person in accessing abortion in violation of the law.

by Aysha Khan

This story was originally published at Prism.

Content note: This article contains descriptions of suicide and violence. If you or someone you know are struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available 24/7 through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Muslim youth can also call Naseeha’s confidential helpline at +1 (866) 627-3342 for support.

by Lakshmi Gandhi

This story was originally published at Prism.

Andrew Cuomo resigned Monday, marking the end of a tumultuous, months-long saga that included multiple women—many of whom are current and former staffers—coming forward to detail their experiences with sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by the 56th governor of New York.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Jessica J. González

Shortly before entering a Walmart near El Paso on August 3, 2019, a man took to social media to cite a litany of white supremacist and anti-immigrant conspiracy theories as justification for mass murder.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

by Ahmed Al Tamimi

Over the past four years, President Donald Trump and his administration have worked tirelessly to dismantle the Refugee Act, a 40-year-old federal program that provided systematic and comprehensive resettlement provisions.

This story was originally published at Prism.

by E. Lily Yu 

After over a decade of covert and overt involvement in Afghanistan that cost billions of dollars under multiple administrations, the U.S. exited Afghanistan in 1992, claiming its primary objective had been met. Daniel Berger declared in The Baltimore Sun that “Afghanistan may be safely … left to the Afghans.

This story was originally published at Prism.

By Micaela Gaviola

I was 20 years old the first time I had a conversation with my parents about making an appointment to go to the OB-GYN. My parents were confused and not keen to talk about it—making an appointment didn’t seem necessary in their eyes since I wasn’t sexually active. I wanted to get more information, to take charge of my health, and to plan ahead, so I made the appointment myself.

This story was originally published at Prism.

By Frank Gettridge

The past year has been tough on educators as health and safety overwhelmed instruction and learning. Moreover, an abrupt shift to remote learning made it difficult for schools to prioritize much beyond ensuring students and families had the resources they needed to thrive in an unpredictable and unimaginable circumstance.

This story was originally published at Prism.

By Umme Hoque

An open letter from AAPI high school students in Massachusetts begins with a simple statement: “We are high school students from Boston, Malden, and Quincy, members of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) Youth Center. We ask educators and superintendents to address the surge of anti-Asian racism that followed the COVID-19 outbreak.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Yvette Arellano and Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

All too often, the issue of plastic pollution is reduced to plastic straw bans led by clipboard-carrying college students, VSCO girls, and bracelets made with a promise of saving turtles. It conjures images of a wad of plastic grocery bags or perhaps a garbage island floating in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Kailea Frederick

For many, myself included, 2016 was a pivotal year. In a moment that will be forever marked in our minds, the rise at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) created a resurgence in the modern-day Indigenous people’s movements.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Brenton Weyi

What happens to a dream deferred? This famous question from Langston Hughes has been the lived reality for undocumented youth nationwide who have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA), also known as DREAMers.

But two DACAmented leaders have been working to level the educational playing field for today’s youth: Alejandro Fuentes and Tania Chairez.

This story was originally published at Prism. 

By Sravya Tadepalli

In the face of rising white nationalism and protests for racial justice, calls for schools to confront the white supremacist legacies of their namesakes have taken on new urgency. Many school districts have used renaming processes to denounce white supremacy and publicly memorialize the achievements and contributions of marginalized people.

by Virginia Eubanks

This narrative in the Unheard Voices of the Pandemic series from Voice of Witness is published with permission, as part of a partnership with Prism. Interview and editing by Virginia Eubanks.

Nurses are widely praised as selfless heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, but they face workplace and political conditions that routinely put them at unnecessary risk, hamper their ability to care for their patients, and discount their humanity and labor.

By Juliana Clark

Through a combination of outreach efforts and in-kind donations, the New York City-based anarchist network In Our Hearts (IOH) has managed to create a network of over 40 fridges in New York City and New Jersey. The collective has even managed to facilitate the creation of project chapters across the United States and the world. However, when IOH first began its popular outdoor community fridge project, it was “almost by accident.

By Nancy Cardenas Pena

Faced with the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, Texans looked towards leadership in their state government amidst a combative national dialogue. To many of us, it was clear that Texans needed strong guidance through these difficult times. Instead, the state utilized the pandemic to implement an anti-abortion agenda that left Texans with barriers towards abortion care in clinic settings that haven’t been seen since before Roe V. Wade.

This story is part of Prism’s series on sex positivity and the arts. Read the rest of the series here.

by jazabel jade, exHOTic other, and Miss AuroraBoobRealis

At a time like this, BIPOC women and femmes and our communities deeply need some laughter and joy to help us process the pain of living in America’s sadistic brand of white supremacy. That’s where burlesque comes in.

This explainer is part of Prism’s series on sex positivity and the arts. Read the rest of the series here.

By Bianca I. Laureano, featuring original illustrations by Zahira Kelly 

Sex positivity has become a buzzword among many sex professionals and those working in sexuality-related fields.

by Arissa Hall

“Let’s have revolutionary brown babies.” My now-partner said those words to me on our first date back in 2015. At the time I was a member of Black Youth Project 100, a national membership-based organization of Black 18-35 year olds who are fighting for the liberation of all Black people.

By Fatma Khaled

Fleeing Mexico in 2012 after receiving death threats due to advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in the country, Mexican transgender activist Ishalaa Ortega was granted asylum in the U.S. on the basis of persecution on account of political opinion, gender identity, and sexual orientation. However, others like Ortega with similar asylum claims could now find their claims denied if the new asylum rules proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration go into effect.

This story is part of Prism’s series on incarceration as gendered violence. Read the rest of the series here. 

By Briana Perry

 Jails and prisons were designed as sites of reproductive coercion.

Women’s divergence from what is narrowly considered appropriate gender performance under patriarchy, particularly around sex and reproduction, has been the foundational basis for their “criminality.

by Jack Herrera

For a few days in Portland, Oregon, this month, it wasn’t clear who was abducting protesters and journalists. The heavily armed men rushing out of unmarked vans and grabbing people off the sidewalks wore army fatigues and bulletproof vests. They looked like U.S. soldiers, but, then again, they also looked like the far-right militia members who have appeared at many protests in recent years. Information was murky and chaotic.

by Lux Alptraum

Warning: Some photos featured NSFW.

In the mid-2000s, porn was going through a seismic shift. Technological innovations like cheaper cameras and widespread high-speed internet had begun to upend the industry. Suddenly, being a pornographer was cheaper and easier than ever.

by Jeena Sharma

For Trey Taylor, moving to New York City was nothing short of a dream come true. The Canadian citizen had worked tirelessly for about two years to secure a work visa that allowed him to work freely within the country. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, the young journalist was unceremoniously terminated from his position at The Face Magazine.

by Casey O’Brien 

For Rick Vila, HIV will always be associated with roses. Vila became infected with HIV in the 1980s in San Francisco. The day he was diagnosed, a friend of Vila’s asked him to come over to his house so he wouldn’t be alone. As they worked in his garden together, Vila pricked his finger while pruning his friend’s rose bushes. “I scratched myself, and there were these three long lines of blood from rubbing against this rose bush.