By Elyanna Kwok, Contributing Writer
• October 15, 2025
I’m just a little bit of everything, and in between every single identity is the composition of who I am at this very moment. Acclimating is all about finding comfort in being uncomfortable — and being okay with the limbo that is the in-between. I’m still finding my footing in the weird dance that is figuring out college and being an adult. But with the help of my old steps and the introduction of some new ones, I’m sure it’ll all work out in the end. For now, I’ll just enjoy the journey of the in-between.
By Analise Bruno, Senior Columnist
• October 7, 2025
Relationships aren’t meant to replace your life — they’re meant to expand it. You can still chase your ambitions, build your routines, nurture your friendships and cultivate joy independently while loving someone deeply. But it requires conscious effort. It requires, as philosopher Alain de Botton puts it, a shift from romantic idealism to emotional maturity.
When it comes to memories, there’s value that lies even in the most painful ones. Altogether, this emphasizes the real power of human connection in the face of both love and loss.
I’m worried that something similar might happen when I return from college. Instead of feeling comfortable and relieved, I’ll feel unfamiliar and awkward, like I’m staying at a friend’s house for a week before I return to Boston. I’ve often heard sayings such as “home is where the heart is,” but how am I supposed to call this new place “home” without the proper time to love it?
Dear readers,
Despite my outgoing and goofy personality around close friends and family, I often found myself conforming to societal norms around anyone else, dimming down what made me genuinely me — a classic case of teenage nonsense. Since stepping foot on campus in Boston, I've felt a profound shift. While I'm far from having it all figured out, I've certainly found more of myself than ever before.
“Yentl” is Barbra Streisand’s criminally underrated 1983 directorial film debut set in turn-of-the-20th-century Poland. After her father (or “Papa”) dies, Yentl, the titular character played by Babs, decides to disguise herself as a man to study Talmudic law at a Jewish school called a Yeshiva. At school, she meets the ambitious Avigdor, who is in love with Hadass, a local girl. During the film, the three enter a love triangle complicated by Yentl’s gender secret.
Media has often shown society that the way to show that you’re a queer woman (whether that be lesbian, bisexual, pansexual or any other label), is to dress more masculine, carry yourself a certain way or overtly wear rainbow colors. Because of this, people often have a narrow perspective of how we look and dress.
The more I thought about my collection of water bottles, the more I realized the collection of each bottle had very little to do with an effort to combat single use plastic, and had more to do with the desire I have to keep up with current trends.
Whether one’s accent is a reflection of their race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality or migration, it is an incomparable piece of their identity and heritage—but linguistic profiling need not be the weapon
Charcoal Magazine and BU Student Activities collaborated on Fragmentos, an event to spotlight queer BIPOC students through portraits, storytelling and pop-up performances at the Howard Thurman Center on Thursday.
