This was originally done for an assignment for Ethan Zuckerman’s class Fixing Social Media.

Hi, I’m Nina. I was born and raised in Arizona, USA. I am a cisgender, white passing woman in her twenties who primarily dates men. I speak English and Spanish and have a smart phone. I have no visible disability and at a US ladies size 12 I am not actively discriminated against for my size. I have no children and I am a graduate student at MIT.

Basically, I am very privileged and especially from a data and media collection standpoint — modern media is basically catered towards me. …

I have always been very very bad at habits.

This is shocking to a lot of people. Maybe because I love makeup and skincare and those are habits. Maybe because I always check if doors are locked a bunch of times before leaving. Or because I’ve conned MIT out of degrees.

But I am actually not amazing at habits, especially daily ones. I have never been good at journaling or meditating or keeping a consistent workout or sleep schedule. Life is varied and I am someone who has tunnel vision on each variance.

This year I challenged myself to do daily sketches in code. …

Disclaimer:
The following is not a peer reviewed academic publication.
The purpose of this article is to make the reader consider why the visual treatment of these materials came to be, not to provide a concrete answer or suggestion.

“I should invite him to my birthday zoom party thing” I said, wine glass in hand on the video call. It is probably 7pm on a Friday.

Marianne, my dear sweet friend, sighs: “No. You should not.”

Me: “Let’s get Kelsey on the call she will support me”

Kelsey, albeit pixelated: “No, this is sad girl hours, stop.”

Me: “Fine. What should I do then? Write an article?” …

So a few weeks ago one of my mentors/thesis readers/person whomst I learn from Zach Lieberman brought the question of “What is art in these times?”

I remember the first time this was brought up was on a Zoom call with myself and a few other students and I just kind of did a nod and fake smile. I was screaming inside. …

Content warning: This shows a lot of bodies and talks a lot of ratios and trends. This can be triggering for some folk so please avoid if this is you I promise none of these takes are that masterful.

Disney, Disney, Disney. Love it or hate it — we can’t deny the influence it has.

Before we bash, we should give some credit. Disney has come further in plots and representation. In some ways they show the reflection within our culture as well.

One thing that everyone has always been enraged about is the way that women are portrayed in Disney movies, not only in plot but also in looks. Disney princesses are usually the battleground for this. Big eyes, thin wrists, invisible waists, impossible boobs. …