SCRAPS!

Every now and then while watching the Olympics, I have this strange aversion. Not so much to the construct of the games, but there’s always something in myself that can’t get lost in the moment. I can’t merely watch the games and get lost in the novelty of watching every country on Earth compete for three medals and a chance to say that, of the billion people on this planet, these are the most athletic. I recognize the thrill of wanting your country to be the best it can be, and yet there’s some part of me that gets queasy participating in something that isn’t inherently offensive or wrong. In fact, the Olympics are objectively one of the few times that explicit national pride should be encouraged. Watching Milan Cortina the past two weeks, I felt that same hesitation emerge as I saw the media (notably NBC’s broadcasting) cater to an American sensibility. Again, that isn’t wrong. We have some phenomenal athletes who, from what I can tell, have amazing stories to share. They’ve put in t...

At the end of Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at The Super Bowl, he projected a message onto the Jumbotron. Having spent most of the performance singing in Spanish, it was a rare chance for racial barriers to be met and consider a greater truth. His message for all of the flamboyant dancing and pulse-pounding music was that “The only thing stronger than hate is love.” With possibly the biggest audience in any American sporting event watching, he was able to project that message to millions of people. It may seem obvious to most, but it seemed like a poignant deconstruction on his show. Over the past decade, the concept of being American has shifted significantly on the national stage. It’s gotten so obscene that people have preluded Olympics talk by asking other countries to not look down on Team USA because they don’t hold the same values as their president. As someone who lives here, that is obvious, though I imagine it’s difficult to know how outsiders see this recent string of eve...

There is no need to build up to this statement. Kendrick Lamar is one of the most celebrated hip-hop artists of his generation, and I share that general enthusiasm. That doesn’t necessarily mean I listen to him the most or devoutly await every release. It’s just, having lived through the 2010s, I saw the power of rap music to stand for something greater… and a large reason was him. The candid artistry was beautiful, and I think it only continues to grow in ways that propel the genre forward and promise something even more interesting on the horizon. In an era where music is at risk of disposability, picking up a Lamar album is being reminded of what a full front-to-back experience can give you. The reason I am writing this stems from my own contradictions surrounding his music that, in fact, don’t have that much to do with him in the first place. To provide a parallel circumstance, people often resent Zack Snyder films because of the audience he attracts, who tend to target those who d...

With the ball now firmly dropped into 2026, it’s time to get things up and running. Despite the infrequency of this column, I still feel the need to provide regular updates where I can. To put it simply, New Year’s Eve turned out to be a pretty good day overall. Along with having Chinese food, I got to watch Duck Soup for the umpteenth time as well as celebrate the countdown from various cities throughout the U.S.A. Most of them had big, elaborate shows, but then you’d get to places like Phoenix, Arizona, and you began to understand the constraints of living in a less populated region of the country. It probably looked great to people in the area, but it was also isolated, mostly taking place over the desert, which is far from the pageantry everyone else had. I also got to hear a variety of (mostly) classic rock bands play. I wouldn’t say I was terribly into most of them, though the presence of Cheap Trick reminded me how consistent their work is. My parents used to play the greatest h...

For the last time in 2025, I thought that I would hop on here and give a quick update on where life has been. In general, December has been a chaotic month where it’s been difficult to sit down and do this type of writing justice. Part of it is scheduling conflicts, but it’s also that I’ve dedicated a lot of free time to backlogging my annual entries for my Snapshot series. What I’ve found is that I’m generally overzealous and may write more than I should in those essays, but I need to get them out. There must be some way to convey my feelings on the year that will be there for research purposes further down the line. Will they be my best writing? I hope so, but I’m nervous about a handful of entries. However, they capture where I was at in 2025, and that’s what I feel is more important.  To start breaking down what’s been going down since I last updated, I will say that this has been both a hectic month but also a fun one. I got to see Ben Platt at his residency at The Ahmanson Th...

Over the past few nights, my attention has turned to one news story. Among the endless array of controversies and disasters, something which has caused me to question the direction America is going in regards a university essay that went viral for receiving a 0%.  From afar, the situation sounds like the familiar half-hearted attempt to get credit. In my lifetime, there have been papers from classes I’ve been in that reek of last-minute attempts to cheat the system. I have written some of those papers, and, when I have, willingly accepted the ‘F’ despite initial animosity towards the teacher and the belief that the whole system was out of order. There is nothing like being a frustrating student, though that’s also something you tend to feel when you’re in middle school and not at the university level. By that point, you’re there for personal reasons taking classes that appeal to some larger interests in your life. I get some are probably forced to take courses they don’t want for t...