Month: March 2023

BY ESA CHEN ‘25    Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important and widely celebrated festival in Asia. People in countries such China, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, etc all celebrate the Lunar New Year but in different ways. The Lunar New Year festival begins on the last day of the lunar year and ends with the Lantern Festival, which is the 15th day of the first lunar month in the following year. Because it is based on the lunar calendar, the date of Lunar New Year on the Gregorian calendar varies. The tradition of celebrating Lunar New Year is very old and its significance is rooted in several several myths. Chinese legend spoke of the wild beast Nien, which is the word for “year” in Mandarin, that appeared at the end of each ye...

BY UTSHAA BASA ‘25 The 2008 graphic novel “Kari” by Indian author Amruta Patil, follows the titular character, a young woman attempting to navigate Mumbai alone after the departure of her lover and soulmate, Ruth. This follows after their failed double suicide. Kari as a protagonist is largely alienated from her surroundings, occupying space on the sidelines as a queer person in the heteronormative landscape of Mumbai, and as a self-proclaimed boatsman. Kari’s failed double suicide, that plunges her into a sewer, functions as a sort of a rebirth, resigning her to drift in the fluid space between life and death. In her sexual identity, Kari leans towards ambiguity as well. She attributes her confusion to labels, stating that the “circus is in her head.” Largely, the novel does not con...