Nonfiction
Capitalism in Intensive Care: Notes from a World Too Busy Buying Itself
The global economy today sits like an aging monarch in a glass ICU, draped in silk hospital gowns woven from speculation and denial. Tubes of liquidity drip-feed borrowed time into a system allergic to introspection, while its caretakers—central banks, financial institutions, and think tanks—applaud the twitching of GDP as if it were a sign of vitality rather than convulsion. The prognosis? Complicated. The diagnosis? A civilization obsessed with consumption, terminally ill with its own success.
By Andra Hikmal9 months ago in Critique
Snow White 2025: Balancing Woke Themes with Classic Storytelling – A Review
The 2025 version of Snow White, to be fair, Disney's live-action remake of its first animated picture, has received mixed reviews from the audience. The remake tried its best to be accepted as a feminist film and one that promotes woman empowerment while balancing the old and the new. I watched the film with a grain of salt and kept my logical mind aside—at least, I tried to! However, I could only fathom the discourse of its nurture to a certain extent. In this review, I go deeper into the intricacies of empowerment, fantasy and the performances the film encompasses.
By Hridya Sharma10 months ago in Critique
Few Words Lead Me Home
“I cannot sever myself from what I’ve been taught. Pencil fades over time, so I always use a pen to write on the backs of photographs. The secret to good penmanship is going slowly. There’s a place for everything, and everything in its place.”
By Justin Black10 months ago in Critique
Stripped Journaling. Content Warning.
Forgiveness: a conscious and deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment towards someone who hurt you. Why is forgive and forget so hard? Something done by someone I’ve yet to see again haunts my reality as if it happened yesterday. Like a scar that is deeper than the ones carved by my hand. A person unknown to me, yet forever tied to my soul through one terrible night. The fear of feeling powerless again lingers with me, paranoid, afraid of my own shadow. Am I safe anywhere? Will I be hurt again by another insignificant person who can decide if I am prey? Someone so hungry that they don’t care about their actions. Someone who could easily overpower me and enjoy watching the struggle.
By Emmie Falbo10 months ago in Critique
On a fateful November night
(I was writing this for the "Self-Editing Epiphany"-Challenge, only to in the end realize in the end that there was a 1.500 words limit to it, and this has more like 3.800 words. Since today is my birthday and I won't have time to shorten it, I'll just publish it anyway now. I hope you like it!)
By Niklas Baumgärtler10 months ago in Critique
The Diplomat (2025) Movie Ending Explained – John Abraham’s Spy Thriller Breakdown
There are still many questions in The Diplomat movie which have been smartly left in the movie and have not been fully explained, such as Tahir traps Uzma and takes her to Pakistan, but what was the strong reason behind luring Uzma and taking her to Pakistan, which was not explored properly in the movie.
By Ayush Verma10 months ago in Critique
Found in Translation. Runner-Up in Self-Editing Epiphany Challenge.
At first I scrolled past this challenge and didn’t even consider joining in on that one. And then, a little voice at the back of my mind reminded me of a promise I had made to myself at the beginning of this year – do more new things, even, and especially, the ones out of my comfort zone. With a little sigh, I scrolled back up, instantly knowing which excerpt to use. Yep, another "do more new things" moment that happened just over a month ago.
By Cristal S.10 months ago in Critique
The Monster. Content Warning.
The monster in my room. Have you ever woken up to find a monster in your room? I did, when I was four years old. It wasn’t your typical monster, it didn’t look like a monster but it was. It had taken over someone else. I was told by my parents to sleep in the same bed as the monster. This same monster had attacked several people. That’s what it did, it would attack one person and then that person would become the monster. Then that monster would attack someone else and then they would become the monster. Then when I was four the monster had attacked my sister and she became the monster. Then the monster attacked me. But for some reason no matter how hard the monster tried, I wouldn’t let it take over me. I would have dreams about myself becoming the monster and wake up terrified and shaking. But I didn’t want to be a monster, so I didn’t become one. And that’s when I realized that no matter what happened to the people before me, they weren’t forced to become the monster, they chose to. They were introduced to the monster and then they had to make a choice. Become the monster or defeat it, stop it from destroying everyone. The monster attacked me and it was bad but to me becoming the monster was so much worse because I would rather be hurt than hurt someone else. And that’s all it took, the way to defeat the monster was so simple and yet it had taken years for someone to stop it. All along all anyone had to do was stop being the same monster that had attacked them.
By Raine Fielder10 months ago in Critique
Review: In the Heart of the Sea
In my opinion next to Steven Spielberg, probably the best director of this generation would have to be Ron Howard. The man has proven himself over and over again, with compelling story lines and excellent film craft, “Apollo 13,” “Backdraft,” “A Beautiful Mind,” and others in this top notch portfolio of successes.
By Larry hart10 months ago in Critique
A Moment On My Soapbox. Runner-Up in Self-Editing Epiphany Challenge.
Pulls out soapbox. History never repeats itself, but it loves playing a good cover. When we cease to understand, and only imitate, we doom ourselves and others into repeating the same chords, the same notes, eventually writing off a cover as a different song entirely.
By Matthew J. Fromm10 months ago in Critique
