Outcho by Gareth Bentall
ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR Gareth Bentall Gareth is a cartoonist and illustrator currently in his senior year as a communication arts student. He specializes in political cartoons, humorous illustration, underground comic trivia, bird watching, hoarding, forwarding, boogie boarding and Parcheesi. Gareth currently resides inside of his inkpot. Last year, Gareth won the National Society of Professional Journalists […]
No Offense by Skye Ali
STAFF ILLUSTRATOR Skye Ali Skye is a senior majoring in Communication Arts and minoring in Psychology. She is passionate about illustration and finding creative spaces to have open discussions about mental illness. A fervent animal lover, she would probably be a herpetologist in another life. Facebook | Portfolio alis@commonwealthtimes.org
It’s high time for a new approach to drugs, addiction
Drug abuse cannot be stopped with handcuffs, illegality or repression. Regardless of the potential threat these substances impose on the individual and society, the policy focus must shift to rehabilitation for any form of progress to actually take place. According to the Justice Policy Institute, the state of Virginia spent more than $94 million dollars […]
VCU, local groups partner to fight opioid crisis, help addicts recover
Inside a second floor classroom of Harris Hall, VCU political science professor Eric King delivered a lecture to his dozens of POLI 343 “Black Political Thought” students. On this day in early September, King scribbled in black marker the Latin words “dominus,” meaning master, or owner, and “potens,” meaning potential or powerful, across the whiteboard […]
Congress’ partisan politics hurts Zika victims more
Claims of Congress’ inability, once again, to successfully work together flooded the internet after lawmakers failed to pass a bill for Zika prevention funding. Headlines read “Democrats Block Zika Bill, Blame GOP” and “Zika Funding Fails Again in Congress” in an attempt to paint the Democratic party and partisanship as the culprits. As a virus […]
Clinton’s negative media coverage still trumps Trump
We live in a world where women have been taught to listen without interrupting and to expect male interruption in return. A world where women have been taught to speak their own quiet language. A language rooted in patriarchy, oppression and silence. Then women are asked why they do not speak up. Perhaps no individual […]
Malik Radford: progressive artist revealed
VCU junior arts student Malik Radford’s is making waves in Richmond with his newest piece, an interpretation of Frank Ocean’s “Blond” Album Cover. The piece, titled “Pink + White” on Radford’s website took 4-5 hours, Radford said. It has been a phenomenon on social media, particularly Twitter, where is has more than 11,000 retweets and […]
Richmond video game music producer an0va releases “Double Density”
Richmond producer Daniel Davis released his third EP as lo-fi chiptune artist an0va titled “Double Density” on Sept. 9. The EP features six tracks produced with Protracker 2.3 software on a Commodore Amiga 500, a computer most popular during the ‘80s and ‘90s. “The whole album is big and thick,” Davis said. “Pretty much booty […]
Southern Film Festival focuses on female filmmakers
VCU held the seventh annual Southern Film Festival last weekend to highlight the positive traits of the university’s southern roots. The film festival brings together films and its makers with constructive commentary. Every year, the festival’s board of directors chooses a new theme to focus on. This year’s topic was broad but precise: Women. “We’ve […]
Black culture, diaspora celebrated at Afrikana Film Festival
The first annual Afrikana Film Festival featured a series of events that sought to expose and showcase the works of black filmmakers and artists around the world premiered Sept. 15 and ran through Sept. 18. Among the most notable events was Friday’s “30 Year Anniversary Screening, “She’s Gotta Have It!“and Saturday’s “The Hip-Hop Fellow with […]