Jalyn Thomas, Contributing Writer  I have been going to VCU for four years and, consequently, have lived in Richmond for four years. But I only recently started immersing myself in the Richmond community.  When I first started out at VCU, I didn’t see any point in trying to be part of the community that Richmond had to offer — I never thought that I would be here for longer than the four years it took for me to get my degree.  I was obviously wrong about that. Unbeknownst to past-me, I am going to be here longer than initially planned.  While looking for apartments and jobs in the city — a feat of considerable difficulty — I have been constantly asking myself why I decided to stay. The answer is simple; Richmond’s community just has so much to offer. A previous editorial published in The CT helped me put things in perspective.  The article reminded readers that VCU is in Richmond and that “we are visitors to this city.” I believe this is a great way to put it — we are first and foremost in Richmond, not the other way around.  That notion has made me think about how

Kylie Grunsfeld, Staff Columnist As a Jewish woman who grew up within a Jewish community, I have found that a lot of people are very protective of the Holocaust and its history. Many are resistant to the idea that there might be another genocide — or an attempt at one — comparable. Its devastation is, all things considered, recent history. Victims of the concentration camps are alive today, and many families still carry that trauma with them. Members of my own family were victims.  The Holocaust was a tremendous tragedy, immense in scale. It stands as one of the most devastating events in human history. But we cannot pretend that it is the only tragedy of its kind.  We say “never again.” As Americans and citizens of the world, we pledge ourselves to making sure that no tragedy like the one that happened to my people — and to all the other populations victimized — ever happens again.  And yet.  In the decades after the Holocaust, there have been numerous atrocities that bear striking similarities. There were the Japanese internment camps — more accurately renamed as concentration camps by Asian American scholars — in America, the incarceration of Uyghur Muslims

Katie Meeker, Opinions & Humor Editor As both an employee and patron of Cary Street Gym, I have become extremely familiar with both the good and bad aspects of today’s exercise culture. When I first started my exercise journey, I went to my co-workers and gym-frequenting friends for guidance. They helped me figure out what workouts best suited my goals and gave me tips on how to get the most out of each exercise.  Much of the advice I got was extremely helpful, but I did notice a pattern — a lot of people seemed to assume my goals were appearance-based.  While this assumption was valid but mostly inaccurate, it illustrates an issue within gym and exercise culture that has become increasingly prominent — the prioritization of perception and aesthetics over actual health and wellness.  This issue has always existed, a byproduct of the ever-fluxuating beauty trends and standards our society seems to adore. The body positivity movement of the 2010s was thought to have made at least a little bit of progress, decentering from the unhealthy obsession with thinness that plagued the early 2000s.  Current gym culture, however, highlights that this issue hasn’t gone away, but just taken another

Naba Khan, Contributing Writer “I’d rather deal with this pain than give my baby autism.” “I read online that I should avoid this vaccine.” “Are you sure it’s safe?” These were just some of the many conversations I heard during my OB-GYN rotation. I vividly remember encountering a pregnant patient in October 2025 who was curled up and writhing in pain because of six fibroids — painful, fleshy masses growing on her uterus — refusing Tylenol for fear of what our president had said only a month prior in a national address.  Nowadays, when public figures stand at their digital pulpits and make unsubstantiated medical claims, they are rarely met with any meaningful resistance. Instead, those claims are often loudly echoed by sycophants who prioritize loyalty over evidence. The correction — if it comes at all — arrives too late, lost beneath hundreds of reposts and a comment section already convinced.  Nowhere is this damage more visible than in women’s health. For decades, women were excluded from clinical trials, their symptoms chalked up to “anxiety,” their pain classified as normal. The gaps left behind created space for uncertainty, and where uncertainty exists, misinformation festers.  As a rising fourth year medical