Tea Time with Tagwa: Black history should not be limited to slavery
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, happy Black History Month. This month, we highlight and celebrate the extensive success of the Black community through the nation and worldwide, spanning for centuries. However, our desire to learn and educate ourselves should not stop in March. We owe it to the Black community to teach ourselves what […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Talk to Tagwa
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, welcome to the new year. Like most of you, I’m hoping this one’s better. We’re already off to an exciting start — we inaugurated a new president and are waiting patiently as the promised change dawns upon us. The country is still dealing with a roaring pandemic, but vaccination rates […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: It’s time to say goodbye, Mr. President
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, I have an 8-year-old brother. I take him to the park frequently, and I’ve realized he has a bad habit of digging his feet into the sand when I say it’s time to leave. He stays put, fighting so we don’t have to go home. It’s irritating, but I must […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Kamala, the Black community helped you, now we expect greatness
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, the wait is over. There will be a Black female leader in the White House. To say it has been an exhausting few days would be an understatement. For nearly a week, people in America and around the world sat at the edge of their seats and waited for the […]
Appropriation is theft. Appreciation is comprehension.
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, growing up, my favorite Disney princess was Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” I loved her long brunette hair, golden yellow dress and loving soul; everything about her made me want to be her. So, when I was 9 years old and picking a costume for my first Halloween […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Drugging people is not the way into their pants
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, I’d like to give a trigger warning disclaimer. This story discusses the disgusting reality of date rape culture at parties — and the presence of it on VCU’s campus. Scrolling through Twitter, I nearly spilled my coffee. An Instagram story from an unofficial account named @vcuparties showed a person pouring […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Islam is not a for-profit aesthetic
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, the practices of religion are sacred. They are meant to be private and held with the utmost respect. Yet, modern entertainment culture exploits religion — specifically Islam — for profit. I can’t count the number of films and television series that take place in some Middle Eastern nation, all opening […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: There goes VCU dropping the COVID ball
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, surprise, surprise, VCU has dropped the ball, yet again. Today’s disappointment? Their handling of COVID-19 on campus. Listen, I won’t negate the stress that comes with trying to run a university during a pandemic. However, I have a brilliant idea: Do not allow socially hungry, 18-year-old college students onto your […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Go be a conservative in the corner
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, apparently it is so hard to be a conservative student these days. It is so hard to voice your support of a man who preaches racism and hate simply because he lives in the White House. It is so hard to flaunt your privilege of being in the majority. It […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Returning to VCU’s campus during COVID-19
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, it looks like I’ll be seeing you back on campus this fall. I can’t really decide if I’m excited or nervous about our return. It’s been nearly four months since we’ve left campus. Our lives have been uprooted, and most of us have returned back home to our high school […]