Tea Time with Tagwa: In-person classes are an unnecessary risk
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, I remember how badly I wanted to be on campus this time last year. With grocery stores empty, stores closed and classes moved online, life felt extremely abnormal. We were dealing with the new normal, but we didn’t know it yet. When two of my classes got moved back […]
Tea Time with Tagwa: Minority groups are not your quota
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, how would you feel if someone decided to reduce your race, gender, sexuality or identity to a mere quota? If they simply classified you as a point system, rather than as a unique being? I can tell you how I’d feel: disgusted. Even the idea to minimize me strikes […]
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: RBG argued that women needed equality, and SCOTUS listened
Tagwa Shammet, Opinions Editor Tea timers, when I think of revolution and progress in the Supreme Court, I think about one woman: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. An icon and shepherd for gender equality, the passing of former Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg is devastating. On Sept. 18, Ginsburg passed away due to complications related to metastatic pancreatic cancer. […]