The typical notions of academia are constraining and archaic— I eat up some American Dream Gatsby Bullshit just as much as the next girl, but it’s time to expand the conversation. I reckon we should make room for the modern mind and a new generation of cultural critics.

We are in an era where jokes made on TikTok, trash reality television (Tucker Carlson et. al.), and Billboard hits inform our perception of social relations; our perception of ourselves; and our perception of the ever-expanding (or perhaps shrinking) world. And there’s no problem with that, as long as we remain critical, open our mind’s eye, and amass awareness of what exactly we’re consuming.