Author: passedtheeastgate.com

Navigating Political Turmoil with the Comfort of Music and Community Life feels like it’s spiraling into chaos again, and I can’t help but feel that all too familiar knot of anxiety deep within me. With Trump’s presidency looming large once more, everything feels uncertain—especially for people like my parents, who were immigrants. But even in…

Let’s Compare and Contrast Martha Stewart to Nara Smith and Ballerina Farm Martha Stewart, the original domestic goddess of an icon, built her empire by perfecting the art of homemaking. From her tasteful tablescapes to her farm-to-table recipes, Stewart epitomized a vision of perfect domestic bliss that was aspirational yet accessible. Decades later, with the…

The Iconic 80s Movie is All About Manifesting A Better Reality. 1988 was quite a year. Women strutted in bold shoulder pads, a metaphor for their burdens as they navigated corporate ladders and family life. Materialism was rising, with BMWs gracing high school parking lots—not driven by the adults. It was an era where the…

Two tales of Christian Dior and Karl Lagerfeld I just finished HULU’s Becoming Karl Lagerfeld and am now on episode five of AppleTV’s The New Look. While neither shows are perfect, they feed my love of archived fashion. I absolutely eat it up. Mostly, I love learning about source talent, their lives, and their success…

A Return to Street Dance Roots But Style is Star My feelings towards J-Hope is one of such soulful regard for his aesthetic. At every turn of his rising stardom, his style–intrinsic to him–is something that is so lit within. He doesn’t simply wear clothing for a performance or photoshoot. He achieves an aesthetic and…

Today, I woke up to the news of O.J. Simpson’s death. I caught myself feeling a little sad about it, then I remembered: 1) He killed people, and 2) At the peak of his college football career, he didn’t lift a finger for the civil rights movement yet benefitted from the movement later in his…

Lady Gamers and Ms. Pac-Man Did you know that “ads for Ms. Pac-Man depicted only women playing which reflected a broader acknowledgement of female participation in video gaming?   In its May 1982 issue, Electronic Games, the first dedicated video game magazine, ran an article by co-founder Joyce Worley titled “Women Join the Arcade Revolution.” The…

Okay, let’s get back to the real fun stuff: BTS. As mentioned in a previous post, I am new to BTS and Army. So when I set foot on this new land, I spiraled into reaction videos. And proper spiraling can only happen with a loss of massive amounts of time fueled by a newfound obsession.…

I will sprinkle in commentary once in a while to discuss movies I love because of their execution of visual art direction. I’m a massive fan of architecture, interior design, and fashion. And I love how those concepts get executed in a movie’s aesthetics and their crucial role in its mood and psyche. The set…