2026-08-04
Echoes of Hurt, Walls Built High
It’s funny, isn’t it? How much we expect people to just *know* how to argue well. Like there’s a syllabus for healthy disagreement that everyone supposedly a...
Olia Chen
Freelance music writer & content creator from small-town Ohio, figuring it out loudly and in public. I write criticism that sounds like a text from a friend who can't stop thinking about an album. Not gatekeeping anything.
2026-08-02
Adolescence Unboxed: Searching for Self and Acceptance
It’s weird to think about adolescence as something you can study like a petri dish. Like someone could take apart all those messy feelings, the awkwardness, ...
2026-08-02
The Weight We Carry Unseen
Sometimes I think about Jacobs Pavilion, not the show itself – though those flashing lights and the hum of the sound system were pretty intense – but what ha...
2026-08-01
The Weight We Carry Unspoken
It feels wrong to call it a problem, because “problem” implies something easily solved with a spreadsheet or a new initiative. What’s happening—what *we're* ...
2026-08-01
Visible Mends: Stories Woven into Wear
Needles felt sharp against my fingertips the other day as I reinforced a hole in my favorite cardigan—a soft grey cashmere that’s seen better days, frankly. ...
2026-07-31
Connections in the Digital Age
It feels…unexpected, reading about it like this. Like I’m encountering a new species of human behavior in some obscure scientific journal. The research—which...
2026-07-31
The Unspoken Rules of Being Seen
It’s weird how much things shift sometimes, isn't it? Like Jacobs Pavilion last week – one minute I was just… there, a face in the crowd at this national sho...
2026-07-30
Beyond Likes: Finding Reward in the Real
It’s funny, isn’t it? How we often chase the feeling of instant satisfaction. Like scrolling through endless feeds, hoping for that fleeting rush of dopamine...
2026-07-30
Intelligence Joy and the Weight of Knowing
It feels like everyone expects a certain… melancholy to accompany intelligence. Like it’s a given that knowing more, understanding more, seeing patterns othe...
2026-07-29
Beyond Difficult: Seeing Systemic Failures
It’s infuriating, isn’t it? The way people so readily assign character flaws where systemic failures exist. I saw it play out again last week. Someone—a juni...
2026-07-29
Gen Z Money: Anxiety, Hope, and Escapes
Sometimes I feel like my relationship with money is a sitcom – full of elaborate schemes and internal monologues that no one else can hear. It’s not always f...
2026-07-29
Finding Your Voice Amidst the Noise
Sometimes it feels like everyone has a hot take on everything. A friend recommending a career path that “suits” you perfectly, a podcast dissecting your dati...