Earlier in January, I finally got my hands on Sally Rooney’s new book, Intermezzo. Two months late to its release and eagerly awaiting to dig my claws into the thick, four-hundred-page book that it was—I realized that this was my first ever Sally Rooney book I had ever actually read. I had watched Normal People on Hulu and it encapsulated me because of Paul Mescal’s haunting performance, as well as the bigger question it poses of soul ties that young people carry with them throughout their life.

About a year ago I was on a train to New York City. It was the day after Christmas, my mother and I hoped the hustle and bustle of tourism was at its end as the holiday season was almost over. Growing up on the shore of Jersey my whole life, I got used to the lazy afternoons spent slumped on NJ Transit, watching the city skyline grow closer and closer as you pass another track. I realize now that I take this for granted—how close New York City is to me, and how some people spend their whole...

There’s no doubt that history is full of discrimination, and the literature and art from years ago reflects normalized societal behaviors...