The Wellian Monthly Newsletter

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Message from the Editor

Dear Reader,

Happy New Year! As I think back on this past year and about this upcoming year, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to both The Wellian Staff and to our supporters. It has been over three months since the publication of our first issue. Since that October publication, The Wellian has filled several additional positions, including two Staff Writers, two Editors, a Treasurer, a Student Event Management Officer, and a Faculty Advisor. On the behalf of all of The Wellian Staff, thank you for your support and dedication over these past few months. We hope you enjoy these articles from our Winter Break 2020-21 Issue and look forward to sharing our upcoming publications!

Warmly,

Rennica Huang

Chief Editor

Winter Break 2020-21 Issue Highlights

American Interventionism: Thoughts From Mark Twain

By Akshaj Turebylu

Mark Twain is known as the “father of American literature” (per Faulkner). Remembered as the great American comic writer, he was a cutting critic of American society. While The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a more popular work, his novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, has important lessons for understanding America’s foreign policy one hundred and thirty years on...

It's Still a Man's World

By Victoria Wang

I loved Harry Styles, you know that? Before the devastation of December, I loved him. But, simply put, the gender bending wardrobe is not edgy or artistic. He looks ridiculous. And he’s not breaking any new ground––David Bowie did this decades before he was even conceived. And I’ll accept my Oscar now. Those biting remarks are actually the New Year’s …

Part 3: A New Grand Strategy

By Lihong Wang

Oftentimes, citizens struggle to approach issues of domestic policy with sufficient urgency as the fallacious comfort of the status quo detracts from the gravity of situations. An example of this is race relations in the United States. In this essay, I will argue that that the US’ racial tensions and their effect of weakening American democracy should be viewed as …

A Hakka State of Mind

By Rennica Huang

The analog clock hangs above the daily lunar calendar. My grandfather, affectionately known as Ah Gong, leaves his room. In his part-library, part-bedroom, Ah Gong sometimes shows me the memorabilia collected over his eighty-plus years of life. Next to his pillow lies a small stack of books. Many more pile in …

Real Indians and Fake Indians

By Quinn Smith

“Until 1934, blood quantum played no real role in determining tribal citizenship. Referring to someone as “part” Indian is based on a European idea of indigeneity meant to perpetuate genocide.” It was chalking up to be an average afternoon of light reading, until I came across a headline that changed my life: “Bill removes blood quantum requirement for citizens of …

A Letter to Rap Old-heads, Music Purists, and Other Prophets of Musical Doom

By Gautam Iyer

All the way back in November 2019, The New York Times published a now-infamous Martin Scorsese op-ed, in which he defended an earlier statement decrying …

Murakami Haruki's World in Norwegian Wood

By Pyokyeong Son

It wasn’t many decades ago when commuters in Tokyo subways would have in their hands, in place of a phone, a similarly small-sized book—a bunko-bon. The tight shelves of alleyway bookstores and large chains likewise were lined with such collections, all of standard size and format, with the occasional customer standing reading, …

The Music of Outer Space

By Kamdon Early

"There ain't no space program for n*****, no you stuck here n****." —A Tribe Called Quest (2016) In an age where the richest man alive publicly does not want to live on Earth and in a country where nearly 350 of its citizens have been to space, the act of questioning the future of our Goldilocks planet is becoming increasingly …

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Letter to the Editor

If you would like to write a letter to the editor regarding a specific essay, please email your thoughts to Rennica Huang at rennica.huang@duke.edu. Thank you!