Dahlia Magazine

CULTURE
From Excuses to Excursions
by Gloria Atanmo
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Education, entertainment, and
empowerment about how a girl
took her excuses and turned them
into excursions to start traveling the
world. There’s a world of knowledge
out there in subjects that can’t be
taught in a classroom that ultimately shape the
better part of our existence. Gloria was willing to
do whatever it took to get an A in that curriculum.
101 Essays That Will Change
The Way You Think
by Brianna Wiest
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Over the past few years, Brianna
Wiest has gained renown for her
deeply moving, philosophical
writing. This new compilation of her published
work features pieces on why you should pursue
purpose over passion, embrace negative
thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and
become aware of the cognitive biases that are
creating the way you see your life. Some of these
pieces have never been seen; others have been
read by millions of people around the world.
Regardless, each will leave you thinking: this idea
changed my life.
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Becoming
by Michelle Obama
In her memoir, a work of deep
reflection and mesmerizing
storytelling, former First Lady
Michelle Obama invites readers into her world,
chronicling the experiences that have shaped
her—from her childhood on the South Side of
Chicago to her years as an executive balancing
the demands of motherhood and work, to her
time spent at the world’s most famous address.
With unerring honesty and lively wit, she
describes her triumphs and her disappointments,
both public and private, telling her full story
as she has lived it—in her own words and on
her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory,
Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a
woman of soul and substance who has steadily
defied expectations—and whose story inspires us
to do the same.
This Is How it Always Is
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by Laurie Frankel
This novel is about a family with
five boys in which the youngest
feels he’s something entirely
different — a girl. This story is close to the author’s
heart because she’s living it: Her own child was
born a boy and now identifies as a girl.
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Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the ‘Marsh
Girl’ have haunted Barkley
Cove, a quiet town on the North
Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome
Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals
immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called
Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive
and intelligent, she has survived for years alone
in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends
in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the
time comes when she yearns to be touched and
loved. When two young men from town become
intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to
a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
Educated
by Tara Westover
Tara Westover was seventeen
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when she first set foot in a
classroom. Instead of traditional
lessons, she grew up learning
how to stew herbs into medicine,
scavenging in the family scrap yard and helping
her family prepare for the apocalypse. She had
no birth certificate and no medical records and
had never been enrolled in school. This is Tara’s
autobiography as she bares all.
Summer READS
Finally the fourth season of Insecure has arrived.
Creator Issa Rae (The Misadventures of Awkward
Black Girl) stars as Issa Dee, who struggles to
navigate the tricky professional and personal
terrain of Los Angeles along with her best friend
Molly (Yvonne Orji). Modern-day black women
might be described as strong and confident;
in other words, just the opposite of Issa and
Molly. As the best friends deal with their own
real-life flaws, their insecurities come to the fore
as together they cope with an endless series of
uncomfortable everyday experiences. And boy,
is this relatable.
Netflix’s Sex Education is — at its most
basic level — a coming-of-age story about
the challenges of exploring sex and
sexuality. With its raunchy and sometimes
cringeworthy opening scenes of failed
attempts at sex and nuanced relationships,
Sex Education offers a hilarious and
sometimes deeply moving view of
adolescence. Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield),
the son of a sex therapist — Jean Milburn
(Gillian Anderson) finds his talents in acting
as a sex therapist for the students at his
school. Although Otis’s escapades and love
story are obviously central to the storyline,
season two of Sex Education does more
than simply move along the plot. Instead, it
attempts to reach beyond a coming-of-age
tale, and instead attempts to achieve its
literal goal — to teach its viewers about sex.
Binge
Watch
Our top binge-worthy TV shows
16 • Dahlia.com
This Netflix miniseries is adapted from Deborah
Feldman’s 2012 memoir Unorthodox: The
Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots.
Feldman was raised in the Satmar sect of
Williamsburg and escaped an arranged
marriage at age 19 while pregnant with her
first child, eventually resettling in Germany.
The scenes of Unorthodox that take place in
Williamsburg are mostly performed in Yiddish,
and the insights into the Satmar community is
fascinating. The main character is Esty Shapiro
(played by Shira Haas). Her life in Berlin is an
interesting contrast to the rigid parameters of
her life in Williamsburg. For Esty, as presumably
for Feldman, Berlin represents a chance at a
new life – and freedom.
Our favorite sci-fi/utopian/drama series,
Westworld, is back for a third season.
Westworld isn’t your typical amusement park.
Intended for rich vacationers, the futuristic park
— which is looked after by robotic “hosts”—
allows its visitors to live out their fantasies
through artificial consciousness. No matter
how crazy the fantasy may be, there are no
consequences for the park’s guests, allowing
for any wish to be indulged. Follow the dawn
of artificial consciousness in this dark tale that
begins in a world where every human appetite
can be indulged. This latest season explores
questions about the nature of our reality, free
will and what makes us human.
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