OHARTS

March 22, 2021

Dmitri’s Dilemma: The Posthumous Publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s Unfinished Manuscript

Upon Vladimir Nabokov’s death in 1977 (Nabokov 2013), Dmitri Nabokov was left with an impossible choice: would he follow his father’s wishes and burn the unfinished draft of his novel The Original of Laura, or would he save the final work of the widely renowned novelist from destruction? His choice would become a point of controversy for the public, after the release of the unfinished novel raised a question of ethics.Read more.

December 3, 2020

The Inarticulate Gender: Daoist Philosophy of Language and the Non-Binary Gender

Much of our experience of the world escapes words to express which is perhaps where our uncomfortability with “inaccurate” language comes from. I understand why the initial reaction to change for many is resistance; especially when we want to change language, and therefore, change our previous conceptions of “how the world works”. What the word “non-binary” literally “asks” people to do is reconceptualize their understanding of gender and “how gender works”. Read more.

May 21, 2021

The Ancient Peach Pit Burial Ground

Further down the mountain, the season is less progressed and you can find hidden passes where the Aspens still hold on begrudgingly to their yellow leaves. A trail will take you winding alongside a river. It is a brilliant turquoise-blue, unlike any running water I’ve ever seen. I slip from wet stone to wet stone till I stand in the middle of the rapids. Milky water swirls around me and I breathe deeply in the clean mountain air. My soul intoxicated by what I have discovered. Alone in a forest with only the baked white, travertine river stones and the bold blue jay for company. Read more.