When Dr. Khiara Bridges, revered lawyer and anthropologist, rose to the podium at the Yale School of Public Health on September 17th for “Pathologizing Black Birth”, she held her head high and told the story of Rhonda. Rhonda, a mother of four, had just finished settling a lawsuit filed seven years earlier with the…
Author: DOWN Editors
From Conversation to Peace
After missing my period in December of 2016, I began to get a little nervous. I’ve always been a bit of a hypochondriac, assuming the worst of any abnormality in health. I called my mom. She soothed my worst assumptions, then gently suggested that I make an appointment with my doctor back home. I…
Topdog/Underdog: A Family Affair
The Crescent Theater stage is a sparse apartment–a bed, scattered magazines, a fridge, an armchair, a makeshift table of stacked crates. For the two brothers, this space serves as home, although Booth reminds his older brother Lincoln that it’s just a temporary set-up–at some point, Lincoln will have to leave. But as far as the…
Release Melecio Andazola Morales from detention
Melecio Andazola Morales is a father to 4 children, the youngest of whom is only 2 years old. He has been living and working in the U.S. for nearly 20 years. He has contributed to solidifying the fast-growing infrastructure of the Denver area, working on the construction of the Denver Coliseum, the Denver Airport, and…
The Yale vernacular
One day — shortly after returning to Yale following summer vacation — I said something grammatically incorrect to a friend. Perhaps I used a double negative or switched up the proper syntax of a sentence but the actual content of my utterance was irrelevant. After I finished speaking, my friend looked at me, puzzled, and…