How to seize your New York City.  By Tierney Smink Illustration by Vanessa Zhou I was sitting on the subway, minding my own business a little too well. My earphones crammed into my ears, cancelling out the noise around me, and my nose stuck into my book of the week. There was no one sitting next to me; it was a late Thursday night, so it made sense. The only other person in my vicinity was a man sitting diagonally across from me. At first glance, he seemed slightly forgettabl

Phantoms of gender By Tierney Smink Illustration by Em Bennet Now, it’s a given. As you walk into the classroom, you shut the door behind you.  This seems obvious, keeping the door shut to facilitate learning or mitigate distractions. But for the first few weeks of Spanish this year, the class was a door-open, welcoming place in the hallway. Before we knew it was haunted.  It’s a haunting both physical and metaphorical. I walk into the classroom casually, almost forgetting th