Ottawa has an image problem. Canada's capital and fourth-largest city is generally viewed as a sleepy, characterless government town. There is some truth to that. There is a lot of truth to that.
The project is organized through a system of interwoven walls that create patios and terraces across different levels, elements that regulate light, ventilation, and privacy.
The sisters gather to remember their late father, but the jesa is intended to honor both parents, creating a complex emotional landscape. Grace's home is immaculate, yet the sisters' grief disrupts the intended smoothness of the ritual.
The decision wasn't made lightly. I can remember walking the sidewalks of our Colorado exurb, trying to decide if this was the right choice. In that sunny winter weather, our daughter bundled up in a stroller, the dog investigating lawns, our conversations would go: "Are you happy here?" "I feel like if we stay we're going to get old in front of the TV." "Can you imagine how much better the food will be?" "If we don't do it now, we'll probably never do it."
This includes celebrating all who authentically embrace themselves. I create unapologetic depictions of natural ancestral features, self-expression and sexuality. I love capturing togetherness, joy, movement, dance, play, love - anything that gives release. I see this all as a form of resistance.
Oumy is a leading figure in contemporary Senegalese music. Her style, which blends hip-hop, African R&B and global pop, makes her one of the most exciting artists on the country's urban scene. Beyond her music career, she has also been involved in social projects within her community, participating in cultural festivals and campaigns related to the environment and equality.
I have always believed that what unites two cultures most, however different they may be, is their own cuisine, and therefore, I don't know of anything that unites different societies as much as a plate of spaghetti, ramen, or gyozas.
Originated and mass produced in China in the 80s, these stainless steel architectural components spread quickly into countries near and far-like South Korea, where Han encountered them on a day-to-day basis growing up, due to their affordability, as well as ease of maintenance and customization. Not long after, these components landed in New York and were quickly adapted by not only Asian homeowners, but also West Indian homeowners as well, and became one of the signifiers of achieving the 'American Dream.'
Growing up, the sound of aluminum foil being carefully smoothed flat against our kitchen counter was as familiar as my mother's voice. Each piece would be washed, dried, and folded into a neat square for the drawer where we kept our collection. The same drawer held plastic bags from the grocery store, rubber bands from vegetables, and glass jars that once held jam but now served as drinking glasses.
I didn't feel included in the Latino community. I always felt left out. Las Comadres has since become a national nonprofit organization. De Hoyos Comstock, petite with a warm smile, describes Las Comadres as a 'Latina culture club.' The current political rhetoric, characterized by the most aggressive immigration enforcement in modern history, is forcing many U.S. citizen Latinos to question whether they belong.
Sometimes the spark comes from a single moment - as it did when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" triggered a broadcast reckoning. Other times, it arrives through imagery and intent, from Jennifer Lopez's 2020 caged children staging that critiqued U.S. immigration policies to children at the U.S.-Mexico border to Kendrick Lamar's carefully layered Black storytelling, delivered as Donald Trump watched from his seat inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The show features the work of 14 contemporary artists who use the rug as a medium to engage with cultural concerns related to religion, technology, social justice, housing, and the environment. The diverse roster of artists from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia work across a variety of media, including yarn, cardboard, repurposed carpets, and hair combs, to transform this functional object into a site of experimentation - manipulated, reinterpreted, and made new.
I would look to ban face coverings, if I could, but I would like to make it a reason for stop and search. I don't think in an open society you need to cover your face. I've prosecuted a woman in a burka. It has to be assumed that if you're hiding your face, you're hiding it for a criminal reason.
I think there's a deep loneliness to her life that cohabiting with her brother kept at bay-and, now that he's gone, she is forced to face it. As more of Kim's letters are delivered, Helen becomes invested in the narrative they form, as if she were piecing together a puzzle, one that, in some ways, echoes her own past. Kim's family is Muslim, from Pakistan.
I have always felt that distinctions between people from the same country fade when they come to a new place. What you have in common, as outsiders, is greater than what initially set you apart. What Yogan and Samar recognize in each other early on is a desire to better the conditions of the women they love, their families. They're men in their twenties, just stepping into a new stage of life. They're excited to talk about their wives, their dreams, their clothes!
Since coming to England from Ethiopia eight years ago, I've lost parts of my cultural identity. I was stuck in a monotonous, isolated routine studying for a biochemistry degree at Imperial College London, without the family-centred lifestyle I was used to. Back in Ethiopia, I'd be surrounded by my aunt, grandparents, friends. So this year, I took 12 months out and moved to my uncle's house in Leeds. The change helped me try new things, like cycling:
When I was eight years old, I was living in Dubai and desperate to experience a western Christmas. My family are Muslim, and Christmas was something we'd never celebrated but after consuming countless festive Hallmark movies, I was hooked on the dream of having turkey, tinsel and, most importantly, presents. I also had an enormous crush on Macaulay Culkin, and thought if I could experience Christmas for myself it would somehow bring me closer to him.
It's not just the holiday season. We live with this tension every day. The pull toward solitude versus the longing to belong is not a simple dichotomy but something that requires constant reflection and recalibration. For me, it is one of the central challenges of being human. When I say "group," I mean more than casual socializing. I include much of our outer world: family, school, work, groups formed by hobbies or shared interests (bandmates, pickleball team, neighborhood boards, volunteer organization, and more).
I am often left scratching my head in confusion over some of the opinions held by people in this fine country of ours, most frequently when in relation to the Irish language. There are so many contradictions, such rampant self-shaming, and a severe under-appreciation of the beauty of it. This was made particularly evident during President Catherine Connolly's campaign and inauguration.
it showed a figure standing next to police officers who looked as though he had stepped straight out of a film noir, attired in a trench coat, a slightly tilted hat in the style of Humphrey Bogart, and what appeared to be a neatly trimmed mustache. That a figure of this kind appeared to be the detective in charge of the investigation into the crime seemed encouraging: no matter how much its historical heritage was plundered, France would never, could never stop being France.
When I was 17 and leaving India to go to college in the United States, I packed two suitcases with DKNY sweaters, blue jeans, and a Michael Kors backpack with gold buckles-everything I imagined would allow me to fit right in. Some 20 years later, I packed considerably more suitcases and cartons to move from India to London, to take up a promotion at work.
My relationship with English began by force. Growing up in A Coruña, Spain, in the early 2000s, we were told that learning a second language was just as important as memorizing the multiplication table. After the 2008 financial crisis left the Spanish economy " melting down like a Dali horrorscape," as one Atlantic writer put it, English became what seemed like our national salvation, a one-way ticket to a better future abroad.
Culture shaped every moment of my childhood. Family dinners carried the flavors of our heritage, music told our story and holidays tied us to our roots. Those experiences taught me a truth that I apply to my work: when brands connect with someone's identity, they earn trust that lasts. That belief drives my passion for multicultural marketing, which is why I built Mundial Media to help brands forge authentic connections.
