Beauty Is In The Details: A Watchlist

I am a true believer that a director’s talent boils down to the details of her films. As viewers, we may not notice all the tiny details, but their accumulation is often what makes the experience of the film special and memorable. And to many film buffs and critics like myself, it’s these details that create a beautiful movie.

New Moon in Aquarius Welcomes New Friendships and New Love

"The Aquarius energy is all about the collective, friendships, humanity, and hope. Overall, this isn’t too harsh of a new moon."

5 Sweet Minutes With Gelateria Uli's Uli Nasibova

Uli Nasibova moved from Azerbaijan to pursue her American dream, opening Gelateria Uli in downtown LA in 2014, followed by a second mid-city store in 2017. Her gelato is the best in Los Angeles, creamy beyond imagination and made with the best local California produce. Amidst the most difficult year for her business, when many other small businesses are shuttering, Uli has shown an inspiring resilience and fierce determination to take care of her staff while continuing to offer Angelenos a sweet respite from the stresses and uncertainty of life.

L.A Philharmonic Reaches New Forms Of Intimacy With Free Online Concert Series

"Program directors can create meaningful experiences in the digital post-COVID age by not ignoring the complexity of what this period feels like on a personal and political level and by understanding how the medium itself is best used."

Parlour Games, Latkes, And Other Socially Distanced Fun

Ahhhh holidays at The Stern home! For us, Channukah and New Years are the big holidays this time of year. Channukah means unwrapping presents, lighting candles, eating homemade potato latkes *my mom’s recipe (below) we made together via FaceTime this year.* This year holidays are a lot of FaceTiming with my fam back on the east coast, as my husband and I are the only ones in Los Angeles.

5 Christmas Movies to Binge

Watching Christmas movies in hard times actually captures so much of the spirit of Christmas. They remind us to have faith and believe.

Beauty is a Holy Ritual

"A ritual is a ceremony, a rite that brings us closer to our higher power."

NSFW: Pleasure As A Ritual of Self-Love

They turned my mouth into a rainbow and tasted like an explosion of sweet fireworks. With flavors like “Strawberry,” “Extra Sour,” and the elusive “Cola,” they’d hypnotize me and my friends for the first few minutes before pushing us to unleash hell on our parents.

The December Issue

The theme is pleasure: Music, self love, beauty, movies, gifts, even ice cream. Indulge 💛

Our Gift Guide

New Moon Horoscopes: December's Solar Eclipse Is The Final Push Into Fertility

"Sagittarius rules philosophy, religion, travel and wisdom. Expect these to be key themes for humanity as the collective heads into 2021, ready to tear down outdated ideologies in government, religion, and personal spiritual development. This will be a pleasant epiphany for most."

Color the Water

“The ocean is, I feel...something that people traditionally think is for everyone. But like, is it though, if you can't even get there, and if your people have been pushed away from the ocean for centuries?” asks David Malana, as he chats with his Color The Water co-founder, Lizelle Jackson.

Baby Stars: How Astrology Taught Me To Grieve Family

"When I miss my family, I look at their birth charts: snapshots of the sky under which they were born. The lacunas in their stories I desperately wish to fill, I try to recover in astrology"

Send More Love Letters

Buy more stamps. Send more love letters. Support our writers. 100% of the proceeds of these products go towards funding Our House 😘

Houston Rapper Fat Tony Meticulously Creates An Ode to Storytelling with New Album, 'Exotica'

"I think that, especially after the year that we've had...people need an album like this to remind them of what they have and be thankful."

Take 5 w/VIAA: Breaking Mental Health Stigmas One Song at a Time

Meet Mia Coleman otherwise know as VIAA: Hailing from Dayton, OH and creating a legacy in Los Angeles, VIAA is a true testament to hard work, dedication and personal growth. When you're in VIAA's presence, you want to be your most authentic self because she is.

Selling My Fears: How I Used Poshmark To Get Through An Existential Crisis

Fact: I’m a closet hoarder. A hoarder of vintage Levi’s, slightly oversized baseball tees, and pocket-clad ensembles reminiscent of the 3rd grade art teacher we all wish we had. Some would consider it a problem.

A Tried and Tested Guide To Embracing Conscious Beauty

This list of 5 beauty products will transform your everyday routine into one that feels good physically and spiritually. Remember, conscious beauty is about being in control of the things we are able to control, it is about the awareness of our impact on the environment surrounding us.

What My Suegra Taught Me About Pride

In 2020, while I write this, it is still not safe for anybody from the LGBTQ+ community to be open with their sexuality everywhere they go. I believe in the importance of spaces that allow us to self-affirm who we are.

To Black Femmes, Get Thine Rest

We must ask: what is so beautiful about a Black femme’s struggle? When the canvas is covered in our blood, sweat, and tears and only held up by our bones, what then, have you made out to be so brave of us?

Tastes Like Freedom: How Manumit, a UK Based Beanery, Fights Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

Manumit is creating freedom for those that haven’t tasted it, and they happen to roast delicious coffee beans while they are at it.

Take 5 w/Lorraine Avila

Meet Lorraine Avila: an accomplished storyteller, author, educator and tried and true New York morena, Lorraine is the type of woman you want to spend hours chatting with in a corner wine bar. She is Black a Broxinite with Caribbean roots in the Dominican Republic and it shows in the beautiful way she tells stories and is lighting a pathway for other girls and womxn who share a similar lived experience.

Students of Compton Rally for “Care, Not Cops” in Schools

In June, as high school students around the country were just winding down from a school quarter unlike any other—one built out of a perfect storm of pandemic fallout and racial reckoning—the Students of Compton were just getting started. Brought together in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, this group of young activists, a mix of current students and recent graduates within the Compton Unified School District, bonded over their shared desire to enact change in their schools, namely removing armed police from campuses and reallocating funds into resources that put students first.

How Depression Broke My Cultural Conditioning

In 2016, I became a victim of my mind. My mind: a sea of rage, sadness and shame, and I was drowning in it. I wanted to drown in it if only it’d put an end to everything. Some call this phenomenon depression, but at the time the only word I had for this was pain. And the one way I was taught to manage pain was the Cambodian way: suppression.

September Horoscopes: Virgo’s New Moon Will Regenerate You (but only if you let it)

Thursday, Sept. 17th brings forward a grounded and stable influence into our lives as the Virgo new moon takes center stage in the cosmos. This Virgo new moon hopes to calm the ruckus as Mars is square this new moon and squares Saturn while he stations retrograde. Think of this Virgo new moon as the high school substitute teacher thrown into a rowdy classroom of unorderly students trying to set the tone with her pragmatic demeanor. It’s a classic trope of power and control dynamics this month. Thankfully, colossal titans Pluto and Saturn both trine this Virgo new moon adding a sprinkle of regeneration and a dash of perseverance.

Four Women, Cuatro Mujeres, Tell Us What It Means To Create Your Own System

“The system is not broken, it is designed to do what it does. So, how do you fix something that foundationally is doing what it is supposed to do?” -Ana M. Becerra, PhD, Educator & Activist

Film Talk: Now Entering: "Days of the Whale," Grief, and Refuge

There is a group of people that exist in limbo. The immigrants, migrants, any one who has to say a Latinx, Asian, or African before they can say ‘American.’ Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to step fully into the world you hear family members sighing over? Have you ever wondered what it would be like coming of age or even being a young adult in South America? It is something I often think about. Having migrated here when I was eleven, I find I am attached to films that tell the story of what my upbringing would have been had my parents not brought me to the United States.

What Flor De Jamaica Taught Me About My "Blaxican" Identity

I remember the first time I realized I was Black. It was also the same time I realized I was Mexican.

I was five years old and I had just moved to California from Virginia. In Virginia, I never felt forced to face my Blackness, as it blended in with the predominantly Black bodies in my neighborhood. But in Central California, I was among the few Black girls in my rural Mexican-American community.

Crises in the Country's Wealthiest County Jeopardizes Latinx Community

A housing crisis and a lack of representation in the media has led the immigrant population in this town to be disproportionately affected–deemed the 'quiet force'

A Brief History of Roses, And Why It's Imperative To Stop And Smell Them

First cultivated around 5,000 years ago in China, Roses have survived the test of time and space. In 300 A.D., they were found on tombs, the Bible, and classical literature. In Ancient Rome, a rose was synonymous with culture: the celebratory confetti during a party, the hallmark of gardens, and the key ingredient to perfume.

Afro Latinx Artist, TossTones, Drops A Kaleidoscope Of Sounds And Vibes

"It feels like a summer night at your favorite dance club, heat coming in from outside and from the bodies endlessly moving to the sounds as if in a trance..."

Queer Excellence: 6 Perfectly Imperfect Queer TV Characters

These characters do not perform excellence or sainthood; they gloss over flaws. To embody Queer Excellence we need icons who embrace these faults, characters who own their dualities – these are your perfectly imperfect fictional characters:

Water Your Plants, Water Yourself: Self-Care Lessons from a Plant Parent

When I feel stuck in lockdown, my journey, my life, my plants continue to grow. Like our green friends, we rarely give ourselves enough credit for how far we have come. What might seem like the same stage in the process towards our dream career or the same test grade as the last is actually progress. I see my little snake plant, and I trust it to grow into its full potential. I trust the process.

Quarantine Classics Watchlist

What makes something a classic? A classic film or tv show is often a unique work of content that has transcended time and trends. This is true. A feel good classic is a film or tv show that shaped you.

Walter Mercado Raised Us 'Con Mucho Mucho Amor'

"Walter Mercado influenced a generation of people to embrace themselves. His viewers passed down his messages of love and positivity to their children."