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Refract Magazine

$Refract Magazine$ A student-run cultural magazine showcasing creative non-fiction essays at Baruch.

02/21/2025

“She peels some roasted peanuts. ‘Now that you’re old enough’—ten fingers—‘I’ll tell you a story.’” “Mah-mah keeps many secrets, but you’ve learned to supply them with your imagination.”

Cherry Leung shares the story of their mother and grandmother in “We Laugh at Our Clumsy Hands.” Moments of independence, endurance, and resistance are told throughout the narrative—the sacrifices of their mother, escaping hardship, men, and an arranged marriage; moving to Hong Kong when she was barely thirteen, the same age when the narrator was told this story.

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.com and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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02/17/2025

Is it worth losing one’s self and authenticity to pander to a culture that enforces Standard English?

As Loida Stelli Tavera writes in her Berlfein Prize–winning piece, “My Linguistic Autobiography,” eloquence and articulation indicate intellect. Contrarily, accents and dialects signal deficiency; slip-ups in code-switching awkwardly exposing one’s linguistic situation. Therefore, is intelligence limited through the channel of perfect English or is there a possibility where one can be smart authentically?

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.com and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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02/07/2025

Happy Spring Semester Bearcats! 🌿🐣🌻🦋🤍

We are excited to announce that next Thursday, February 13, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, we will be hosting our first GIM meeting of the Fall 2024 semester in in our meeting space (NVC 7-205).

This is an amazing opportunity to learn about REFRACT, meet the masthead, and discover how YOU can get involved in the editing and publishing process!

We hope to see you there!

12/11/2024

To conclude the month of December, the year 2024, and this tired semester, REFRACT decided to edit and publish not just one essay, but an essay collection—a grand finale, so to speak.

The twelve essays explore a prompt given by Daniel Libertz (Baruch Department of English), which asks them to explore what it ultimately means to be human in an age where technologies appear to remove the humanity from the human experience. Despite this gloomy reality, our voice and the tradition of the written word endure. As Libertz puts it:

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is something we hear a lot about today. In the world of writing, it brings up questions of authenticity, which have been on my mind often. I don’t think there is an easy answer as to whether programs based on Large Language Models (LLMs) (e.g., ChatGPT) help produce writing that is “authentic.” But doing something like writing is special and I remain concerned how certain technologies, like LLMs, can shortchange the full experience of what writing can do for us as writers and as humans. Writing can be meaningful in ways that are unique to its own experience, where we can’t avoid confronting what language might mean when we mark it down on the page and see its reflections afterward.”

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.c.om and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

11/22/2024

The evolution of language is inevitable. In what appears to be the latest iteration, younger generations, particularly Gen Zers, find themselves using the slang and vernacular of AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) and drag ballroom culture.

However, as expected, the generations preceding Gen Z have their critiques—from satirizing the laziness of Gen Z youth-speak to denouncing Gen Z’s deviation from “standard” English. Laura Fasulo questions whether or not these criticisms reinforce linguistic racism and the colonization of English in her Berlfein Prize–winning piece, “It’s the Sociolinguistic Discrimination for Me.”

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.c.om and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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11/11/2024

What would it take to clean New York City? For such a daunting and seemingly inconceivable task, the solution must be radical. Andrew Waterhouse makes his vision clear in his piece, “A Modest Proposition.”

Waterhouse’s satire, a loose parody of Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay, “A Modest Proposal,” doesn’t suggest struggling families sell their children for food. Rather, in a similar vein, he argues that in an effort to rid the city of its grime and scum, a new virus must be unleashed to the public. Unhinged and preposterous, ludicrous and imprudent, Waterhouse justifies his proposal with the MTA’s intense campaign to clean the decades-old subway system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.c.om and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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$To wrap up National Book Month, the editors here at Refract Magazine have curated a selected list of favorites that they...$

10/30/2024

To wrap up National Book Month, the editors here at Refract Magazine have curated a selected list of favorites that they now wish to share with their readers.
We hope you add these amazing stories to your TBR lists and share with us your thoughts. Happy reading!

10/26/2024

Intertwined with themes of race, class, and immigration, Muhammad Elbadri illustrates the complexities of embracing himself and his identity in his Berlfein Prize–winning piece, “Ode to My Silky.” Writing on “the impact my silky has on a person’s perception of me,” Elbadri recounts his experiences, both present and in childhood, narrating his journey of how he discovered the aspects that formed his identity despite his attempts to hide and reject it.

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.co(m) and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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10/03/2024

What financial sacrifices should a student make to pursue higher education? Should students be required to compromise their mental well-being for the prospect of high-earning jobs and opportunities? Should the American people dismiss FAFSA to protect the interests of the military and the taxpayer?

Pin Yuan Zhu Lee explores these questions in his Berlfein Prize–winning piece, “The Real Cost of College.”

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.com and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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09/11/2024

☀️Happy Fall Semester Bearcats!☀️

We are excited to announce that this Thursday, Sep. 12, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., in our meeting space (NVC 7-205), we will be hosting our first GIM meeting of the Fall 2024 semester!

This is an amazing opportunity to learn about REFRACT, meet the masthead, and discover how YOU can get involved in the editing and publishing process!

We hope to see you there!

05/08/2024

Imagine receiving an unexpected visit from your hero. Perhaps it’s someone you look up to or someone you aspire to be. For this writer, it’s Alice Walker.

In “How Does Alice Walker Take Her Coffee?” Valerie Conklin writes of a hypothetical encounter with Alice Walker, renowned poet, writer, and author of “The Color Purple.” Conklin’s wholesome writing not only explores the questions they would ask, but also the inherent, child-like inquisitiveness that comes with being in the presence of people we look up to.

To read more, head to our website at refractmagazine.co and explore REFRACT’s extensive archive of new, nonfiction writing.

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05/04/2024

Calling all writers! REFRACT is currently accepting submissions for the annual Berlfein Prize. This is a chance to win $500 and be edited and published on our website!

Time is ticking! The deadline for submissions is TODAY midnight, Saturday, May 4th. Please send all submissions (as well as any questions) to [email protected]

To read more about the prize and it’s sponsor, head to our website at: refractmagazine.co/the-berlfein-prize

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