
Hollywood's Yellow Filter: Why Mexico Always Looks Like a Desert
American cinema has a peculiar habit of tinting scenes set in Mexico with a pervasive yellow hue. This visual trope, used across countless films and shows, aims to signal heat and arid landscapes, but it often feels like a lazy shortcut for filmmakers.

Bobuq Sayed's Debut Novel Reimagines the American Abroad Story
Bobuq Sayed's novel, No God but Us, challenges the century-old American Abroad narrative by centering queer, racialized protagonists. It explores themes of empire, desire, and contested belonging through the intertwined stories of two Afghan men in Istanbul.