Op-ed – The LUMS Post

Digestible Womanhood Only Exists Digitally

7Oct

By adminNo Comments

Arts & Culture, Op-ed

Digestible Womanhood Only Exists Digitally

By: Ayatain Ali Identity presentation for women is a paradox, a liberating prison. It is my sisters being puppeteered, unaware of it because the confines of the box are vast and ever-expanding. Who pulls the threads when reality exists in various spaces? Perhaps more pressing is the question of whether awareness is even necessary when the illusion of choice provides enough bliss. As digital spaces have evolved, a widespread yet individualized need to market yourself as an aesthetic class to prove your worth has emerged. "Aesthetic" has changed from an academic term and a tool used by auteurs and artists to a defining characteristic of our identities. It can refer to both individual taste and a nonspecific proxy for beauty. This shift has brought about the development, co-optin...

Rain Check: England and Pakistan’s T20 Preparations Drenched Ahead of World Cup

28May

By Iman AttiqueNo Comments

Opinion, Sports & Travel

Rain Check: England and Pakistan’s T20 Preparations Drenched Ahead of World Cup

By: Iman Attique The much-anticipated T20 series between England and Pakistan has been heavily affected by relentless rain, impacting both teams' preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup. With the third match in Cardiff abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain, England's 1-0 lead in the series remains the only result so far. For England, this series was meant to serve as a final tune-up under the guidance of head coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Butler. England has played only 13 T20s since the last World Cup in 2022, a lack of match practice that could be detrimental, especially for key players like Jofra Archer, who has just returned from a long injury layoff. In contrast, Pakistan has had a decent run of cricket leading up to the tournament, with the Pakista...

16Mar

By adminNo Comments

Op-ed, Opinion, Uncategorized

A Golden Tragedy

By:Maarij Ali Tarar Cruising on the M2 motorway through the fertile tracts of central Punjab in winter, one is likely to see fields of green wheat stretching to the horizon. Come spring, these young green saplings will have matured into golden stalks, ready to deliver their fat grains into the calloused hands of the farmers. Of courses, it is also in spring, as farmers begin harvesting, that a farce on a grand scale begins to play out. This farce is the Punjab government’s wheat subsidy programme, a series of procurements and releases ostensibly to benefit the small farmer and poor urban consumer. In reality, however, each and every facet of this complex mechanism is designed to benefit large farmers...

13Oct

By adminNo Comments

Editorial

Reflections on the NOP Summer

By: Iman Attique Over the summer months, as the majority of the LUMS student body took a respite from classes and their busy work schedules, the campus prepared to welcome aspiring high school students from all over the country. The LUMS National Outreach programme (NOP) Summer Coaching Session (SCS) returned to an in-person format after its last online run owing to the pandemic. The Programme was a culmination of a year-long outreach and shortlisting operation. Mr. Ibrahim Abro - a recruiting team member - broke down the process into three tests followed by interviews with the applicants. Comprising three weeks of rigorous academic and co-curricular activities - ranging from sports to drama shows - the Programme offered these students a thorough experience of being a part of the co...

The Productivity Games: The New Summer Olympics

28Sep

By admin1 Comment

Op-ed, Opinion

The Productivity Games: The New Summer Olympics

By Rida ArifThe words ‘summer’ and ‘productivity’ should be oxymoronic, or at least they used to be when I didn’t know what the word ‘productive’ meant.If you close your eyes and think of summer, do you imagine a fluorescently lit office, Excel sheets, and the burning blue light from a work computer? Seemingly, that’s what our student body dreams of — a glowing resume is the ultimate oasis. At the end of my sophomore year, my aspirations for the next few blazing months were very simple: watch movies, go ‘up North’, and read. What I did not anticipate was the guilt that followed.I felt the achievements of my peers creeping up on me like goosebumps in the cold: sneaky and uncomfortable. Every refresh of my Twitter timeline birthed more tweets about new internships, interesting coworkers, and...

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Women’s Anger

18Sep

By Laiba AhmadNo Comments

Op-ed, Opinion

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Women’s Anger

By Laiba Ahmad With Illustration from Maha Nauman (@mahnau on Instagram) TW: Mentions of harassment and violence against womenThree days after Noor Mukadam’s case broke out in the media my mother sat me down and said that if a man ever harassed me in public, I was to keep quiet and move on because we never know what men are capable of. What frustrated me was not the statement but how easily I accepted it. Gone was the raging sixteen year old who would have argued: “No. Men like this need to be put in their place.” I don’t know when it started, but my anger was seeping out and fear was crawling in.It was this moment of realisation which compelled me to explore how we, as women, are made to unfairly hold our rage in or abandon it in fear. From this exploration rises th...

Zoom: A Mirror Into Body Dysmorphic Disorder

17Aug

By adminNo Comments

Op-ed, Opinion

Zoom: A Mirror Into Body Dysmorphic Disorder

By Hajrah Yousaf TW: Body Dysmorphic DisorderHashim describes it as being hypnotized.As much as he wants to stop looking into a warped version of himself in the mirror, he just can’t stop. No matter how exhausted he gets (and exhaustion is always a given), he can’t look away. The vision in the mirror is a snake charmer, and boy is Hashim charmed. No, “charmed is the wrong word,” Hashim says. “It’s more like being repulsed yet still transfixed. If I could look away, I would.”Hashim suffers from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), which is a psychological disorder recognized by the DSM 5 and characterized by a preoccupation with a perceived flaw(s) in one’s appearance. These flaws cause a lot of emotional distress and can often impact one’s functioning. BDD is frequently accompanied by other men...

Erudite Vernacular and Arcane Tripe: Addressing the Inaccessibility of Academic Writing

28Apr

By adminNo Comments

Op-ed

Erudite Vernacular and Arcane Tripe: Addressing the Inaccessibility of Academic Writing

By: Rida ArifDespite my intention to major in English, after my first two weeks of freshman year, I was convinced that I did not know how to read.Subjects I had studied for the past four years of my school life were suddenly cloaked in ambiguity as my professors assigned sixty-page supplementary journal articles, adorably termed “readings.” To my dismay, they were far from adorable--they were convoluted, dull, and extremely lengthy. Being the concerned first-year that I was, I spent hours in the library poring over a single reading and making meticulous notes: a feat rarely tackled by anyone past their first semester in university. I would ask myself: why are humanities readings so difficult to understand when in class, the professor demystifies the daunting jargon in the span of ten minut...

When Grief is A Bureaucratic Process: Strengthening Support Systems for Students During COVID-19

29Dec

By adminNo Comments

Editorial, Op-ed

When Grief is A Bureaucratic Process: Strengthening Support Systems for Students During COVID-19

Petitions, Prayers, & Obituary Emails Written & illustrated by Maira Asaad ‘21With words from Amina Omar ‘22 & Mahrukh Murad ‘24The pandemic has, in many ways, changed the way we’re able to mourn the loss of our loved ones, and what the grieving process looks like; the global community is still registering how the social fabric has been altered by a year saturated with losses. As we approach a hybrid Spring semester, it’s important to reflect on how our education system can continue to expand and strengthen its available support mechanisms for its community.The changing faces of grief in 2020In late November, I attended the funeral of an extended family member who had passed away. It wasn't until I arrived at the funeral home did the full weight of the pandemic sink in: wh...

7Dec

By Aiza NadeemNo Comments

Op-ed

Shifty Thrifting

By: Aiza NadeemThe recent explosion of online thrift stores is a curious development. A simple search on Instagram or Facebook with the keywords, ‘thrift’ or ‘pre-loved’ confirms the multitude of online pages available for procuring everything from clothes, jewelry, sports gear, and more. The expulsion of these stores during this time, in particular, can be attributed largely to the pandemic which has made online modes of shopping popular. As the owner of the online page, SisterhoodPk and LUMS MBA Student Hira Tariq describes it, “People criticize these stores for being too expensive but the reality is even if people sell their stock at 200, 300 % margin, people will buy it. There is a huge demand in the market amongst those who are convenience-oriented.”What Hira discusses here is accura...