Author: Ana de la Llave

Behind the Mask: Safety, Stigma, and Self-Expression in Ice Hockey’s Goalie Mask 

Ice hockey is a sport defined by speed, impact, and precision. Players must aggressively fight for position at breakneck pace in a game as physically punishing as it is technically demanding. Injuries are an unfortunate but expected part of the sport, and no position is more vulnerable than that of the goaltender. Tasked with stopping […]

Shanson: Music From Gulag to Mainstream

Shanson, especially as known in Russia, is full of contradictions and notoriously hard to define. Encompassing a range of musical styles, it incorporates bardic tradition and pop, with influences from rock, jazz, Slavic and gypsy folk traditions, vaudeville, cabaret, and “romance” – a Tsarist-era genre that loosely evolved from folk and opera. An important part […]