Role: Podcast Host and Columnist
At UC Berkeley's student newspaper, The Daily Californian, I wrote my own sex column, "Sex on Tuesday," and hosted my own podcast, "Hard and Soft." Through these two mediums I was able to empower my college's queer community through unconventional storytelling. As a first generation Iranian-Armenian college student, my sexuality impacted my relationships with my family and how I now navigate my culture and identity. My column allowed me to write about personal experiences that resonated with a lot of people on the Berkeley campus, which led me to go even further by starting The Daily Californian's first podcast, Hard and Soft. On my show, I co-hosted interviews with prominent members of the Bay Area queer scene. Check out some of that work below!
Sex on TuesdaySex on Tuesday is a semesterly column in The Daily Californian that has been around for about 20 years. I was the first gay man to take over the mic and write the column, and I used comedy and personal anecdotes as a mechanism for expression. I wrote 12 columns that all ranged from topics like male body image, internalized homophobia and racism within the queer community, and the struggles of gay dating. Click the image below for my author page and click here for my favorite column!
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Hard and SoftThe Hard and Soft podcast was a journalistic passion project with my friends where we spent a semester reaching out to the queer community. We worked hard to project LGBT stories about sex and romance that deserved to be heard. Through this project I learned the ins and outs of starting a podcast, using Adobe Audition, and honed my interviewing and comedy skills. Click the image below for our Daily Cal author page and click here for one of my favorite episodes!
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Press
My work at the Daily Cal has caused me to be a target of alt-right press outlets that attempt to lambast me for using my voice as a queer Iranian-Armenian man. Here are some of the reactionary pieces that have tried troll me!