Rachel Orehek

For the past five years, it has kinda felt like the world is ending. Beginning with the 2016 Presidential Race and crescendo-ing until now, it seems that every ‘breaking news’ alert brings us a tragic, dystopian story of something worse than the day before. When you’re constantly hearing about climate change, potential nuclear warfare, and the collapse of democracy, it can be easy to grow numb. It can be easy to stop paying attention, whether it be in the interest of your own mental health or simply due to desensitization. Many of us are undergoing an internal tug of war between the obligation to stay informed and the need to avoid constant negativity. Despite this conflict, I personally have continued to receive various news alerts from a few networks. One network that I’ve had a somewhat complicated relationship with is CNN. In my opinion, CNN lost quite a bit of credibility during the 2016 Presidential Election: Trump attacked the network, and in response CNN began p...

Picture this : After a long and stressful day you finally climb into your cozy, safe bed for a goodnight’s sleep. You switch off the light, snuggle under your covers, and prepare for hours of peaceful rest. Except, they never come. Instead, you’re faced with something much, much scarier. An instinctive feeling comes over you as if something is very wrong. You try to move, but you can’t. You try to breathe, but it feels as if a boulder has been lowered onto your chest. Then you see it: A dark figure, standing in the corner of the room, staring at you through the darkness. You try to scream, but nothing comes out. You feel adrenaline and fear rushing through every part of your body as you lie there motionless, defenseless, exposed.  Believe it or not, the scenario I’ve described is not uncommon for an individual undergoing a combination of sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations. Although I’ll define these terms later, you may better know this phenomenon a...