Skyler Graham

Welcome to my portfolio! I'm Skyler, a Carolina-raised, Jersey-based writer and editor specializing in educational consulting and regional travel and culture writing.

Chalkbeat •

I’m a Gen Z teacher. Schools rely too much on Chromebooks.

As the back-to-school season unfolded in New York, the city’s teachers set up their classrooms how they usually do: by putting up posters, reading through curriculums, sharpening pencils, and, for roughly a decade, charging Chromebooks.

These lightweight laptops have become a staple of the post-COVID classroom, and for good reason. They allow students to learn at their own pace, access materials, and create projects and presentations without expensive items. Some superintendents across the city...
Skyler’s Substack •

Back-to-School Birthdays

As any other Virgo would likely attest to, there’s something special about your birthday falling around the same time as the school year starts. In addition to the smug smirk that comes with proudly reminding everyone you’re the youngest in the grade and being the first in the class to share mini cupcakes, back-to-school birthdays restructure your entire year. I’ve never felt that my “new year” began at the start of January, but rather, at the end of August. I think about the New Year’s parties...
Photo by Ricardo Lima on Pexels
Skyler’s Substack •

The Elphaba-Glinda Complex: What Wicked Tells Us About Female Dichotomies

The Academy Award-winning film adaptation of Wicked has ignited conversations about the blossoming friendship between stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the ingenious costume design, and how we respond to powerful women. Naturally, we separate people into “good” or “bad,” “saint” or “sinner,” or as Freud theorized, “Madonna” or “whore.” These hot-or-not divides, however, reflect how we categorize women externally. The tensions between the two witches, Elphaba and Glinda, illuminate the inter...
The Duke Chronicle •

Remembering Betty Davis, Durham's own Queen of Funk

When new genres enter the musical canon, they’re often thought of in terms of preexisting genres and artists: hip-hop started by sampling disco tracks, country has its roots in gospel and folk songs and pop-punk and rap-rock are conveniently named after these combinations. Unlike these seemingly arithmetic fusions, though, the musical product is often greater than the sum of their parts. And no artist represents this better than the late Durham-born funk icon Betty Davis.

The music world and Bu...
Photo by Gary Barnes on Pexels
Skyler’s Substack •

On making meatballs

My father taught me how to make meatballs as a child. In fact, it was one of the only foods we made together; when I would try to help with other dishes, he would get frustrated with my uncertain glances and questions about what he dubbed “common sense;” I would return the frustration by retreating from the kitchen entirely to patiently wait for dinner. Except for when we made meatballs.The recipe is a simple one and requires no pen. To one pound of ground beef, add (roughly) a cup of bread crum...
The Duke Chronicle •

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ cast discusses mental health in the social media generation

When I think about high school, I often think about the anxiety that came with it: the feeling of mindlessly roaming around a crowded hallway at seven in the morning, the discomfort of eating in front of classmates and the dependence on schoolwork to distract myself from loneliness. It’s hard to realize that you’re not the only person experiencing this without feeling as if you’re burdening others with your thoughts. For high school senior Evan Hansen, this anxiety consumes his teenage years.

“...
Skyler’s Substack •

Tyler Childers & Moderation

On July 25, country artist Tyler Childers is releasing his seventh studio album, Snipe Hunter. Antsy fans have been breaking down theorized “Easter eggs” on the album cover, many of which may point to the inclusion of Childers’ previously unreleased tracks, like a studio version of “Nose on the Grindstone” on the new album. In revamping these songs, he is also revisiting similar themes of recovery and redemption with a more mature perspective — a reason his fans consistently turn to his music in...
The Duke Chronicle •

Emily MacDiarmid's 'Approved for Release' sheds light on government-sponsored astral projection experiment

On March 25, experimental & documentary arts MFA student Emily MacDiarmid premiered her thesis film,  “Approved for Release.” The 20-minute documentary is a visual journey based on a government transcript of an astral projection study. In 1984, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency conducted a psychological experiment in which the participant attempted to explore a distant place and time — the planet Mars in 1 million B.C. — without physically traveling. When MacDiarmid found the transcr...
The Duke Chronicle •

has the internet… reinvented language??

There is no greater reminder of my intellectual devolution than my high school annotations. As I flip through the pile of neon Post-it Notes decorating my three-year-old copy of “Frankenstein,” I am confronted by the words that were once frequent guests in my writing: “polysemy,” “duplicity,” “sycophant” and my personal favorite, “quotidian.” They were summer camp words — words you take on every adventure and grow attached to for a few weeks, before inevitably falling apart sooner than you expec...
FORM •

Betwixt — FORM

FORM Vol. XXV is available now. See Betwixt and more in ISSUUThe sunrise welcomes the day and the sunset bids it farewell. The daylight praises warmth, recreation, and revival while moonlight whispers rest. But there is a sliver of time between the sleepy sun’s kaleidoscope of hues and the cloak of darkness, rebuked and overlooked: blue hour. 

















Living in liminality is the uneasiness of unbelonging. There’s no closure, and no sense of freedom from.Liminality is waking u...
mxdwn Music •

Rise Against Share New Punk Cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" -

Like many Americans, when I think of political music — particularly that of the Vietnam War era — one band, and one song comes to mind: “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The group provided an unmistakable roots sound and distinctly American songs. Recently, punk rock band Rise Against shared a cover of the song, which aptly debuted on Veteran’s Day.

In their version, the band speeds up the ‘70s anthem and adds a cacophony of drum beats to give it their signature punk flair. This...
mxdwn Music •

Rage Against The Machine React To Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict -

Rage Against The Machine has never stayed silent about their political beliefs. Earlier this year, they signed an open letter that called for musicians to boycott Israel, and earlier this month, Tom Morello from the band signed a letter protesting the use of Amazon palm scanners at music venues. Now, the band is expressing outrage over the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.

The verdict was released on Friday, Nov. 19: 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of fatally shooting two protestors at a ral...
mxdwn Music •

The Willie Nelson Family Releases Cover of Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light" -

On Nov. 19, the Willie Nelson Family is releasing their self-titled album, which contains a mix of Willie Nelson songs, covers and traditional folk music. At the end of October, the family shared George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” another track from the upcoming album. Today, they released one more cover before the album drops, Hank Williams’ “I Saw The Light.”

The cover feels just as authentic as the original, carrying the joy that is only found when being around those that help you see...
mxdwn Music •

Greta Van Fleet Announce ‘Dreams In Gold’ Spring 2022 International Tour Dates Featuring Rival Sons And The Velveteers -

Greta Van Fleet has brought the sound of classic rock to teenage audiences since their first EP Black Smoke Rising was released in 2017. In spring 2022, they will continue to bring their live sound across the country in an international tour.

The “Dreams in Gold” tour celebrates their latest album, The Battle at Garden’s Gate, which Liam Thropp described as “the creation of something timeless.” The tour starts in the band’s hometown in Michigan on March 10 — and four other Michigan cities after...
mxdwn Music •

Marissa Nadler Unveils New Peaceful Video For “Lemon Queen” -

When constantly surrounded by laptops, smartphones and social media, it’s only natural to crave the peace of nature. Marissa Nadler’s recent video for “Lemon Queen” perfectly captures this desire with its glitches and grain of a home video and interspersed clips of weeping willows and sunflowers moving in the wind. Nadler sits in a house void of modern technology — with the exception of a lit chandelier — and grasps at her reflection in a dirty mirror. Her flowy white-blonde hair and red gingham...
The Duke Chronicle •

Broadway's 'Jagged Little Pill' makes you fall in love with Alanis Morissette's album all over again

When COVID first hit almost two years ago, Stephen Atkinson and I compiled a list of albums that gave us comfort throughout quarantine. One of the albums that instantly came to mind was Alanis Morissette’s 1995 hit "Jagged Little Pill," which I then appreciated for how the artist “unapologetically confronts issues that make us uncomfortable, including our fear of silence and the constant need to be distracted. This fearlessness, though — her attempt to understand herself without trying to please...
mxdwn Music •

Lana Del Rey Embraces Farm Life in New Video For "Blue Banisters" -

Since her 2012 album Born to Die, Lana Del Rey has assumed her role as the pop star of Americana. From her romantic “Blue Jeans” to her 2019 album named after the quintessential artist of the fifties, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Del Rey has consistently embodied the picturesque image of suburbia and pleasant domesticity. In her latest video for “Blue Banisters,” she brings the midcentury American life from the coast to a rural landscape.

In the tranquil video, Del Rey reminisces over “a man that’...
mxdwn Music •

Jeff Tweedy Announces New Deluxe Live Album Live Is The King For December 2021 Release, Covers Neil Young's "The Old Country Waltz" -

In Nov. 2020, Wilco musician Jeff Tweedy released his fourth solo album Love Is The King. On Dec. 10 of this year, though, the artist is releasing a deluxe edition of the album with live versions of its tracks and a new cover of “The Old Country Waltz” by Neil Young. The collection of live songs is aptly called Live Is The King.

According to an article in Consequence, on this album, Tweedy is joined by a band of his sons, Sammy and Spencer Tweedy, and Liam Kazar, James Elkington and Sima Cunnin...
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