AVA ZECHIEL

For my final thesis for my Communications degree, I completed a study on the effects of queerbaiting (the act of writers and media companies of teasing the idea that a character is queer, then not following through) on young queer people. This study essentially focused on the effects of queerbaiting on young queer people's attitudes toward their own identities.

While at Hollins University for my undergrad, the historically women's college made the decision to allow the admission of trans women. This was great news, as many other HWCs had done so in the years prior, but Hollins has a rampant problem with transphobic thought on campus. The administration has done nothing to actually protect the trans people that already exist on campus, and I wrote an article outlining what I was able to find out about their motivations to change the campus culture.

A partial memoir/op-ed about my experiences in the Troubled Teen Industry, focusing on the time I spent stranded and alone in the Cherokee National Forest.