In 2016, as entertainment editor of my college newspaper, I wrote a quick humorous essay about Tinder in order to fill a last-minute space on a page in the entertainment section. My essay went viral, was republished in 34 newspapers across the U.S. and Cuba, was tweeted by some of my favorite authors at the time, and launched my very own humor column called Swipe Right.
Swipe Right included observations on college life in southern Mississippi from the perspective of a probably-clueless-but-always-enthusiastic hijabi who had spent the vast majority of her life in the Deep South. It won third place in College Personal Columns at the Louisiana/Mississippi Associated Press Awards in 2017, got me an invitation to participate in a Mississippi Bicentennial Documentary project, and cultivated a dedicated fanbase within my community and beyond. But as an aspiring novelist — and as a senior double majoring in the honors college and applying to MFA programs — I wanted to prioritize my creative writing. I quit the newspaper and ended Swipe Right.
I think I always knew it would return in some capacity. After graduating with my MFA, signing with my agent, and freelancing for several journals, I floated the idea of creating a podcast focused on navigating the nebulous post graduate world with my former newsroom colleagues. I decided to launch Tightwires as a YouTube channel and podcast and reconnected with the original Swipe Right logo designer, Cameron Cummins, to create the new Tightwires logo and also an animation that morphs “Swipe Right” into “Tightwires,” which is featured in nearly every episode.
Tightwires is about navigating life and art after graduate school and outside academic and institutional confines, but like its predecessor, it’s about much more. Through Tightwires, I share tutorials, book reviews, analyses, and — my favorite — interviews with other writers, artists, and community members. I won a $17,500 Artists360 community activator grant in 2024 from Mid-America Arts Alliance in recognition of that work, and I can’t wait to further expand and develop it in the years to come.
MASTHEAD
Founder/Executive Editor/Host: Hiba Tahir
Operations Manager/Managing Editor: Kate Davis
Poetry Editor: Joaquin Gavilano
Fiction Editor: Colleen Noland
Hiba Tahir 