This column was originally going to be about bringing ROTC back to Yale, or the disturbing role of sorority culture in perpetuating body image stereotypes. But then I remembered Rebecca Black.
This is where I would usually begin the obligatory For-those-of-you-who-haven’t-seen-it paragraph, but if you have any relationship with the Internet, the American news media, or …
If you are reading this (winning points in my book!), you are probably just beginning spring break. Maybe you are driving home with your parents. Maybe you are stuck between two sleeping strangers on CT Limo. Or maybe you are still sitting on your extra-long twin bed at school (to those of you in this …
What makes for a good revolution? Of course, an ideal revolution would involve the replacement of a dictatorship by stable democracy. But revolutions have often been bloody, even genocidal. From Paris in 1789 to Tripoli in 2011, it is possible to see how willing men and women are ready to die, and kill, for an …
“We are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea—Yes. We. Can.”
With these words, now-President Obama set the course of a revolutionary Presidential campaign that changed the way many Americans think about politics. It …
I really hated dying, even though it was my fault, really. Usually whenever I left Commons, I would slowly meander my way towards the front entrance, cautiously shying away from anyone whose gaze lingered on me too long. When I reached the doors, though, I would pull a one-eighty and half-run to the far …
I have recently come to the sad realization that I do not necessarily align my views with any one political party. While I was raised conservative and will always vote conservative, I find myself swayed by the arguments of my liberal professors and peers—although whether this is just due to the nature of being at …
The Singularity, (sin·gu·lar·i·ty, noun): The moment at which human consciousness and artificial intelligence merge, and when the human mind ceases to exist without its electronic counterpart. In a post-Singularity world, genetic engineering will make humans physically identical. Tiny robots will mend our illnesses and augment our brains, rendering us super intelligent and effectively immortal. Direct …
The desire for justice is innately human; we feel that those who have done wrong should be punished. However, as our society has modernized and liberalized, our conception of just punishment has evolved; today, no punishment is more contentious that the death penalty. Supporting the death penalty demonstrates our natural desire for justice—an eye for …
I am as tired as you are of hearing about the Internet’s negative effects on teenagers. Every time I see an article on the cover of the New York Times Style section called something like “Generation Text, Living on a Screen,” or “Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction” or “Online, R U Really Reading?” I ask …
What should a good Herald columnist be doing?
a. Writing a screed about bullying and the Rumpus;
b. Telling the reader that sororities are a boon to Yale’s campus; or,
c. Describing the way we live now.
Clearly not option (c). We leave that to more maladjusted, pretentious writers like David Brooks, who once said (or might as well …
I woke up last Sun., Feb. 13th, with a curious Facebook message sitting in my inbox…It began like this:
HI MARISSA
I KNOW YOU DON’T KNOW ME BUT WE TOTALLY GOT MATCHED UP ON YALESTATION AND AFTER SUFFICIENT FACEBOOK STALKING I THINK WE SHOULD GO OUT FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
—we are 38 percent compatible. that means like …
Lady Gaga owes it to herself, and to her fans, to reclaim the originality and creativity that transformed her into a modern icon. Whether by her own fault or by the “handlers” who dictate a large portion of Gaga’s decisions, her shtick has gone stale. Her courting of the bizarre and constant reinvention have fractured …
I want to be in college for the rest of my life. When I say college, though, I don’t mean the late night work, the lack of money, or the heavy drinking. No, I mean that I literally want to be in college, in the physical dormitories and dining halls. For most of us, Yale …
At approximately 8:45 p.m. this past Saturday night, while dabbing furiously at a spot of pizza sauce on my Oxford shirt, it hit me: Freshman Screw kind of sucks. An informal poll of my friends indicates that this sentiment was not unique to me (though my inability to iron and my non-existent dance moves can’t …
If you knew me in eighth grade, you probably also knew about my gossip blog. I posted it to my Myspace once a week and wrote stuff like, “I have one word to describe the most recent drama in brklyn—intense!!!!” I signed each post “gossip chick.” I also wrote a “novel” at camp one summer …