This section is meant to illustrate the transition of college through a first-year’s eye. This perspective is unapologetically truthful, funny, serious, brutal, hysterical, happy, all of which are common to feel in college at one point or another. Whether that be navigating Commons during peak hours, or dealing with the newfound freedom, or just what […]
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Beto Hands NRA Biggest Win This Year
Last week’s Democratic Debates in Houston, Texas saw several of the candidates strive to show how they were different from one another on anything from healthcare to gun control. One former congressman from Texas, Beto O’Rourke had the strongest and most quotable statement of the night. When asked by one of the moderators for details […]
Leave Your Stereotypes at the Door
Imagine this! An eighteen-year-old, gay, African American male from the Southside of Chicago leaves his hometown to seek out what he was led to believe a “better education.” The only problem is that this education comes with a price: he has to overcome preconceived notions people have about him based on his marginalized identities. Sounds […]
The Art of Saying “Hi”
For first-years, it’s now been three weeks of “what’s your name”, “where are you from”, and “where do you do live”. Yet nine days of orientation, four days of AESOP, and eight days of classes are still not enough to shake off these semi-awkward and semi-superficial introductory conversations. But who can blame us? How else […]
Returning to New Beginnings
My freshman year experience at Bates was truly a unique one. It went by both incredibly slowly, and too quickly to recall. Much of my first-year experience at Bates consisted of learning and assimilating to the culture that my new educational environment was based around. Being a student of color at a predominantly white institution […]
Making Space for Introverts at Bates
When you have to stand up in front of the entire class and present, do you feel your stomach drop? Does visiting your professor’s office hours make you cringe? What about being at a party or a dance? Do you find these events to be anxiety-inducing beforehand, even if you have a good time in […]
Democrats in Division
In the countless politically-charged articles that graze my social media timelines daily, no word meets my eyes more than “polarizing.” Normally, the opinionated authors of these articles use this word to assess the evolving relationship between the Democrat and Republican Parties. But frankly, it now seems that we’ve lost sight of the polarizing nature that […]
Happy Endings
Can you believe that it’s the end of the school year? I know that I sure can’t! I don’t think I only speak for myself when I say that I didn’t think I would make it to the end. After much reflection on the events that occurred this year, I have come to the conclusion […]
The Art of Saying Goodbye
Conclusions have never been easy for me to read or write. I reach the final chapter of any story and I need to pause and wait until I am ready to soak in the final page. When I reach the final paragraph of an essay, my laptop’s cursor blinks for days before I am able […]
The Paradox of Presentism
Physics teaches us that a myriad of factors – causal loops and the grandfather paradox, to name just two – render the possibility of travelling back in time obsolete. It teaches us that the future is born out of the past, and that it is unlikely that our kind will ever be able to journey […]