Located on Frye Street and in the Ross House lies the unspoken treasure of Bates: Le Ronj. The Ronj, established in 1997, is a student-run coffeehouse dedicated to satisfying the caffeine needs of Bates’ students, faculty, and any wandering stranger. You can expect after you walk in, to be greeted by the Ronjistas (the student […]
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Pete Intrigues Exhausted Voters
With the 2020 Elections right around the corner, the Democratic primary is heating up. Lesser known candidates like Tim Ryan and Seth Moulton have dropped out, while other candidates like Kamala Harris focus their resources on Iowa to keep their campaigns afloat. We’ve seen everything from Medicare For All to mandatory gun buyback programs to […]
Food Waste: Thirty-two thousand, seven hundred and forty-one pounds of it
We produced 32,741 pounds of food waste that was converted into pig food in October. What a staggering number, right? Nonetheless, more waste needs to be examined. There is also the consideration of materials that are composted (food, tea bags and stirrers,) recycled (paper, plastics, tin, glass, and cardboard) and, finally, unconverted trash going to […]
We’re Here, We’re Queer
After years of individuals discriminating against me for identifying as queer, it felt refreshing to hear that in college I would finally be surrounded by individuals who will understand and accept me for who I am. Sadly, after coming to Bates College, I realized that was far from the truth. Instead of being embraced with […]
Problematic Faves
On Nov. 14, Professor Erich Hatala Matthes from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, gave a talk at Bates regarding how people should react and interpret art created by morally questionable artists. Professor Matthes is a professor of ethics, politics, and the aesthetics of cultural heritage, art, and the environment at Wellesley and is currently writing a book […]
Stop Discrediting Bernie Sanders’ Minority Supporters
Ever since the 2016 Democratic primary election cycle that mainly involved Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, there has been an unsettling narrative perpetrated by Sanders’ political adversaries within the Democratic Party. This narrative generalized Sanders’ supporters and characterized many of them as overly demanding and unapologetically aggressive. This led to the emergence of the pejorative […]
Spooky or Offensive? The True Horror is Culturally Appropriated Halloween Costumes
Spooky season! Carving pumpkins, sipping the seasonal coffee flavors, and putting on a costume as someone other than yourself. It seems that on one night of the year, people can dress up however they want, and no one can have an opinion about it…wrong! In regards to how open people are about wearing the least […]
A Coward’s Retreat
A couple of weeks ago, President Donald Trump announced that he would pull U.S. troops out of northeast Syria, the previous epicenter of Islamic State’s (IS) extremist caliphate that managed to take over large portions of Syria and Iraq. The U.S. military stressed long ago that IS was not “defeated” and that thousands of ex-fighters […]
The Body Toxicity at Bates
I’m not a calculating person. Since coming to Bates, however, I’ve learned how to be one. The body toxic culture here at Bates has led me to deliberate over everything I chose to wear or eat. I’ll put on a shirt in the morning, look in the mirror, and ask myself if I really feel […]
Stop Dominating Space: White Party Culture and Exclusion Across Campus
The first thing you probably see as you swipe into Commons is the long “POC (people of color) table” which lays itself out in front of a room full of white students. Both lower-class and upper class students of color retreat to this table during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but they also retreat to similarly […]