Opinion Columns
Theodore Caputi | Millions, billions and trillions
The words “billion” and “million” may rhyme, but they’re very different values. Consider the following: if you started out with a billion dollars the day Christ was born, and spent $1,000 every day since, you’d still have $264 million left today.
Alessandro van den Brink | Beating the curve
It’s easy to say that GPA shouldn’t define who we are as individuals and that it doesn’t have the greatest effect on our future, but, to a certain degree, the grades on our transcripts matter, whether we like it or not.
Alec Ward | Minding our manners
Recently, at the recommendation of a friend, I read author Rebecca Solnit’s essay “Men Explain Things to Me.” In the essay, Solnit tells a series of personal stories wherein various men condescendingly “correct” her about topics in which her expertise far exceeds their own.
Clara Jane Hendrickson | Our contradictory cornucopia
Last week, I enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal with my family. Every year, I find myself dissecting what exactly it is I’m supposed to be celebrating on this holiday.
Emily Hoeven | Back to the future
I’ve been telling people that I want to be a writer since I was in elementary school. I always thought of college as the place where I would be able to actualize that dream, and I didn’t waste any time upon arriving at Penn.
Alessandro van den Brink | Life in the age of choices
Several weeks ago, Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix original series was released and, in typical Aziz fashion, the comedian brilliantly blurred the lines between outrageous humor and social commentary.
Louis Capozzi | The land of hypocrisy?
“The road to power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties,” Frank Underwood says in season two of House of Cards.
Gina Elia | The importance of being humble
All of us probably feel that we know what it means to have humility. Yet, especially in the context of the Ivy League, this particular virtue is underrated.
Clara Jane Hendrickson | The dangerous self
It seems like every Locust Walk encounter with a friend, acquaintance or classmate brings another instance of a Penn student bemoaning their own misfortune for being swamped, under-socialized, under-slept and overworked.
Alec Ward | The 800-pound sycophant
In the wake of protests against racism on campuses around the country last week, many of my acquaintances took to social media to declare their status as “allies” of the protestors, and to affirm their solidarity with the various movements participating. It was far from first time I’d seen the term “ally” used in conjunction with social justice movements, but it raised the concept afresh in my mind.
Giavanni Alves | To join or not to join
Injustice and violence are rampant, equality is still a dream, the civil rights movement is in Act 2 of a seemingly never-ending play and innocent lives are taken on a daily basis for reasons that are both illogical and unsubstantiated.
Emily Hoeven | Blurred lives
It’s one of the most-heard phrases on any college campus, rotely recited to hopeful applicants when they ask what the college environment is really like.
Vaios Triantafyllou | Pray for Paris, pray for the world
On Friday, Nov. 13 the world witnessed in disgrace the bombings and shootings in Paris for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Realizing that to write about this event can promote it, and hence accomplish its purpose of spreading terror, I am morally obligated to dedicate this week’s column to the memory of those who have fallen in the name of democracy and freedom.
Jeremiah Keenan | Hooked on porn
“Sally” – we’ll call her – started watching pornography at the age of 12. Nothing too strange about that.
Theodore L. Caputi | The real drug policy problem
The opioid epidemic — the recent and meteoric increase in heroin and prescription painkiller abuse — poses one of the most serious public health threats of our time.
Ravi Jain | Defining diversity
For a Penn student, exposure to the idea of diversity starts early. It first shows up in the admissions catalogue: beautiful high-resolution photos of a “diverse” group of friends laughing on the Green; essay questions that ask what diversity of perspective a student will bring to campus; selecting one’s race on the Common Application.
Louis Capozzi | ?Penn’s Political Pipe Dream
The term “Penn bubble” currently takes on a new meaning. On campus, many students think the Democratic Party is flourishing.
Gina Elia | A Fragmented Peace
American society has generally demonstrated an increased awareness in the importance of making space for relaxation and quiet time in the past few decades, which is great.
Vaios Triantafyllou | Aristotle shaking his head
The United States, similar to other large Western economies, is driven by the financial sector. What is especially peculiar about this sector is that, for the most part, it transforms money into more money without the production of any goods during the process. There are procedures, however, such as venture capital investments, through which the financial sector enhances production of goods and services.
