Opinion Columns
Farewell Column by Spencer Small | For what it’s worth
Schoolwork was secondary to adventures, from studying abroad to going across town to get a 4 a.m. cheesesteak. That’s where I learned the most — life lessons, not classroom lessons.
Farewell Column by Dana Tom | Walking directionless
Many of us spend our time in college with an end goal, but I can honestly say, I’m not sure what exactly I was chasing this whole time.
Christine Chen | Searching for BS
As much as I’d love to write my farewell column using only Wharton memes, none of these tidbits caught my eye as much as this gem: Write a piece of semi-autobiographical detective fiction.
Lauren Agresti | Dive in
Writing personal essays is more like diving into the crowd, grabbing people out of their seats and making them dance with you. This is where I feel at home.
Rachel del Valle | In defense of Facebook culture
I do keep a journal, sort of. I can look back on it with minimal discomfort, and I don’t have to search through memorabilia boxes to find it. It’s my Facebook profile.
Caroline Brand | Real Beauty, real problems
As part of its ongoing Real Beauty campaign, Dove posted a YouTube video last week that has over 19 million views. I find the overwhelmingly positive response to this video troubling — especially the praise from within the Penn community.
Anthony Liveris | Republi(can’t)
As vice president of College Republicans, students are quick to disagree with me. I heard tougher jests during the campaign season on campus than “working for the Devil” can encapsulate. But that is the beauty of being a member of the so-called opposition.
Divya Ramesh | Hello, my name is ‘Stranger’
As our world widens in our college years, the idea of “stranger danger” needs to modify its meaning as well. If we carry the idea unchanged into adulthood, we’ll miss out on getting to know interesting people.
Jeffrey Nadel | We all bleed
An innocent life is worth just as much as any other innocent life, whether it’s my own, an American’s, an Italian’s, a Saudi Arabian’s or a Pakistani’s.
Kurt Mitman | ‘Thank God’ for the NRA
If the legislation had passed the debate on gun control and gun violence would have been over. The momentum that had built up since Newtown would have diminished.
Nadine Zylberberg | Intro to 21st century reading
Before I get chastised for my literary apathy and irreverence for the canons, I’ll have you know that I am capable of reading a book from start to finish. But with a constant influx of titles, it doesn’t seem worth the commitment.
Hayley Brooks & Ali Kokot | It was just a fling
Why do we jam pack the year’s allotted fun into one weekend when it never turns out to be the best one?Arielle Pardes | Reclaiming hook-up culture
Despite all of the huffing and puffing about hook-up culture, casual sex isn’t the problem. The problem is communication — or rather, lack thereof. It’s not time that we stop hooking up, but it is time to stop hooking up without telling our partners what we want.
Kurt Mitman | The only thing to fear
The right way to honor the victims of this tragedy is by simply continuing to live our lives as normal.
Lauren Agresti | Theories on theses
What you might not know is that when it comes time to sign up for those extra hard things, your fear of missing out on senior year may be misplaced.
Rachel del Valle | Girls just wanna have fun
I don’t understand why it’s laughable that girls want to hang out with a bunch of other girls and drink and not get dressed up and just chill. That sounds a lot like bro culture to me, but no one writes articles blaming bros for declining marriage rates.
Divya Ramesh | Finished with not finishing
The great thing about an all-you-can-eat franchise is that seconds are an option if you want them. But not many people seem to see it that way. Every day, I see entire plates of food tossed into the green compost bags at the residential dining halls.
Xavier Flory | The dark side of brotherhood
Tyga won’t be the only one promoting sexism on Friday. While there has been much furor over Tyga’s lyrics, certain groups at Penn will be propagating a more ubiquitous and insidious form of sexism over Fling: our fraternities.
Robert Hsu | Taking the ‘sin’ out of business
I wondered if food trucks were missing out on the large customer segment that wanted healthy meals. My survey data suggested that healthy food trucks weren’t doing enough to reach these people and fight the stereotype surrounding food trucks in general. However, if they could solve this disconnect, a mutually beneficial outcome could be achieved.