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Saturday, June 27, 2026
The Daily Pennsylvanian

Opinion-Columns

The Daily Pennsylvanian

Summer in adult land is a season not unlike the other three. Sure, there are beaches and frozen cocktails in this universe. But gone are the unnumbered days: the Saturdays that feel like Wednesdays and the weekends you never knew had arrived.


This failure seems to hint at a pervasive resistance to change that plagues our society. This problem proves most dangerous when our stubbornness to adapt allows obvious, and sometimes even easily solved, inefficiencies to persist.

I’ve realized so much of life is plain trial and error. As all of our moms used to tell us when we refused to try new food: if you never try it, how will you know that you don’t like it? The same applies to life.

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Our societal mindset has shifted to thinking that racial slurs do not have the same impact as they did in the past. Many scholars and critics, arguing for the idea of a “post-racial society,” claim people see beyond race and more into individuality.

I realize this might be awkward, but we can make it easy for you. In fact, you won’t even have to do the talking. Let’s just bring in a few sex educators, maybe a porn star or two and spend a week celebrating and learning about sex. We’ll call it Sex Week.


The Daily Pennsylvanian

I realize this might be awkward, but we can make it easy for you. In fact, you won’t even have to do the talking. Let’s just bring in a few sex educators, maybe a porn star or two and spend a week celebrating and learning about sex. We’ll call it Sex Week.


The Logical Skeptic

This failure seems to hint at a pervasive resistance to change that plagues our society. This problem proves most dangerous when our stubbornness to adapt allows obvious, and sometimes even easily solved, inefficiencies to persist.


The Casual Observer

I’ve realized so much of life is plain trial and error. As all of our moms used to tell us when we refused to try new food: if you never try it, how will you know that you don’t like it? The same applies to life.


Critical Playground

That weekend, I tried to pair my observations of the mass actions with personal conversations — on both sides. I spoke to police and protesters, removing the blue helmets and black masks, asking whether the police are part of the 99 percent or part of a police state in which violence is the closest one can get to “dialogue.”


The Daily Pennsylvanian

But to be honest, “summer break” has never made much sense to me. Yeah, it’s a break from all the work and stress of the academic year — but sometimes all the work of the school year feels like a break from the “real work” we accomplish during the warm months.


The Daily Pennsylvanian

While there isn’t a scientific consensus on why people tend to find romance during the summer, lovers in pop culture (think: Danny and Sandy in “Grease,” Noah and Allie in “The Notebook,” Johnny and Baby in “Dirty Dancing”) combined with our own experiences confirm that summer is the season for getting frisky.


A Likely Story

I am four years older than the kid that cried at the airport, four years more certain of who I am and four years more confident. But I’m not quite sure of all that much, except that the past four years have been good.




Elements of Style

At 15 years old, I already harbored fantasies of bylines containing my name. If that were the whole story it would, of course, be a very boring one. My path up till now must look nauseatingly straightforward from the outside. But like most students, my years at Penn have been anything but simple and very different from what I expected.







Brian Goldman Headcut

Young people are often lamented for their lack of organization and mobilization around youth causes. But I’m not sure if this will ever shift, because young people hold such varied political viewpoints.


Seeds of Reason

The Class of 2016 — who will be joining us next fall — promises to be more diverse and representative of the shifting demographics in this country. The increased diversity creates new potential to unite students from all walks of life.



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