Column

Russia’s protest group is telling of its political dissonance On Feb. 21, 2012, a group of women wearing colorful ski masks and carrying electric guitars stormed the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia. In what they would later call a “punk prayer,” the women jumped around, crying “Mother of God, drive Putin away!” […]

Streaming is the biggest threat to stars like Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber  Before streaming, buying iTunes gift cards occupied the top of my Christmas list. I spent hours deciding which songs I wanted to buy. Would I spend my last $1.29 on an old favorite or the newest chart-topper?  When I was a freshman […]

Smart Works is most noteworthy because it builds a community of mutual support using fashion As I am a long-time fan of The Crown, the British royal family intrigues me. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married, my friends and I stayed up until 5 a.m. to watch the wedding live. As Markle took […]

Despite its homophobic laws, Russia embraces gay culture in the entertainment world While growing up watching Izmailovsky Park — Russia’s version of SNL — with my family, there was always a skit featuring two straight men, clad in the “babushka” attire of kerchiefs and dresses. They weren’t necessarily drag queens, but the duo comedy act […]

As consumers, moving to a plant-based diet will help ensure the long-term survival of the planet Climate change is still a fundamental crisis facing our world today. It may not seem as immediately urgent as COVID-19, but it is every bit as dangerous, with irreversible effects. Wildfire seasons are months longer, massive storm surge chances […]

The president’s handling of the global pandemic should cost him re-election, but will it? For months, the American people listened to President Donald Trump downplay the threat of coronavirus, calling it the Democrat’s “new hoax,” and then, as cases began to rise, dismissing it as something that would just disappear, “like a miracle.” On March […]

Even our private accounts are for the public I’ve had quite a tenure on Instagram. Many of us were in our tender ages during the app’s inception in late 2010, and I’m sure we all watched the app’s transformation from an unassuming photo-sharing platform to a multimillion-dollar Internet superpower.  I could say the same thing […]

To fully escape the city, we need to leave our cars behind too  When I was in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park this past summer, I quickly came to appreciate the long hikes and evening walks that were completely void of the sights and sounds of loud and crowded cities. National parks are a […]

Twitter’s “Fleets” will exacerbate our culture of entitlement — and they’re stupid  Twitter’s newest feature — “Fleets” — will allow users to post their most fleeting thoughts and opinions, designed to vanish in 24 hours. Twitter claims that the new Fleet feature is a response to users complaining that they don’t feel comfortable tweeting because […]

The system is highly subjective and outdated  There is a scene in the movie “Cinema Paradiso” where the town priest reviews every single film to see if anything needs to be cut before it plays at the theater. This includes kiss scenes, sex scenes and everything in between. He just rings his bell at any […]

Not everyone can afford to work for months without pay I miss my childhood summers: playing in the front yard ‘til dusk, completing the exhausting “Just Dance 3” levels and staying up late during weekend-long sleepovers. These summers provided an escape from the trials and tribulations of pre-algebra and spelling tests.  Summer in college is […]

Extremism is now easier to fall into than ever before YouTube is consistently criticized as the platform where — usually –– young white men are radicalized by far-right figures who want nothing more than to spew conspiracies and hate. But how responsible is YouTube really? Second only to Netflix, the Google-owned service is the second […]