Your stomach starts cramping and laughter erupts out of you: It’s easy to tell when a joke is good. Humor can be harnessed to diffuse awkward situations, flirt, demonstrate humility, express political opinions or, most importantly, authentically bond with those around you. Humor is undeniably one ...
It is without question that the housing crisis in Providence has reached a breaking point. Local universities are seen as major contributors to this crisis, with Brown as a prime example. Brown squeezes Providence’s housing market in two ways. University students often come from families ...
When Taylor Swift’s new album “Midnights” came out over a week ago, some were up in arms about one line in the song “Anti-Hero”: “Sometimes, I feel like everybody is a sexy baby and I’m a monster on the hill.” ...
I grew up in a house directly adjacent to a noisy street. Honking cars, revving engines and shrieking sirens droned in the background constantly. Similarly, here in Providence, modified cars and motorbikes racing through downtown and on Thayer Street is a common weekend occurrence. Sometimes, my ...
We love morally gray characters — from Snape in “Harry Potter” to Wanda in Marvel movies, viewers and readers have continually gravitated toward those who seem to do clear moral wrong. But why do we love characters who often do awful things?
In an age of hyper-connectivity, we have lost our capacity for solitude. Driving in a car or walking the dog were once moments of solitude. Even air travel was once a valuable block of time during which one could ruminate, cut off from phones and the rest of the world. However, today, ...
When the United States became its own nation, it was chiefly an agrarian one, dominated by farmers and designed to appease their pastoral mindsets. Just one in 20 citizens lived in cities. In today’s America, the demographics of the Constitutional Era have entirely ...
While applying for post-graduation jobs this semester, I’ve stumbled across a baffling aspect of the application process for some companies: a personality test. When the company I applied to requested I fill out a short character assessment, I assumed the test would consist of relevant questions, ...
I’m irresistibly drawn to personality tests — but not for the reasons you might think. While I enjoy taking these tests myself, my real interest comes from seeing my friends consider their answers. Through these experiences, I see how different people perceive the world and react to difficult ...
With Thayer Street a one-minute walk from my dorm, I’ve often found myself browsing Yelp for food options. I love the category search function in particular, which allows users to browse for food options by cuisine. One category I’ve noticed is “ethnic” restaurants. The word “ethnic” ...
When I was beginning to make my college application list just over four years ago, I had never considered the possibility of going to an Ivy League school. Though my academics and extracurriculars certainly qualified me to apply to highly selective colleges, I lacked the confidence to pursue admission ...
Brown pitches its campus as one set in “the heart of Rhode Island’s vibrant capital city,” boasting its ostensibly active membership ...
I am giving you $70. I am also presenting you with a charity request letter from Save the Children. You now have an opportunity to donate any of your just-earned $70 to Rokia, a starving ...
The videos are all the same: A thin, conventionally attractive person poses in front of a mirror before the screen cuts to a beautifully staged bowl of oatmeal. The next shot is lunch, a colorful salad, and then dinner, a mix of grains and greens. Bonus points if “macros”— the grams of carbohydrates, ...
As a nostalgic senior, I’ve often found myself reminiscing about my first year, and in particular, the inextricable link between my first-year experience and partying. Drinking is at the core of the American college experience. For first-years eager to immerse themselves in college life, partying ...
As I enter my senior year at Brown, I’m watching everyone around me make decisions that, on the surface, seem life-defining. What will our futures hold, and what is the best way we can shape them? For some, this question starts early. Many students in my class already know where they will be working ...
Midway through my study abroad experience in Paris, I was sitting in my European-sized single when I got a text from my dad at midnight. “Don’t panic, but call your mom.” I called my mom, who was in pieces. After a fall, my 86-year-old maternal grandmother was unconscious in the hospital. My ...
When it comes to love, words often fail us. Some articulate love as warmth, others as “a madness of delight; an obsession.” My favorite description of love, from Iris Murdoch, is “the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.” Yet no words can quite capture ...
This year’s Commencement Magazine marks the end of our class’ collective journey through Brown, and more broadly, a world irrevocably transformed.
Finding the words to adequately reflect on the beauty, triumph and at times difficulty of navigating this university is an exercise that is daunting yet necessary. It is my hope that my own personal narrative and understanding of my Brown experience will guide you, uplift you and empower you. ...
Solutions by The State News
