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Vilsan '19: I’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?

Several months ago, as a wide-eyed freshman eager to call Brown her new home, I purchased more Brown merchandise than I wish to admit. Where did the sudden burst of school pride come from? Maybe it was the repressed cheerleader inside me, who hadn’t had the chance to tap into her pep in a European ...


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Krishnamurthy '19: Republic of dreams

When U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, who represents the predominantly black localities of Baltimore County, spoke in MacMillan Hall Tuesday, he was unsparing in his excoriation of the new American condition. In a talk that was largely extemporaneous and unprepared — “My speeches come from my heart, ...


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Mitra '18: Elections and the entertainment quotient

When I first saw the emerging presidential field last January, I remember making a rather obvious pronouncement: “Well, at least 2016 will be entertaining.” As part of the generation raised on election coverage from “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live,” I had high expectations. Given ...


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Murage '17: Simba

For us African students here at Brown, culture shock comes in many forms — some trivial, some funny and others grim. You never know when it might strike. So, when I attended a social event one week into my freshman year, I was thrilled to devour some of the highly acclaimed American cheese and scavenge ...


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Campbell '18: Between a rock and a hard place

I don’t have to convince anyone reading this that Brown is a costly school to attend. The school covers about a third of my costs, but even so, every semester my family and I shell out a veritable fortune to allow me to be here. Almost 71 percent of the nation’s class of 2015 took out loans to pay ...


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Al-Salem '17: Turquoise faith

I rarely like to make a big to-do about religion because I feel like it is a very private, personal thing. But I have recently begun noticing that religion is often pitted against academia and intelligence, as if the two cannot exist together. I wanted to take the chance as a columnist to write a two-part ...


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Rowland '17: Economics and Enlightenment

I always laugh at the idea of taking a “fourth class” — the idea that three of the courses we take relate to our concentration and the fourth is “just for fun.” I understand the principle behind the phrase, but the wording is peculiar. Is a course outside of your discipline less important? ...


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Johnson '19: Political conviction or self-righteousness?

A memorable line from the Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan Sunday came from Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT: “Democrats are not always right.” That truth should be acknowledged more often than it is, especially in our contentious political climate. Bernie’s assertion is important because even though ...


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Savello '18: Success: not a numbers game

If you ask Brown students why they like their school, chances are the S/NC option and related academic freedom will be within the top five reasons. In fact, it’s this lack of emphasis on grades — and the complete nonexistence of GPA — that draws so many of us to Brown in the first place. Lower ...


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Malik '18: The gatekeepers of knowledge

As an ardent defender of the humanities who believes they should be valued and encouraged as fields of study, I am disturbed by a news article published recently in the New York Times. The piece, “A Rising Call to Promote STEM Funding and Cut Liberal Arts Education,” describes a growing trend in ...


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O'Shea '19: Welcome to the Heps

Last weekend, in a cold, clear corner of the Empire State, a battle raged. The eight Track and Field teams of the Ivy League assembled for the 68th meeting of the Indoor Heptagonal Games. This grand tradition provided two days of agony and ecstasy to its participants and spectators, as the emotions ...


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Steinman ’19: The echo chamber: all we have in common

“You know where Hillary’s campaign headquarters should be?” laughed the Donald Trump supporter, his breath curling up like smoke in the cold. “Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex.” He cracked up at his own joke and went on to mock other candidates as he waved a “Make America Great Again” ...


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Friedman '19: Let’s unpack ‘unpacking’

I always knew that college was going to be full of conversations: late-night, lengthy, profound and sometimes uncomfortable. As a high school student, I relished in the prospect of living with fellow students who were just as willing to engage with intellectual ideas as I was. I imagined that serendipitous ...


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Yu '19: The migratory patterns of the Canada Goose

Every winter, a brutal arctic wind encapsulates Brown University. The steely, nondescript sky serves as a facade to the delicate branches of redbud trees violated by the remorseless winds of the wasteland we amiably call southern New England. In an effort to combat the gripping tendrils of this numbing ...


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Meyer '17: Why liberals should vote for Rubio

Donald Trump may have won the most delegates on Super Tuesday, but he hasn’t put the race away yet. He failed to win a majority in any state. As in earlier primaries, he continued to benefit from the deadlocked race for second place. While Ted Cruz, R-TX, and Marco Rubio, R-FL continue to duke it ...


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Kumar '17: In defense of the ‘like’

Last Wednesday, Facebook unveiled its reactions, five emojis meant to supplement the like button as users express emotions: love, haha, wow, sad and angry. The world took note, with news coverage from a broad range of outlets and gleeful (or cynical) statuses about the change from the social network’s ...


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Vilsan '19: Trumping the American Dream

There is no European Dream, at least not in the literary sense. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby never threw a glamorous party in Southern France, not because he couldn’t afford the catering, but because there was no green glimmer of hope on the dock across the water. Eternal optimism and an ingrained ...


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Esemplare '18: Mandatory attendance misses the mark

You probably remember your first day of college. You walked into your dorm room for the first time, overwhelmed by a nervous excitement as you took in the scene. You probably felt freedom. You may have loved it. It may have scared you. It was probably a little bit of both. But that’s what college ...


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Mitra '18 The Trump effect

When Donald Trump first began running for President, I was sure he had an ulterior motive: I assumed his campaign was a year-long publicity stunt for the next season of “The Apprentice.” After all, how could anyone take a Trump campaign seriously, even Trump himself? But as the election cycle heats ...


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Secondo '16: Apple should protect consumer privacy

Having grown up during the technology boom of the past two decades, we tech-savvy millennials see the use of personal devices and daily technologies as natural extensions of ourselves. Our virtual profiles and online activities project who we are into cyberspace. We swipe, scroll and surf through interfaces ...




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