When I applied to Brown, I was enamored by the promise of the Open Curriculum. As an indecisive learner with far too many interests, I saw Brown as a perfect fit — an academic playground where I could explore freely. However, within my first year, my idealized expectations quickly unraveled. ...
It is a truth locally acknowledged that the Rhode Island School of Design is cooler than Brown University. This encompasses all manner of things: clothing, people and, so I have heard, the food.
The contemporary American political imagination became acquainted with cruelty in 2016. President Trump’s first election campaign was laced with obscenities that grew to be taboo in the new 21st-century liberal America. His campaign championed slogans like “Build the Wall” and a crowning jewel ...
Pad thai, tom yum and green curry are all Thai recipes that we know and love. But Thailand’s most notable recipe has gone unnoticed: Its formula for success in progressive politics. Just last year, Thailand legalized same-sex marriage in a triumphant victory, a historic first for Southeast Asia. This ...
One summer, my sister and I attended a community boating camp, where we came across a girl who looked eerily like Miranda Cosgrove. My sister and I joked that we had clearly stumbled into a sailing-themed Disney Channel movie, wherein we were merely a comic relief duo and the Miranda lookalike was the ...
South African mixed martial artist Dricus du Plessis was completely written off heading into his fight against former champion Robert Whittaker. Analysts labeled du Plessis “slow,” “mediocre” and lacking in basic kickboxing and wrestling techniques. Oddsmakers deemed him a massive underdog. ...
In 2018, Herald columnist Fabiana Vilsan ’19 analyzed the news media’s portrayal of President Trump during his first term. Amid President Trump’s dramatic return to the Oval Office, I returned to Vilsan’s commentary to try to understand the exact ways Trump has changed between his two terms, ...
Every semester, I have this urge to purchase a new plant for my room. I’ll walk to the plant shop blatantly disregarding the death of its predecessor, unfazed by the two shriveled leaves from my once-thriving Monstera. Despite their short lifespans, I firmly believe that a room is only complete when ...
The United States is at an important turning point. Founded on principles of globalization, our country has instead become more insular than ever. The past decade has seen a significant erosion of these founding principles in favor of nativism, xenophobia and religious nationalism, culminating in President ...
In a rich social ecosystem like Brown, it can feel easy to replace relationships, rather than repair. Yet it is by having the difficult conversations and leaning into the discomfort of conflict resolution that strong relationships can flourish.
Like many other Brunonians, I decided to spend my Monday night this week in the Salomon Center, listening to the former 2020 presidential candidate offer his thoughts on the current state of our democracy. Andrew Yang ’96 came out ten minutes early to shake hands, his speech had the audience erupting ...
This Valentine’s Day, there is one book I cannot get off my mind: Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence.” Many of its themes remain relevant today: critiques of societal expectations and our adherence to them, individual versus collective duty and the limits of fate and free will. However, what ...
I saw a video not too long ago of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement. The video showed a large crowd of people storming Wall Street with signs condemning capitalists and billionaires. On the balconies lining Wall Street were bankers and stockbrokers in their fancy suits, sipping champagne, taking ...
A quick google search for “Oberlin” in the Providence area will likely return the Ohio college well known for its music conservatory. The second result is of greater interest to this column: a Rhode Island restaurant of the same name. So, on a Monday night, I headed down College Hill for a 7:30 ...
Odds are the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the current global conflicts are either the war in Ukraine or the war in Gaza. Less likely to be brought up is Sudan, where the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis is unfolding, unknown to most of the Western world. So where are the marches ...
In 2022, Brown faced two major labor disputes. The first organized by computer science teaching assistants and the second led by Brown dining hall workers. In an open letter to the CS department and University administration, the CS TAs described “distressing and exhausting” working conditions and ...
When I was 10 years old, my father began to grant me an allowance of $3 per week. Along with my first week’s allowance, he gave me three glass jars labeled “give,” “save” and “spend,” into which I was required to put one dollar each. My father explained that there were three basic uses ...
In a Tuesday email, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 and Provost Francis Doyle described the current state of higher education as “a moment of tremendous uncertainty.” The administrators echoed the feelings of many Americans nationwide following the release of the Trump administration’s ...
Dearest reader, over winter break I anticipated welcoming you back into the somewhat sticky embrace of the Sharpe Refectory and alleviating any apprehension you might have towards our largest dining hall. I was surprised, then, to discover that my work had already been done for me last week by Ben Aizenberg, ...
The past few weeks have been nothing short of momentous. Within days of President Trump’s second inauguration, the United States government has withdrawn from the World Health Organization, reconsidered birthright citizenship and threatened Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs across the board.
Solutions by The State News
