Columns

My stomach full of pumpkin pie and turkey, I sat on the floor of my childhood bedroom writing and rewriting an email. Yes, it was Thanksgiving. But as an Opinions Editor for The Herald, I didn’t take days off.

As COVID-19 challenges the United States with the greatest health crisis in recent history, many American news outlets have devoted a worrying amount of coverage to bickering over what to call the virus.

The 2020 NFL Draft will take place Thursday night to Saturday afternoon, and it is sure to capture even more attention than usual due to the current absence of live sporting events in the United States. For the first time ever, the draft will be conducted virtually.

With Joe Biden all but confirmed as the Democratic nominee, speculation has turned to who his running mate will be. Since Biden made his promise to choose a woman as his vice president, the usual suspects have been bandied about: Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris.

To the man who robbed my house during a quarantine: I can only imagine your dire circumstances. Stealing during any normal time is a dangerous move. You risk setting off an alarm; encountering lingering inhabitants; getting caught by the cops. It takes desperate circumstances to resort to such a hazardous decision. 

In my last column, shortly before classes were canceled and campus closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I pointed out that the U.S. was setting itself up for a public health disaster because of the nearly absurd inadequacy of its response to the coronavirus.

On Feb. 21, Bernie Sanders tweeted a defiant message to political power brokers: “I’ve got news for the Republican establishment. I’ve got news for the Democratic establishment. They can’t stop us.” 

While many liberals have criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis — for calling it a hoax, comparing it to the flu and peddling hydroxychloroquine as a cure (although it is only in the process of being clinically tested), the list goes on — they seem even more bewildered by his approval ratings.

About two and a half years ago, I arrived at Brown as a first-year, flush with pride and new hope. Pride because I had heard from multiple people that Brown was not only an academically prestigious university but also one rooted in respect for input from the student body.

When I first returned to Brown last summer after a several-month break from College Hill, I didn’t first stop at the Main Green, Faunce House or my friend’s off-campus house — I made a beeline for the steak nachos at Baja’s.