Living and learning with loneliness of past, present
From the outside, my life might not look lonely. I have a great family, have a handful of close friends and belong to a robust community. On campus, I was…
Opinions
I’m striking for grade equity, and you should, too
Let’s stop pretending that school isn’t stressful. Deadlines and grades create pressure, and this pressure is supposed to motivate students to work hard and care about classwork. This is the…
Statement from the College regarding student grading policy protest
This week, I received emails from students who explained they were working to organize a strike against classes. I know our students are facing significant challenges, personal, financial and educational,…
Don’t beg me to vote for Biden
If you’ve made up your mind to vote for Biden, I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. Thanks to the two-party system, many of you believe that not voting for…
Vassar Missed Connection #0001 – In memory of Kimarlee Nguyen
My Vassar email is my missed connection. It is not unlike other Vassar emails— assigned to me by jamming the first two letters of my first name into my last…
Racializing disease, quantifying lives: COVID-19 isn’t an ecological cure
On March 19, 2020, President Bradley posted the following tweet: “How many lives has coronavirus saved in China due to less pollution? Ironic.” Current students and alumnae/i alike have responded…
To policymakers, health care is a right—but only during a pandemic
The current COVID-19 pandemic sheds light on a number of issues with public policy, and it’s difficult to think about anything but the virus these days. In the wake of…
Andrew Yang’s lesson in performing Americanness
Ever since his weak performance in the first Democratic debate back in June, Andrew Yang’s reputation has taken hit after hit. When your tie (or lack thereof) is the biggest…
Testing public health
The erosion of our country’s pandemic response resources started a while ago, when President Donald Trump named John Bolton his National Security Adviser in the spring of 2018. The appointment…
High-risk individuals are begging you to stay home
Please, stay home. As you know, we are in a pandemic, and to make sure we’re all on the same page, we should start with some facts: COVID-19 is an…