Nick Biekert

You’ve all been waiting — and quite frequently complaining in the comments section — for this one. Ladies and gentlemen on the eve of his graduation: The Dark Hand, Bwog’s eternal shadow haunting the comment space, crusading for some sort of truth and justice, and until recently one of campus’ biggest mysteries. He’s still pretty mysterious, though.

Name, Hometown, School: Nick Biekert from Avon, Connecticut, SEAS

Claim to fame? I am the Dark Hand.

Where are you going? To destroy this post’s comment section…WITH NO SURVIVORS!

3 things you learned at Columbia:

1. The fire rises
2. It doesn’t matter who we are, what matters is our plan. No one cared who I was ‘til I put on the mask.
3. …Oh wait no those last two were just more Bane quotes. Sorry, sometimes I get confused. Since I have no actual wisdom of my own I’ll just quote Ralph Waldo Emerson and say that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Like all philosophers, and by extension all humans, he was full of shit. It’s ok though, I still think the quote rings true—and besides if people try to call you on your shit, just claim it’s a postmodernist critique of satire…or something.

Back in my day…Gateway was totally different, although still mildly enjoyable if your group and project were alright, no one talked about CPS or wellness, Theon Greyjoy still had his penis, and Courseworks was actually functional. Sorry Varsity Show, I stole that last one from you guys, and because I tend to avoid platitudes I’ll say you guys did a good job. I don’t know why Bwog has to hate.

…..

Oh yea, and I presume the Spec still sucked, although it’s not like I ever actually read the spec before I took up the crusade for truth and justice.

Bam.

Jennifer Wisdom

No, that’s not a typo.  On the eve of her graduation we have GSSC Student Body President Jennifer Wisdom, who gave us one of the best headlines ever.

Name, Hometown, School: Jennifer Wisdom, Dallas, Texas. GS

Claim to fame? Outside Columbia: CEO of my event planning company that creates custom full-cast murder mystery dinners and brings them to your door. My favorite event thrown in the city so far was a star trek whodunnit for an 70 year old trekkie woman, who spoke few words that evening but could still throw a mean vulcan salute. Inside Columbia: Student Body President for the General Studies Student Council, officer of the Political Science Students Association, Orientation Leader, Junior Marshall. I’m also the one who organizes all those themed scavenger hunts during GS orientations and is the one most likely to be seen busting out some sweet robot dance moves during Gala. Oh yes, and my candidacy gave Bwog the headline, Wisdom Outlasts Bacon.

Where are you going? I am getting married to my best friend of seven years in June, then we are spending some time in Europe. Then it’s back to NYC, where I will develop the Manhattan branch of my company and hopefully apply to SIPA for my MIA next year.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Allow yourself to change. The words of former GSSC President Jacqueline Thong have stuck with me since my first day of orientation. “Columbia is like a giant monster that sucks you up and spits you out a different person – likely, a better person.” What I took from her words is that yes, we are all badasses of the highest caliber, or we wouldn’t be here. But if we allow ourselves to be broken down, challenged, and even offended by our professors and our peers, we will emerge a better person. The “real world” needs better people, so don’t let your pride get in the way of your personal development.
   
2. Break out of the GS bubble. To those reading this that are in GS – make some friends that aren’t GS. Until you do this, stop complaining that we are treated differently. You perpetuate the stereotype by being so incestuous. To those in CC, SEAS and Barnard – make a constant effort to collect more than just your one token GS friend. You have more in common with one another than you think, and we can all teach each other a thing or two about breaking down stereotypes and uniting as one university. The greatest weapon we posses as students is our collective voice – this trend of solidarity has seen some great strides in undergraduate collaboration this year.
3. If at first you don’t succeed…go to someone else. Columbia is a bureaucracy and most likely you will be speaking to a lower rung on the chain of command when you have an issue – be it housing, financial aid, a low grade on a paper, or even lobbying for more nutella in the campus eateries. Be respectful, but also do your research to find out who else you can talk to if you don’t like the answer you are given. It has been my experience at Columbia that as long as you are resilient and respectful, you can make just about anything happen.

Back in my day… Orientation was not the pageantry it is today. GS didn’t have nearly as much of the core. Different deans roamed the halls of Lewisohn. Councils kept to themselves for the most part. Oh, and I had to walk uphill – both ways – with my Columbia housing…no joke.

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Illustration by Leila Mgaloblishvili

In the May issue of The Blue and White, Luca Marzorati blows his wad at Empire City casino. Get an issue in Lerner, or read from it online.

If you’re ever feeling lucky, take the 1 train all the way north. Get off at Van Cortlandt Park. Make sure your wallet is rife with crisp bills, peel off a few, and catch a ride to Empire City, a massive casino complex just north of the city line in Yonkers.

Tonight, on the train ride up, my friend and I meet a man with a hat that reads “DANGER: THIS VET IS PROTECTED FROM YOUR MEDICATION”; unperturbed by the train’s impending reversal south, he stays in his seat. Below the station is not a park, but the dirty intersection of 242nd Street and Broadway. Cars idle aimlessly and Manhattan College students loaf around, ducking into bodegas for beer, cigarettes, or whatever else Manhattan College students buy at 7 p.m. on a Friday night.

We look to hire a car. A cabbie standing under the subway tracks offers to take us for $15. We decline, and walk up the block, searching for cigars. As we emerge empty-handed from the corner store, a car in the middle of an intersection honks—it’s our recently-rejected cabbie. We pile in the back seat, unsure if our initial rejection brought our fare down. Our driver, built like a boar, burps frequently, and asks us if we are going to the “cassss-ino,” stretching the “s” for no apparent reason. We tell him we’re starting with the horses. A slickster in the passenger seat with a billowing cream shirt and dark sunglasses says nothing for the entire ride. His relation to the cabbie is unclear.

We arrive at Yonkers Raceway, adjacent to the casino, as the sun sets. The breeze whips around the half-mile oval, and crowds of old men huddle under the heat lamps near the betting windows. Before we even place a bet, we are asked to prove our age. We do, and though 18 is New York’s betting age, we seem to be the only gamblers under 50. (more…)

Sylvie Krekow

Another member of the Bwog/Blue & White (note the ampersand) family: Sylvie Krekow, rower and sweatpants-clad managing editor of the Blue & White.  Congrats on graduating today!

Name, Hometown, School: Sylvie Krekow, Sun Valley, Idaho, BC

Claim to fame: Former managing editor of The Blue & White (pro-ampersand contingent), rower, fratstar. If we’ve had class together, you probably know me as “that sweatpants girl.”

Where are you going? You know, I never liked that Dave Matthews song, and now it’s stuck in my head.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

• It’s okay to tell your professors if you’re having a hard time in life and it’s adversely affecting your schoolwork. If you’re honest and upfront with them, most of them will be incredibly kind, understanding, and helpful. And, if they’re not, you can talk to your class dean — or at least write a heinous review of them when it’s time for class evals.
• You can pre-order Chipotle online, and when it’s time to pick it up, you can hop in front of all those poor saps waiting for their carnitas and guac and grab your perfectly-wrapped ‘rrito. I learned this trick junior year, and I value it more than anything I ever learned in “Confessions” (yes, Barnard girls read Augustine too).
• In class, listen. Just listen. I wish I had learned this earlier, because I was probably the most annoying, loud-mouth, hand-raised-constantly freshman ever, but at least I got it eventually (apologies to everyone who put up with me while I definitely did not get it). Your professors are incredibly knowledgeable, and you’ll have lots of time to express your own thoughts in papers or office hours or with your friends over a growler at Mel’s, but you only have so much time in the classroom. Use it wisely.
• Okay, sorry, I know this is four, and at this point, with the Chipotle thing, I’m treading dangerously thin “dumb athlete” ice (ugh) but: there is a “simple English” language on Wikipedia. If you haven’t cracked open a science book since high school and you desperately need to understand something like spacetime to pass your science requirement, you’re welcome.

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Elizabeth Power

Elizabeth Power, powerhouse of this year’s KCST run and the woman who puts all those “JJ 4 life!!!” people to shame.

Name, Hometown, School: Elizabeth Power, New York City, CC

Claim to fame? I’m the current grande dame of John Jay, having lived there for three out of my four years here—this year, I’m actually the RA on the floor I lived on as a freshman. Nifty, right? Full circle! Closure! Back in my salad days, I was in various shows on campus (including V117), but then I realized that I like power and control even more than attention, so I switched to directing! Now my major claim to theatrical fame is that I was the first person in a while (maybe ever?) to direct a fall show and a spring show for KCST in the same academic year. I’m also a champion long-distance blue-binner.

Where are you going? I only very recently realized that I have zero desire to work in theater in any professional capacity, so I’m a little mentally adrift right now. Starting after Memorial Day, I’ll be working for a commercial real estate lawyer in midtown and tutoring while I wrestle with my demons and maybe eventually apply to grad school.

3 things you learned at Columbia:

• The John Jay laundry room will eat your quarters and leave your clothes a weird grayish-blue color. It’s also full of roaches. Until it’s renovated, just go to Hartley. (Pro tip: the Wallach vending machine on the far right will give you quarters if you put in a 1 or 5-dollar bill and push the change button.)
• If you need to be in a library to do work, that is completely fine. I think there’s some real value in separating your life-space from your work-and-stress place. On the other hand, if you’re trimming your bangs in Butler, it is Time To Leave. (THAT IS A REAL THING THAT I SAW ONCE ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.)
• Quit apologizing for your own power/intelligence/authority. Reason 1: It’s self-sabotaging. Reason 2: It’s annoying. This is a particularly important lesson for anyone in a leadership position—”leadership” has become a dumb, empty word, but you know what I mean. If you’re running shit, run your shit and don’t apologize for it. Don’t be afraid to challenge people, to demand and expect good work from them. Make no bones about the fact that you’re going to be demanding, and you’ll get more respect and better results than if you were constantly hemming and hawing and trying to be all buddy-buddy with everyone. The same lesson applies to talking in class: I cringe to think of how many times I prefaced comments with “This might be stupid, but…” NO. If you’re making a statement, own it. Apologizing for your words doesn’t change the fact that they’re taking up your classmates’ time and attention, so just suck it up and take some ownership. I gained so much confidence and self-respect when I finally learned how to do that.

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Steven Castellano

To close out the night, we bring you the man who brought you the honor code, P/D/F policy, automated add/drop and online waitlists, and many more…

Name, Hometown, School: Steven Castellano; Middletown, NJ; Columbia College (Biophysics)

Claim to fame? For most of my time, I was a chill, friendly guy who encouraged everyone to relax,

But. This. Semester. I. Suddenly.

Became.  Quite. Incredibly. Enormously. Absurdly. And. Severely.

Yet. Shockingly. Accidently. And. Somewhat. Inexplicably.

(Sometimes. Even. Nationally.)

Controversial.

For. Very. Many. Reasons.

And. It. Actually.  Will. Not. Stop.

I’m going to greatly miss this place for both experiences.

Where are you going? I think Columbia makes you progressively know less about where you are going.  Isn’t the journey the destination?  Having said that, I particularly have no idea where I’m going in just a few weeks once graduation comes around.  I want to do something socially and intellectually stimulating that taps into a variety of my interests as effectively as this school and community do.  I’m not sure what that means either, but let me know if you find anything.

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Matthew Schantz

Part of the BWorld, Matt Schantz.

Name, Hometown, School: Matthew Schantz, Bryn Mawr, PA, CC; Russian Literature & English

Claim to fame? Bad puns, gross tofu, dick jokes.

Where are you going? After writing a thesis on the foundational works of Socialist Realist literature, I’m doing the only thing that makes sense—writing agitprop for a Left-wing publishing house in Brooklyn. After that, who knows!

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Make time to hang out/ make out/ chill out/ space out/ bro out. It’s important!
   
2. In the final scene of Anna Karenina one of the main characters is strolling along when he has a revelation: He resolves to change everything about his life, to live with the utmost moral scrutiny, to treat everyone with absolute respect. Moments later, he’s in his carriage and finds himself cursing the cab driver. After beating himself up for not living up to his plan to treat everyone fairly, he realizes that’s ok. He has failed but will try again. Lesson: Dream up wild manifestos of self-betterment and plans to change the world, but don’t get too upset when you and others inevitably fail to live up to your new standards. Keep trying. And try to treat everyone with the same forgiving spirit with which you would like to be treated—they’re trying too.
3. Try to keep a sense of humor in everything you do. If you’re taking yourself so seriously that you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re probably not being critical of what you’re doing. There’s also a good chance that you’re no fun.

Back in my day… There were fewer ways to share pictures of your lunch via social media and Puppy Cops were still together.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I don’t think my existence is any more justified/ needs any more justification than anyone else’s. 

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Illustrations by Elisa Mirkil

Another article from the May issue of The Blue and White. Read on forthe final installment of managing editor Anna Bahr’s three-part series on the student debt at Columbia. This last part looks at General Studies. To review the first two pieces, which examine student loans in CC/SEAS and financial aid for international students, please visit theblueandwhite.org.

Just two years ago, Peter Awn, Dean of the School of General Studies, described the limited financial aid available to GS students as “untenable.” That year, GS students received, “percentage-wise, functionally half the financial aid dollars that [were] available to Columbia College students,” a dearth cornering GS undergrads into a future of student debt. Today, GS has surpassed its $25 million fundraising goal as part of the university-wide Campaign for Undergraduate Education—92 percent of which Awn estimates will expand the aid pool in the form of scholarships and grants. With this addition, he believes “the school has turned a corner.”

Awn’s optimism for the future of Columbia’s nontraditional undergraduate college surprised me. Nearly every GS student I interviewed shared a common grievance—the same frustration echoed in opinion pieces in the Spectator and desperate Bwog comments for years—that the value of a Columbia degree is compromised when it demands that scholars be borrowers.

When Hal Levy, GS ’14, graduates, he will owe nearly $160,000 in private student loans. “If I don’t go bankrupt, at the very least I will have no spending money for ten years. I’ll probably be wearing these same ratty clothes, trying to pay off my loans,” he sighed. GS prides itself on being one of a kind—a unique education, nonexistent at other Ivies, in which a diverse collection of nontraditional students earn traditional bachelor’s degrees. But its current program remains a feasible option for only one kind of student: he who can readily afford it. (more…)

Chris Silverberg

Name, Hometown, School: Chris Silverberg, Dallas, Texas, Columbia College.

Claim to fame? Lots of theater and singing on campus, much of it with KCST, The Varsity Show (acted in 117, directed V119), and Nonsequitur. Showing up 10 minutes late to meetings, rehearsals, etc. Skipping whatever it was you asked me to do to do VShow instead. Clogging your news feed with the Chris Silverberg All-Nighter Liveblog™. All that said, at heart, I’m just a Barnard Boy.

Where are you going? Home to Dallas for a while, then back to NYC for a while (depending on how bearable/unbearable I find Texas), then off to England for two years to teach a British boys’ boarding school. I’m practicing my Robin Williams/Sidney Poitier impression right now.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. The Circle of Admiration. No matter who you are at Columbia, there is someone that you admire, about whom you think, “wow, I would be so much better/happier/cooler/more interesting/more accomplished/more whatever if I were like that person.” But what you don’t realize is that there is someone that person says the same thing about. And there is someone saying that same thing about you. And so we’re all in a huge circle of inadequacy/admiration, but remembering that we’re all in it together sometimes helps. (By the way, someone once told me that would make for a pretty awesome vshow number. You’re welcome, 120).
   
2. Every experience is a resource, including college/Columbia as a whole, and it’s your right and privilege to take from that resource what you want/need/can gain from it, so long as you aren’t hurting anyone as you do so. At a certain point, I figured out that what I needed from Columbia wasn’t really the intellectual stimulation I got from classes during my first two or three years, and what I needed was to learn how to interact with people better, how to lead people, etc. So I stopped going to class and started directing plays. (Disclaimer for future employers: I mean, I still went to class… sometimes). But I wasted a lot of time feeling bad about that—thank God for the friends who helped me figure it all out.
3. People are really great, and at the end of they day other people are what counts and basically nothing else does, so make sure you put the people around you first and it’ll be hard to screw up too bad.

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Mary Byers

Bwog staff has (for the most part) descended into summer hibernation.  To celebrate both this resting period and the Class of ’13′s impending graduation ceremonies, we will exclusively be publishing Senior Wisdoms (along with a Blue and White piece or two that we really enjoyed) for the rest of the week.  First up today: Queen of SEAS Mary Byers.

Name, Hometown, School: Mary Byers. Portland, OR. SEAS.

Claim to fame? SEAS 2013 Class President for four years running (freshman year, Carman 6 ~*~shoutout~*~ began calling me the Queen of SEAS and I’ve shamelessly never really stopped anyone since), COÖP enthusiast, and I achieved the dream of having my own spread in the Columbia Blue Guide.

Oh and for some reason GreyStone Apartments is using my face on their CUID in their colorful banner ad on the right side of Bwog, which is totally weird.  Is that a claim to fame??

Where are you going? Returning to my Pacific Northwest roots! Moving to Seattle, WA to work for Amazon.com

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Everybody here is at least a little neurotic in their own special way.  People manifest it differently, and there’s something to learn from everyone.
   
2. You must take risks at Columbia.  This is not the place to play it safe.
3. Life at Columbia gets a lot easier when you check your FOMO at the door.  There are far too many things to do and too many people to see here to spend your time wondering where you could have gone or who you could have hung out with last night.  Facebook doesn’t really help with this at all, but it helps to realize that people are probably trying to make it look like they’re having more fun than you anyway.

Back in my day… The Center for Student Advising didn’t have as much glass paneling, it was a lot harder to print stuff on campus (thank you Print@CU + a special nod to D.Hu for OwlPrinters), and upperclassmen were jealous of our SEAS beanies.

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David Fine

Here we have one of Bwog’s favorite green sock wearers: David Fine.

Name, Hometown, School: David Fine, Dallas, TX, CC

Claim to fame? Editor of The Current, wearer of green socks, SGB chair.

Where are you going? Working in New York, occasionally reliving the glory days with fellow CU alumni on Low Steps heckling current students.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Everyone talks about a triangle with work, sleep, and socializing at each corner, saying you need to pick two points to succeed. That is the biggest load of codswallop you’ll hear here (and there’s certainly a lot of codswallop floating around, least of which is my own). Don’t make charts for how you should live your life. Instead, figure out what balance works for you and stick with it. When it stops working for you, change it—even in the same day, even in the same hour! The stuff that we call socializing here should enhance every other aspect of your time at Columbia, especially academics. In sum: fret less about how you should do Columbia, and just do it.
2. All is fair in love and war (with administrators) and finding open booths at 1020. It’s the last that you truly must perfect if you’re to have any success at all. Here’s a good story that explains all three. I love Barnard, I think it’s the best. When last semester Barnard Student Life imposed a pre-approval on student fliers, as SGB chair I knew it was my job to help fix something I love. I sat down with a Barnard administrator for over an hour trying to explain that this policy was bad and that they wouldn’t win a fight with SGB or other student groups over this. As the meeting was winding down, the administrator sincerely looked me in the eye and pleaded, “I hope I could’ve said something in this meeting that would avoid you opposing us on this.” I said something like, “suspend the policy immediately and work with us on creating a new one.” The administrator deadpanned, “we won’t do that.” We both looked at each other and kind of shrugged, shook hands, and went our separate ways. It was basically a declaration of war. Less than a week after that meeting Barnard had repealed the policy. So, if you’re keeping track, I’ve got love (for Barnard) and war (with administrators), what does this have to do with 1020 booths? The first rule of securing 1020 booths is that when you jump into a just emptied booth, you must stare down any would-be booth thieves without blinking. You must be vigilant and you must be steadfast in your commitment to the booth. I applied the same principles when faced with obstinate administrators, broken bureaucracy, and intransigent interests at Columbia. Everything I learned worth knowing, I learned at 1020. (more…)

What you should prep for

Underclassmen have to be out of housing by noon tomorrow (eek!!!), but there’s still tonight to live it up, get on with your bad self, and appreciate Columbia culture.  To help with all three of them, the band Sun Looks Down (Diana Flanagan, CC’15, David Su, Spencer Horstman, Jacob Sunshine, all CC’14) is putting on a last concert tonight at 9 pm in 112 Dodge Hall.  The concert will also showcase Taylor Simone, CC’14, and Wheatchief (David Beal, Joe Bucciero, and Michael Blair, all CC’15).  Get out there and have some fun before it all comes to an end and you have to go back to the suburbs where all your high school friends are still putting on crappy basement concerts covering Blink 182.

IT via Shutterstock

Christine Liu

Hear from Christine Liu, co-president of Engineers Without Borders.

Name, Hometown, School: Christine Liu, Nutley, NJ, SEAS (Chemical Engineering)

Claim to fame? Being the first to die in the 2010 CU Assassins games, Co-President of a silly group of passionate engineers. I’ve been told I make funny faces.

Where are you going? Some streets down and a few avenues over, working at one of those consulting firms until I figure out what to do with the rest of my life. But before that, Guatemala to work at an NGO and play with small children!

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. It’s ok to fail. I got the lowest midterm grade in my freshman year Adv Gen Chem course and almost failed a course Junior year and am still somehow graduating employed. I probably learned the most from my own failures during my time here and how to bounce back from a seemingly hopeless situation.
2. Smile and say hi to people you’ve met when you pass them. It’s polite and beats pretending to read a non-existent text. My peers are what made my experience at Columbia, more than my actual classes and professors.
3. Don’t be afraid to quit things. College is a time to explore and figure out what makes you, you. If something isn’t making you happy (an activity, a friend group, a major), don’t be afraid to drop it and focus on something else. Yes, even in SEAS it’s possible to change your major/minors up to a certain point. Find what you love and stick with that.

Back in my day… People paid full price for a Deluxe burger, Broadway between 119th and 120th was a constant construction zone, JJ’s chicken fingers and fries weren’t bottomless and each bite was savored

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: Engineers Without Borders. (Sigma Omega Beta), Meh, Moo

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Daniel Bonner

Name, Hometown, School: Daniel Bonner; Johannesburg, South Africa and Dallas, Texas, USA; Columbia College

Claim to fame? Gave you $$ as SGB Vice Chair, spent it as Hillel & Yavneh Prez. Founder, BonnerJams90 Inc.

Where are you going? Staying in the city to work, finally explore below 110th street, and see how long I can stay away from College Walk after graduation (1-2 days, tops – see instagram)

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. In case you haven’t heard me scream this from the Sundial before: things will never be this good. That’s not meant to be depressing — life will be awesome. But rarely, if ever, will you once again have this amount of time to stay up all night “writing a paper” but really just enjoying one extended life talk with friends; to plan a day of activities and land up running into a friend and spend it instead sitting on Low Steps; to introduce yourself to some random person you’ve always wanted to meet and gain a lifelong friend…you graduate from here with a Columbia degree, which is cool, but also with a more intangible, though much more meaningful group of Columbia friends. Would I take out those loans again for the degree? I think so. But for the friends? No question about it.
   
2. Speaking of time – I learned not to waste it at the package center. One great option offered last year – order packages to your friends mailboxes and be grateful when they bring your stuff back. But if it’s Amazon, order your stuff to an amazon locker at Rite Aid. You just walk in, punch in a code, and voila. The stuff always arrives on time. It’s amazing. All good if you ignore everything else in this senior wisdom — but follow this advice. (more…)

Steele Sternberg

First up today: Steele Sternberg, future teacher extraordinaire: 

Name, Hometown, School: Steele Sternberg, Denver, Colorado (i.e., the greatest place in the universe), CC

Claim to fame? I went through all of Columbia without pulling an all-nighter for academic-related reasons. I worked with a number of really great groups on campus including Academic Success Programs, COÖP, Latenite Theatre, the Spectator Editorial Board, and the URC. You have also probably heard me yelling far too loudly about something at some point.

Where are you going? I’m going to teach or, more accurately, learn how to teach! I’m doing this very cool new program where you teach at a boarding school for two years and get a master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania (my loyalties shall always lie with Alma). I’ll be moving from NYC to rural Connecticut for the job. It’s going to be a change, but no loss of restaurant options can make up for the number of new stars I’ll be able to see at night.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Every day when you wake up and walk out the door you have to power to make someone else’s day really awesome or really shitty. As much as we all like to imagine ourselves as incredibly independent and self-sufficient people, I have found that, in my own experience at least, I am incredibly dependent on the kindness and support of my friends to make or break my experience here. It’s somewhat frightening to think that you may have that much importance in the happiness and success of others, but it can also be incredibly empowering to realize that, every day, you have the opportunity to make someone else feel incredibly valued and appreciated.
   
2. Our collective ability to experience nostalgia for things from the 90’s like Space Jam and denim is unparalleled and provides infinite entertainment.
3. It is actually okay to talk to other people about your feelings! When I came to Columbia I thought that my emotions were merely superficial ailments that ought to be cast aside in my pursuit of some kind of purely rational perfection. That was both naïve and detrimental to my mental health. Learning how to talk about your psychology can open up much deeper and more substantive relationships with other people and help your own health in the process.

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