Heven thinks you should adopt a cat.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Heven Haile, CC, American Studies, Eritrea/Maryland

Claim to fame: being a cat parent 

Where are you going? anywhere the wind blows 

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2025?

  1. Adopt a cat!
  2. Don’t buy into toxic individualism. College can be such a lonely and isolating place, so show up for your friends. Watch more films. Treat people with empathy and kindness.
  3. Your soulmate is not at Columbia University, especially if they are a man. There are sooooo many abusers on campus so please be careful when dating and protect each other.

“Back in my day…” Nicki’s Monster verse was mandatory at a party 

Favorite Columbia controversy? The marching band dissolving djfhgjsdfhg

What was your favorite class at Columbia? 

Classes about Black people:

African-American Novel and the Question of Justice with Farah Griffin

Black Women, Performance, and the Politics of Style with Shirley C. Taylor

Black Radical Tradition in America with Craig Wilder

Film Classes:

Race and Aesthetics in Cinema with Viola Lasmana

Gender History & American Film with Hilary Hallett  

History classes:

US Intellectual History 1865-Present with Professor Blake

Classes with a Social Justice lens:

Race, Poverty and American Criminal Justice with Cathleen Price

Social factors & Psychopathology with Geraldine Downey

Race and Racisms with Nadia Abu El-Haj and Catherine Fennell

Abolition: A Social Justice Practicum with Alexis Hoag and Bernard Harcourt

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I’m lac toes in tol err ant.

Whom would you like to thank? My pets Percy, Coffee, and Patches. All those who stood up against abuse/abusers on this campus. My dear friends and those who have comforted me through breakdowns. James Baldwin, Beyoncé, Michaela Coel, Toni Morrison, Solange, Frank Ocean, Phoebe Bridgers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Barry Jenkins, Harry Styles, One Direction, Chipotle employees. My Twitter mutuals shjfbgdhsjfg love y’all. 

One thing to do before graduating: Receive a victorian love letter written under candlelight from someone.

Any regrets? Not studying abroad. Some friendships. Not starting a One Direction fan club. Not running into Timothée Chalamet. Also, I wish I joined Latenite earlier.

Image via Heven