We should all have manual typewriters!

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Frankie Fierro, Barnard, English + Creative writing, Clifton NJ!

Claim to fame: I have a manual typewriter and a label maker. If you send me a Gcal invite to hang out I’ll never flake on you. 

Where are you going? Into the depths of my college email inbox to screenshot my favorite ones from over the years. I know they say our email is preserved after we graduate but I simply don’t trust them. 

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the class of 2028?

  1. You should visit every single library on Columbia’s website not just for nerdy amusement but to have unparalleled options for study spots when exam season rolls around and people are sitting in the stairwells with their laptops balanced on their knees. 
  2. Earnestness is actually very cool and will attract hot people into your life. 
  3. Bite the bullet and buy a high-quality mattress topper, not the flimsy ones from Target. You just need to believe me on this one. 

“Back in my day….” During COVID years (2021 and some of 2022), Barnard students could not swipe into Barnard dorm buildings they did not live in. Hanging out indoors was impossible and life was bleak. 

Favorite Columbia controversy? Not so much a controversy, but discovering who the parents of some of your classmates are is always a perverse delight. 

What was your favorite class at Columbia?

  • Creative Nonfiction with Christine Smallwood
  • Critical Writing with Margaret Vandenburg
  • The Art and Craft of the Diary with Jhumpa Lahiri
  • Creative Writing Senior Project with Ken Chen 
  • New York in 10 Objects with Alexandra Horowitz

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Anyone who has been blessed with the gift that is Mama’s Too pizza knows to say oral sex. 

Whom would you like to thank? My lovely lovely friends, the AZINE collective, every single professor who gave me an extension and was nice about it, the Columbia Evening Shuttle service, my trusty mirror I picked up from the sidewalk senior year of high school and has been in every dorm room since. Google Maps, tenfold. And my mother. 

One thing to do before graduating: Have your favorite people in your room and all talk for a minimum of eight hours straight, and bonus points if you start at 10pm or later <3 

Any regrets? I wish I had asked more people to get coffee with me and not thought too hard about it!  I wish I knew you’ll never really feel like you have a good enough reason to go to office hours, just embrace it and go anyway. I wish I realized sooner that I enjoyed class so much more when I did the readings!

Frankie via Frankie