Word on the Street
Word On The Street
When I tell people that I’m from Buffalo, NY I get two inaccurate responses: “that’s cool!” and “it’s cold there.” These people have never lived in Buffalo because it is neither cool nor cold.
In-toner-able Cruelty
I walked into a seminar last week and no one had any paper. We’d all read the PDF’s uploaded to Blackboard, but no one had bothered to print them out.
Street Walker
I look both ways before I cross the street. Twice. No, this is not a metaphor for a paralyzing fear of the world, nor is it a commentary on the nature of Philly cab drivers.
Back In Black(Berry)
You know that Ego of the Week question, “There are two types of people at Penn …”? Well, after a little social experiment I took part in these past couple of weeks, I would divide Penn into BlackBerry users and everyone else. It’s no surprise that smartphones took over campus long ago, but I didn’t realize the ubiquity of the BlackBerry in particular until I suddenly found myself without.
A Forgotten Dream?
If I had a nickel for every time a Penn student complained that classes started the week before Martin Luther King Day, I could stop using BURSAR.
Speaking Out
When I was a freshman, my Intro to Sociology professor began a lecture with the following question: “By a show of hands, how many of you agree with the statement ‘I am a feminist?’” In a room of over 100 students, only three hands went up.
Swine '09
I didn’t go to class last week. A disclaimer: I’m not one of those people — the kind who view lectures and seminars as obstacles to “experiencing college.” I love my classes.
The Long Walk Home
If, like me, you are silly and female, then you most likely walk home alone in the dead of the West Philadelphian night.
Because Who Doesn’t Want a Corsage?
When I think of Homecoming, I don’t necessarily think of football games or seeing old friends. I don’t think about tailgating or special alumni receptions or anything related to Penn, really. I think of high school dances. You know what I’m talking about.
Fuck Opportunities
Remember R. Kelly’s soulful jam “I Believe I Can Fly”? It was really big circa 1996. 1996, now that was a good year.
Hell Yes, Man
I have several nicknames — none of them good — that I would like to share with you: Negative Nancy, Pessimistic Polly, Debbie Downer and Fatty McLovehandles.
Pencils Down
Last Friday night, a mere 12 hours before I would sit for the impending doom that is also referred to as the LSATs, I called my mom for the requisite night-before-the-exam confidence booster.
Not Your Fifth Grade Fundraiser
When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite parts of the year was pre-Christmas fundraiser season.
NSOverrated?
New Student Orientation: the best week of the academic year. Giant parties, free (albeit watered-down) booze and no nagging schoolwork to ruin all of your fun.
Everything I Wanted To Know About Internships I Learned In Sex Ed
When I was in middle school, folks from the local Christian college came into my English class to convince us not to have sex until we were married.
The New Sincerity
April is my favorite month of the year. Another bleak winter is washed away by daytime showers. All of us who hibernate through the winter come out, and you are able to witness campus waking up from a deep sleep.
Fling's Most Wanted
I rarely got in trouble as a kid. Sure, I received the occasional detention for talking in class, but those ended shortly after I began copying lines from the blackboard.
Smack That
What’s wrong with kids today? It’s a question that has followed us from our jelly shoe-clad childhoods, to our MTV/TRL/TGIF loving adolescence, to our Not-Penn-State and definitely Not-Berkeley-circa-1960 University of Pennsylvania.
If You Build It, Will They Come?
I went to Mecca last year. I skipped out on a couple of Friday classes, packed a backpack with a change of clothes, and hopped on a train to New York.
