Last week, my roommate and I were discussing our favorite early 2000s rom-coms (with "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" at the top of the list, obviously), when she asked, "Hailey, are you against plastic surgery?" This question may seem abrupt, but it represented the accumulation of critical bits and pieces of our conversation: Samantha Jones in Sex and the City (Season 2, Episode 3, "The Freak Show"), the popularization of discussing cosmetic procedures on social media and the ways in which the female body has been turned into a trend. Ultimately, we had a meaningful conversation about what it means to powerfully embody or succumb to femininity, and how it has looked for us and those we care about as we enter our twenties. Let's map it out:

1. 1. Samantha Jones and "The Freak Show"

In Season 2, Episode 3 of Sex and the City, everyone's favorite character (I won't hear out conflicting opinions) Samantha Jones has a plastic surgery crisis. After a younger man she spends the night with comments that she is an "older woman," Samantha decides that she wants to get plastic surgery. Miranda comments, "Whatever happened to aging gracefully?" with Carrie quipping "It got old!" and with that, Samantha is off to her very exclusive, very expensive Manhattan surgeon. With the initial expectation being that the doctor is going to inject fat from other body parts into her face, making her appear "younger," Samantha is surprised when the doctor begins marking up her entire body, recommending a laundry list of procedures that he feels she needs. In the final scene of this Samantha-saga, Samantha stares at herself in the mirror - more marker than skin - while circus music mockingly plays in the background.

2. If Samantha Jones were on TikTok

If Samantha Jones were on TikTok, I doubt she would have been surprised by her surgeon's markings - in fact, she may have just grabbed the marker and kept on drawing. Today's social media algorithms are saturated with surgeries that you just have to get if you want to get rid of your buccal fat and fix your eyelid skin and add to your hips and take away from your waist. We speak about plastic surgery so casually now, with many online influencers preaching transparency when getting work done.

This phenomenon presents the issue that my roommate and I began to discuss: We are living in a world that has begun to reward plastic surgery as a feminist choice, and thus you are either a good feminist if you support it or a bad one of you don't. The thing is, we both agreed that we do support plastic surgery. Not only do we support a woman's choice to do absolutely anything she wants, especially if it's something that improves her quality of life, but it is also, frankly, nobody's business.

What I realized that I don't support, though, is the subtext behind why we live in a society where I will take up arms for women who just want to get botox in peace. No decision is made in a vacuum, and thus while someone like Samantha may tell her friends that her plastic surgery is strictly for self-empowerment purposes, the voice of the man who called her an "older woman" will still ring in her ears, and behind that, an entire culture and industry that has tried to sell away the overwhelming feeling that a woman is never enough as she is.

3. Shapeshifting: from 2006 to 2016 to 2026

Just because we haven't always been able to watch plastic surgery before-and-afters on targeted iPhone algorithms, doesn't mean that these messages haven't been in the female consciousness for decades. As we wrapped up our discussion of Samantha Jones, my roommate and I began to dissect women's bodies in early-2000s media, particularly in the romcom genre, and how public perception of the "ideal woman" has changed. In these older romcoms, the ideal woman is paper-thin, devoid of any curves, just tall and slender. Commentary is constantly being made about what these women eat, which perfectly-normal women are "fat" and what fads the characters are trying to attempt to lose weight. What is so compelling is that these tidbits are almost never the media's main plot, rather they are stitched neatly into the seams of the script, so casually that you might not have even noticed them until you were re-watching. However, when pieced together, the message is loud and clear: you need to eat less, take up less space, to be desirable.

Ten years later, the early-2010s introduced a new ideal woman. Fueled by an explosion in Kim Kardashian's Instagram following, this new ideal woman was all about curves, and plastic surgery fads were more popular than ever. This was an era of BBLs and boob jobs, augmentations in women's bodies that were superficially about confidence, but held underlying messages of needing to have bigger "assets" to be seen as attractive and worthy of social connection. In this world, the early 2000s ideal woman is not the one the men or the people of Instagram want - she is the one in the before pictures.

The thing about trends is that they cycle. In the early-to-mid 2020 period we now exist in, the 2000s it-girl is the ideal again. Our algorithms are flooded with ab exercises and disordered eating content and celebrities in Kim Kardashian's tax bracket are reversing their 2016 procedures and replacing them with new procedures, ones that will help them take up as little space as possible.

We can never win, and I am mourning it. Our curves, our stomachs, our breasts, our faces have become commodities that go in and out of style right along with shoes and handbags. Though we might have once been able to say "You can't buy a different body!" we definitely cannot anymore. I mourn for Samantha Jones crying in her surgeon's office, for the twelve-year-old girls who are saving their pennies for a nose job, for anyone whose eating, exercising or existing habits have been taken apart by "pretty" culture.

Yesterday, another one of my roommates sent me a TikTok with the caption, "Has anyone thought of spending all of their money on plastic surgery to get to level 10 baddie and then just make all of the money back through pretty privilege on social media?" The most liked comment read, "I feel like it's a better investment than a college degree." We were both shocked, ultimately agreeing that, as feminists, we cannot tear down women who feel they must fight their way through life with beauty alone. What we should tear down, though, is the system that makes them feel they have to.

Hailey Finkelstein is a junior from Ardsley, N.Y. majoring in Medicine, Science and the Humanities. Her column shares miscellaneous prose on current issues, the collective Hopkins experience and growing up with a pen in hand.

When I was little, I always hoped I would get glasses. I used to believe that somehow my vision would diminish enough for me to wear them, that my braces could match the lenses perched on my nose. Only with glasses, I thought, could I truly see who I wanted to become. Perhaps then, I could see the future clearly.

I remember lying at appointments, purposely mixing up my D's and O's, hoping to trick the doctor into prescribing lenses. But the lies never worked. In time, life gave me glasses anyway, and now, how I wish I could go back to seeing letters clearly. No amount of lying can retrieve the vision I've lost.

My frames have changed four times. The first pair was purple; after that, they remained a consistent shade of brown and cream. When my world was enclosed in purple, I believed I could see my future clearly. But those lenses soon reflected only the glow of screens when the pandemic hit, and my world shrank to four walls. The same walls I meant to paint, wishing it would fix something, make it stick to the cement. I watched my future slip from my grasp, and I let it.

Eventually, I changed my prescription. My new frames, in shades of brown, helped me see clearly again, but this time, my vision filled with college applications. I started wearing them less and less. My future was there, but I couldn't bear to look at it, at the possibility of failure that haunted me. Each time I took my glasses off and tossed them into my bag, they grew more scratched, waiting for the moment I'd accept that my future needed to be faced, not feared.

When I came to Hopkins, I changed my prescription once more. For the first time in years, I wore my glasses consistently. I even adjusted parts of my personality to fit in with others. But a few months in, I realized my prescription was wrong. The headaches and the unease within me were signs that I was failing to look my future in the eye. I was staring at the ground instead, letting my insecurities walk all over me.

So, I stopped wearing them again. I squinted in classrooms, excusing my fears by saying I didn't have my glasses, even though they were right there in my bag. I walked across campus without them, sacrificing the chance to enjoy the beautiful trees lining the walkways. Sometimes, I left them off just to avoid saying hello, afraid people could see right through me.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that's true, then glasses must be the enhancers. When I wore mine, it felt like people could see that I wasn't being honest with myself, and that terrified me. It was frightening to live a life of hiding and not seeing.

I was diagnosed with myopia and astigmatism; I see the world in lines, blurs and confusion. Only now do I realize that I've been seeing my future in the same way, unfocused, distorted. The lies I told myself about who I was and what I needed only clouded my vision further.

I still have an inner debate every morning about whether to wear my glasses. But as my future approaches and the pressure builds, I'm beginning to understand that wearing them is the best choice. Even if they get scratched, they still allow me to see ahead, to look toward a future I can finally be proud of.

Johnalys Ferrer is a junior from Arecibo, Puerto Rico studying Medicine, Science and the Humanities. Her column explores how culture, identity and the fight to belong live on, reminding us that heritage is not only remembered but echoed daily.

Most days, you can find me in a child's pose on a yoga mat either at the studio, next to my bed at home or on the hardwood stretching before my ballet class. It's nothing extravagant, and often my stretching varies from a few quick minutes before class to an hour and half before bed. No matter what time of day or where I'm at, yoga and my stretching routine have given me stability and structure during times of tumultuous change.

My stretching routine has quietly followed me through the years from my childhood home to my first year of college, in the shared space of my college dorm. I'm not exactly sure why I started over 10 years ago. As a young child, I was not naturally flexible. I couldn't even reach my toes at a doctor's visit. Maybe, my desire to become more flexible grew with my interest in dance. Or maybe, per my natural temperament, not being good at something ignited a spark in me to work toward becoming better. Ultimately, I think it was probably a combination. The steadiness of having something to return to and a routine that gave me purpose and kept me grounded.

I learned how to stretch from YouTube videos. Just like how the modern world has become digitalized to our fingertips, the list of videos were nothing short of abundant. I'd sit on the hard tiles in my basement each day, following tutorials and using footstools in place of yoga blocks. My initial interest turned into a habit as I realized stretching was a practice that demanded consistency and gradual work. While there are many days where stretching felt like a chore, it taught me early lessons on how to show up for myself even when I didn't want to. And even if I wasn't feeling up to it, the act of following through and "finishing" always made me feel better than when I had started.

There's something restorative about being able to reset just by working through a few stretches or pedaling out your feet in a downward facing dog. As The Body Keeps The Score thoughtfully articulated and from brain science courses, stress shows up in many unconscious ways within. Whether it's with a tight jaw or furrowed brow, chronic stress puts the body system in an overdrive fight or flight mode and restructures the brain (structurally and functionally) over an extended period of time. Personal goals of flexibility aside, having some form of movement where I can play my favorite music and decompartmentalize has done wonders to help me reconnect with myself.

Learning to take up space for myself was one of the greatest lessons I've learned in college. Taking up space to stretch doesn't require any more than the length of a yoga mat. But learning that I am deserving to take up space as a person has been a lifelong journey. It's important to take up space, give energy when deserved, and as I've learned from stakeholders in my life, it's possible to hold space for more than one thing at a time.

Below are some of my favorite stretches and a 10 minute flow that have become a staple in my daily routine. Feel free to copy and paste into your browser for visuals.

• In a seated position, start with head, neck and shoulder rolls
• Ankle circles/rolls
• Cat/Cow back stretches
• Seated hamstring stretch or a pike (both legs extended with flexed and pointed feet)
• Standing forward fold
• Half Pigeon (both sides)
• Crossed leg seated forward fold (Optional: stack one knee on top of other, then switch)
• Deep lunge, then elbows on ground
• Quad stretch in lunge (grab back foot)
• Press into hamstring stretch half split
• If you can: Side split (both sides, pointed and flexed, upright and leaning/folding forward), then middle split (Optional: use props to get further)
• To finish, Bridge/Backbend

Note: I like to do roughly 30 seconds for each stretch/side.

Anne Li is a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y. majoring in Neuroscience.

Amid the usual onslaught of midterms and essays, it becomes startlingly easy to lose your grasp on time. The clock hands turn a little too fast for our liking, hours slip away to Brody study sessions and anxious Gradescope submissions, and days become measured not by sunset or sunrise but instead how many energy drinks you've downed.

During one lecture, my friend leans over, while we're not focusing on plane-to-plane transformations, to ask: "Can you believe it's already Halloween? What are you doing this weekend?"

The question stings. How is it almost November? How is it that I've already spent two and a half months scrawling down Baltimore, MD on addresses for envelopes? How is it that so little and yet so much time has passed, and nothing feels changed?

Time is strangely doubled in college. Each day stretches on, labored and asymptotic, but each week disappears with a quiet violence.

You tell yourself - you'll go back to that one restaurant. You'll call your mom and your dad and your brother and tell them you love them. You'll walk that one tree-lined block again before the leaves lose themselves to the cold cement, and then you'll blink. You'll remember all the leaves have already fallen, crunched to a fine brown dust. They're gone: Everything lives in hindsight here.

So then, what happened during that lost time? Have I changed: become smarter, kinder, better? Or have I performed the motions of growing up, to keep moving forward even when it all feels suspended?

Think on how it all happens so rapidly and imperceptibly: the person I was in August, back home in Oklahoma, still lingers somewhere, faint but not gone. That's the strange mercy of it: Our younger selves cling to us, just barely discernible. We don't notice as younger parts of us slowly molt away; we only realize our new changes when it's too late. It's not transformation so much as quiet erosion, and that's what softens the inevitable blow.

Still, there's that faint, persistent ache that comes knowing each version of myself is temporary. That this very moment, even this sentence, is already in the process of leaving me.

But even as the leaves mottle, the days collapse into themselves, and my hair inevitably turns brittle in the shower's silver gleam, there is still something bright and lovely in simply being here, awake and uncertain, yet alive with the weight of it all.

"Yes, Lord, I come to you today pleading for all of the aches of age, all of the permanent and immovable damage you have to offer.

Yes, there are moments I have spent and will continue to spend in a mirror, massaging products onto my skin and slowly washing them off, if not to delay the very things I am now welcoming, at least to make them as luminous as possible.

Do not be fooled by the weapons I refuse to lay down.

I come to you today with gratitude in knowing the fight cannot be won.

Let the hair turn its drab colors and, perhaps, slowly begin to depart down the drain."

- Hanif Abdurraqib, There's Always This Year

Thansi Garikipati is a freshman from Edmond, Okla., studying Biophysics.

Women's Basketball: W (75-59), W (59 - 35)

The women's basketball team faced Morgan State in an exhibition game at the opposing team's campus, also in Baltimore. This game proved the Jays' dominance, as they are a DIII team and they conquered a DI team. In the first two quarters, Hopkins outscored the Bears. Morgan State did put up a good fight during the second half, but the Jays had scored enough to maintain their lead.

Saturday's game was also away, but this time further in York, PA. Seniors Macie Feldman and Emily Collins each had 10 rebounds. Additionally, six Blue Jays recorded steals for a total of twenty by the team (compared to York's 7) which kept the game moving and the ball in Hopkins' possession. Junior Layla Henderson put up the most points for a total of 11. Women's basketball returns to the court next against Washington College for a conference matchup.

Women's Field Hockey: W (2-1 (2 OT)), L (1-2 (OT))

This week brought the final four matchup at Trinity College in the national DIII tournament. Hopkins senior Zoey Bennet scored in the second minute of play to put the Jays on the board first. Babson tied the game later in the first quarter. Both teams had stunning defense at work as the game went into not one, but two overtimes. Junior Sophia Albano scored her sixth goal of the season in the seventy-seventh minute of play to send the Blue Jays to the final.

With Sunday came the long-awaited championship game. Starting the game, Hopkins was ranked #2 with a 22-1 record, and Tufts was ranked #6 in the national DIII standings. This game was Hopkins field hockey's fourth national championship appearance. The action in the game started with a goal by a Tufts player in the first quarter. Not two minutes later, junior Eliza Vander knocked one into the net to even the score. The next three quarters would go scoreless, but not with a lack of trying. Each team had eight shots on goal, but Tufts was able to capitalize on the reduced number of players on the field during OT. Field hockey's season may not have ended exactly how they wanted, but there's no denying they put up an amazing fight throughout the season.

Men's Cross Country

Cross country took on the National DIII Championships this weekend. Senior Emmanuel Leblond became the first Hopkins student ever to take the individual national title. After being named the Centennial Conference Runner of the Year, he took the success from the season and channeled it into speed. Leblond had placed sixth at last year's National Championship, but a cheetah-like stride and smart pacing landed him a time of 23:35.0, which won him the honor. His victory helped the Jays to take sixth as a team, which is the second-highest the team has ever placed at Nationals. With over two-hundred competitors in this 8K race, a nineteenth place finish by freshman Anthony Clark was also a remarkable feat. He was the fastest freshman in the entire field, so don't forget to look out for him next year and watch him rise.

Men's Basketball: W (79 - 73), W (77-69)

After a 1-1 start to the season, this week was a strong confidence boost for the men's basketball team. Their first matchup was away against Rowan University in NJ. Hopkins scored six more points in the first half, but both teams put up an equal number of points in the second. Help from senior Charlie Jackson and junior Nick Klaiber cemented the win for the Jays as they both put up a game leading sixteen points. Jackson was also a beast on rebounds getting thirteen, with the next top Hopkins player getting eight.

Their second matchup was against Eastern University in PA. Hopkins put up a similar amount of points as the last game, and the max (22) came once again by Jackson. Also playing with power was sophomore Wyatt Eglinton Manner who scored twenty-one points. Part of the Jays' success came from a team free throw percentage of 0.875, a whopping lead on Eastern's 0.471. While the Jays had a lower field goal percentage, their three point shooting percentage was superior.

When my girlfriend visited a couple weeks ago, I suddenly became self-conscious of how bland and messy my room looked. Despite it being week six, moving boxes still sat unopened and the decorations I brought lay on the floor untouched. For the record, I think of myself as a clean person. But with my new apartment, I had excused myself because this space felt temporary.

I'm only at Hopkins for a two-year program, and I don't even know if I will stay in the same apartment next year. Why bother decorating if I'll just have to take it down in nine months? Or buy and assemble a shelf if I'll just have to disassemble it and move it out again? I told myself I'd stick it out - wait until I graduate, get a real job and move into a real apartment. Then, I would finally invest in furniture, in decorations and in a life that felt stable and permanent. Yet as I heard myself say it, I realized I had said the same thing as an undergrad.

See, it's not really about the interior design, it is about the real problem deeply ingrained in my mindset. Too often, I label entire parts of my life as "temporary," and in doing so, I justify my lack of investment - as if effort only belongs to permanence. I tell myself this is just a short pit stop before the real thing, that I should save my time and energy for later. Yet two years is not some insignificant layover. It is over seven hundred days, over a million minutes in a short, finite life in which I don't know how many minutes I will get.

This attitude also seeps into how I treat myself. I think of myself as a fluctuating, unstable project still under construction, waiting to be fully finished before it warrants significant investments. As if I need to become some future, perfected version of myself before I have the permission to start living fully. I postpone hobbies, health and relationships, promising I'll get to them once I've completed working on myself and figuring myself out or once I've reached some stable plateau. But the reality is I'll never be a finished piece. I'll always be working to better myself and continuing to figure out more about myself until the day I die, never to reach that asymptotic ideal I've set. If I wait around for that day to come, I'll never get to live at all.

At its worst, I find this logic coloring my relationships. I treat time and attention as resources only to be invested in people who seem to promise permanent returns. But people aren't stocks. Affection and attention aren't portfolios you can optimize for long-term gain. Moreover, so often those passing interactions with those I will never see again are the ones that wander my mind years later. The man I stood in line with at the DMV who made the hour-long wait bearable. The family seated next to mine at the teppanyaki restaurant, whose youngest shared my birthday and decided to celebrate at the same restaurant on the same night. The girl across the street I shared a laugh with as we both watched five consecutive cars roar past the comically large "Stop for Pedestrians" sign we stood underneath.

What's more, permanence is unpredictable. The ones who most deeply shape our lives are often never the ones we first expect. If I had listened to that voice and stopped making friends at the end of senior year because I knew we were all moving away, I never would have forged some of my most unbreakable bonds.

So I invite you to think about your childhood days. Before meticulously optimized schedules and four year plans and object permanence. Back then, every moment was lived for itself. We didn't postpone joy or ambitions until after the next milestone - we lived fully in the moment because that was all we knew. And perhaps that was what made childhood so bright. We treated every moment - large or small, fleeting or long-lasting - with a wide-eyed care and reverence.

So tonight, as I hang my decorations and finally click order on the shelf for my bedroom, I make a promise to live life as if every moment counts. Life is precious. Every moment of it. So stop trying to wait for the real chapter to begin and simply live fully in this one.

Jason Chang is a graduate student from Woodbury, Minn. studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His column is a celebration of the quiet moments that linger amid the jumble of our busy lives: moments of stillness, reflection and a space to just exist.

Saturday

Bazaart, American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

AVAM's annual holiday marketplace returns with original work from 50 regional artists and makers offering jewelry, clothing, artwork and one-of-a-kind gifts. Free to the public, this Baltimore favorite draws crowds of shoppers looking to kick off the season with something handmade and local.

Sunday

Festival of Trees, Maryland State Fairgrounds Cow Palace, 2200 York Rd., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The 36th annual Festival of Trees transforms the Cow Palace into a holiday wonderland filled with decorated trees, wreaths and gingerbread houses, as well as kids' rides, carnival games, face painting and local vendors. The three-day event supports Kennedy Krieger Institute and offers plenty of fun to kick off the season. Tickets are $20.

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St., showtimes at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Celebrate the season in Whoville with the hit musical that brings the Grinch to life through colorful sets, classic songs and plenty of holiday cheer. Max the Dog narrates as the Grinch schemes to steal Christmas before learning its true meaning in this family-friendly production. Tickets start at $54.50.

Bah Humbug, Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St., 2 p.m.

MidAtlantic Improv rewrites Dickens on the spot with a choose-your-own Scrooge performance built from audience suggestions. Expect fast character flips, unpredictable comedy and a version that will never be repeated. Tickets are $20 for students.

Miracle on 34th Street, 726 W. 34th St., lights on at 6 p.m.

Hampden's famous block lights up for the season as Miracle on 34th Street returns with over-the-top displays, glowing rowhouses and crowds strolling past holiday shops, food and drinks. The street closes to cars most nights to make room for visitors, and the lights stay on until New Year's Day. Admission is free.

Despite this, the Hoosiers have gone a combined 22-2 across the last two seasons and now find themselves ranked second in the College Football Playoff (CFP) poll. Astoundingly, they have a legitimate chance at their first national title. A win against Purdue on Nov. 28 would clinch an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game. A win in the Big Ten Championship would likely cement the Hoosiers as the #1 team in the nation entering the CFP. So how has a program marked by poor performance for over a century had such a stark turnaround? Enter Curt Cignetti.

When Indiana hired Cignetti from James Madison University, the Hoosiers were coming off a three year stretch with a combined 9-27 record. Cignetti's hiring led to the transfer of numerous players and staff to Indiana from James Madison. His arrival also showed a fierce edge on full display when he called out powerhouse programs Ohio State and Michigan during an address in front of a Hoosier crowd mere days after first setting foot on campus. This first impression demonstrated to the fanbase that Cignetti had the necessary conviction to not only turn around the program, but also transform Indiana into a team that could rival the best. Throughout the summer before the 2024 season, Cignetti began to lay the groundwork for a culture that emphasized discipline, resilience and relentlessness. His tough but constructive coaching style, as well as his attention to finer details, was quickly noticed and appreciated by players.

However, results had to follow for Cignetti to prove he could garner success. Indiana started off the 2024 season under the radar, winning its first five games (which it had not done since 1967) before entering the Week 6 AP poll at #23. As the season progressed, the Hoosiers continued winning and rose to #5 ahead of a top-five showdown with eventual national champion Ohio State. Although the Hoosiers entered the game 10-0, there was criticism that their schedule thus far had been relatively easy. The game against Ohio State, one of college football's premier programs, presented a test to see if Indiana was the real deal.

The Hoosiers failed, losing 38-15 in a game that was closely matched in ability but not in the final outcome. Indiana won its final regular season game as the #10 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP. They went on to face #7 Notre Dame in the first round and lost by a sizable margin, falling behind 27-3 before two touchdowns in the last two minutes of the game resulted in a final score of 27-17.

Indiana's first season under Cignetti was a massive success, but the Hoosiers had yet to establish themselves as a true national title contender. Despite handling most of their other opponents, Indiana had looked outmatched in their two most important games of the season. There was still a lot for the team to build on ahead of the 2025 season.

The Hoosiers started 2025 ranked #20 in the preseason poll with room for optimism but a schedule that looked significantly tougher than that of the season prior. Their first major test was at home against then #9 Illinois where the Hoosiers dominated 63-10. While this was certainly a statement game and an impressive win, there were doubts surrounding whether or not Illinois had been overrated in the preseason polls. Any doubts about Indiana ceased to exist following their next challenge.

In Week 7, the Hoosiers traveled to Autzen Stadium, one of the loudest and toughest places to play in the country, to face then #3 Oregon. Although there may have been doubts about Illinois' ability, Oregon was unquestionably considered one of the top teams both in performance and talent. Indiana would play a tight back-and-forth game before pulling away toward the end of the fourth quarter to win 30-20. This win vaulted the Hoosiers to #3, the program's highest ever rank.

So what have been the major driving factors behind Indiana's success outside of the system Cignetti has revamped? The first has been the transfer portal. Over the last two years, Indiana has brought in 53 transfers, including both last year's starting QB Kurtis Rourke and this year's starting QB Fernando Mendoza. The latter is now the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded to CFB's most outstanding player. Another major factor has been name, image and likeness (NIL). Although Indiana's NIL spending likely pales in comparison to some other programs, a significant amount of money has been put toward retaining and obtaining impact players.

Indiana's rapid turnaround has also shaped how other programs operate. In a world with this much turnover and reactionary behavior, programs are often scrambling to find the next great coaching hire. Curt Cignetti is the newest model of that philosophy. Indiana's recent success has also likely put pressure on coaches at other programs to win quickly. In the past, coaches have often been afforded a few years to implement their system, but now, especially in the era of an unrestricted transfer portal and NIL, Indiana has demonstrated that it is possible for success to come almost immediately.

Whether or not Indiana will maintain this progress in the future remains to be seen. Outside of a narrow victory at Penn State, Indiana has been on a roll and poses a fair argument for #1 up to this point. Recent history has shown that it can be risky to rely heavily on the transfer portal for sustained excellence (see Florida State's 2023 and 2024 seasons). However, Cignetti appears to have instilled a strong culture at Indiana which is tantamount for prolonged success. Nevertheless, Indiana's track record the last two years shows that even programs at the bottom of college football can quickly rise to the top.

The conversation featured three speakers. The first was Ashley Berner, an associate professor who serves as the director of the Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. She is also the author of several books and journal articles on education. The second speaker was Joseph Reilly, an assistant research scientist with the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) who specializes in educational psychology. The third speaker was Shinui Kim, a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education who researches topics such as inequity in education and the role of education in sociopolitical movements. In an email to The News-Letter, Berner described her motivations behind hosting this event.

"The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy at the School of Education, has designed tools and research projects to support young people's citizenship preparation," she wrote. "It's exciting and hopeful, and we want people to know that the School of Education, including our PhD students, are on the case!"

During the talk, Berner began by talking about four important components of civic skills: civic knowledge (one's understanding of government, history, economy, geography), civic skills (one's ability to write, interpret graphs, speak publicly), the habit of civic engagement (community service and involvement) and the practice of civil tolerance (being able to disagree respectfully with others but still maintain strong beliefs).

Berner continued, explaining that the School of Education has developed the School Culture 360 Survey to collect data assessing whether schools around the country are providing civic education.

Kim, who specializes in researching the open classroom climate, discussed the importance of discussion and diversity of opinions in the classroom.

"We know from research that the learning environment plays a major role in civic education, as it both influences acquiring knowledge and supports students' virtue and values," Kim said. "Furthermore, the open classroom climate explores whether students or teachers feel safe or allowed to have different opinions and express them, which is highly associated with civil tolerance as well as open classroom climate data."

The School Culture 360 Survey has collected data from about 3,000 schools across the United States and has gathered information on student relations, fairness, safety, bullying and more. The data is based on responses from students and teachers.

In addition to data collection, the School of Education undertakes other projects to advance civic engagement. Reilley discussed that the School of Education is working with the Bill of Rights Institute, a nonprofit that produces free resources for teachers, to help teach students about civic engagement.

Reilley also explained that they work with the National Civics Bee, a national competition for middle school students based on knowledge in civics and civic engagement. All three speakers attended the national championship in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 11.

Pelton then shifted the conversation to ask the speakers about their most inspiring experiences from this field of work. Reilley highlighted a National Civics Bee competitor whose town threw her a parade when she was leaving for the competition.

"Because of the government shutdown, her flight got canceled, but they decided to drive all the way, 16 or 17 hours, to arrive at the National Civics Bee because of the support of their community… I thought that was a really cool anecdote about the kind of the quality of families that are coming into this and the support that there is for civics."

Kim expanded on the inspirational nature of the National Civics Bee.

"Civics starts from tiny things in [students'] daily lives, and the important thing that National Civics Bee did for [students] was that they could advance their ideas into practice… They can actually have some self efficacy, self esteem and sense of achievement by advancing these things into action, and I think that's really important in civics."

The speakers then took questions from the audience. One audience member asked how to balance the tension between the concrete knowledge of certain concepts and viewpoint diversity or accepting multiple perspectives. Berner responded that it's important for all students to have a baseline of knowledge, but a good curriculum should also have viewpoint diversity, such as comparative religion or politics, built in.

"For example, every child in this country needs to know the Constitution. They may disagree with what it means, whether the Constitution was crafted out of an agenda around slave holding, and so forth. As kids get older, they should learn about different interpretations, but they still need to know what the Constitution says," she states.

Another audience member asked about the growing push for civics education among adults. Berner replied, acknowledging that many children did not have the opportunity to learn about civics and therefore want to learn more about it in adulthood. She mentioned resources such as iCivics that allow parents to learn alongside their kids. Berner also noted that competitive districts increase civic involvement, thus gerrymandering can decrease engagement.

In an email to The News-Letter, Berner commented on what she hopes audience members will take away from the event.

"Civic preparation remains a core responsibility of schools and of civil society (so many providers of civic content are non-profits that operate outside of schools but also within them!)," Berner explained. "Many American institutions - including business, non profits, and all different kinds of schools - remain committed to creating civic opportunities for young people… meaningful civic engagement changes young people's lives."

The panel included three professionals: lecturer Lisa E. Wright, professor Tanay Lynn Harris and therapist Amber Gillian. The panel also included six Hopkins students: Alisha Mason, Perla Perez, Harmony Madu, Michelle Adutwum and Erica Spicer. Bersu Mulugeta, a student who did not go on the trip, served as the moderator.

Wright began the event with opening statements. She explained that she was upset in school because there was not enough "conversation about Black bodies in America." In college, she majored in English and minored in African and African American studies, but it wasn't until she studied abroad in Egypt and Gambia that she realized how much she still didn't know. By being in those spaces, the stories finally came to life.

Mulugeta began by asking a question to Wright and Harris about the establishment of the class.

In the process of developing the course, Wright was informed that she needed another faculty member for approval. Wright talked about how she needed to work with someone who was also community-oriented. She chose Harris, the director and co-founder of the Bloom Collective, a perinatal center.

Harris talked about reaching undergraduate students before they go to medical school. She explained that the class needs to be part of a longer process of improving American medical practices.

Why did you as a student choose to take this course? Why did you think it was important to learn about global health first hand?

The student panelists expressed their desire to learn about medical systems outside the United States. Madu explained that she learned the root cause of Black maternal mortality in the U.S. is not biological.

"It's a Western problem that Black women are dying," Madu said.

Spicer said she has taken at least four classes with Wright during her time at Hopkins. She was drawn to this class because it gave her the opportunity to grow knowledge and gain experience. She also wanted the opportunity to learn about maternal health as a form of social justice.

What unique maternal health aspects did you notice while you were in Ghana?

Throughout the panel discussion, the panelists emphasized the sense of community that exists in maternity homes, supportive housing programs, clinics and hospitals. Perez explained that at one maternity home, the women pray with one of the midwives before their appointments.

"They allow the women to just gather in community," said Perez. "I think that's such an overlooked aspect of medicine. Connecting with people is so important. And I feel like, especially in America, we forget the value of just talking with people."

Mason explained that midwives are highly respected in Ghana. When there is an important medical decision being made, doctors will often consult midwives. Mason added that this practice contrasts with the American model of maternal health, which often pushed midwives out of the process by excluding them from medical planning.

For Gillian: Since your focus is on perinatal mental health, what experiences from Ghana are you planning to implement in your maternal health work?

Gillian explained that the American medical model of maternal health often focuses on what the mother is doing wrong. She emphasized doctors' focus on pregnant women's diets. She said that a system of criticism is counterproductive and wanted to see what maternal healthcare looked like elsewhere. She was struck by the compassion of the medical staff.

"The nurses, the mid-wives - they spoke from their hearts," Gillian said. "The patients were women in the mid-wives' community that they loved and cared for."

Gillian said she believes there needs to be a shift to focus on caring for moms, implemented through a community approach where small medical communities value personal relationships. She hopes to work toward that herself and explained her excitement that the young people on the trip have the knowledge and power to change the system as they enter the medical field.

For the students: How did the different writing assignments throughout the trip help you engage with all you learned and saw in Ghana? The title of this event is "Mbongi: A Community Conversation on Maternal Health in Ghana," will you explain what a mbongi is?

Harris described the mbongi in the African cultural context, which acts as a learning space through discussion.

"It is a traditional African framework that embodies both physical and intellectual community space. It functions as a common shelter for cause dialog, problem solving, cultural preservation," Harris read. "Everyone has the right to speak, but also the responsibility to speak with authority and clarity."

In the context of the trip, mbongis were the conversations that students had after their hospital or clinic visits. They allowed for reflection after long days that provided a lot of information and were also often emotionally charged.

Wright emphasized the intensity of the trip, which included three cities in 14 days, and the intensity of the workload. There were mbongi writing assignments due every day, and students often worked on them at the hotel. After they lost internet one night, the professors decided the mbongi writing assignments would be due every other day.

How do you all imagine that writing can become a tool to advocate for mothers and deconstruct oppressive systems?

Adutwum explained that everyone on the trip was given a journal, which gave them a space to record their experiences and their own thoughts.

Perez recalled how when the students met Amber in one of their classes, she said that medicine demands the best of medical workers. Perez explained that to meet that standard, people in medicine need to continue to better themselves, which can be facilitated by writing.

"Writing allows you a moment to look deep into yourself, find what's conflicting within you, what's missing, what makes you, what gives you joy," Perez said. "With the acknowledgement that we can improve ourselves, we can show up for people in a better way."

What was your most memorable moment from the trip?

Spicer said her most memorable moment was at a site visit at the end of the trip. Dr. Wright asked a nurse why Black women are dying in the U.S. but surviving in Ghana. The nurse replied that they "over-care" and "don't wait." Spicer said this simple statement was deeply emotional for her.

"It should not be the case anywhere in the world that we're not caring enough to prevent women from dying," Spicer said. "Why are we living in a world where we're doing the bare minimum?"

Mason, Perez and Madu said one of their favorite memories was visiting a slave river, also called the "Last Bath." The group learned that almost 70 percent of enslaved people left the Americas through Ghana. Many took their last bath in the river they visited.

"The moment I stepped into that river, I had this realization that my entire ancestry just came full circle," Perez said. "I felt so honored that it was me out of everyone in my family."

Maalson Nyonna, an attendee, asked: Racism in the USA plays such a huge factor in Black maternal health, how were things different in Ghana as a predominantly Black Country?

The students and professionals on the trip all talked about the way they were treated since they were American and affiliated with Hopkins. Madu explained that the group was given a special shoutout at the Ghanaian parliament even though students from the University of Ghana were also there.

Madu also explained that there were instances when she felt medical professionals were sacrificing their own experience and that of their patients to make guests from the West more comfortable. Wright added that the group learned to make decisions and set their own boundaries after recognizing their privilege.

"We recognized that Johns Hopkins was taking us into places where we shouldn't be and we didn't want to be," Wright said.

Wright connected the group's understanding of American privilege to maternal health by talking about the delivery spaces of some clinics, which included only chairs. While more Black women and children survive childbirth because they aren't facing structural racism, the experience can be uncomfortable because of a lack of resources due to colonial history.

The event concluded with West African food and a video compilation. The video included clips from healthcare experts in Ghana. The experts shared their experiences and advice for future medical professionals.

In an interview with The News-Letter, freshman Anishka Duvvuri explained that she learned about the event because she is taking Reintroduction to Writing: Maternal Health Crisis with Dr. Wright. She felt particularly inspired by the student panelists.

"I knew just coming here, I would gain an understanding of maternal healthcare from her students," she said. "I actually know them because Dr. Wright talks about them and shows us their essays. They're honestly people who I aspire to be like."

Letters Without Limits, founded by students at Johns Hopkins and Brown University, connects volunteers with palliative care and hospice patients to co-create "Legacy Letters." These letters capture memories, values and lessons that patients wish to share, preserving stories that might otherwise be lost. By honoring these voices and preserving legacies, Letters Without Limits hopes to affirm the central role of humanism in medicine, reminding us that every patient is more than their illness and that their voices deserve to be heard. As you read these powerful Legacy Letters, we invite you to pause, reflect and recognize the beauty in every life.

Interviewer's Note

Mr. Jesse Tetterton is a man of endless positivity and energy. From the moment I sat down with him, I could feel his joy, warmth and deep faith that he puts in every story he tells. Mr. Tetterton will see the good in everything: the lessons, the blessings, the humor. He has a way of lifting you up without even trying. It's contagious.

Introduction

To my dear family, friends and those who may read this in the years to come,

Life always has meaning. No matter where you go, life always has some meaning. You see, life is like a game of chess. Every move you make matters, but you got to know yourself first before you can know anything else. You got to go slowly, like a child growing up. That baby don't know how to walk until certain limbs inside its body grow, and then when those limbs grow, its desires grow too.

Humble Beginnings

I grew up on North Avenue when I was real little, and then we moved to Chester Street in 1968 when I was about seven or eight years old. We didn't feel the feeling of poorness. It became a feeling of love because we smiled. My mother and my father and my sisters always had a cheerful love. Now I didn't say problems didn't come along. I said they had a cheerful smile.

One time, when my parents weren't home, all we had in the house was cheese and bread. Now, some people might have looked at that and said we were poor, but we didn't feel poor. We put that cheese and bread in the oven, and we had ourselves a meal. And I tell you, that was some good cheese and bread! Hehe. Certain things were meant for a reason: to learn, to grow and to flourish our lives. This is how God's love flatters all of us as a people. We learn from what we have to, so we can become what we become.

My mother once bought me a wagon, and I used that wagon to help her with groceries from the brown supermarket on Washington Street. I loved doing things for others. Anything, anything I can do. There was an old man next door who had a vegetable store, Mr. N. He was a big fat man always standing behind the cash register. Mr. N. was a good old man, and I'd help him out sometimes. He'd give me that look - you know how parents got that look - and I'd grab whatever he needed. Then he'd say, "Go on about your business," and hand me a popsicle. He'd always say it the same way every time. "Go on about your business. Go on about your business." Hehe. He was a good man.

Family and Loss

Our family grew in different ways. We adopted T. when she was about seven years old.

She came to us from Miss D., and my mother offered to take her in as part of our family. T. was a good young lady, and we loved her until she left us when she was around 17. She had her own reasons.

Then there was my sister P. We lost her when I was about 13 in a fire. She was having a pajama party. The neighbors couldn't open the door, and all the children inside were burnt. I don't think too much on that.

Loss is part of life, but God's truth is always around us. I don't care what nobody else says. God's truth never lies. There is no failure in God. Even when you think you got it all figured out and you did something, there's always something else. That's when you say, "Lord, where you? I don't know what to do." And when you say "I don't know what to do," the Lord will take that something and make it something more.

My grandmother took me to church when I was very young and had me prayed over many times. She died when I was about three years old, but she planted that seed. Later, I met a friend named C.K. - he was an older man who brought me to the Lord, and from there, my life line began to start in Christ. He didn't show me. He only could tell me of the word of God, teach me the word of God, let me know about the word of God, love me and let God do the rest. C.K. was like a grandfather and father to me until he died at 88 years old.

Work and Challenges

Life gave me its challenges. I had epilepsy, and that made it hard for people to hire me. But I found work in offset printing, printing papers and cards like they do at a newspaper. I learned how to buffer and strip floors too. It wasn't always easy, but it was a good job, something to hold onto.

Now, I barely have any epilepsy seizures.

Love and Friendship

I was blessed to find love with my wife Evelyn. We met at an epilepsy foundation, and I took her to church with me. She was sweet and kind, a gentle person. She also had seizures like me. Though our time together was shorter than we wanted, we had our good turns. She passed away, but the love remains.

I've been blessed with good friends too. B.H. has been my friend for 56 years. We met at church, and we did everything together, playing ball, going out with our girlfriends, sharing marbles, singing with each other's families. Friendships show how God works through others to bless us.

Music, Art and Sharing

Music and art have been my way of sharing God's love. When I first got my guitar, I couldn't play anything. Now I can play "In the Upper Room," "You Sweet I Know" and "A Little Walk with Jesus."

Music is great, but you got to learn how to see the meaning in the readings of words and music. Some people bring their music out in a nasty way, but that's not becoming.

I love to draw my favorite parts of life. It don't have to be one thing, it can be many things. I love sharing with my brothers and sisters because people love to share with me. That's what makes life rich. The sharing, the love, the connections we make.

Wisdom for the Journey

Here's what I want you to know about making your way in life: The tactic of life itself is to know yourself first. When you make a move, be more conscious of how you make your move. It's just like that chessboard. Don't blame nothing on somebody else for what you've done. You made your move how you wanted to make your move. When you think on it like that, you say to yourself, "I gotta be more cautious."

When your cautiousness starts making a move, do it rightly and honestly for yourself. Because when you do, you'll be more clear-minded in what you do and how you do for the next step. Being honest is key. God is God in many climates of life. We have to learn it, and it don't come all at once the way you want it. It comes in the time that He gives us.

Remember this about friends and trust: When one says to another "friend," did you ever notice how some people react? One says "friend" and has a holding trust in their heart with God for themselves and to love the friend. Another person says "friend" as a wicked person can say it, just disturbed and trying to make a fool out of you. You have to study as God gives you the way to study, to see your friend from the untrue friend, the evil from the good and the good from the evil. God will give you that trustee so you may come to understand.

If you ever want a father you can depend on, He's the one on high. And your mother and your father you have, depend on and honor them. Thank God for them. When you think you got it all figured out, there's always something more to learn. When you don't know what to do, that's when you see it's all Him.

Final Thoughts and Blessings

Most important, remember this.

Life is how you make it.

Not how I make it.

It's how YOU make it, blessed with God's love in Jesus's name.

Your want will help you decide what you desire and what you don't desire.

Above all, seek after yourself in Jesus's name.

He was actually seeking for us before we was seeking for Him.

Life is like that blueberry pie, man.

You don't know anything until you taste it.

Everybody has a different seasoning.

The steps that we make is the steps that we take, but God is in control.

He knows today, and He knows tomorrow.

May God bless you, guide you, and keep you always.

With love and faith,

Jesse Tetterton

Letters Without Limits is a student-led initiative founded at Johns Hopkins and Brown University that partners with palliative care and hospice patients to create "Legacy Letters," autobiographical narratives capturing memories, values and lessons patients wish to share. Their primary goal is to spread these stories so that every patient's voice is heard. Follow them on Instagram @letterswithoutlimits and read more Legacy Letters on their website.

I am sitting on a fuzzy pink pillow in the apartment of my trainer, Dua, and I am about to share my whole life story from beginning to end with a group of five strangers.

When I joined A Place To Talk (APTT) at Hopkins during the fall of my sophomore year, I did so because mental health is one of the most sacred things in my universe, and because I wanted to learn skills that would help my community feel more heard and supported, combatting the loneliness and fear and imposter syndrome that can be so ubiquitous in college. I was expecting that training would prepare me to be an effective peer listener during my weekly two hour shifts, which it did, but I was not expecting training to touch every part of my life so profoundly.

Training for APTT is split into 10 weeks, and during each week, trainees learn a new skill during our "large group" meetings. After reviewing this skill, we split up into groups of about four trainees led by two trainers for "small group," where we apply the new skills with our peers-slash-new-best-friends by getting together, playing games, eating snacks and listening to one another. When I was training, I would get back to my dorm room, often at one in the morning, but with the overwhelming sense that whatever I had just participated in was so incredibly special. This year, I have the opportunity to be a trainer for new members of APTT, and every week it brings back memories of the magic I felt joining just last fall. Time to brush up on some of my favorite skills!

1. Non-verbals and silences

A lull in conversation is no longer one of my biggest fears. If a friend needs to talk, to unload any big emotions they have been feeling during a busy week or unpack a problem that they don't know how to navigate, I now know how to use silence to sit with them in their feelings, allowing their words to breathe and take up space. I have learned how a small "mhm" or "that makes sense" can often be more powerful than a "one-size-fits-all" solution to their problems, and that the awkwardness I feel during quiet is not necessarily a gap I must feel pressure to fill, but rather a calm I have the power to sit with.

2. Open-ended questions

Imagine you get a bad grade on your assignment, and in a low moment, call your parents for some good ole love and support. After you spill to them the disappointment and fear that this feedback has brought up, they hit you with, "Well, have you tried talking to your professor?" (We all know this means, "You should absolutely talk to your professor; we are your parents, and we are always right.")

The weight of questions like this one teaches us that questions that are close-ended, that demand a yes-or-no answer, often carry the connotation of "you should." They can feel more like judgement than support, preventing the person you're talking to from opening up further.

Now, if my little sister comes to me with a problem, I try to hold myself back from oversharing the sixteen ways that I would have dealt with her issue when I was in high school. Instead, I try to ask open-ended questions, ones that can't be shut down with a simple yes or no, that leave room for her emotions to take up as much space as they need. I hope that by directing my questions to her broader feelings - letting her take the reins of the conversation - I can continue to be someone that she feels safe seeking support from.

3. Feelings

Feelings are so important in A Place To Talk that we split this seemingly simple topic up into two trainings. It makes perfect sense, really, because emotions underlie almost every word we choose to utter out loud. When your roommate rants to you about all the stuff they need to get done, they might not actually want to talk to you about their chemistry midterm or their philosophy paper, but rather about their anxiety or how burnt out they feel. When your mom calls to tell you about your neighbor's dog's death, she might not actually want to talk about the chemicals in grapes that can be poisonous to poodles, but rather unpack the strangeness in witnessing someone else's grief, the small things that make you realize how precarious and precious life is. When someone comes to me to talk, I'm now always looking for the subtext of how they feel, using silences, affirmations and open-ended questions to provide a space for those emotions to come out.

4. Crisis intervention

When I was in high school, someone close to me was struggling with severe depression, and the feelings of complete helplessness that I felt are hard to forget. I remember sitting in my high school classes anxiously checking my phone on the table, wondering if they were safe and okay, trying to stop my brain from thinking about what would happen if they weren't.

In APTT, no mental health topics are taboo. My training equipped me with skills that I wish I could reach into the past and hand to my younger self, allowing her to talk about the sides of mental health that can be so scary to say out loud. The ability to recognize a mental health crisis, to talk about it and to provide safe support are skills that feel equally as important to me as knowing first aid and CPR. I am forever thankful to APTT for providing me with a community that is not only committed to promoting mental health at Hopkins, but also who have been there, who understand.

Since last fall, I have asked approximately five people in my life to share their entire life stories from beginning to end, just like I did to practice vulnerability during my first moments of training. I have navigated difficult conversations with less anxiety than before, learned when to take up less space and let another's emotions speak to themselves, and reaffirmed that mental health, community and listening to each other are some of the most sacred things we have. I have not only learned how to better listen to those who stop by the APTT rooms, but also to my family, to my friends, to strangers, to the cashier at Streets and the barista at Bird and to myself. My love for training and all that it has given me sits in my chest like a glowing ball of light.

Whether or not you decide to apply to APTT next semester or come visit one of our rooms, I encourage everyone to reflect on the last time they felt truly listened to, the last time they truly listened to someone. If you don't know where to start, start by asking them their entire life story, and follow by sharing yours.

Hailey Finkelstein is a junior from Ardsley, N.Y. majoring in Medicine, Science and the Humanities. Her column shares miscellaneous prose on current issues, the collective Hopkins experience and growing up with a pen in hand.

Aneesh Swaminathan, the president of HPU and the College Republicans, began the event with remarks about the importance of building a campus community where diverse perspectives are welcome. Next, moderator Dylan Faulkner Selterman, an associate teaching professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Mary Bruce, the assistant director of public programming at the SNF Agora Institute, described the structure of the event and encouraged attendees to participate respectfully. Bruce then asked the audience what it means to have a good debate. One student responded.

"Being open to new information, even if it contradicts your own beliefs, absolutely," they said.

The debate was structured around two resolutions. The first concerned whether democratic socialism is the future of the Democratic Party. Two members on opposing sides of the resolution gave speeches framing the major factors involved, starting with Swaminathan.

"Mamdani proves that democratic socialist ideas aren't just slogans - they're winnable and workable. He had the highest election turnout since 1969," he said.

Another member of the club then gave an alternative viewpoint, claiming that democratic socialism is not the future of the party.

"The [Democratic] Party should stop treating ideas such as democratic socialism as a dirty word and allow candidates to best represent their constituency in order to expand the Big Ten coalition, which empowers the party and better integrate the youth progressives into the party," he said.

The discussion was then extended to include the audience, who took turns sharing their opinions with a two-minute limit. Students expressed concerns about the rising tide of populism. Others focused on whether voters in metropolitan areas like New York City can represent national Democrats. However, some communicated hope about the benefits of expanded social programs.

The second contention regarded whether MAGA Republicans are here to stay, referring to the camp of pro-Trump Republicans and the vitality of their policy base. This contention was introduced first by junior Timothy Allen.

"When the right conditions are met, the vaguely defined populist movement that Trump created will in fact, be quite easy to adapt for his successors," he said. "While it may seem at this moment that Trump dominates the Republican Party such that nobody can replace him, the movement to conservatism underpinned by a set of policy principles - isolationism, fiscal conservatism and Christian nationalism - brought together through a terribly flexible populism."

Swaminathan followed up with his own introduction.

"I'm skeptical because I believe there is a great threat, in my humble opinion, to the [Make America Great Again (MAGA)] movement and socially conservative moral vision that comes from the alt-right," he said. "An open question, I believe, remains: will the movement's tenacity prove sufficient to hold this coalition together, and, more importantly, to build upon it towards a coherent governing vision that outclassed its founding personality?"

The floor was opened once again for comments from attendees. Some expressed the difficulty of maintaining a movement with such a wide-ranging set of policy ideas, noting the recent fracturing of relations among right-wing public figures such as Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson following the death of political activist Charlie Kirk. Others commented on the recent blue wave in November elections and the potential receding support for MAGA Republicans from centrist voters.

During this part of the discussion, issues regarding whether alt-right groups should feel represented by the MAGA Republicans became central to the debate. Some students were adamant that over half of voters in the 2024 presidential election could not have supported white nationalism. Other students cited controversial immigration policy and support from alt-right groups as proof of a permanent shift in Republican ideology.

In an interview with the News-Letter, Selterman explained the inspiration for the event.

"Research has shown that one of the big reasons for political polarization in America is pluralistic ignorance, which is to say that people misunderstand each other by overestimating disagreement," he wrote. "HPU provides a common space for students to thoughtfully listen and engage constructively."

Selterman also commented on the discourse of the event itself. "In the event, students spoke about their concerns, their predictions, and critiques of mainstream political movements," he wrote. "They also spoke to each other by challenging each other's viewpoints."

In an interview with The News-Letter, sophomore Rania Dey Meyer commented on what motivated her to attend the event.

"I did think there were pretty diverse opinions," she said. "The discussions got off topic very quickly, and a lot of people were debating not about whether democratic socialism is the future of the party but whether or not it's good."

The HPU will continue to hosts debates of this nature throughout the year, focused on timely issues and the political concerns of Hopkins students.

In an interview with The News-Letter, Treasurer Anahat Goraya reflected on her experience organizing the event and explained the purpose of inviting El Guabli.

"It's just trying to look at healthcare issues we're facing right now from a more interdisciplinary lens. We have Professor [El] Guabli coming here, and he brings a lot of experience and different perspectives," Goraya said. "When we find [a topic] interesting that club members would benefit from learning from it, we like to draw upon it."

After opening statements from the co-president of SHH, Gaayathri Nadarajah, El Guabli began the event with an introduction of who he is and what his work centers around.

El Guabli describes his work as "very interdisciplinary," citing the subjects he agglomerates (including comparative literature, environmental studies and Indigenous studies) and how his work bridges Amazigh, Arabic and Francophone.

The talk then transitioned into a discussion of El Guabli's research, including his books Moroccan Other-Archives and Desert Imaginations. In particular, El Guabli discussed the influences of his first book, Moroccan Other-Archives.

"I was really struck by the fact that the political prisoner - whose works I was studying at the time in Morocco - [that] there was a period of time called the Years of Lead."

The Years of Lead refers to a period of time between the 1960s and the 1980s during the rule of King Hassan II. This era was a time that was characterized by state violence and repression, which was meant to target political dissidents and pro-democracy activists.

El Guabli then went on to explain what the period was, discussing its impacts and how it continues to shape Morocco's collective memory, literary production and national identity. Following this, the professor cited one inspirational source of his research, a memoir titled Tazmamart: 18 Years in Morocco's Secret Prison, which his students in the class "Illness Across Culture: Ethics of Pain in Literature & Film" had read during the fall semester.

The discussion then transitioned into the relationship between the horror of stories in political imprisonment narratives and their reinterpretation through moral or religious frameworks.

In recent years, El Guabli has begun to consider illness, pain and ethics in conversation with one another. Specifically, he noted that cancer has increased due to growing knowledge of the topic. El Guabli referenced this in relation to how people have been willing to write memoirs and other literature to erase the stigma of medical diagnosis. As health humanities is such a large field, he encouraged students to approach it from an expansive cross-cultural perspective.

"You can't just think about North Africa or the Middle East, you must think broadly, to master the language, the theories, what other people are doing," he said. "How is other literature or other films [...] navigate the question of illness, the ethics of the medical field, the ethics of pain, where - in some societies - pain has value."

Building on this idea, El Guabli reflected on how medical ethics ultimately raise questions about morality and the human condition.

"The main question is: 'How do you prevent death?'" he said. "At the end, [...] the line is between life and death, and this requires asking some very important questions for people."

Moreover, El Guabli emphasized how context, culture and perspective are essential in understanding health and mitigating illness. As an example, he cited the impact of colonialism and specifically the American impact on the rest of the world.

"How did colonialism impact the health practices and the notions of illness and treatment in other places? [...] We might think [that] there is only one way of doing things or looking at things from our American context," he said. "This is the most advanced country [for] medicine in the world. Let's not forget that. But is it the only way in which [we] practice health? Or is this just an exceptional way that really represents the most advanced society - sophisticated healthcare?"

By challenging students to think beyond traditional boundaries of medicine, El Guabli underscored the necessity of integrating cultural understanding and humanistic inquiry into conversations about health, illness and ethics.

The session then ended with a question-and-answer session from the audience. One student asked what the professor sees in the future of the humanistic studies of health. In response, El Guabli expressed optimism, noting that as global awareness of ethical and cultural questions surrounding medicine grows, health humanities will continue to expand as an essential field that bridges science and human experience.

"[Organ giving] was not a question [in Morocco] 20 years ago," he said. "The field is getting complicated and the questions that are asked in other contexts are definitely making their way into that area."

In an email to The News-Letter, sophomore Shelley Lin discussed the impact of El Guabli's presentation and the unique perspective he offered.

"I thought his research was pretty cool and something I hadn't really thought about before," she wrote. "I liked when he talked about the Moroccans and how they viewed getting a cold as being hit by the cold, and how he said when they get [sick,] it could be because they believed they would get sick."

As the director of Shape of Water, Pinocchio and Crimson Peak, del Toro is famous for un-monster-ing a monster. A perfect fit for a story like Frankenstein, with nearly every film adaptation having made Dr. Frankenstein's creature into a hideous, bumbling, brute - entirely ignoring Shelley's central question of true humanity.

I don't think that adaptations should solely be judged on their similarity to the source material, even though Frankenstein has yet to see a fully accurate film adaptation. So del Toro's commitment to key plot points of the story is refreshing and commendable. As he points out in this interview with Deadline Social, while Frankenstein is a classic story about the seduction of knowledge and the responsibility of creation, it's also subtly a travel story. About a third of the novel takes place in the middle of the woods, which most remakes fail to acknowledge for fear of being boring. In this Frankenstein, however, the visuals make the setting a highlight.

Del Toro's main plot changes brought a sense of empathy, hope and optimism that the book lacked, leaning into the inspiration he took from the Romanticists with themes of passion, nature and mortality (not to mention the inclusion of a direct quote from Lord Byron, one of the most prominent writers of the movement and a friend of Shelley's, in the credits). Rather than accenting the moral ambiguity of artificial creation - what I had thought to be the most timely aspect of the novel given today's push toward artificial intelligence - del Toro honed in on the relationships between the characters. While I usually sigh at changes like this, the acting reminded me that fundamentally, most of our current issues can be boiled down to difficulty in relationships.

If I bought into parasocial celebrity relationships, I might be inclined to make Jacob Elordi my new celebrity obsession. The man's Netflix resume has come a long way from The Kissing Booth trilogy, and he did a phenomenal job of humanizing the creature. He surpassed all of our expectations and truly embodied both the innocent newborn baby in the young creature and the wise formidability it grows into - I'm almost positive that awards season will give him his flowers. Also an excellent performance by Oscar Isaac, who did manage to sell me on the humanization of Dr. Frankenstein, which was probably the thing I was most apprehensive about going into the film. I may or may not have shed a tear at the final confrontation, and both of them captured the complexity of the parent-child dynamic almost perfectly. The gutting pain, the bitter disappointment, the irrational hope through it all - truly a masterclass by both actors.

Visually, the film was a gothic delight. The costumes were stunning, thoughtful and made me forget about the random Tiffany and Co. partnership. I was quite reminded of the Netflix adaptation of Shadow and Bone, a young adult series that rose to popularity back when TikTok had good recommendations, in its color grading and fantastical atmosphere. Everything lends itself wonderfully to del Toro's vision, and you don't need to be familiar with his past works to see and appreciate it. All in all, a lovely Friday evening. With that being said...

Not to be That Woke Friend, but I thought that by taking the creative liberty to reinvent Elizabeth's role (as the lead woman in the film), del Toro would create a nuanced heroine. Mia Goth plays both Claire, Frankenstein's dead mother, and Elizabeth, Victor's unrequited love - that's interesting, but exclusively in the way it reflects on Victor. Both Claire and Elizabeth have classic Dead Wife Energy; both are bold, intelligent and ahead of their time. They slot perfectly into the boring, morally uptight Madonna archetype I thought we were all tired of (she wears a rosary on her neck for the entire film).

While Shelley's Elizabeth is a minor character "sacrificed to patriarchy" with the rest of the female cast, as English professor Julie Carlson describes in this Variety piece, that is clearly the point. That Mary Shelley's novel almost exclusively featured men is deeply ironic and incredibly intentional - as close to a feminist commentary as was possible at the time. However, del Toro chose to focus on capitalism and generational trauma, and in doing so, he robbed us of the nuanced female character that I came to expect from him. In fairness, I do appreciate that he didn't try to tackle every possible social issue (as many films are wont to do nowadays). However, if we could afford a complex Dr. Frankenstein, I think the budget also allowed for a complex Elizabeth.

While the remake market is still oversaturated, consider Jacob Elordi my new white boy of the month.

TEDxJHU Communications team director Eloise Martenson, in her opening speech, expanded on the theme of the event.

"The development of ideas does not move in a straight line. It loops, it turns, it returns; and each new rotation reveals a new angle, a new question and a new possibility. A carousel is both nonlinear motion and new perspective. Every moment offers a different view, and every thinker brings a different idea." Martenson added, "…as we rotate through their ideas, we invite you not just to listen, but to let each perspective shift your own just a little each time around."

Sholder, a current doctoral candidate of the University's Doctor of Engineering program delivered a talk titled "Epidemics and space debris: How space debris is going viral."

Sholder began by explaining space debris, a wide range of objects in space left behind from previous spacecraft or machinery. At high speeds, they can collide into functioning aircraft at high speeds that can cause the formation of even more debris. This could lead to the destruction of satellites for weather forecasts, GPS and communication servers.

The Kessler syndrome, Sholder explained, describes a situation that depicts a situation where collisions produce fragments that then go on to produce more fragments and more collisions in a chain reaction-like manner which, in the worst-case scenario, prevents a spacecraft from leaving Earth due to the debris cluttering up the lower orbit. When reading about it, Sholder connected the principle back to how viruses spread in the field of epidemiology.

"I created the Jump Accumulation Model (JAM) to describe this behavior. What my model does is help us to see and understand the spread of proliferation of space debris as something we already know: how to fight an outbreak... JAM doesn't just describe the problem, it allows us to experiment with the solution. Solutions by adjusting parameters… small changes in behavior that could prevent a cascade of collisions or trigger one. [But] it isn't biological, it's orbital." Sholder said.

Following Sholder's talk, Mark Faust, a current undergraduate student studying Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, spoke about his experiences with uncertainty, and how a good question can bring comfort.

Faust stated that his first real battle with uncertainty originated from imposter syndrome. His first question came in the form of whether computer science was the right career path for him, which resulted in the conclusion that intellectually, Faust preferred physics, mathematics and the philosophical questions resulting from that perspective. For example, he questioned if anyone in his life would ask him to be their best man and then considered the answer's implications.

"I had become obsessed, obsessed with pushing myself, obsessed with not feeling like a failure, and… this came at the cost of a social life… sure, I could calculate derivatives all day and I could carry my rucksack for miles, [but] could I even get an invitation to a wedding?" Faust stated.

Faust credits his change in behavior to questions like these. He described his behavior becoming more open to invitations from friends.

Faust also questioned the conviction of his faith, and whether his belief was simply an echo of his parents'.

"What came to the surface were doubts that I had suppressed my entire life… But the result of my single big question was a real forging of not only my own faith, but also the faiths of many others." Faust said.

Faust wrapped up his talk by stating that good questions are the right tool for combating uncertainty.

After an intermission with Students of Caribbean Ancestry, a Caribbean-based dance team, and the Entertainers Club, a fire-spinning and flow arts group, Faust was followed by Devothama Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy, a master's student in Engineering Management.

Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy delivered a talk titled "Life is not a straight line" that outlined his journey of self-discovery. After his schooling, he worked at Mercedes Benz Research and Development. Despite the financial stability, Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy expressed his unhappiness with his day-to-day life.

"The days began to blur together…I realized that I hadn't had a real conversation with anybody that day. It hit me hard then, that even though there are a lot of people around me, I was completely disconnected. I realized I had stopped living," Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy said.

Then, Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy underwent a significant surgery that changed his life and allowed him to reflect. This eventually led Gundugurki Narasimhamurthy to quit his job, start traveling and resume photography, which included locations like the Thar Desert as well as a remote village where he was able to converse with a Buddhist monk at the monastery.

"So if there is one thing I learned in life, it is this: life doesn't always follow a blueprint. Not all detours are distractions. Sometimes, they are directions. So the people you meet by chance, the unplanned moments and the decisions we actually take out of instinct, they make us closer to who we truly are," he said.

Zarah Khondoker, a current graduate student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, then started her speech, where she discussed the importance of menstrual health awareness. Khondoker highlighted that many OB-GYNs and endocrinologists have started to deem menstruation as the fifth vital sign for women, in addition to the classic four of body temperature, blood pressure, pulse and breathing rate.

Khondoker emphasized the potential menstrual blood has as a way to test reproductive disorders; menstrual blood contains almost 400 unique proteins specific to it, and characteristics like color and frequency provides important information about one's health. Menstrual blood also contains stem cells that have potential for clinical treatments. Khondoker discussed the importance of awareness and further research, calling for the end of the stigma revolving around menstruation.

"Before 1993, women were not included in clinical trials. A lot of the logic and basis for this was that women were seen as too hormonal, with the menstrual cycle being seen as something that could convolute data… But isn't that the point of research? Shouldn't we be researching the difference?... End the stigma. Start talking about periods. Do more. Science needs to start, and science needs to start today," Khondoker emphasized.

Following all of the speeches, Gathoni Kinyatti, a current student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, offered her thoughts about the event as an audience member in an interview with The News-Letter.

"[Sholder] was talking about epidemiology, which I am majoring in. So it was really cool to see it from the space perspective, and how that is correlated to infectious diseases. I'm going to look more into spacecraft and the debris that can be in space because of collisions," Kinyatti said.

The TEDxHopkins design team was led by senior Jennifer Mendoza. She described her responsibilities as ordering balloons and carnival-like decorations from Amazon to match the theme in an interview with The News-Letter. Curator Arielle Clayton, a senior, also offered a glimpse into the work behind the planning of the event in an interview with The News-Letter.

"We've been preparing for this event since the beginning of the school year in August." Clayton said. "Our applications [for the teams] open every fall. You also can find us at the [Student Involvement Fair (SIF)], and our Instagram, @tedxhopkins, is our main form of communication."