In a world governed by social pressure to love and be loved, knowing how to be single is key to your health and that of your relationships. Knowing how to be single can be difficult, though, when surrounded by rom-coms, love songs and Disney-happy-endings.
The act of dating is complicated, to put it lightly. To text or not to text. To Snapchat or not to Snapchat. To wait a certain amount of time before responding to the text so you seem like you’re not on your phone 24/7 and have a very cool life or to not. These decisions feel monumental in the moment, creating a pressure that other generations just don’t understand.
Each morning, a Facebook notification arrives at the same time with the same message: “On this day, you have memories with…” That’s usually accompanied by a list of seven people, five of whom I don’t talk to anymore.
I am not your Korean fetish.” That was the Tinder bio I wrote last summer, which came with some decent pictures of myself and a surprise painting of Judith slaying Holofernes. A not-so-subtle finger to the patriarchy.
Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” is a bop — it topped charts in 25 countries and became one of the best-selling singles of all time. It’s also a monumental LGBTQ anthem in which Gaga embraces her bisexuality and affirms other LGBTQ identities, singing “I’m beautiful in my way / ‘Cause God makes no mistakes / I’m on the right track, baby I was born this way.”
As social media and online dating platforms like Tinder and Hinge become more and more visible in American society, people are beginning to question whether relationships and the concept of love are evolving. Many feel as though technology has superseded human interaction and elevated the desire for quick hookups, while others contend that modern relationships remain fundamentally the same as they were in prior generations.
Based on the media’s depiction of young adults, one would think that all college and high school students are having a lot of sex all the time. There are entire TV shows that focus on the sex lives of teenagers. But recent survey data seem to suggest that people are having a lot less sex than we think they are.
People have lots of different words for it, all with slightly different implications. “Situationship,” “seeing each other” and “hanging out” are just a few. Ultimately though, they refer to the same vague thing: two people who like each other enough to act like a couple, but who, for some reason or other, won’t commit. Though there is some overlap in terminology, I’ve found these pseudo-relationships aren’t quite a part of “hookup culture,” really. Instead, they exist in a strange gray area somewhere between “friends with benefits” and an official relationship.
First Date: Happy hour at Clavel With its unmatched plants-and-fairy-lights aesthetic, you’re sure to woo your love interest on a first date at Clavel. Their happy hour special is Monday through Friday, and you can split chips and queso for $8 and sip on some margaritas for $6. Make sure you get in line right at 5 p.m. though because it fills up fast with Baltimore residents who head right to Clavel after getting off work. For those who aren’t of age, they also have tasty non-alcoholic mixed drinks. Pro-tip: If there’s a wait at Clavel, you can always pop on over for a drink at W.C. Harlan, a small speakeasy bar that’s tucked away on the same block.
Myth: People with mental illnesses tend to be violent Those being effectively treated for psychotic illnesses are no more likely to be violent. Still, a 2006 survey found that 60 percent of people thought that those with schizophrenia were likely to act violently. Emma McGinty, deputy director for the Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote in an email to The News-Letter that this belief is not true.
The University’s undergraduate population boasts students from 62 different countries, with 11 percent of the current freshman class being international students. With this cultural diversity comes a mix of perspectives, cultures and experiences, especially in regard to mental health. In response to increased globalization over the last century, many countries have seen stigma against and support networks for the mentally ill change. Regardless, most cultures still have perspectives about mental illness that greatly reflect their regions’ traditions.
I wrote a piece. I was forced to throw it away, to delete it from my hard drive, to delete it from my mind.
For as long as I can remember, my stomach has always hurt. Sometimes, I would feel like I was being stabbed with a dull knife, over and over. Other times, my body would break out in a cold sweat from waves of nausea. Even when I wasn’t in pain, my stomach would make noises, prompting people to ask what was wrong. I usually just said that I was hungry, even if I wasn’t.
Writing about mental health is a touchy subject for me. That’s not because I am dealing with anxiety, or depression or another form of mental illness myself. I am extremely fortunate in that I don’t, to my knowledge, have a mental health issue or disability.
When most TV shows or movies portray a character with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), that character can usually be found washing their hands for 15 minutes straight or flipping a light switch on and off five times before leaving a room. And to most of the world, that’s what OCD is.
Every day at 7 a.m. my phone lights up with a “mindfulness reminder” from the Calm app. The daily message, which serves as a reminder to complete a meditation, is usually a cliché — for example, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Despite the triviality of the notification, it reminds me to log onto the Calm app and complete one of its many guided meditations.
If you ever have the chance to peruse the “Parents of Johns Hopkins University Students” Facebook page, you’ll see more than one post from a parent whose child has developed anxiety and depression during their time at Hopkins.
In 2016, student and faculty representatives from across the nine schools of Hopkins convened to discuss ways to improve mental health on campus. This spring, the Task Force on Student Mental Health and Well-being released a final report, which provided data and recommendations on the climate surrounding mental health at Hopkins.
Senior Art History and Archaeology major Casey lives with hearing loss and tinnitus caused by a traumatic event earlier in her life. During her sophomore year, she decided to book an appointment with the University’s Counseling Center to seek help in coping with her disability.
The latest pop smash echoes through the room, shots of grapefruit-flavored vodka line the worn table and the scent of cinnamon wafts from a tray of snickerdoodles in the corner. One of these things is not like the others. What is a plate of freshly baked cookies doing at a college party?
