“You will get to where you need to be in your own time! Don't compare yourself with others, which is often easier said than done as Hopkins students love to keep busy and get involved in many clubs. But rather accept where you are and realize you are at Hopkins for a reason.” -Angel Zhao, History and International Studies
“Rushing from class to class, or midnight sessions at Brody. Basically everyone stressing together in unity.” -Shizheng "JJ" Tie, Environmental Health and Engineering
There were moments this year that seemed to go on forever, from the last couple minutes of a two-hour Zoom class to waiting for my advisor to triple-check that I would graduate on time to the brief lag between texts with my parents after asking them to reread my graduate school acceptance letter to ensure I wasn’t misinterpreting the offer.
The summer before my freshman year, I combed the internet trying to find ways to have an unforgettable college experience (why not? I only got one chance). I wanted one simple recipe: Do X, then do Y, but make sure you maintain Z. I talked to my friends’ older siblings to hear what they had to say, but they were all very different: One loved their ballet group and another enjoyed their research in antiferromagnetism.
I remember the very first day of move-in like it was yesterday. After two days of driving across the country, my family and I pulled up to the large marble sign that read “Wolman Hall.” It was exactly 7:00 a.m., and the Gilman clock tower rang just as we unloaded the car.
Two years ago, a friend of mine from my hometown asked me how it felt to be halfway done with college. Did I feel old? Had the time gone by too fast? Was I happy to be (somewhat) almost done with school for good?
This is the last piece I will write for The News-Letter. In my two years of involvement, I have written about international tensions and public health issues, how much I dislike Mulan (2020) and how much I appreciate Taylor Swift’s two recent albums. So it is hard to decide what to include in my final piece as a proper tribute and closure to my time at Hopkins.
When I was a freshman at Hopkins, I used to wander through different dorms at night looking for new people. Before COVID-19, this was how I made a lot of friends: having meaningful late-night conversations over Insomnia cookies or fruit snacks.
Located in Towson among many other shops and restaurants is a small, Chinese all-you-can-eat hot pot place called New Generation. It is a familiar location to many Hopkins students, but for me, it’s something even more special.
Fully vaccinated and hoping to feel something, I went to Power Plant Live! last Thursday for the first time since the pandemic started. As I squeezed past peers I hadn’t been indoors with in eons, I was reminded of the Brood X cicadas that have descended upon the nation.
When I first went to work at The News-Letter in September 1965, its office was on the ground floor of the Merrick Barn. It wasn’t until 1966 that co-editors Caleb Deschanel and Jim Freedman, both members of the Class of ’66, moved it to the Gatehouse — which was brilliant. I don’t know how they managed it, but the Gatehouse was — and still is — the perfect headquarters for the paper.
Mike Deak (Editor-in-Chief), Elliot Grover (Business Manager), Phil Konort (Business Manager) and Mark Wolkow (Business Manager/Managing Editor) worked on The News-Letter together from 1974 to 1979.
Mark Reutter was involved with The News-Letter from 1968 to 1971 as the first City Editor, Friday managing editor and co-Editor-in-Chief with Ted Rohrlich. After graduating from Hopkins he was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun and is currently a senior editor and reporter for The Baltimore Brew.
Greetings, quizlings! After 25+ years of dormancy, The Quizmaster has once again re-emerged into the sunlight to delight and annoy you! Like some kind of defective cicada, only with less flying into your face. In honor of The News-Letter’s 125th anniversary, this issue’s quiz is about people connected to Hopkins who were well-known journalists and/or authors.
Attending Hopkins was among the most important experiences of my life. For the first time, away from the protective — and irresistible — constrictions of my family, I took myself and the world seriously; I worked hard and nearly up to my potential; I met new people and learned new things; I was advised by intelligent and caring friends and teachers, who, unlike family members, were not obligated but had chosen to take an interest in me and my welfare; and I made decisions about my future — decisions that I have certainly questioned on occasion, but from which I have never significantly deviated.
In March 2020, COVID-19 forced us to switch to daily, online-only production. Yet for the nearly 125 years before the pandemic, The News-Letter was a print (or a print-first) publication.
Gayle Cohen Cinquegrani joined The News-Letter shortly after arriving on campus in the fall of 1976, remaining on the staff until her graduation in 1980. During that time she worked on the news staff, serving as a news reporter (1976-78), News Editor (1978-79) and Contributing Editor (1979-1980). After attending law school she enrolled in the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She then worked for Bloomberg Bureau of National Affairs, where she reported on employment law, the U.S. Labor Department and the legal industry. Cinquegrani is currently an editor at a research center affiliated with Georgetown University.
First setting foot in the Gatehouse darkroom in 1985, Kevin Thomas Tully joined The News-Letter as a Staff Photographer before becoming a Staff Writer. After graduating from Hopkins in 1987, Tully began a short stint at a community newspaper before becoming a sports editor with Gannett. He then led the PR efforts for the flagship franchise of the XFL in New York. Today, Tully is the Chief Operating Officer for a global marketing agency that represents some of the most recognized brands in technology.
Miriam E. Tucker began writing for The News-Letter in her junior year during the fall of 1984, and served as Co-Science Editor from 1985 to 1986. She focused on stories about medical research, often taking the Hopkins shuttle to the School of Medicine and interviewing doctors about their research. That background led her to a writing job with the International Medical News Group LLC in Rockville, Md., where she worked until 2012. She now freelances for several different media outlets, including the Washington Post, National Public Radio’s Shots blog and WebMD’s professional site Medscape. She writes extensively about diabetes, a condition she has lived with since 1973.
This year, as I do every year, I filled out my NCAA basketball bracket. Like most years, I did not do very well. My wife kicked my butt (again, like most years), and I barely beat my 10-year-old son. The one thing that saved me from finishing last was my faith in the University of Southern California (USC). I had them in the Final Eight, and that’s exactly where their run ended when they lost to Gonzaga. I really knew nothing about them and had not seen them play all year. I picked them for one reason: Andy Enfield.
