news-features

Why I try to present options, not give advice

By CECILIA VORFELD
May 2, 2019

The semester is coming to a close and so is my time as a trainer for A Place To Talk. I am most proud of my co-trainer and trainees who have all done such an excellent job over these many weeks of training and grown so much. The good news is that I will ...

COURTESY OF CECILIA VORFELD Vorfeld tells her trainees to give options, not advice in A Place to Talk

Producer Showcase: Jarreau Vandal and Edacs

By NIKITA SHTARKMAN | May 2, 2019

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been constantly listening to music from two completely unique and distinct producers. Both are fantastic and should be far more popular than they are, though they make completely different music. 

South Korean film delivers nuanced portrait of war

By CHRISTIAN HELGESON | May 2, 2019

Liberty in North Korea JHU (LiNK), a student group under the umbrella organization of the same name, held its rescheduled screening of the 2004 South Korean film, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, on Wednesday, May 1. Although I could not attend in person, I was able to watch the film on my own time. 

Naval Historical Center/CC BY-SA 1.0 Taegukgi depicts the cruel conditions of the Korean War.

Here's what I've experienced because I'm a woman

By ZUBIA HASAN | May 2, 2019

A Pakistani male artist Ali Zafar was recently accused of harassing another Pakistani female artist Meesha Shafi. Shafi claimed that the harassment had occurred on several occasions, and she had chosen to stay quiet about it because she had blocked it out. 

Learning how to express my unique masculinity

By KELVIN QIAN | May 2, 2019

A few days back, I found an LA Times article online: “To fight K-pop’s influence in China, a club teaches young boys to be alpha males.” Intrigued, I read it. The author explains that a masculinity crisis has developed in China, thanks to the kinds of celebrities that were on Chinese media. After all, if you ever saw male K-pop stars, you would know how feminine their makeup is, how pretty their dyed hair is, how un-manly their style of dress is! Surely they are the opposite of what a real man is!

PUBLIC DOMAIN Backlash against K-pop leads Qian to ponder traditional masculinity.
andy witchger cc by-sa 2.0 Lizzo’s new album Cuz I Love You is an uplifting album full of memorable beats and lyrics.

Cuz I Love You is about overcoming vulnerabilities with confidence

By MARVIS GUTIERREZ | May 2, 2019

When Lizzo brazenly opened “Tempo” with the words, “I’ve been waiting for this one,” teasing her collaboration with Missy Elliott, I knew I wasn’t ready. It’s been a month since “Tempo” dropped, with Lizzo’s full album, Cuz I Love You, released on Friday, April 19, but I still don’t think I’m quite ready to tackle analyzing the absolute bops featured.

Reflecting on our time as Editors-in-Chief

By KELSEY KO and MORGAN OME | May 2, 2019

It’s not often that you get to lead with your best friend. The summer before this year — our senior year — we road-tripped up to the Jersey shore and stood on the beach with no idea of the year that was ahead of us as Editors-in-Chief. We had been close for a long time, but this was the year that we became inseparable. Twenty-plus-hour News-Letter work weeks, bookended by weekends full of laughter, reflection and nights in Baltimore and Brody. And now, with only a few weeks until graduation, we can’t help but look back on this whirlwind year and marvel at how it’s all coming to a close so soon.

NEHA SANGANA / PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF Ome and Ko celebrate the time they’ve spent working on The News-Letter
nicolas genin cc by-sa 2.0 French film director Claire Denis’ High Life is a visceral sci-fi film featuring Robert Pattinson.

Claire Denis’ film, High Life, is an engrossingly gross sci-fi film

By EMILY WHITNEY | May 2, 2019

Claire Denis’ film High Life, which was released on Friday, April 12, is definitely unique. And it is also certainly a showcase of the most bodily fluids I’ve seen in a science fiction film, so much to the point where I pledged to walk out at five different points. But the film has an impressive and elusive gravity to it that kept me in my seat, despite being grossed out right up to my limits. 

Hopkins community reflects on Mayor Pugh scandals

By RUDY MALCOM | May 6, 2019

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents raided Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh’s house and offices at City Hall on Thursday. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan called on her to resign in a public statement hours later, following the lead of the City Council and the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a regional organization comprised of University President Ronald J. Daniels and other business and civic leaders.

A6 top.jpg
RDSMITH4 / CC BY.SA 2.5 Milton S. Eisenhower Library, a space frequented by workaholic JHU students.

Reading period: a time to pause and wind down

By SOPHIA LOLA | May 2, 2019

The countdown to finals is getting dangerously low. Get excited, folks. Even the worst of procrastinators — myself included — are beginning to settle down and spend some quality time with their textbooks and laptops in order to prepare for this most hellish of hell weeks. Before that, though, is a four-day reprieve: reading period. 

Greedy Reads builds community through books

By LUKAS JOHN | May 2, 2019

The small, unassuming dark brick building sits at the corner of Aliceanna and South Ann in Fells Point. Large white letters spell out “Greedy Reads” on the street side window; inside, the bookstore’s owner, Julia Fleischaker, sits in a pool of red and blue light cast by the building’s original stained-glass windows, browsing on a laptop in her armchair. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN Julia Fleischaker is the owner of Greedy Reads, a bookstore in Fells Point.

Law Review brings together pre-law community

By TED TAK | May 2, 2019

The Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Law Review hosted the first Law Review Gala this Monday. The event featured William H. “Billy” Murphy Jr., a civil rights lawyer and former judge who represented the family of Freddie Gray, and Christina Bostick, the civil rights lawyer who represented the family of Henrietta Lacks. 

COURTESY OF TED TAK  Famed civil rights attorneys come to Hopkins to speak to Law Review.
HOPKINSSPORTS.COM Sophomore Anjali Kashyap won Centennial Conference player of the week.

M. & W. Tennis take final Centennial matches

By MATTHEW RITCHIE | May 2, 2019

Last Saturday, the men’s and women’s tennis team had their final matchups before the Centennial Conference tournament this upcoming weekend. The men’s team hosted a doubleheader in Baltimore, facing off against the Dickinson College Red Devils and the Mary Washington University Eagles, while the women’s team traveled to face the Washington College Shorewomen.

It’s time for the Athletics culture to change now

By ESTHER HONG | May 8, 2019

A lot — to say the least — has happened since Aug. 10, 2018. And ever since, I’ve wanted to speak up. Every week I’ve told myself, “This is the week I’m going to publish my reflection.” And every week, I cowered. I was afraid people would use my words against me, and I have no doubt that they still will. 

Pull Quote Template 32 (19).png
BME team’s novel product will make at-home dialysis safer for patients with kidney failure.

BME student team creates device to make at-home dialysis safer

By CINDY JIANG | May 2, 2019

Of the 660,000 Americans receiving treatment for kidney failure, 468,000 are undergoing dialysis. Now a team of engineers at Hopkins have developed a device that reduces the risk of infection in at-home dialysis. Their work will make it even more efficient for patients to perform dialysis at their own convenience.