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The Student Health and Wellness Center, the University clinic located on 31st Street, is often the recipient of criticism from the student body, and it seems like everyone has a friend with a horror story about HelWell. Although the center is flawed, it does serve its stated purpose. HelWell would greatly benefit from a few changes, but it does not deserve the harsh reputation it has garnered.
As the freshman class spent Spring Break worrying about what options their housing time slot would permit them, the question of which building is preferable seemed to be at the top of everyone’s mind. The answer is a foregone conclusion for some. Many swear by the newness of the now five-years-old Charles Commons. Some will fight tooth and nail for an apartment unit that allows them to forego a meal plan. Yet others are already assured of their accommodation, having selected the healthy living, substance-free community of Rogers House. As seems to be convention, McCoy remains forgotten, unloved and feared.
It feels like no one believes their vote actually counts. If someone lives in a blue state and votes red, the candidate they want to win doesn’t have a chance, and if someone lives in a blue state and votes blue, why should it matter if they join the hoards of people all voting for the same candidate?
For many Americans, “take your child to work day” is an annual occurrence where children accompany their parents to their job. Typically the glamour of this annual day wears off once these children become teenagers, and teachers do not want their students missing an entire day’s worth of classes. The thought of having children roaming the workplace several times a month seems unimaginable, given that it would distract not only their parents, but co-workers as well.
“Imagine yourself a woman, walking into a classroom and being addressed as ‘Gentleman.’ Imagine yourself walking into the gym and being told that you need a male escort in order to use the ping-pong tables… This was the Johns Hopkins University in 1970 and 1971,” Cynthia Young said in her 1974 Hopkins commencement speech.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump barrelled through the primaries once again, winning Michigan and Mississippi. Not that I’m surprised this time around; after winning Super Tuesday with landslide victories, it appears that the sky has turned green for the businessman.
Before the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9, Madeline Albright and Gloria Steinem, pioneering, feminist dynamos of the 1960s, had some choice words for young female voters. At a rally for Hillary Clinton in the state on Feb. 7, Albright took to the podium to address undecided backers, saying, “We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of younger women think it’s done. It’s not done. There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” To which, Clinton laughed.
The Hopkins Dialectic is a new journal founded by sophomore Karl Johnson that will discuss the intersection of Christianity with modern issues and subject such as philosophy, science and literature. The journal expects to publish its first issue in April and until then has been working with The Triple Helix to hold discussions on similar topics that students will write about in the journal.
Pausing is important. Pausing allows us to be present, to take stock of how far we’ve come, where we are and where we need to go. The act of pressing pause seems almost necessary when the business and tiredness of daily life is recognized. To many, the upcoming Spring Break represents just that. An opportunity to pause, to rest, to take stock.
Ahh... 2016. We are truly living in the future I imagined when I was a little girl. Hoverboards, smart watches, Nutella, those fancy automatic soda machines they have in fast food restaurants now: The future is everything I pictured with one large exception — I did not anticipate that a fascist, racist, misogynistic orange fluffy potato would probably be one of the two major political party’s candidates.
In 1889, the University’s very first yearbook began with a small message: “The class of ‘89 is about to leave the college halls and go forth into the world. Each and every member takes in his hand a copy of The Debutante and his diploma.” Over a century later, our seniors will no longer be able to share the same sentiment.
In the back right corner of Shriver Hall’s grand entrance stands a bust of Isaiah Bowman, the University’s fifth president who presided over the school from 1935 to 1948. He was a Harvard graduate, a renowned geographer, a traveler, a close advisor to both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and, importantly, an outspoken anti-Semite. He was once quoted as saying, “Jews don’t come to Hopkins to make the world better or anything like that. They come for two things: to make money and to marry a non-Jewish woman.” Thus the recent outrage over the school’s memorialization of this man is understandable.
The upcoming Homewood Leadership Weekend was envisioned as a platform for empowering student leaders and their organizations to succeed. Sessions on leadership styles, event planning, finance management and administrative organization are intended to impart useful, practical skills for success. The planned sessions overlook one key element of leadership: role modeling.
Over the course of my two years at Hopkins I’ve mostly heard people complain about Baltimore. It’s too small, too dangerous, too boring. I’ve yet to hear anyone say that they actually like the city. No one’s told me about a cool neighborhood they visited or a delicious Thai restaurant they’ve found. No one’s said to me, “You have to visit the Walters Museum,” or “You can’t leave without eating at The Bun Shop.”
This week, University President Ronald J. Daniels and Provost Robert C. Lieberman announced a University-wide Task Force on Mental Health and Wellbeing, the culmination of many months of work by the administration and SGA. I am, quite frankly, thrilled by the University’s commitment to ameliorating the issue of mental health here on campus and eagerly look forward to working with them on this important task.
We all want good food on our campus. The Dining Meeting this past Monday reflects how staff and students alike are committed to the Hopkins dining experience. But other than give feedback at the Dining Meeting, what else can students do to improve their Dining encounters? Attention must be paid to how our interactions to obtain food are not just transactional but relational. Is it really the case that staff members are “mean” and “rude” as some believe? Are the bagels really worth “killing with fire” as suggested by a previous review by this newspaper? Here are a few thoughts from my observations at Crepe Studio (located in CharMar):
In the early 1950s, a former Korean War tank commando had a dream. His name was Walter Criddle, but his friends knew him as “the Fat Flying Squirrel” because he was apparently a spirited dancer despite his weight. As a recovering alcoholic, Criddle built himself a happy life as the owner of a successful Baltimore tire store. After a few stable years, Criddle began to look past his dream of owning a Corvette as the endemic alcoholism of his community began to weigh upon him. Walter Criddle wanted to do something about it. He wanted to start a halfway house and, with the help of a motorcycle-riding, chain smoking, spitfire of a preacher named Harry Shelley, succeeded in the venture. This is a highly condensed origin story of the Tuerk House, which was my favorite non-profit organization I worked with last summer. This group is still in operation as a halfway house for any kind of Baltimore addict and does beautiful work in our city.
This week, the University announced its decision to create a task force of professors, students and staff to investigate the state of student mental health and to create recommendations for measures to improve health and well-being.
With the mainstream media dominated by a boisterous primary season for the upcoming presidential election, it can be easy to forget the political climate in the University’s own backyard. The Baltimore mayoral election is impending, with the Democratic primary occurring on April 26. Although most students are unable to vote in this race given their lack of permanent, legal residency, it is still important for students to remain informed about the political world they inhabit for four years.
