Voices

Hopkins is a diverse university where an incredible mix of cultures, academic interests and personalities coexist and thrive. Here is the section where you can publish your unique thoughts, ideas and perspectives on life at Hopkins and beyond.

A few tips on how to actively listen to your peers

By CECILIA VORFELD | February 20, 2019

As a member of A Place To Talk (APTT), a peer listening group on campus, I am very lucky to have learnt how to really listen to others in a way that can help someone tackle almost any problem. This doesn’t mean I can fix every situation that I hear about. On the contrary, APTT’s number one rule is that we do not give advice. 

DSC_7069.jpg

Hookup culture: empowering, isolating or both?

By KATHERINE GILLIS | February 14, 2019

I am, as my mother would say, a “sensitive person who feels things deeply.” She’s not wrong. I have atopic dermatitis — a fancy medical term for “sensitive deep-feeler.” When I’m upset, a rash breaks out on my arms; when I’m stressed, I get bacne that looks like a topographical map of a piece of pizza. Even when I try hiding my feelings, my skin betrays me. 

Hookup culture: empowering, isolating or both?

By ADDY PERLMAN | February 14, 2019

It’s 9 a.m., and you’re trying to rush home before anyone sees you in oversized sweatpants and a T-shirt, carrying your clothes from last night. The infamous walk of shame. But why do we label it as shameful? Why do we consider sex shameful? 

DSC_7069.jpg
JIE QI/CC By 2.0 For several years, Farrar’s sexuality reminded him of Schrödinger’s cat.

Schrödinger’s sexuality: Waiting for that special someone

By SAMUEL FARRAR | February 18, 2019

In seventh grade, somewhere between the classes that neither students nor teachers cared about and the hormone and Axe-filled gym period, we had one hour set aside every week to visit the library. While I’m sure I would have preferred the patented middle school time-waster coolmathgames.com, the presence of our terrifying school librarian forced me to pretend to actually read. 

Saving yourself this Valentine’s Day

By GABI SWISTARA | February 14, 2019

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.

11 Gabi.jpg
Pull Quote Template 16.png

How dating expectations change in college

By CLAIRE BEAVER | February 19, 2019

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.

Learning to move on in real life, and online

By MORGAN OME | February 18, 2019

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. 

Pull Quote Template 12.png
I had a ‘make America gay again’ sign at the 2018 Women’s March.

I’ve identified as gay for years. Not anymore.

By JACOB TOOK | February 18, 2019

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.”

Learning to survive the “situationship”

By SARINA REDZINSKI | February 14, 2019

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. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN Redzinski recounted her experiences in relationships without labels.
COURTESY OF ALLISON.HARE/CC-BY SA 2.0 Whether it’s Nutella or some other treat, indulge this Valentine’s Day.

Take pleasure in eating your heart out this Valentine's Day

By FRANK GUERRIERO | February 13, 2019

Something unsettling has spread about the culinary mediaverse in recent weeks. If you spend as much time as I do browsing the websites, Instagram accounts and — on particularly hungry evenings — LinkedIn pages of restaurants, you’ve probably noticed it. Also, get yourself some help — your homework, pets and sleep cycle need you.

COURTESY OF LORIE SHAULL/CC-BY SA 2.0 The organization Planned Parenthood provides women with health care.

Taking concrete action to support abortion rights

By KATHERINE LOGAN | February 13, 2019

For years now, I have proudly identified myself as an intersectional feminist. I’m minoring in Women, Gender and Sexuality (WGS) Studies and am currently working on an Honors Thesis project related to the history of fairy-tales and the implicit, gendered messages that they often contain. 

Embracing abrasions: the inherent risks of being female in America

By GABI SWISTARA | February 13, 2019

In introducing my column for this upcoming semester, I want to transition between the positive relationships I wrote about last semester to focusing on more politically-charged experiences. I would like to provide a content warning to anyone who cannot read about sexuality and sexual violence. 

COURTESY OF TRACHEOTOMY BOB/ CC-BY SA 2.0 Girls are socialized in many ways, including through the toys they play with, from a young age.
COURTESY OF JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BENOIST/CC BY-3.0   The Subtle Asian Daters meet-up took place at NYC’s Washington Square.

My experience at a Subtle Asian Dating event

By KELVIN QIAN | February 14, 2019

It was a brisk December night in the Big Apple when I stood under the Washington Square Arch, as the greens and yellows and purples of the skyline glowed in the background. I was already exhausted from walking across Manhattan, having visited the National Museum of Mathematics and walked the High Line, but I also felt excited as I stood in the park waiting for our group of Subtle Asian Daters to form.

How to make Valentine’s Day less stressful this year

By SARINA REDZINSKI | February 6, 2019

For a lot of people, Valentine’s Day is less a holiday and more a 24-hour block of dodging obnoxiously googly-eyed social media posts and couples feeling each other up in the middle of the quad. And, as always, it’s coming around again. In a week, every store will be plastered with red heart-shaped decorations and every decent restaurant will be booking up fast.

M01229/ CC BY SA 2.0 You can choose to make Valentine’s Day about self-love this year. 
COURTESY OF JACOB TOOK A photo taken during a pageant at the weight loss camp Took attended. 

Embracing the label ‘fat’ and all its extra weight

By JACOB TOOK | February 12, 2019

Growing up, I always hated my body. I was fat, and I was not happy about it. I hated eating in public because I felt embarrassed. Shopping for clothes was a nightmare, and whatever I ended up with would still be too tight in some places and too baggy in others. I worried that I’d never be able to get girls.