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.

COURTESY OF CARL VN VECHTEN/PUBLIC DOMAIN Roald Dahl is known for a variety of characters, including the beloved bookworm Matilda.

The power of novels to shape generations of women

By KATHERINE LOGAN | October 3, 2018

Chances are that if you’re here, you’ve always had a passion for knowledge, whether it manifested itself in a love of books (as was the case for me), an intense interest in taking things apart and reassembling them, or in playing “doctor” and “operating” on your siblings. 

Allow me to reintroduce myself and my identity with all its complexities

By AMELIA ISAACS | October 1, 2018

Roughly a year ago, I wrote my first column for The News-Letter. In an attempt to “introduce myself” and this column, I unwittingly put myself into a box. I labelled myself as “the British girl” because that’s what I had already been labelled as by most people I’d met just a few weeks into my first semester here. I allowed myself to stay within that box, however, and I can only blame myself for that.

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. (30).png
DICK THOMAS JOHNSON/ CC BY 2.0 Brie Larson, star of Short Term 12, later won an Oscar for her role in Room.

Short Term 12 inspired me to help other people

By LAURA OING | September 28, 2018

It’s been 11 years since I read the very first Hardy Boys book, but if you were to ask me about its ending, I would be able to tell you everything about how Frank and Joe Hardy solved their first mystery together. Because of my really good memory when I was younger, I never understood how people could read the same book or watch the same movie over and over again. If I already know how the story is going to go, then what is the point of seeing it all unravel again? 

bWlrZQ==/ CC BY 2.0 Amsterdam has an estimated 881,000 bikes, more than its population.

Exploring Amsterdam and Dutch culture on a bike

By CECILIA VORFELD | September 28, 2018

I briefly touched upon what it can be like riding a bike last week, in the delightful city of Amsterdam, along with its trials and tribulations, but it was far too brief. Cycling is what makes the Netherlands tick. One cannot possibly talk about this country without mentioning the way its people roam the streets and take ownership of this space. 

COURTESY OF RUDY MALCOM Trump supporters gathered to voice their support for traditional values.

What I learned as a liberal attending a Trump rally

By RUDY MALCOM | September 20, 2018

I’m liberal, yet I recently went to the pro-Trump Mother Of All Rallies (MOAR). I’m gay, yet I recently went to a rally where many of the attendees supported a president whose statements and actions have consistently attacked the LGBTQ community. I’m Jewish, yet I recently ventured into a space full of individuals who support a president who has empowered Neo-Nazis.

Owning my success by dancing badly in public

By MARCIA ZIMMERMAN | September 20, 2018

I never thought I would be able to  say I’ve danced (and won) the “In My Feelings” challenge in front of Kevin Plank, the CEO of Under Armour. I did not exactly volunteer with the intent to do so, either; in a classic story of overenthusiastic-intern-volunteers-for-literally-everything, I did not even know what I was signing up for before the spotlight was burning a hole through my forehead. 

JACOBMILLER6/CC BY 2.0 Drake’s “In My Feelings” comes with a dance encouraging vulnerability.
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I found nothing in my abuser. Now in myself I’m finding a voice.

By ZUBIA HASAN | September 24, 2018

I don't know how to write this. I have been wanting to write it for a very long time, but there's always something wrong with the words that flow – at some point it was that I wasn't ready – still too close to the problem to write about it. Then, I was too emotional, too unstable. And at every point there was something or the other that prevented me from writing.

We must hold men like Ken Friedman accountable

By FRANK GUERRIERO | September 23, 2018

As we approach the one year anniversary of the bombshell reports on Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long reign of sexual terror over Hollywood and the global explosion of the #MeToo movement, the press and social media are burgeoning with questions of redemption.

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. (24).png

How to trust yourself: a 16-step guide

By GABI SWISTARA | September 20, 2018

1. Meet somebody in the back of the bus – the place where three seats face three seats. Your friends and you will fill up one row and two boys will sit down in the other. After a few minutes on the circulator, Stanford sweater will ask if you girls go to Hopkins? Your friend should say yes. The other boy has cauliflower ears and you wonder if he’s a fighter like you, he is a pale man with a ginger beard and rough hands. 

Learning to reclaim my experiences through music

By SARINA REDZINSKI | September 20, 2018

A few years ago, I went to a concert with two of my close friends. It was a punk festival at the Ottobar that featured a few different performers, but we were most excited to see the local band Snail Mail, who only had one EP out at the time. After some bizarre sets during which we all almost got punched in the face by a flailing guitarist and listened to a woman remix her screams on an electric keyboard (my one friend still jokes that I was the only person able to dance to the rhythmic screeching), Snail Mail came out. 

Irma Puškarevic/CC BY-SA 3.0 New Order’s track “Age of Consent” took on new meanings for Redzinski.

Starbucks ditches straws - what does it mean?

By ALEX WALINSKAS | September 12, 2018

Earlier this summer, news of Starbucks’ decision to eliminate plastic straws sparked celebratory progressive cries, cynicism about banning a little piece of plastic and a healthy number of memes. Internet buzz aside, are our straws truly endangered? They’re on the decline, but the wave of progress isn’t as rapid as it may seem. 

COURTESY OF GAORORELOOAM/CC BY-SA 3.0 Starbucks recently announced plans to phase out plastic straws by 2020. 
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Coming to terms with my newly short hair

By KATHERINE LOGAN | September 13, 2018

Next week, I’m going to be having my head shaved. Not by choice but, rather, as part of a medical procedure. I’ve never been one to put too much effort into my hair, usually just letting it air-dry overnight and wearing it down.