Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
October 14, 2025
October 14, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

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.



How to trust yourself: a 16-step guide

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. 


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

Learning to reclaim my experiences through music

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. 



COURTESY OF GAORORELOOAM/CC BY-SA 3.0
Starbucks recently announced plans to phase out plastic straws by 2020. 

Starbucks ditches straws - what does it mean?

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. 




Coming to terms with my newly short hair

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. 








Roommate Survival Guide

Roommates. A quintessential part of the College Experience™. Who your roommate is can have a big impact on the rest of your life — I mean you are living with this person for a year in pretty tight quarters. So if you don’t want to end up hating the person you’re living with two months into the semester, keep reading for roommate do’s and don’t’s. 



EDA Incekara/Photography Editor
Kelsey Ko right)  joined The News-Letter during her freshman year and is now one of the editors-in-chief.

Why I joined The News-Letter, and why you should too

In high school, I was an arts kid. Theater, orchestra, choir — you name it, I did it. I also took classes in poetry and did a lot of that. To me, journalism seemed like another creative outlet that I hadn’t explored yet, and like any eager college freshman, I was itching to join new clubs the second I stepped foot on campus. 





News-Letter Magazine