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.

Confronting microagressions as an Asian American

By MORGAN OME | April 11, 2019

Here’s a common situation: I’m sitting with my friend, Kelsey, and another person comes up to us and says, “Has anyone ever told you that you look alike?” We both tense, smile placidly and respond with something like, “No. We don’t really look alike.” 

Realizing all that I love about Pakistan from afar

By ZUBIA HASAN | April 11, 2019

Pakistan was long warm nights. Pakistan was roadside cafes. Pakistan was pebbled streets and pavements merging into one another. Pakistan was friends and family and colored, dirty cloth on a table. Pakistan was chai made right. Pakistan was greasy nutella paratha and greasier fries. Pakistan was eating food that you knew would give you an upset stomach.

COURTESY OF PBALLYAN/ CC BY-SA 4.0 Hasan has come to miss the seviyan, which she would have for dessert.

Embracing my passion for writing at Hopkins

By SAMUEL FARRAR | April 11, 2019

Some weeks, it feels like I spend every waking hour writing. Whether it’s for The News-Letter, a class paper, or even just for fun, it still blows my mind that some weeks at Hopkins I write more than I would have done in the entirety of my hardest high school semesters. I can’t blame anyone but myself for this. In my four semesters here, I’ve taken eight writing intensive classes. I don’t have to write nearly an article a week for The News-Letter, but I want to. Even on weekends, when I find a new album or movie I’m really into, I will write a review only to delete it. Even though nobody reads these pieces, through them I gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the art I’m consuming, which is what matters to me.

Transitioning from viewing myself as a victim to a survivor

By DIVA PAREKH | April 14, 2019

Before you read this article, I want to provide you with a content warning if you are someone who might be affected by reading about sexual assault. I wrote this article after I got to a point where I stopped blaming myself. Through it, however, I work through my own negative and destructive experience with graphic self-blame. So if you’re someone who can relate, I hope reading this can help you — but please make sure you’re at a place where you feel like it will help and not hurt you.

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PUBLIC DOMAIN Redzinkski gained a new appreciation for vulnerability through her column.

What I learned by sharing my column with you

By SARINA REDZINSKI | April 11, 2019

For the past few months, I’ve really enjoyed writing this column. Being able to engage in open conversations about the things and moments that have impacted me most these past four years has been a very fulfilling experience. But unfortunately, as we get closer to the end of the semester and I prepare to graduate and head off to get my MFA, I’ve decided to bring this column to a close. 

Women shouldn’t say sorry for their choices

By ADDY PERLMAN | April 11, 2019

After writing about hook-up culture on campus for Valentine’s Day, I didn’t think twice about it being published... at first. Then I had some people tell me they really enjoyed it, and then it dawned on me that people had actually read it. I started to think of my parents and of my hometown.

COURTESY OF MARCEN27/ CC BY-SA 2.0  Perlman is taking after the popular Demi Lovato song “Sorry Not Sorry.”

Tips for expressing how you're actually feeling

By CECILIA VORFELD | April 4, 2019

Oftentimes when you are talking to a friend, it’s about how your day is going, what you’ve been up to recently and vice versa, all that surface level stuff. If we are being honest with one another, that’s just small talk. Once you tap into your feelings, then you really start to listen to what the person is saying and understand how they are feeling. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTINA ACKERMANN  Christina Ackermann represents the successes that women can achieve.

Our contemporary glass ceiling: the state of women in the workplace

By GABI SWISTARA | April 8, 2019

Female college graduates have outnumbered males for decades. In Fortune 500 companies, women make up 50 percent of the workforce; however, women only make up 25 percent of executive positions. Despite an increase in board gender diversity, there are still very few women in executive leadership positions. Only 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. These numbers are not only shockingly low, but, in 2018, the number of female CEOs also fell by 25 percent. In corporate America, women are losing ground. 

Learning how to let go and boss up with Peloton

By KATHERINE LOGAN | April 8, 2019

I first started experimenting with my mom’s Peloton break after she got one for Christmas my sophomore year. I was initially a skeptic – sure it looked cool, but was it actually going to be a good workout? More importantly, would it be enjoyable enough that I would find myself actually wanting to do it. 

COURTESY OF KATHERINE LOGAN Logan with Peloton instructor Jess King at the studios in New York.
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Detoxing from Instagram gave me a fresh perspective

By STEPHANIE LEE | April 8, 2019

In late February, I deactivated my Instagram account for about a week. On Monday, I said goodbye to my lovely 1,449 followers and pulled the plug. I might reactivate it in a week either out of FOMO or a desire to showcase a cute picture but definitely more for the latter reason than the former. And in a month from now, I’ll be kissing my account goodbye for another week.

PUBLIC DOMAIN Picasso is just one famous artist known to have mistreated women.

Can we really separate the art from the artist?

By SARINA REDZINSKI | March 28, 2019

Since childhood, art museums were my safe space. They were hushed and contemplative, a place for solitary reflection as well as interesting (murmured) discussion. It started with encouragement from my parents. My dad is an artist and my mother an avid art lover, so they made it a priority to expose me to art as early as possible. 

Finding small gifts of happiness in West Virginia

By JAE CHOI | March 28, 2019

While working with Habitat for Humanity in West Virginia over spring break, Steve, one of the supervisors at the work site, told me, “That’s the great thing about volunteering — it just needs to make you happy.” It was easy for me to understand Steve’s sentiment. 

Courtesy of HFHD/ CC-BY SA 4.0  Choi volunteered with the organization Habitat for Humanity this break.
Lorie Shaull/CC By-sa 2.0 Senator Klobuchar has been accused of mistreating members of her team.

Why I care about how politicians treat their staff

By ALEX WALINSKAS | March 14, 2019

What do you look for in a political candidate? Voters often consider a candidate’s past policy work, their campaign platform and social identities they value. As election season gears up, prospective supporters should account for yet another factor: how a politician leads their own team. 

The Idiot and realizing adults can still evolve

By ELIZABETH IM | March 27, 2019

Last summer, I bought The Idiot by Elif Batuman — partially because of its interesting title and partially because it had a buy-one-get-one-half-off sticker. It was collecting dust on my shelf until a month into the fall term. There couldn’t have been a better time to start reading it, given that it’s a book about the narrator Selin’s experience as a freshman. 

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How my experience with emotional abuse taught me to stick to my truth

By ZUBIA HASAN | March 21, 2019

I was always a secret romantic. I wanted the love we saw in movies: the passionate kind, the heart rumbling, fire sparking, all-consuming love that is glorified in Hollywood movies. But what I didn’t realize in my early teens was how similar this “all-consuming” love was to emotional abuse. How behind the romantic gestures made by the male actors was a deep rooted objectification of female bodies.