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.
In this column I will attempt to answer ethical questions that you, the readers, email me. You can direct your questions to jhuethics@gmail.com. I am in no way an expert on ethics, but I enjoy thinking and talking about it, and I’ll do my best to answer your questions in a reasonable and straightforward manner.
Everyone’s favorite f-word is having a moment of limelight and galore. Ideally, we would all celebrate by reading some Woolf, waving flags with “We can do it!” or “Votes for women!” feeling beautifully independent or independently beautiful, but there are some issues to tackle first.
Two weeks left of classes and about one month until graduation. I’m trying to keep my head down, distract myself with work, but the butterflies bat violently in my stomach. I tried on my graduation robe a few days ago; I bought a frame for my diploma. There is so much left to do and think and feel that I’m capsizing into stillness.
Hopkins, as far as I can tell, is not a particularly cheery place. Despite the best efforts of student life groups to combat the dour presence with free hugs and pumpkin smashings, the source of this cultural campus malaise has deep-rooted seeds.
I have a problem — a very real, pressing problem — with falling asleep. Always. In any position: seated, standing, leaning casually against a doorframe. No matter the temperature of the room or the volume of the environment; no matter how socially acceptable sleeping may or may not be, a tired Lily (though let’s be real, a typical Lily) will always be found asleep.
I’ve been asked a lot lately how it feels to be a senior, and I give everyone the same response: It feels good, but I love college and don’t want it to end.
Spring break came and went, and despite our new tans and the monster of a hangover, we’ve been thrown back into the Hopkins minefield.
Spring break is usually the time where you see only bikinis and burns for miles. For me, however, I’m always in Ireland during break, getting paler and staying indoors. The one benefit to my overcast country is getting to see the trends across the pond and how radically different they are than the ones here. The outfits are tighter, the hair is voluminous and jeans are rarely on the horizon.
The author of the poem “Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker” got it all wrong: any self-respecting dandy would agree that liquor trumps candy when it comes to dandiness — so does sartorial elegance, quick-witted banter and quoting “The Flowers of Evil,” probably.
There’s an odd, pervasive murmur that seems to follow myself and many of the seniors that I know. It sighs, “I’m tired.” It whispers, “I feel diluted.” It moans, “Get me out of here.”
Last week, we got not just one, but two days off from classes, and so what did we do with our last-minute four-day weekend? If you’re like most Hopkids (Hopkins + kids = Hopkids), you spent your class-free day studying for the classes you didn’t go to.
Netflix is everybody’s favorite recent pastime. It’s the easiest thing to do, requiring little-to-no effort and boasts a variety of high-quality programs that can entertain for hours. It’s incredibly easy to become addicted — it’s an insidious process really. You set out trying to procrastinate for half an hour, and four hours later you wind up in a bevy of confusion wondering what happened to your Monday night and, more broadly, what you are doing with your life.
