Since my column last week regarding premature holiday merriment, I have been enjoying, albeit reluctantly, the onset of the holiday season -- even if all that means is that I’ve been listening to Joni Mitchell’s “River” (1971) over and over again, with its surprisingly heartbreaking echo of ...
I recently purchased a soothing cucumber nighttime eye gel. You may ask why, but I am well aware of the fact that it is a completely useless purchase. I have recently discovered that I have a problem -- yes, my name is Pooja Sivaraman and I am a CVS addict. At first I thought it was a harmless problem. ...
Hot stove season is underway, and the Boston Red Sox are reportedly all-in on third baseman Pablo Sandoval. He was even in town on Monday to meet with his prospective suitors. Gulp.Landing Sandoval is likely going to take a six-year commitment worth upwards of $100 million. That price tag is too high ...
Thanks to Michael Sokolove of The New York Times Magazine, we can now trace the evolution of the class action suit, initiated by the intrepid lawyer Jason Luckasevic, against the NFL on behalf of countless former players. It's a riveting read, a glimpse into power dynamics of the most lopsided ...
This last week has been pretty busy for me, being midterm season and all. I have so many assignments I’m supposed to be doing, I can barely ignore them all! Fortunately, there are plenty of scary video games to distract me.Now, for those of you who don’t follow the horror game scene, all you need ...
In American culture, generosity feels like an exceptional quality. We don’t all exhibit it all of the time; when we do, we often expect gratitude or reciprocation. I have a spatial sense of generosity as being an extension beyond the expected.In Ghana, generosity is commonplace. People will go out ...
Dear concert-goers,You get your freak on, boys and girls. In light of Tufts’s annual Cage Rage blowout, I’ve been thinking about the concerts I’ve attended in my days. I think I’m pretty familiar with that weird sweat/peculiar scent status that can be found at every musical performance. But ...
The thing about bad things is that they are, almost always, bad. But what if something was so bad that it was, in some barely explicable way, good? What if, by being so incredibly stupid, you could unlock new levels of enlightenment? Well, my faithful, beautiful readers, let me tell you a thing or ...
Books are awesome. There are millions to choose from every time you feel the inclination to curl up under a blanket with a cup of coffee and read. However, not every book is a masterpiece, and not every book speaks clearly to each of its readers. One person may relate to every situation, while another ...
If there has ever been a great dichotomy among college students, it might as well be the difference between those scrupulous, frantic note takers and the cool, platonic listeners. I, for one, have long been a loyal note taker, and I credit this decision to my high school calculus teacher and his vaguely ...
If you’ve ever read "S&S" before, you’ll know that I am of course an eternal optimist, and that this column has always been a ray of unadulterated positivity brightening up your otherwise dreary Monday morning. Maybe you’ve even marveled at my endearing tendency to think the best ...
Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets faced off in an NBA game in Mexico City. If you can remember as far back as last season, the Wolves were slated to play a game in Mexico City against the Spurs, but smoke inside Mexico City Arena prevented the game from being played. Before ...
Network neutrality is the idea that all data should be treated the same. The phrase, which was coined in a 2003 paper by Columbia professor Tim Wu, focused on “broadband discrimination” -- internet providers discriminating against certain consumers or content providers by slowing down their broadband ...
I’m skipping the advice this week cause this SWUG needs to vent. (Sorry?)Break-up season is upon us. It’s the inevitable time in senior year where people must leave behind what they love most. This decision is (usually) never mutual. It’s a heart breaking loss to realize that the things you love ...
While studying in Talloires, France last summer, I visited the United Nations headquarters in Geneva with my Environmental Economics class and listened to two representatives from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) discuss their work. They outlined a series of goals for sustainable development ...
This semester, more so than previous semesters, I have made the trip home on the Northeast Regional train. As I sit on my 6:10 a.m. train to Penn Station from South Station, I have too much time on my hands. Moreover, I have to go through my least favorite state in the continental United States: Connecticut. ...
I was in New York last weekend and was completely shocked when I passed a Pottery Barn with lit-up Christmas trees and teddy bears surrounding a big white bed with billowy covers. This seemed out of place considering it was Nov. 7. And then I passed Bryant Park, totally transformed into a skating rink surrounded by kiosks selling Christmas ornaments in the shape of your home state, a taxi cab or a cowboy boot. But it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!
Perhaps it was the perks of a (seemingly) long weekend or a random stroke of ambition, but for once in my life, my most bizarre (and rewarding) nights were on a Sunday and Monday. After a long weekend of interesting endeavors (from seeing Shaggy at the Wilbur Theatre, to "Gone Girl" (2014) ...
The New England Patriots were off this Sunday, hopefully getting some much-deserved rest after whipping Peyton Manning's Broncos 43-21 in Week 9. The victory, New England's fifth in a row, improved the team's record to a division and conference-best of 7-2. The Broncos are 7-2 as well after ...
Hello literature lovers! It’s been a long week at the tail end of a long month, and I’m sure everyone is still rattling from the aftershocks of midterms. The only things getting me through it all are numerous -- yet massive -- cups of coffee and the books I’ve been reading to balance the madness. ...
