Rowan Chetner

Opinion

The problem with perfection

By Rowan Chetner | December 10

With December coming to a close and the headlights of 2025 racing toward us, many are beginning to think about their New Year’s resolutions. Some of us will be vowing to hit the gym, eat healthier or spend less time on social media. While these common goals are valid and attainable, the idea that we should transform ourselves into our ‘best possible versions’ is both damaging and impossible. This mindset of “personal optimization” is not just an issue during New Year’s. We live in an age where self-improvement is seemingly everywhere. An atmosphere of optimization feels as if it’s closing in, attempting to morph us into something we believe we should become.

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We need to say ‘No’ to a ‘Just Say No’ drug education approach

By Rowan Chetner | November 7

Dying, nearly dying or jail — these were my only outcomes, I was told, if I were to have a sip of alcohol or experiment with any other drug. In high school health class, I remember playing an online simulation in which I was a high schooler attending a house party. Every time I decided to drink, the simulation would either flash forward to my avatar rotting in jail or lying in the hospital on death’s door. Everyone in my class was told this. All our unique identities, backgrounds and futures — all reduced to the consequence of one “idiotic” decision.

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Our conversations about mental health: helpful or harmful?

By Rowan Chetner | October 25

Over the summer, I listened to an intriguing podcast titled “Are We Talking About Therapy Too Much?” In it, host Jerusalem Desmas talks with Dr. Lucy Foulkes, a researcher at the University of Oxford, who is concerned that movements around mental health awareness are not unilaterally beneficial. After listening to Foulkes’ argument, I began thinking more critically about the ways mental health is discussed in our generation and specifically at Tufts.

The problem with perfection

We need to say ‘No’ to a ‘Just Say No’ drug education approach

Our conversations about mental health: helpful or harmful?

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