Dokken: Fake It Until You Make It
(09/11/20 6:40am)
This column is featured in the 2020 Freshman special issue.
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This column is featured in the 2020 Freshman special issue.
This column is featured in the 2020 Freshman special issue.
This column is featured in the 2020 Freshman special issue.
A few nights ago, I was up late, lying in bed and watching reruns of The Office. I was horrified. Jim and Pam were shopping for a new toothbrush for their daughter, Cece. “How reckless,” I thought, shaking my head in disgust while the sweethearts of one of America’s favorite sitcoms walked aimlessly through a drug store, neither of them wearing a mask. I cringed before realizing that life didn’t always used to be this way. I fantasized, as I often have since the start of quarantine, about when times were normal.
“Opening an unconditional, fair and transparent investigation is our right and it is not an extraordinary measure as the school [has] claimed,” wrote Maha Hasan Alshawi in a July 24 Facebook post.
On July 8, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania to uphold a regulation that allows employers to deny women access to birth control coverage. Specifically, the decision allows employers with a “sincerely held religious or moral objection” to appeal to the Trump administration for the right to deny their employees insurance coverage for contraception. Previously, under former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, employers were mandated to provide insurance coverage for contraception with no out-of-pocket expenses. The Supreme Court’s new ruling broadens the already existing exceptions to this mandate, allowing most employers to seek exemption from paying for employees’ contraception on religious grounds. The court’s decision is both patriarchal and anachronistic. It is time for decision-makers to stop restricting the rights of women and realize that infringing upon women’s reproductive rights sets back the United States as a whole.
Even before setting foot on campus, college students are warned about peer pressure. The danger of peer pressure is its ability to normalize harmful behavior. However, just as the development of the atomic bomb resulted in the creation of a clean energy alternative, our collective understanding of this psychological weapon gives us an opportunity to use its power for good. While peer pressure can normalize harmful behavior, it can also effectively normalize healthy behavior. The same way that there are dangers to the use of nuclear power, there are admittedly potential flaws to using peer pressure in the pursuit of a positive goal. However, it is overall an effective tool that acts as a guiding force for the uninformed in determining acceptable behavior.
According to Tom Friedan, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. could need up to 300,000 contact tracers to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, distributing any potential vaccine, especially to areas underserved by the current health care system, will require an unprecedented effort. In light of the current and future need for workers to help contain the pandemic, Dartmouth should consider giving a half-course credit to students who serve in such roles.
During a normal term, a Saturday night would bring a momentary respite from class work. In this remote term, this respite has become especially important amid the monotony of a virtual college experience. At home in the suburbs of Chicago, activities are few and far between. The weather here has turned from cold and snowy to cold and rainy, and in areas across the country that remain shut down, options for activity outside the home are often not available.
Last year, celebrities, politicians and many of my friends took to social media to spread the hashtag “#BelieveWomen.” Prompted by decades of not taking sexual assault against women seriously enough, the hashtag was used to promote the idea that women who shared allegations against men could expect to be believed. The campaign to “believe women” told survivors that even if their case wouldn’t win in court, they would be believed in the court of public opinion. Recently, many of the same people who were outspoken about the need to believe women have changed their tune now that believing women comes with unfavorable political consequences.
In the recent student elections, only seven out of 25 races had competing candidates on the ballot. Eighteen races were uncontested, and five seats had only write-in options. Dartmouth’s student elections are defined by a lack of competition, leaving voters without real choice. To ensure accountability, ballots should include a “none of the above” option — and if this option gets a majority of the votes, the seat shouldn't be filled.
From 2000 to 2014, worldwide clothing production doubled. This trend has continued to accelerate, with a 21 percent increase in production from 2016 to 2019, as globalization, internet usage and social media have come to dominate consumer behavior. Meanwhile, people are wearing garments for only half as long as they did at the beginning of the century. With new fashion trends emerging at faster rates and consumers looking for cheap alternatives to keep up, fast fashion retailers have stepped in to meet demand. These retailers, such as Boohoo, Zara and Revolve, emphasize making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers, primarily through their online platforms.
Countless news articles warn us that even after shelter-in-place orders are lifted and the majority of businesses reopen, the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact our world. Though it can feel like an insular microcosm, Dartmouth will not be immune to long-term change. The consequences of the shift to remote learning have the potential to drastically alter current students’ Dartmouth experiences. In light of this, Dartmouth must take measures to preserve key traditions and retain student connection to the College.
In March, when Tara Reade first came forward with her allegation of sexual assault against former Vice President Joe Biden, I did not pay much attention. In light of recent corroborative evidence, however, it has become clear that dismissing Reade’s allegations was a major mistake. Her accusations are grave and credible. Democrats cannot shy away from the possibility Biden committed a terrible act of violence.
The morning that I left Hanover — after Provost Joseph Helble announced that at least the first five weeks of spring term would be remote — the sidewalk was filled with groups of friends saying goodbye. In contrast to the nonchalant departures of a normal term, the mood was somber. Disappointment about spring term hit hard, compounded by the regret I felt over all the things I wished I hadn’t put off during the winter. But as I hugged my friends one last time, I was reminded of the love and connection I have found at the College. Those things were easy to forget about during the stress of finals period, but they’re much harder to ignore now. So let’s not forget that. Even when the day comes that this pandemic is a distant memory, I hope we will no longer take for granted what Dartmouth has given us.
Even commercials are talking about coronavirus. Companies from Walmart to Pizza Hut want Americans to know that they are “here for you” in these unprecedented times. When every connection to life outside the home is colored by the pandemic, at what point does it become too much? Mention of COVID-19 has become obligatory in everything from calls with friends to emails with professors, and it crops up everywhere from Zoom classes to television.
This past fall, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder — specifically, a restrictive form of anorexia. This became a label, one that began to be all I thought about. I seemed to spend every spare moment agonizing over my caloric intake and obsessing over how many miles I would run at the gym that day.
Social distancing imposes tremendous costs on all of us. Colleges shut down, students stay home, employers go bankrupt, salaries dry up, economies free fall and governments lose trillions. Still, the coronavirus continues to spread faster than authorities can keep up with.
“Wouldn’t classes be better if girls always had to speak in class before boys were allowed to participate?” A professor asked me this last term in an attempt to build rapport. The question was rhetorical and my opinion was taken for granted. Surely I, a young woman, wouldn’t disagree.
The international reputation of the U.S. has suffered greatly as a result of its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Our lack of preparation to ensure a sufficient supply of protective equipment for health care personnel, coupled with President Trump’s insistence that he had the spread of the virus “totally under control” as the U.S. surpassed every other nation in terms of coronavirus cases, has shown that America does not always do it best. Even worse, we have failed to learn from and cooperate with other nations who can, in some cases, do better.
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