How Are You, Really?
“How are you?”
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Dartmouth's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query.
16 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
“How are you?”
Nowadays, the term “gluten-free” is thrown around all the time. Health gurus swear that a gluten-free diet is the key to a long and healthy life and “foodies” avoid gluten-heavy foods at all costs. Huge corporations have been milking this trend and capitalizing on the opportunity to boost their profits. Since 2008, General Mills has added 600 gluten-free products to its inventory. Clearly, companies like General Mills are catering to a growing market. Over the past four years, sales of gluten-free foods in the United States have increased from $11.5 billion to more than $23 billion.
From elementary to high school, students are expected to regularly attend classes. “Roll call,” the process of taking attendance and penalizing students who are absent without a legitimate reason, is a common occurrence. This is a far cry from the classroom dynamic of higher education. In classes with over a hundred students, it is difficult and often unfeasible for professors to take attendance regularly. This unfortunately can lead to students skipping class. Oftentimes, large classes will see attendance steadily dwindle as the term progresses. Although students may not think that physically going to class is critical to their academic experience, they are actually doing themselves a disservice when they fail to attend lectures.
In the hit televison show “Glee” (2009), character Marley Rose suffers from bulimia. Emma Nelson, a character in the show “Degrassi: the Next Generation” (2001), is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Eating disorders, once a taboo subject, have recently received ample attention in the media. Rather than attempting to hide it, people suffering from eating disorders are now encouraged to seek treatment and help.
People often refer to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as simply “Hillary.” Whereas her male counterparts are rarely, if ever, identified by their first names. How often do you hear people say “Ted” instead of “Ted Cruz,” or “Jeb” instead of “Jeb Bush?” Apparently, Americans know Hillary Clinton well enough to be on a first name basis with her.
Although complaints about Hanover weather typically involve phrases such as “brutally cold” and “subzero temperatures,” students and faculty are now faced with a very different issue. With spring in full bloom and summer just around the corner, the sweltering heat is beginning to replace the freezing cold. To make the situation worse, almost all dorms are devoid of central air-conditioning, and per Office of Residential Life policies, students are not allowed to have personal air-conditioning units in College housing. As temperatures rise, window fans are a staple in nearly every room.
I had a lot of fun when I visited Dimensions of Dartmouth as a prospective student last year, and I enjoyed my stay and first introduction to campus. I was lucky enough to have a thoughtful and attentive host who took the time to show me around and answer any question I had about being a student. Now that I am on the other side, though — I hosted a few students this year, as did many of my friends — it is clear that Dimensions does not provide every prospective student with such a meaningful experience.
As Ben Parker once said in “Spider-Man” (2002), “with great power comes great responsibility.” The stark reality is that with the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan and its implications ever-present in the minds of students, the newly-elected class representatives must deal with myriad issues, including student mental health and growing scrutiny around inclusivity in the Greek system.
This past weekend I attended the East Coast Asian-American Student Union conference at Harvard University. One particular panel resonated with me — a discussion of mental illness in the Asian-American community. The stigma against treating mental illness found in Asian-American culture is a serious problem that must be addressed to create an environment in which Asian-Americans feel comfortable seeking help.
Take a short walk through Baker Lobby, and you are guaranteed to see a few cups of King Arthur Flour coffee. Coffee maintains a pervasive presence on most college campuses, especially at a college with such a high-pressure environment like Dartmouth. Students crave a daily rush of caffeine — understandable, considering the many late nights that many of them spend writing papers or doing multivariable calculus problem sets. Coffee is an integral part of Dartmouth’s culture. I, however, want to make a radical proposal — ditch the coffee and pick up a nice cup of tea instead.
When it comes to grading, there are many components, including homework, tests and class participation — perhaps the most arbitrary and debated category of the three. Though a student’s level of participation can often be indicative of how much one is engaging with the class material, this is not always the case. For most classes, therefore, participation should not be graded.
To most freshmen, there is nothing “smart” about SmartChoice20 — the meal plan that they are assigned for their first term. Many blame the dreaded “freshman 15” on this mandatory meal plan, while others simply feel irked by their inability to use every meal swipe, leading to one too many wasted swipes by the end of the week. In spite of its shortcomings,the SmartChoice20 is a boon rather than a bane for freshmen — provided you take advantage of it.
“Fresh off the Boat,” an upcoming ABC comedy series, is a refreshingly genuine, multi-dimensional look at Asian Americans in everyday life. Although this show might be an anomaly amid a sea of stereotypes, it is nonetheless a huge step forward. Asian Americans have long been neglected by mainstream media, and when there is attention, it is normally a stereotype. Hollywood’s “bamboo ceiling” has resulted in characters like the blatantly emasculated Mr. Chow from “The Hangover” (2009) and the oft-ignored, silent Lilly from “Pitch Perfect” (2012). A 2008 report from the Screen Actors Guild revealed that less than 4 percent of Asian Americans were cast in television and theatrical roles in 2007 and 2008.
Dartmouth stands out from its peers in a variety of aspects, not least of which is its quarter calendar. More and more colleges are switching to a semester system, and Dartmouth should join them. While the quarter system has its benefits, like quicker class turnover, transitioning into the semester system would immensely benefit Dartmouth’s students and faculty.
I come from a suburban, middle class town in central New Jersey, where industry giants like Costco and Kohl’s dominate over local boutiques and farmer’s markets. It seems like every other day an independent store hangs a dismal “going out of business” sign in its window. Living in Hanover, where local produce and indie stores have an overwhelming presence, has shown me that there is a better way of living life — rather than dumping money into monopolizing chain companies, you can build a better future by investing in independent businesses.
For many of us, the transition to college life is anything but seamless. At Ivy League and other elite colleges, the feeling of being a big fish in an even bigger pond gnaws at student psyches. We fear being anything less than perfect, of being anything but the “model Ivy League student.”