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(04/13/16 9:30pm)
Less than a week ago, Dartmouth’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched the #DoBetterDartmouth campaign, calling for increased inclusivity and diversity education. Since then, critics of the movement have been quick to assert that the racist online comments that the movement decries should not be taken so seriously. Granted, many people who post racist comments online may be so-called internet trolls, and the issue of rude online comments may not be as salient or as potentially dangerous as other social or political problems concerning race. But who’s to say that all the issues — the big and the small — are not interconnected? Though some might view the comments as simply rude but innocuous, this behavior seems to parallel what some call “colorblindness” — or the dismissal of harmful microaggressions and the failure to recognize the importance of race in social problems in America.
(03/30/16 9:16pm)
Last week I saw “Whisky Tango Foxtrot,” a movie based on the story of journalist Kim Barker’s war reporting in Afghanistan. Something about the movie struck me as unusual. Unlike many heroines in action movies, she was unabashedly portrayed as naïve and uncool at the beginning of the movie. Unlike beautiful fellow journalist Tanya Vanderpoel, Barker did not know how to navigate parties or find her way around Afghanistan. But despite her initial struggle and, according to her peers, her lack of beauty, she was the winning protagonist. I realized that the movie seemed unusual because female heroines on screen are almost always effortlessly beautiful and, therefore, cool. The explicit importance of heroines’ beauty in movies, compared to the insignificance of the appearance of male heroes perpetuates the idea that true validation for an onscreen (and sadly, sometimes off-screen) heroine lies in her beauty.
(03/03/16 11:55pm)
When I think of common college experiences, I imagine movie nights with friends, hiking in the woods and, at worst, stressing over midterms. So to hear that Kate Carey, a behavioral and social sciences professor at Brown University, wrote in an editorial accompanying a Center for Disease Control report last year that “rape is a common experience among college-aged women,” I was surprised and appalled. According to the report, roughly 20 percent of women are sexually assaulted during college — a number much too high for a situation much too grim.
(02/17/16 11:45pm)
While much of the Grammy Awards consists of music mashups, cheesy acceptance speeches and minor upsets, something else came to the fore this year — politics. Both big winners at this year’s ceremony, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, have become political figures in the public eye. But, they’re not alone. Through their performances and speeches, pop musicians have become increasingly engaged in politics. In some ways, musicians have become pop culture activists. While the politicization of music might be conducive to highlighting important issues, there is a catch. At times, the intersection of music and politics oversimplifies the big picture and discourages deep thought about current events.
(02/04/16 11:45pm)
Dartmouth is supposedly a pretty safe campus. I have a friend who feels comfortable leaving her backpack (with her laptop, textbooks and other expensive items) in Baker Berry Library or even Collis for hours on end. I myself feel fine walking home from the library late at night despite the unreliable streetlights that often turn off while I walk past them. I hear many people talk about how lucky we are to be at such a safe school. But is Dartmouth really so much safer than other schools? While I acknowledge that extreme paranoia isn’t positive and feeling safe should be a top priority, it’s a good idea to evaluate why we feel safer here compared to students at other college campuses.
(01/22/16 1:00am)
Most people, I find, are happy just to have a day off. The six most common paid holidays among businesses in the United States are New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day and Christmas Day. Not on the list, however is the government holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is acknowledged by some non-federal businesses and private schools, including Dartmouth. The College offered several King related events this week, including a speech by Rev. Leah Daughtry ’84 and a student panel on studying abroad. Despite the many events and opportunities, they weren’t very well publicized, my residence hall’s attempts to attend an event as a floor were unsuccessful, and some students still had to attend labs. While it is good that the College as a whole acknowledges Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the lack of follow-through demonstrates apathy about the holiday both on campus and in the U.S. in general.
(11/11/15 1:44am)
Every college student should have an opportunity to pursue music, no matter the level and genre of experience. Though I am not training to be a musician — as I once thought I might — some of my fondest high school memories are about music. I enjoyed playing the piano for ballet class, taking weekly lessons with my teacher for 12 years, jamming to Bob Marley and Jackson Browne tunes with my cousin and learning West African drumming at a music summer school. Music does not have to just be for musicians. It can provide community, stability, inspiration, relaxation and passion, which means musical experiences translate well to other disciplines.
(10/28/15 12:50am)
While watching the movie “Straight Outta Compton” (2015) at Loew Auditorium on Oct. 24, I was reminded of ongoing debates over the effectiveness of political protest. The F. Gary Gray-directed biopic is about the late 1980s rap group N.W.A. and its five members, and though many scenes in “Straight Outta Compton” consist of fist brawls and raunchy parties, the movie also highlights protests, riots and how the media and the police respond to these events. “Straight Outta Compton” features a protest against police brutality that predates the Black Lives Matter movement — the 1992 unrest that took place in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four white police officers, who had been caught on videotape beating black taxi driver Rodney King.
(10/13/15 11:15pm)
First impressions are rarely accurate, as I have learned over dinner with several of my floormates. A couple of nights ago, we laughed over how wrong our initial impressions of each other proved to be. During this discussion, one of my floormates told me he assumed I was “smarter than I let on” before he met me — in other words, he thought I was shy and smart. Another floormate, on the other hand, said he did not think I seemed like the “typical Asian.”
(10/07/15 10:30pm)
When I was little, I used to hate my “Asian” nose. I hoped that it would one day become smaller and pointier. In all of the magazines I read, none of the models had a nose like mine. I saw demure and thin noses — not round and flat ones. In choosing which models and celebrities to display on their covers and pages, magazines help dictate and articulate what traits are widely considered to be acceptable or beautiful. I have seen few, if any, Asian models on the cover of my American magazines — I see only slightly more Latina and African-American women. Most models are white. This, according to magazine covers, is the face of beauty.
(09/28/15 10:45pm)
Wearing sweatpants to class is a college stereotype, but I’ve rarely seen this phenomenon occur at the College. In fact, one might even feel out of place in jeans and a T-shirt. While athletic gear and Dartmouth gear are mildly popular, more common are Sperry boat shoes, pastel Bermuda shorts, leather boots and cardigans. One might even get the impression of walking through a J.Crew ad — which is not surprising, since the closest clothing store to campus is J.Crew.