Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
Piercings are a curious phenomenon. Though they can exist for religious or spiritual reasons, some people use them for more controversial purposes, like rebelling against one’s culture (or especially one’s parents). The value of piercings seems to be in the eye of the beholder: My grandmother hates my cartilage piercing, yet I think it is […]
When my fellow Brandeisians ask me where I live on campus, my answer of Shapiro Hall usually results in a sympathetic “I am so sorry.” Known as a “character-building dorm” by many of its former inhabitants, Shapiro Hall is certainly the decaying cornerstone of Brandeis University. How can one not develop character in an environment […]
The last 10 seconds of New Year’s Eve are no joke for me. As I hear the crowd excitedly counting down, I think hard about the mistakes I made during the year, about the things that I could have changed and about the things I wish I had done differently. During these 10 seconds I […]
How much power does a school really have over what you do at home? Should a school be allowed to police your online activity or is doing so an impingement on your right to free speech? Schools have been struggling with these questions for years, since even before the Internet. One school recently has been […]
If you have been on Facebook at any point in the recent past, you probably noticed the hundreds of statuses, posted links and online petitions surrounding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). My knowledge of this piece of legislation was minimal, until the first day of classes, when I found myself sitting in Gerstenzang 123 […]
Last weekend was different. It wasn’t different because of the snow, which doesn’t seem to happen anymore, and it wasn’t because it was the first weekend back from vacation. It was different because my friend from home came to visit. Upon her visit I began to reflect upon who I am today compared to who […]
By now, news of the Occupy movement has left the headlines and most of its encampments have been cleared out. What I view as the movement’s clearest impact was its introduction of the 99 percent versus 1 percent dichotomy to our political discourse. Although it was difficult to decipher a clear message from the […]
While I was home in northern New Jersey for break, I was disturbed to see a few articles in The Star Ledger about anti-Semitic attacks on local synagogues. On Dec. 11, swastikas, white supremacy symbols and the graffiti saying “Jews did 9/11” were painted on Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel in Maywood, N.J. On Dec. 20, […]
At the end of last year, a group of Ivy League-affiliated economists published a study discussing the relationship between “good” teachers, higher test scores and the future success of elementary and middle school students, titled “The Long Term Impact of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood.” Education is an undeniably important and complicated […]
Despite the joy of the holiday season, I cannot help but notice the burdening stress of holiday shopping. For some, it seems the entire season has been transformed from a time meant to be spent with family and friends to an insane frenzy of market-driven spending. Our holidays have been utterly commercialized, and many of […]
