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(04/24/14 6:04pm)
On Easter morning, I awoke to a text from my grandmother. In the message, she expressed her wish that I attend a church service, as it is my family’s tradition. Of course, my grandmother has no knowledge of my religious vacillations. I stared at the text for a few moments, deciding whether to respond with a half-hearted fib, saying that I would go to the University Chapel. But as I have rarely found the courage to lie to my relatives, I chose not to answer at all.
(04/10/14 6:29pm)
It’s probably too early for a retrospective. I’m still a freshman, Preview was only yesterday and we have a few weeks to put our labors to rest. Yet as I was reading the late Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, which charts his spiritual and physical journey on the Tibetan Plateau, I thought about the ways in which I had improved (or worsened) during my own voyage in and around Old Nassau. My shortcomings are legion, but during this academic year, I’ve also enjoyed a few personal successes. One of the more peculiar changes—deleting my Facebook account — allowed me to begin cultivating some of the characteristics that the University has itself reflected.
(03/27/14 7:24pm)
We, the millennials, will be remembered as participants in the Age of Information. Most of us hold in our pockets a device that can inform us about almost anything. All right, I thought, so what? Staying attuned to contemporary events requires us not only to have information but also to be able to distinguish the truth in a wide sea of opinions, facts and numbers. This is especially relevant for a world in which the truth does not always seem to be readily available. As I contemplated how people of my age group could insert themselves into an important global discussion of knowledge and our right to have it, I turned to one of my favorite writers.
(03/05/14 9:13pm)
The Tumblr page for the “I, Too, Am Harvard” campaign that launched last week has already attracted thousands of page views. The initiative began last spring when Harvard sophomore Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence interviewed Black undergraduates to gauge their responses to life on campus. As a supplement to Matsuda-Lawrence’s play inspired by these conversations, the Tumblr features photographs of African-American students holding dry-erase boards with racist remarks that were either directed toward them, or that they otherwise overhead on campus. Having received positive feedback, organizers of the campaign have been contacted by Black students on other campuses, including the University of Pennsylvania, some of whom would like to recreate the project within their own communities.
(02/23/14 7:25pm)
According to Major E.C. Lewis, president of the Louisville and Nashville Terminal Company,James Robertsonwas 5’9” with a heavy build, slender body and private demeanor. Along with being the bearer of my surname, he had many prominent features, including a “square, full forehead” and the “quiet consciousness of power” fit for kings. He achieved fame as an explorer and pioneer in the South alongside Daniel Boone, the American folklore hero and founder of Kentucky. From onlookers he acquired great esteem, not unlike that rewarded to celebrities. Although he could not boast of a titled heritage, his repute was so fabled as to earn him the moniker, “Father of Middle Tennessee” (an appropriate title for a founder of Nashville). If you are confused as to how an African-American could have labored so fruitfully in the late 19th century, your skepticism is well-founded. But James Robertson, unlike me, had blue eyes.
(02/09/14 7:07pm)
Look closely, and you will see how often things fail. Take, for example, the failing of tree boughs under snow. Or, perhaps in our tango with academia last semester we realized that sometimes he is not a very kind dancer. Recently, I was reminded that failure (in all its permutations) often unifies members of a community as much as success does. That many Princeton students represent the quintessence of any particular field is not surprising. The diffusion of success among Princetonians, however, sometimes distances me from a reality in which people often find themselves stumbling and struggling everyday.
(12/05/13 4:10pm)
Aaron: Before entering Princeton, I held an obscure image of what I believed to be the “ideal University student.” I imagined that once I arrived, I would be expected to participate unquestioningly in a social and academic community to which I was not accustomed. Some part of me imagined that to be a good representative of the school, I would need to repress my racial and economic identity. Initially, this possibility didn’t concern me because I suspected that my identity as an African-American from a lower middle class household wouldn’t matter as much as the more “important” qualities (virtue, moral sensibility, etc.) that would allow me to be a well-educated and useful member of society. As time passed, I began to realize that for many people, embracing one’s social identifiers was just as important as fostering a love for humanitarianism. The way I self-identified as a student and human being gradually transformed while the vision I had of the “perfect” Princetonian dissolved into something else entirely.
(11/17/13 7:58pm)
It may be time to open Pandora’s box. I am speaking, of course, about the feasibility of integrating mixed modes of learning into Princeton’s humanities courses. Last month, in an article addressing the disillusionment with massive open online courses, Bennett McIntosh '16 argued that the most preferable educational model is one in which face-to-face interactivity prospers over the “mono-directional” trend of online educational services like Coursera. He says it is especially critical that the liberal arts encourage the personal encounters that characterize lecture halls. Whereas learning in the presence of professors and peers (see: precepts) allows one to appreciate the sense of community peculiar to a college campus, simply watching videos complicates one’s ability to acquire “critical thinking [skills and] a functional personal ethics system.”
(11/04/13 10:31pm)
During fall break, I saw Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” in one of the few theaters in the country where it was playing. I had read reviews praising the movie as a modern masterpiece. Many critics and fans regard it as the frontrunner for Best Picture. However, I was most interested in examining the historical relevance of the film. There have been many artistic explorations of slavery (e.g., Alex Haley’s “Roots” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” among others). What would distinguish this film from any of its predecessors?
(10/14/13 9:16pm)
Even as a first-year college student, I struggle to define the importance of place in my own experience. Living in Princeton demands that I acknowledge differences between this vision of suburban grandeur and the contrasting urban minutiae of my most recent home, Detroit. It is important to address the significance of displacement from one’s origins (dare I say, one’s roots). By addressing the process of familiarization with a place, perhaps we can understand more clearly our own habits of self-identification in relation to physical spaces.
(09/30/13 8:00pm)
In the multipurpose room of Dillon Gymnasium, I found my hips turning slowly to Enya’s “Wild Child.” It was something I wouldn’t have wanted my grandfather to see. Honestly, any sensible person would have looked elsewhere. For this was war. I had unfinished business with the dance floor, and I was there to resolve it.