Opinion Columns
Ryan Daniels | Gunning for change
Last week’s response to the Navy Yard shootings was different because the country’s sentiment concerning gun violence has changed. Our anger confirmed that, in 2013, we have found ourselves in a post-NRA America.
Ali Kokot & Hayley Brooks | Regal racism
Though the Miss America Pageant is problematic in it’s narrow, superficial method of validating women on a national stage, we are pleased to see the pageant pay homage to the melting pot that America prides itself on being.
Clarissa O'Conor | The myth of neutrality
It is a fallacy to think that you can be apolitical in an intensely political context and an intensely political world.
Kurt Mitman | Researcher or hack?
When your research begins to step into the fray of politics, your motives immediately start to come into question.
Rachel del Valle | Call me crazy
One of the rules I used to have for myself was that I’d never see a therapist. I thought that therapy was self-indulgent, excessive, the stuff of Woody Allen movies and not something you do in real life. But that changed two weeks ago.
JY Lee | Can entrepreneurship save the world?
While I celebrate our entrepreneurial energy as vibrant evidence that the American Dream is alive, profit-driven startups should be balanced by social enterprises guided by the public good.
Morgan Jones | Let’s get naked
When I came to Penn, I brought that superhero mindset with me. If anyone asked me how I was doing, I’d answer, “Good!” It’s easy to give that automatic response and move on — I mean, is Superman ever not good?Arielle Pardes | Playing Playboy
Unlike many of our peer institutions, Penn has made it a priority to promote conversations about consent.
Arjun Gupta | Bubble gun
It’s surprising how quickly we can forget to be aware of things beyond ourselves if we don’t make a conscious effort to do so.
Ola Osinaike | The new god
If we have this much dedication towards making only money, we might as well call it what it is: a religion.
Ryan Daniels | Hungry for Apples
Technology companies are constantly improving and refining their products, but our incessant desire for a game changer has forced them to market touch-ups as turning points.
Caroline Brand | I’ll find a title, sometime
Instead of telling you that “college flies by” or “it’s the shortest four years of your life,” I have a new tidbit of advice: Stop using the word “sometime.”
Rachel del Valle | Freshman friends are not forever
I have a theory that the student body of Penn is composed of maybe 30 percent introverts, and of that 30 percent, about half of those spend their first few years trying to pretend they’re extroverts like everyone else.
Jeff Nadel | Startups vs. the state
Uber brings a better, more efficient service to consumers — and that threatens the livelihood of entrenched taxi unions and the City Hall politicians and bureaucrats beholden to their interests.
Xavier Flory | Channeling our insecurities
It’s easy to think we need an even higher GPA and more impressive extracurriculars if we are to compete with students from HYP.Arielle Pardes | Digital Get Down
In most cases, sexting holds the same appeal as any other erotic act — the only difference is that it’s digitalized.
Kurt Mitman | Unilaterally ending unilateralism
Amidst all of the noise about Syria coming from the talking heads in Washington, a bigger point has largely been ignored.
Sindhuri Nandhakumar | The other end of the scale
There is a large discrepancy between the medically accepted notions of healthy bodies and the images encouraged by popular culture, and I’m not the only one who’s been affected by it.
Ali Kokot & Hayley Brooks | SWAG, not SWUG
We’re seeing senior women with full courseloads, a work-study or part-time job, relationships and leadership positions who, shockingly, want to take a few hours to themselves sometimes. What’s so wrong with that? Washed up? We think not.