Opinion Columns
Adam Silver | Saying sorry to my subletters
Subletters, I know I told you that pets were not allowed in HamCo, but that is simply because it already comes with pets.Divya Ramesh | An illness with no prescription
Now that I have moved in and Convocation is around the corner, I realize that the vaccines on my chart have failed to prevent one thing: homesickness.Editorial | Guns on campus
The Aurora, Colo., massacre gives a renewed sense of urgency over the role of firearms in American culture. Being situated near a hotbed for violent crimes, Penn students in particular have a big stake in the debate over gun control.Will Marble | Disconnected from distraction
Our generation lives on the internet. We wake up to new iMessages, “friending” people is an almost necessary social exercise, we are expected to respond to emails instantly and many of us run our own blogs. And suddenly I could not access any of that.
Hayley Brooks & Ali Kokot | ThinkTwice.Wordpress.com
While today’s hot social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, serve mostly to feed our vanity and self-absorption, the blogosphere often provides a more productive outlet.Spencer Small | A call to (un)arms
In the wake of the Aurora, Colo., shooting, the issue of gun control has resurfaced in a big way. But it looks like nothing is going to change. Since 1968, the number of Americans that have been killed by guns in the United States exceeds the number of U.S.Arielle Pardes | Poly what?
“Infinite possibilities” describes polyamory at its core. Those who practice poly range from the lovestruck triad in Oliver Stone’s recent film “Savages” to full-on group marriage within an entire community of people.Mohammed Alyahya | An open letter to Bashar al-Assad
I’ve been doing some research on potential retirement destinations for unsung despots. After an extensive process of elimination, I’ve isolated two that would not abhor your presence: North Korea and Mars. For logistical reasons, I highly recommend you sacrifice human habitability and opt for North Korea.
Ernest Owens | Confessions of an Ivy League snob
In many ways, acceptance to Penn is a blessing and a responsibility. It is a fortunate chance to launch a better life and an even greater task to maintain it. If you don’t feel a level of high spirits for such a worthy burden, then you’re just lying to yourself.Editorial | Student debt solutions
With a student debt crisis mounting — Americans owe more student loan debt than credit card debt — and college tuition continuing to rise, the bleeding must be stopped.Nina Wolpow | Why I want to be a writer
Writing is in my DNA. I’m stuck with it, and though most likely it won’t make me much money, it is my fittest gene.
Aya Saed | Local actors supplement failing governments
The issues facing Sudanese citizens and those facing students of Philadelphia are not one in the same. They do, however, represent similar injustices.Steven Jaffe | Carving a legacy
When Chief Justice John Roberts arrived at the tax question, he chose to uphold “ObamaCare” — a decision that may ultimately define the Roberts court.
Zachary Bell | Notes from Montreal
According to the Associated Press, 53.6 percent of Americans under 26 with a bachelors degree — 1.5 million — are jobless or underemployed. That could fill a lot of streets. So why are they empty?Nina Wolpow | Saving summer
Summer in adult land is a season not unlike the other three. Sure, there are beaches and frozen cocktails in this universe. But gone are the unnumbered days: the Saturdays that feel like Wednesdays and the weekends you never knew had arrived.
Hayley Brooks & Ali Kokot | Girls, on GIRLS
Last Sunday night, we watched the first season of Dunham’s HBO darling come to a circuitous end: we started with Hannah eating, and we finish with Hannah eating.
Ernest Owens | Never O’Clock: using the N-word
Our societal mindset has shifted to thinking that racial slurs do not have the same impact as they did in the past. Many scholars and critics, arguing for the idea of a “post-racial society,” claim people see beyond race and more into individuality.Arielle Pardes | A week you won't forget
I realize this might be awkward, but we can make it easy for you. In fact, you won’t even have to do the talking. Let’s just bring in a few sex educators, maybe a porn star or two and spend a week celebrating and learning about sex. We’ll call it Sex Week.
Kyle Henson | Change even Matisse could believe in
This failure seems to hint at a pervasive resistance to change that plagues our society. This problem proves most dangerous when our stubbornness to adapt allows obvious, and sometimes even easily solved, inefficiencies to persist.