34th Street Magazine's "Toast" is a semi-weekly newsletter with the latest on Penn's campus culture and arts scene. Delivered Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
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I went back to Korea over winter break, because that is what you do when you’re the daughter of Asian parents: You fly back to your country of ethnic origin so that all your relatives can exclaim to your parents “how much taller she is!” and “She looks just like you!” except in Korean, because you are, as mentioned earlier, in Korea.
Adjusting to life at Penn was a very difficult process. Many people, especially Penn students with whom I have interacted, assume that because I am on financial aid, I have everything I need to survive on Penn’s campus.
James Baldwin once said, “The paradox of education is precisely this — that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” From the second I started my education here I’ve constantly seen and interacted with black staff working as servers, security guards, janitors and the like.
The state of the press is alarming. And many of the critiques of the media, echoing endlessly in the ears of the American people, are legitimate and necessary.
In high school, I used to participate in extemporaneous speaking. We were given a question on current events; something like, “How will Brexit impact the UK economy?” might be asked today.
The College Republicans urge both President Trump and the news media to grow up.
Regardless of who dealt the first blow or who started it, the president and the media are caught in a mean-spirited, childish conflict.
A recent New York Times article showed that the median family income for an undergraduate family at Penn is $195,500, placing the median Penn family in the 82nd percentile among U.S. families.
This semester, I’ve done my best to be as attentive as possible when examining Penn culture, and researching black history at Penn has truly strengthened that attentiveness.
Sometimes I feel like the most tangible thing I’ve gotten from my college education is a broader and more refined understanding of just how many things are wrong with the world, how many terrible atrocities have been committed in the past and continue to be committed, how many people are suffering in many different ways.
After discussing, in the latter portion of my previous column, the professional troll that is Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos, I was sincerely intending to pick a more pleasant topic for this week.
Allyship is not found in those who wear a safety pin, but in those who dedicate their efforts towards diminishing the inequities that cause protests in the first place.
Despite the title, this article will not serve as some sort of rallying cry to raise the minimum wage nor will it attempt to explain the complicated nature of universal basic income.