Michaela Tolpin | Winning isn't everything

"I forget the author… but I was wondering if you had a book called The Game?" I asked the grandfatherly man behind the information desk at the Penn Bookstore. "Yes, of course," he said. Then, after a pause and a slight roll of the eyes, "We have plenty.

Michaela Tolpin | Retry Malinovskya

The prosecution argues that it was a fatal attraction. The defense calls this an empty argument. For three trials over the past two years, three different juries have slinked away from taking a unanimous stance. When it comes to Irina Malinovskaya, the Wharton undergrad charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend Irina Zlotnikov, the American justice system deems her not guilty by default - a result of three hung juries.

Michaela Tolpin | Study abroad in the Poconos?

I am not ashamed to say that, as a female at Penn, I fit quite neatly into several aspects of the "Penn girl" stereotype: I drink coffee from Bucks, eat salads from Gia, work out exclusively indoors and rely heavily on these luxuries to make it neatly and efficiently through the rush of my daily life.

Michaela Tolpin | Privacy isn't what it used to be

Nothing beats a leisurely weekend brunch. I treasure these meals, these few hours, to the point of reverence. They are my religion, and my ritual is pretty set: tea, fruit, homework, Simon, Garfunkel and a table outside ABP. This weekend, however, after a week bursting at the seams with unadulterated evil (read: midterms), I made the drastic decision to alter my regiment.

Michaela Tolpin | Guilty until proven innocent*

In the early morning hours of Sept. 9, a student at Georgetown University was brutally assaulted. Why? Because he's gay. According to NBC, the victim, whose identity remains anonymous, was leaving a party near Georgetown's campus when he was allegedly assaulted with homophobic taunts before being physically attacked.

Michaela Tolpin | Work hard, play ... nah

There's something quintessentially awful about studying at Penn. It goes beyond the fact that you're actually expected to do well in an Ivy League school, and it also goes beyond the fact that the amount of work can, at times, be inordinate. Instead, it's about the cutthroat intensity students adopt to be "competitive," an intensity that is beginning to pollute our social environment.

Michaela Tolpin | Spooning with strangers

Cuddle parties. Until accidentally picking up an old New York Times this past summer, I had never even imagined that such a thing could exist. But there it was, wedged under a photo of happily intertwined people lying on pillows and holding hands: an invitation to a cuddle party taking place right in the heart of inhospitable Manhattan.

Michaela Tolpin | Cheating the student body

One-fifth of Wharton's sophomore class could be in serious trouble. For those of you who, like me, are not lucky enough to inhabit the hallowed halls of Huntsman or Steinberg-Dietrich, OPIM 101 (short for Operations and Information Management) is a required first-year introductory course for all Wharton students.

Michaela Tolpin | Cold War: Round two?

It's been a few years in the making, but LUKoil is now officially omnipresent. Or so it seemed two weeks ago as I was anxiously driving around New Jersey, looking for a gas station to fill up my minivan. Stubbornly ignoring my angry orange light, which had been glowering at me for the past 15 miles, I zoomed past the clean-looking red-and-white station.

Film shown on campus alleges pro-Israel bias

A documentary alleging that the American media is biased in favor of Israel sparked debate in Logan Hall last night. A discussion panel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was held before an audience of about 10 by the Muslim Students Association. Moderator Arsalan Iftikhar, the legal director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has appeared on talk shows on numerous news channels, including CNN, the BBC and Fox News.

Author sees totalitarian threat in world today

Hannah Arendt's writings on totalitarianism could have ominous resonances in the modern era, according to author Elisabeth Young-Bruehl. At the Penn Bookstore yesterday, Young-Bruehl presented her book Why Arendt Matters. The author related the theory of autocracy discussed by Arendt, a provocative author and political commentator as well as Young-Bruehl's doctorate professor and mentor, to current events.

'These streets have no closing time'

Gathered around a lectern that resembled an oversized electrical outlet, the members of the University City Lighting Consortium prepared to celebrate creating a brighter, safer Philadelphia. "Let this be a neighborhood where the streets have no closing time," Penn President Amy Gutmann said.