By Miska Lewis Sometimes home reminded me of a classroom. It wasn’t that I got sleepy the moment I entered, or that there were rows and rows of chairs with a creaky table at the front. There were no pseudo-encouraging posters adorning the walls, and nothing that smelled slightly of sour milk or cheap disinfectant. Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that slightly yellowing walls and window frames covered in peeling paint were only meant for classrooms in the Midwest. No amount o

By Becky Miller The night of the tree lighting—a glamorous Columbia tradition where the whole university gathers on College Walk to watch someone flip a switch—Fergus Campbell, CC ’22, put on a show of his own. Capitalizing on the foot traffic near Low Steps, Campbell and his friends set up a projector and streamed previews of his experimental web series “Sankyo Stream” onto an unobstructed stone wall. They passed out “Sankyo Stream” stickers to tree-obsessed spectators. The

By Michael Colton In the words of Dean James Valentini and a recent Columbia Confessions poster, “college is meant to be the most stressful time of your life.” But it doesn’t have to be. Getting through the academic and social turmoil of your undergraduate years is as easy as looking out for yourself and prioritizing your mental well-being above all things, save for your GPA, resume, and social pedigree. Read below for some tips on how to best do so during each of your four y

Earlier this month, scrolling through Elon Musk–owned Twitter, I came across some 2020 data on the subscription base of Harper’s Magazine. The oldest general-interest monthly in America, Harper’s is as magazine as it gets. Its readers, one-third of which are women, have been subscribed for an average of 10 years. Their average household income is $116,000; 46% hold postgraduate degrees. The replies were of muted, but general, shock. There seemed to be a confusion about who—an

By Dariya Subkhanberdina As a loyal, if not compulsive, Depop shopper for years now, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat giddy while waiting for Micaela Cacho-Negrete, CC ’22, in the lobby of Wien Hall on a blissfully sunny Thursday. As one of the most successful 2,400 sellers of 18 million, Micaela holds the exclusive title of a Top Seller on Depop—an online platform that endows a vintage e-commerce marketplace with the adornments of social media. That afternoon, Micaela strut

Confronting New York's sidewalk sheds. By Justin Liang Surely it must be classed among the seven wonders of New York, alongside the Empire State Building and the yellow taxi. But the iconicity of the former and the ubiquity of the latter cannot compete with that omnipresent seventh wonder: the unsightly sidewalk shed. In our own backyard, the spindly steel beams, green plywood cladding, and harsh fluorescent glare of these structures have most recently been foisted on the faç

Affirmative By Becky Miller Yes, a princess would absolutely smack a pigeon between the thighs to assert her dominance over her sidewalk domain. She would then continue on her merry way and you, a mere peasant, wouldn’t care to complain because (despite your pea-sized brain), you know a princess can do that. I can't believe you’d even ask such a stupid question. But, considering you did, let me go ahead and explain why a princess can literally do anything with absolutely zero

On designing the new Black studies curriculum for New York City public schools.

Getting from one side to the other.

The particulars of the School of General Studies.

Cast and creatives on the “Circusification of Hamlet.”

By Michaela Sawyer Kassia Karras, BC ’22, used to be known as “Mrs. UnlocktheSwehg.” These days, she sports the username “Purified Smoke” on Instagram. Whichever moniker you associate with her, Karras is a campus illustrator whose art instantly demands attention. A brisk scroll through @PurifiedSmoke unlocks a childlike thrill in me. Each of Karras’ pieces is adorned with bright colors, intentionally skewed perspectives, and stark outlines that evoke late-night viewings of Ca

The Yassification of Columbia Admin

Columbia's history of minor mayhems.

Regarding Columbia's greatest failure. By Alexander Aibel To be quite honest, though I’ve been here for over two years, I haven’t entered most buildings on campus. I would estimate I’ve crossed not even one-third of Columbia-owned thresholds. Even from the small sample I have encountered, however, I can assure you that Columbia has made finding one’s way to one’s classroom virtually impossible. Each time I go to, say, Dodge (art) or Dodge (sport), I’m forced to track down clu

Practicing people power.

By Skylar Wu Fonsphobia (Fear of Spring) Spring is the most plump, most miserable mushroom to ever grow out of my eyes. Teal and yellow scurry for billions of years, crash on the internal walls of memory, scatter into caterwauling kittens, wailing children; tears spring into a pedal of moldy oranges. Damp heat, they say, is the mosquitoes’ crying ritual, cries today into tomorrow. What does it avail? My pericranium still burns scarlet red, chaotic like the inside of a bird’s

On skinny white boys in skirts.

On the stories we tell and the stories we don’t about the women who don’t quite fit in.

By Will Lyman, with an introduction by Chloë Gottlieb and Daniel Seizer In April, we published the following piece. It follows a night in the life of Jane Watson, CC ’22, as she takes the stage and performs to an adoring crowd under her moniker Miss Anthropopscene. It was part of a column where a writer picked a Columbia student to accompany for a night—someone interesting, generous, funny, notable. In light of Jane’s passing, we would like to share this small snapshot of her