On the oral histories of a Harlem haberdasher. By Magda Lena Griffel Illustration by Iris Pope Tweed, silk, single-breasted, double-breasted, pin-striped, paisley, heather, jewel-toned—each day, Gentleman Jim dons a different hand-made waistcoat. Some days, he’ll have a neat little kerchief tied around his neck, and others, a classic epcot tie. My favorite is a blue-and-silver damask number, layered over a white button-down. He tops it off with a red scarf. He should be this

What I came and left with. By Zayna Jamil Illustration by Ines Alto On Tuesday, March 24, I was selected via lottery to attend dinner at Columbia College Dean Josef Sorett’s apartment through the Undergraduate Community Initiative. I was among about 20 students and 15 alumni faculty members from various fields of study gathered to talk about our experiences in the College thus far. I stepped foot into the apartment feeling a little hesitant. I searched for friends or familia

A Night at the Columbia vs. NYU Law Dean’s Cup. By Ana Sorrentino Illustration by Ines Alto As if this were any usual Columbia basketball game, I smuggled my Chef Mike’s sandwich along with three bags of hot cheetos into my purse as I entered Levien Gym. I took my usual seat on the left, angled for a clear view of the scoreboard. As Columbia has never been known for its abundant school spirit, I expected only thin, uneven waves of baby blue-clad attendants and more empty rows

A Landmark Upper West Side Cinema gets back to its roots. By Liam Curedale Illustration by Isabelle Oh Walking down Broadway, past CVS, Absolute Bagels, and Smoke Jazz Club, you also pass by a piece of New York City history. Squeezed between a beauty parlor and a thirteen-story luxury condo locals call “the spike” sits the ruins of the Metro Theater. A few rusty letters are all that remain of its once-iconic art deco marquee: the “_ET_O” Theater. The Metro’s two-hundred light

Confessions of a graduating digital hoarder. By Erica Lee Illustration by Kathleen Halley-Segal My google drive is color coded, with the spring months in shades of green, fall months in yellow and orange hues, and one miscellaneous folder in mountain gray. That’s nine folders in total, 23.34 gigabytes carrying the weight of my college career. With my impending graduation, I am confronted with a question all seniors must answer: what will I do when CUIT reduces my Google Driv

A study abroad assumption. By Marianna Jocas Illustration by Iris Pope If I recorded and then overlayed each conversation I’ve had about my time abroad, the resulting stream of chaos would eventually synchronize to ask: “You’re keeping a journal of all this, right?” On its surface, the question is benign, which is why it may seem odd that it gives me a pang of anxiety. That’s because the question references a larger, more disconcerting notion that good experiences—and maybe o

How a scrappy underdog won a unanimous moral victory By Chris Brown Illustration by Ines Alto Sparks were flying on a beautiful day in Morningside Park as The Blue and White lined up against WKCR in their first meeting on the kickball diamond. The long-awaited match between Columbia’s two favorite student journalism organizations arrived on a crisp late April morning. Hard rain the day before did nothing to dampen either team’s spirits, and the game kicked off at 12:30 p.m. T

Living in 1440 Amsterdam By Audrey Keer Illustration by Kathleen Halley-Segal Getting into Barnard as a transfer student gave me a month to find housing in New York City, and I was frantic. 1440 Amsterdam appeared in my feed on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media akin to Instagram and Pinterest, as a modern building within walking distance of the University. It seemed like the best option available: it was close to campus, rent was reasonable given that the living room would

The True Story of a Prospective Intern. By Sepp Zammuto Illustration by Jiaying Geng Stuck on the 6th floor of Butler Library last October, working tirelessly on my internship applications, I saw a ghost. An ad sent from heaven appeared between my reels: an Enron billboard that read, “We’re back, can we talk?” Enron, formerly the world’s largest energy trader, was back in business? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Checking their profiles, I was astonished to find that they had rei

Why everyone should take Acting 1 before graduating. By Julian Rodriguez Illustration by Julie Shi It was 9 a.m., and I was lying on the floor of the Glicker-Milstein Theatre with my shoes off. Soon, Professor David Skeist would walk in, wearing a fuzzy Care Bear bucket hat, a lavender tank top, and a very loose pair of green linen pants, appearing a little frazzled. Professor Skeist is a Brooklyn-based actor, director, and adjunct professor at Barnard. Kooky and extravagant,

Four steps on how to be Chinese. By Willow Bradford Illustration by Lilah Chen The elevator is broken and my room is four flights up. Among many white canvases, a flimsy red and gold piece of paper is hastily taped across the elevator buttons on the ground floor of Sulzberger. An outstretched index finger reaches, through papers upon papers, to press up and down buttons, regardless of the cuts and scratches in between. Despite being covered by a poster for a Columbia business

Musings on another transition of power . By Chris Brown Illustration by Ellie Hodges On July 1, Jennifer Mnookin will start her term as the 21st President of Columbia University. On the list of presidents, her name will follow after President Minouche Shafik, who resigned nearly two years ago. The presidencies of Katrina Armstrong and Claire Shipman will become footnotes. For students, Mnookin will be the fifth president in four years. In October of 2024, I wrote The Presiden

A Look into Student Film at Columbia. By Liam Curedale Illustration by Em Bennett In September, Kallen Fenster, CC ’28, a fresh-faced Columbia sophomore walked onto campus. This past summer, he’d realized that he wanted to pursue a career in entertainment law. He loved film, and he loved law—as much as anyone can. So, Kallen started looking around. Barnumbia has no shortage of student-run film production groups. Studio 292, Girls Who Film, The 1 Train is Delayed, CLIP, and ot

A visit to the re-opened Studio Museum in Harlem. By Aliyyah Hamid Illustration by Julie Shi A fluorescent light sculpture forms the following couplet: “Me/We.” The “We” sits below “Me,” as if reflecting it. The original poet was none other than Muhammad Ali, who was asked to “give us a poem!” during a speech at the Harvard commencement in 1975. Give us a Poem is the title of the neon light sculpture by Glenn Ligon that sits yards above its audience, mounted in the lobby of

One Man’s Search for Fauna in the Most Unlikely of Places. By David Kramer Illustrations by Em Bennett Every day, thousands of cars drive down Broadway, the average 1 train carries 7,000 passengers between dawn and dusk, and tens of thousands of pedestrians hurry across Manhattan. It’s a busy, noisy city. But in the basement of a pet store on Broadway, a tortoise sleeps. His name is George, he’s 28 years old, and he thinks you should feed him strawberries. George leads an a

A love letter to the U.S. Mint’s newest retiree. By Luke Zinger Illustration by Isabelle Oh In my hometown upstate, there is a large plastic fish head whose five-foot wide mouth juts out from the carpet. The fish is actually an exhibit in my favorite childhood museum, and every few months from ages four to eight, I would look forward to making a wish while dropping a coin down its mouth. I never remembered to bring a coin myself, so I would plead for my parents (or grandpare

Stories from college, Paris, and among the oranges. By Kate Sibery Illustrations by Nini Vilac For a long time I told the story as follows: my parents met at a Halloween party in college, my mom was dressed as a farmer in denim overalls and my dad wasn’t dressed up as anything because that is just typical of him. It has since been clarified that my parents knew of each other before then because their respective roommates—Jen and Brady, who are married to this day—were dating.

On Missed Connections and interstellar radio waves. By Magda Lena Griffel Illustration by Vanessa Zhou On a Monday in 2008, at exactly 7 p.m. EST, NASA beamed the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” from Pasadena, CA through deep space towards Polaris, the North Star. Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe… It wasn’t the first, the last, or the most technologically significant message sent from Earth acr

Some thoughts on the recent snow in New York. By Kate Sibery Illustration by Iris Pope Ten days ago they were predicting a lot of snow. “They” being my grandmother’s reference point for all information relating to weather, current events, and anything else you might read about in the newspaper or see on T.V. “They are saying it might get up into the 70s this week.” “They say it’s a good time to start shopping at Fairway.” “They say interest rates are way down.” “They” is her

How to seize your New York City. By Tierney Smink Illustration by Vanessa Zhou I was sitting on the subway, minding my own business a little too well. My earphones crammed into my ears, cancelling out the noise around me, and my nose stuck into my book of the week. There was no one sitting next to me; it was a late Thursday night, so it made sense. The only other person in my vicinity was a man sitting diagonally across from me. At first glance, he seemed slightly forgettabl