#November2020

Blue Notes, November 2020

Raquel Turner, Hailey Ryan, Sylvie Epstein, Eduardo Espinosa

Blue Notes, November 2020

On the inflatable rat, dining alone, student voter turnout, and the politics of Zoom names. By Raquel Turner, Hailey Ryan, Sylvie Epstein & Eduardo Espinosa. DEPT. OF ANIMAL CONTROL Move Over, Roaree By Raquel Turner Illustration by Samia Menon Coated in a light sheen of early morning New York drizzle, its gnarled teeth bared to the gates of College Walk, once stood a 12-foot-tall inflatable rat. From early September to late October, its tense gray body, so out of place among

Wait, Just One Question: Happiness – PART 1

Kat Chen

Wait, Just One Question: Happiness – PART 1

The first installment of a graphic series detailing interviews with Columbia’s spiritual advisors on the definition of happiness. By Kat Chen. Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation. #November2020

Joon Baek

Benjamine Mo

Joon Baek

By Benjamine Mo Ours is a community of change. As our institution contends with the existential threats of disease and dispersal, student leaders are reimagining Columbia as a series of communities mobilized to respond, adapt, recover. Amidst the confusion of transition—in University, national, and global politics—Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) Student Body President and former International Student Representative Joon Baek, CC ‘20, has proven to be an agent of the k

Uwade Akhere

Jaden Jarmel-Schneider

Uwade Akhere

By Jaden Jarmel-Schneider Uwade Akhere, CC ‘21, launched her singing career at a ’70s themed fifth-grade talent show. She’d grown up in elementary school choirs, where teachers liked her because she “could hold a tune or something,” but she hadn’t taken music seriously until she convinced two friends to dance backup for a rendition of “Natural Woman.” If you scroll far enough down on her Instagram, @uwade.music, you’ll find a video of it. In the clip, Akhere is clearly the st

Letter From the Editor, November 2020

Sam Needleman

Letter From the Editor, November 2020

By Sam Needleman Bereft of cohesion, and hardly expecting any looming events to provide it, our editors chose to bind this issue of The Blue and White with a theme: COLLECT. Across our November pages, it appears as a demand, a memory, an aspiration, a suture, and a craving—sometimes where we expect it, sometimes not. Rather than force the writers and illustrators to work within this frame—the kind of stylistic tyranny that we imagine plagues the agenda at n+1—we derived it fr

In Which Our Hero Takes a Gap Semester

Hailey Ryan

In Which Our Hero Takes a Gap Semester

Well, this just won’t do, thought Verily as he opened President Bollinger’s infamously verbose, oft-lampooned email announcing the complete

Doodling Dissent

Dominy Gallo

Doodling Dissent

Sergio Peçanha on visual storytelling, journalism in the Trump era, and keeping your head up in the face of absurdity.

The Neurons of Novels

Sophie Poole

The Neurons of Novels

It was a Thursday morning in September and, like any self-respecting undergraduate woefully majoring in English, I opened The New Yorker app

Postcard From Morningside, November 2020

Kat Chen

Postcard From Morningside, November 2020

#November2020

The Climate Fight’s New Stronghold

Elizabeth Jackson

The Climate Fight’s New Stronghold

Attentive observers recognize that climate change impacts and is impacted by everything we do—from the food we eat to the energy we consume

Commonplace Resilience

Annelie Hyatt

Commonplace Resilience

The sun consumes the streets, rescuing the asphalt from the burgeoning October chill.

Was That Good for You (the Sex)?

Nicole Kohut and Michael Colton

Was That Good for You (the Sex)?

I always knew I’d lose my virginity in college.

The Antiquation of Antiquity

Nicole Kohut and Claire Schweitzer

The Antiquation of Antiquity

While the Core Curriculum may advertise itself as the immovable benchmark of the Columbia experience, it has yielded to widespread pedagogic

Tradition and Transgression

Dominy Gallo

Tradition and Transgression

I face the blank page this evening, not with the usual feeling of joyful, mildly overconfident abandon I have grown so accustomed to

Out of Focus Calendar

Judy Xie

Out of Focus Calendar

I began the day by trying to unvisit it or yesterday or the weeks that came before it.

To Kill a Marching Band

Cy Gilman

To Kill a Marching Band

The stories we tell about The Cleverest Band in the World and the stories it tells about itself.

From Chaos, a Community

Claire Shang

From Chaos, a Community

Campus mutual aid networks are redefining student relations.

Inkblots

The Blue and White Magazine

Inkblots

A collection of short works of poetry.

Ali Hassani

Lyla Trilling

Ali Hassani

“When I was 9, I had two pet ducks that I carried under my arms.”

Sophia Houdaigui

Sophie Poole

Sophia Houdaigui

In April, Sophia Houdaigui, BC ‘21, implemented the online ordering system for her family’s bakery in Arlington, Virginia.