1. In the Shed I taught a class in the fall of 2020 entitled “Barack Obama and the Idea of the African American Presidency.” This AFAS course was created for two reasons: First, it was thought a good idea for AFAS to have a course about Obama and a course […]
Thanksgiving is here, and we who invented the holiday are squirming as usual. We have been subjected to a series of (usually commercial) exhortations to be grateful (and show it by buying something). Pop psychology has tossed a lot of mawkish reflection in the same direction, insisting we make gratitude lists and feel […]
After co-directing a succession of award-winning documentaries with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick stepped forward to direct one on her own, with Sarah Botstein as producer, and Burns stepped back to be their executive producer. Filmed over four years at maximum- and medium-security prisons in New York state, College Behind Bars focuses on the Bard […]
Recently, I came across some essays I had written a few years back. These stories were mostly autobiographical, tales of personal observations and proclamations of personal beliefs. As I read over them, I remembered how quickly my hands had worked to tell these stories, eager to share them with an audience as quickly as I […]
Ours was a table conveniently located in the cool shade of a tree near the principal’s office. Nobody dared to sit there, even if they were the first to be excused for lunch; it belonged to us, the same way the area around the oak tree in the center of the quad belonged to the […]
Growing up, there were few secrets to keep from my parents. When they asked how my day had been, the answer was simple and honest. After all, my days were consistently uneventful: school from 8 to 2:30, the occasional after-school hangout in a park or a neighborhood Starbucks, and then coming home and sitting at […]
The most dreaded question a college senior could be asked: What are you doing after graduation? College graduation sneaks up on a person. At first it seems far away, as if it will never come, and then in the blink of an eye there are caps and gowns and diplomas everywhere. It is easy to […]
There is something called the adolescent paradox, a term referring to the ironic situation in which young adults are at once both at the peak of their physical health and energy while also being most at risk for mental illness. So while our bodies are equipped to do all we may want, like staying up […]
When I applied to colleges as a linguistics major in 2013, I had done virtually no research. A friend of mine had told me linguistics was about language. I was taking AP Spanish at the time and I loved speaking and listening to music in Korean, and that seemed like reason enough to walk down […]
Of all the things millennials are known for, social media has to be the most predominant. A typical portrayal of a millennial might have his face glued to the phone, refusing to connect with the world around him and instead obsessed with the world inside of his screen. Though the stereotype is overused, there is […]
