Drive through Boston/Cambridge
“I don’t know when to turn,” I said, vaguely panicked. My partner responded with something reassuring. He was buckled into the passenger seat beside me, and I envied his comfort. Through the windows, I could see cars all around us, zipping by in front or at rest across the street, waiting to rush forward.
From Twitter’s Jomny to MIT‘s Jonny
Happiness, grief, love, life, and death are all subjects people have grappled with over the ages. Imagine how overwhelming such concepts would be for an alien visiting Earth, tasked with the job of observing humans. Such is the premise of Jomny Sun’s graphic novel everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too. Sun’s alien, together with a ghost, an uncertain owl, a lonely tree, and a host of other characters, explore topics from imposter syndrome to community to the creation of art, issues that Jomny — or rather, Jonny — has good reason to think deeply about.
Targeting tumors
Immunotherapy research is a burgeoning field that aims to help our own immune systems clear the disease in a personalized manner, and for some individuals, the method shows much promise. However, for others, this approach is ineffective. The Spranger Lab hopes to understand these varying responses to immunotherapy.
On sororities and the force of friendships
As I looked around McCormick’s east penthouse, at all the faces I didn’t know, I felt as though we were all crawling toward the ocean together, and I hoped we would make it.
Campus Life editor's note
Every day we trudge through the Infinite. We pass peers, professors, and staff, all heading their separate ways. In Campus Life, we cross paths; we learn each other’s names and hear each other’s voices. This year, we heard resilience in struggle and grief in loss, courage under pressure and inspiration in hard work. We heard from our president, from a student EMT, from incredible people in hard places. Now, we return to their stories — we’ll catch a glimpse of their lives before they melt back into the crowd. This is you and me. This is MIT.
SUCCing it up
Allow me to describe a moment of distilled fear. Imagine Simmons Hall Auditorium: MIT students line the seats, crammed shoulder to shoulder. Audience members spill from plush red rows onto the stairs. Every pair of eyes is fixed on a lone figure onstage. A spotlight chains her in place. As initial applause dies down, she begins to speak into the microphone in her hand — and in that moment, more than anything in the world, she wants the audience to laugh.
Tricks, treats, and defeat
There are few text messages in this world that would prompt me to ditch a Chipotle burrito bowl and sprint back to campus. These anomalies include: “fountain of youth sprung from burst New House pipe,” “Random Hall milk gained sentience,” and “free pizza at Burton-Conner front desk.” On Halloween night, while taking advantage of the burrito discount, I received one such text of immense motivational caliber.
Falling bottles and FOMO troubles
Unlike most horror stories, ’twas not dark and stormy when disaster struck one mild Friday afternoon. It might as well have been, though — the magnitude of my technological catastrophe should by all rights have triggered a swirling mass of rain and hail. Instead, I was left to gape at the aftermath of my colossal mistake to a backdrop of sun and blue sky.
Escape the dome: pset stalling and Boston Calling
There are times when I can forgive myself for unleashing my inner music fangirl. Even rarer are the occasions when I can allow myself to release her in public. During Boston Calling, two days before my first hell week, was one such occasion. In that period of pre-hell week, I saw armies of deadlines and tests march toward my slapdash barricade — namely, the weekend — but it was too early for a call to action. All I could do was sit quietly in a corner and hope that if I ate enough chocolate, I would survive the trials to come.
Laundry and life
My first day of class, I was up before my alarm. I typically take an extra ten minutes to mourn the end of summer. That morning, however, was the exception. That morning was a magical microcosm of perfection, on par with a sunny “getting-ready-for-school” movie montage. I could almost hear faint echoes of peppy ukulele music.