Sleeping around
The Tech's Auntie Matter provides sage advice on matters related to all things sleeping.
The STEM of the problem
We are surrounded by so many people who are so clever at math and who value math skills highly that it's completely understandable to feel insecure.
Slippery and confused
If you have questions for Auntie Matter, please submit them at tinyurl.com/AskAuntieMatter.
Not in love with this
To quote Rilke, “If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.”
Queerness and quick queries
There is much mythology surrounding the female orgasm.
Tick tock, tick tock
Once you’ve started procrastinating, don’t feel as though you must keep procrastinating. You are not simply either a procrastinating fool or a productivity fiend.
Prefrosh? Read this!
In the midst of all the liquid nitrogen ice cream, puzzle hunts, and lock-picking, you should make sure to take time for self-reflection.
In the heat of the moment
Don’t wait too long for the perfect moment. There won’t be one.
Concerning your confessions
This week, in response to MIT Summer Confessions posts, Auntie will give yet more unsolicited advice. Remember, folks, even your (technologically incompetent) aunt can read a public page!
Friendship formation fears
Though wanting the good things is painful, it is still preferable to not knowing what the good things are.
September problems
The main reason Auntie suggests you pursue this man, however, is that she hopes you will fall passionately in love.
Ready for it?
How do you know if it was a date without asking? (You don’t.) And should you apply to software engineering internships? (Only if you want to do software engineering.)
Alphabetical advice
Even if you reexamine the situation and conclude you made some mistakes, what’s done is done, and Auntie believes you should try to forget about it.
Inner circle and inner peace
Take pride in your behavior. It is genuinely impressive to bear a difficult circumstance with grace.
Advising the advisor
Instead of telling your students not to work a specific kind of job, encourage them to be a specific kind of person — one who is awake in the world.
All about Auntie
This week, in lieu of actual questions, Auntie Matter narcissistically decided to invent and answer questions about herself.
For the lonely and lovelorn this Valentine’s Day
A wise MIT professor once told Auntie that the hardest part of human life is finding love. With that in mind, Auntie presents Valentine’s Day selections about finding, and navigating, love.
‘How do I stop myself from feeling like this?’
Auntie Matter advises a student going through a self-described “midlife crisis.”
Faltering friendships and careless classmates
Don’t think so much. Enjoy yourself. It’s OK.
A dropped class and a dry spell
My girlfriend says she loves me, but hasn't wanted to have sex the past two months.
Talk, talk, talk
You can change your friends, but you should also probably change your thinking.
What to expect when you’re expecting… to come to MIT
The opportunity to really follow your passions without too much to lose — that is a tremendous privilege, a freedom that few human beings in history have had. Do not waste it by following along with what everyone else wants just because everyone else wants it.
Plague and despair
There are lots of ways to be a student here. It seems unlikely all of them would make you miserable.
Auntie says farewell
Auntie invites would-be advice-givers to hang up their own shingle next year and start giving advice. To ready the path for the next generation, she will offer some reflections on the principles by which she has written this column.
Boredom blues
You can learn a lot from an experience even if it’s not the most ideal. Be curious and be open to possibilities.
Party food and relationships
Be yourself and focus on doing what you enjoy, and things will follow.
Stressed-out senior
Just take a first step in a direction that seems right for you at this moment in time. Things will change, and that’s alright.