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Looking back

Today I got a haircut. The salon’s robe had a large circle of clear plastic in the center so that you could check your phone while in the chair. Aimlessly, I scrolled through instagram while mentally going through a long to-do list for this evening. Do the...

Democratic Society

This semester, I am taking a class on democratic participation that has deeply opened my eyes to the ways that our communities and country could operate to empower citizens. When I joined this class, if you asked me what it meant to be a citizen, my first and only...

A Conversation with President Barron

Last week, it was really amazing to have President Barron make the time to join our class and speak with us for the hour. I know his schedule is actually insane right now, and I think we could all tell how exhausted he is, so him making the time was especially...

I’m over civil discourse (and you should be too).

In class last week, I think it was obvious that I was not on board with our civil dialogue activity. This is not to say I don’t believe in dialogue, in talking to those you disagree with, or hearing from alternative perspectives that challenge my own. However, I...

Even easy things are hard

Some things are expected to be hard right now. Going grocery shopping is hard, listening to the news is hard, being away from our friends is hard. There is some really nice communal grieving of these things, of the normalcy we lost, of the thousands of lives, of the...

THON relfections!

This weekend, I had the absolute honor of dancing in THON for my special interest organization, Springfield. I have been involved in THON all 3 years at Penn State, and this year I was the special events chair for my organization. It was a challenging year of...

Happy birthday Trees! Sorry your party’s so lame

Staring tonight is the Jewish holiday of Tu BiShvat, or the birthday of the trees! This holiday comes from ancient economic systems and rules, where trees had to be accounted for for yearly offerings to the temples, taxes, as well as ages for ritual rules about what...

Superbowl Reminiscing

Sometimes it feels that my childhood revolved around football, which is funny considering I didn’t learn the rules of the game until coming to Penn State. Still, so many of my memories are located around a TV, snacks nearby, with my family decked out in black...

Being in the Middle (East) of a Tense Situation

This winter break, I had the absolute joy of going on a Birthright trip to Israel with Penn State Hillel. As an active American liberal Jew, my relationship with Israel is often something conflicting and confusing, so spending the time on this trip to connect with the...

What we give, and what we shouldn’t have to.

This past week was Giving Tuesday, a tradition started in response to the growing consumerism of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. The purpose of Giving Tuesday is to encourage people to give charitably instead of continuing to spend on consumer...