Seventeen I arrived, but a lowly pilgrim, in New York City, the comedy Mecca of the world. I romanticized New York, a little. The golden streets were to bustle with promises, the people were to walk on beat to Rhapsody in Blue, and I was to folic from open mic to open mic, ducking into comedy clubs, conquering the crowds, and bringing the guttural sounds of merriment to the masses. In reality, New York was the kind of place where...

Cleft in Twain There was a group of children, which Oliver was a part of, and most of these children were forbidden to play video games by their mothers. But unto them an older child was given, who went by the name Jerry. Jerry was a talented storyteller. So one day, the children said unto Jerry, “Play with us.” Jerry inquired, “What shall we play?” To which the children replied, “Take what you’ve seen in games and books and...

It was April when I fell in love with Sarah Kay. I sat before my computer as she read poetry to me. And as she prophesized, “Love arrives exactly when love is supposed to.” Sarah reintroduced me to poetry- a world I had left in eighth grade due to a particularly embarrassing incident involving a love letter and a girl. But spoken word poetry became another avenue of self-expression- something I’ve always seemed to have a longing for (which...

As I sat basking in the cold blue glow of the television, I realized that Anthony Bourdain was who I wanted to be in twenty years time. Above all, I admired his writing. His book Kitchen Confidential remains one of my favorite works of nonfiction. Perhaps it was his acidic wit, or his gratuitous sprinklings of unforgiving pop culture references- regardless, I fell in love. I learned quickly that he attended Vassar, though this fact bore little importance to freshman...

When I was waitlisted by Hamilton I emailed the admissions officers relatively persistently (but...

What I think set me apart from the other applicants was...