When I was young the world of men was frightening, a world where women cried on the couch because in the kitchen there were words thrown across the room like stones, words meant to hurt and maim, to tear the water from open eyes, eyes that looked like mine. We fled to the lake when the marriage got bad and while divorce was worse. I understood nothing of the kitchen’s discord but I knew we were untouchable in those silent waters brimming with the essence of the universe...
My favorite sentences are interrogative. Even declarative statements imply questions; why not be straightforward and ask them? The question “Why” rests at the root of the human spirit, and “How” inextricably entwines with the first question. Likewise, my reason for life, my “Why” for waking up to the sun’s kiss each day, is the quest for “How.” As I first gained awareness of my intellectual interests, I began brushing aside lesser questions to get a better look at the “Hows” and the “Whys.”..
My friends identify my most prominent physical feature as my “crazy eyes.” They’re not always crazy—only when I find myself exploding with passion for my favorite topics. So I invite you, step into the pupil of one of those eyes, cut through the lens, swim in the vitreous humor to the optic nerve, jump off the Axon Express at the optic chiasm and enjoy a perusal of my brain...
Materials: 1 three mL vial, DI water, Pluronic F127. Procedures: Add 18 mg PF127 to 1 mL water in vial; vortex thoroughly, seal cap. Observations: The resulting solution is a liquid but, when raised to body temperature, gels quickly. Though intended for ocular delivery systems, the solution’s intriguing gel designs also provide entertainment during hours of deskwork...
The history of race relations in South Carolina is one marred by abject failure. Between secession, Jim Crow, and our decision to elect Strom Thurmond to something like 600 terms as a US senator (many of which he was elected to after splitting with the democratic party over their refusal to support Jim Crow), racial discrimination and prejudice have bludgeoned South Carolina’s historical record. Our failure has been a failure to coalesce, a failure to progress, and a failure to accept the changing tides of social realization. Worst of all, it’s often a militant, self-indulgent failure that relishes in its own shortcomings. My state’s failure had never affected me personally until this year...
Having been born in the UK, with parents from Delhi and Kenya, I feel my background has given me an internationally diverse outlook. In my travels, I have met with both the affluence of Europe and the poverty existing in India. Such contrasts have compelled me to seek an understanding of the forces that drive the world economy, and why after centuries of economic theory such inequalities continue to exist...
According to Mother Teresa, “If you judge someone, you have no time to love them.” I first saw this quote when it was posted on my sixth-grade classroom wall, and I hated it. Rather, I hated Mother Teresa’s intention, but I knew that the quote’s veracity was inarguable. I felt that it was better to judge people so as not to have to love them, because some people don’t deserve a chance. Judgments are shields, and mine was impenetrable...
“This is something people need to hear,” my coach told me. “You need to give this speech.”I certainly agreed on principle, but at the time, I wasn’t sure I had the skill to do my topic justice.It was the early winter of my freshman year, and I had been spending the previous several months researching America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for a debate case...
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