Stanford Daily | Archive | Columnists

Ravalations: Why everything is okay

Granted, some of the advice isn’t always the best, but every now and then, I receive a piece of advice so wonderful, that I feel the need to shout it from the top of Hoover Tower.

I Do Choose To Run: In defense of KONY 2012

You’ve probably also heard that KONY 2012’s parent organization, Invisible Children, and IC’s head filmmaker, Jason Russell, have received a great deal of criticism since the release of their viral video on March 5th.

Marks My Words: Pitching your ditch

Right? Maybe. But now it’s Dead Week, when Stanford is anything but dead, and you’ve probably realized that the plan you made was pretty unrealistic. It’s not that dinner will have to be 15 minutes; it’s that you’ll have to skip dinner altogether.

Marks My Words: Breaking the silence

Are you an early arriver to class? Or do you rush in breathless, five minutes late? If you’re in the former category, you’ve probably experienced the pre-seminar silence.

Existential Fortune Cookies: State-funded paradise

The other day I was considering what Stanford could do to help incoming freshmen. My own academic transition to Stanford came much easier than it would have if I hadn’t gotten the education that I did get.

Modern Manners: Special Fees process needs reinventing

The reality is that Special Fees allows dozens of student groups to pursue large amounts of funding without much oversight, and the natural result is overfunding.

Seeing Green: Climbing every mountain

And yet, at the start of every hike, we find the trappings of humanity. Usually it’s a beer bottle or two tossed at the side of the road. (I once spotted the remains of an entire case tucked discretely into the shrubbery.) As we trek uphill, the casual merrymakers drop out, and we encounter only the occasional tramping hut, an overnight bunkhouse for hikers, firewood stacked neatly at its door.

Ravalations: (Not) crying out for help

But then, one day, right in the midst of your busy Stanford life, it hits you in the gut, and you suddenly come across a horrible feeling: you feel overwhelmed.