Features

Off in a small Pakistani village, a woman and two children form a tiny circle on the floor. The woman gently stitches her needle in and out of a piece of fabric – the base of a gorgeous pink and white flower is starting to form. The two children gaze at their elder in awe. Hope and excitement glimmer in their eyes – they know that in time, they will be able to help make these beautiful greeting cards as well.

Double majoring isn’t easy. Now, that may sound pretty obvious to most students. Or you might completely disagree. If you’re the type of overzealous academic who would dare a double major (or an extremely brave triple), the intellectual and scheduling strain of juggling two majors is probably perfect for your productivity. I thrive with a heavy course load and tightly structured days. My problem is more of a social and environmental problem.

It was a sweltering summer day in a village outside of Nairobi, Africa. Jenna Tourje, a second-year graduate student in urban and regional planning, approached a man who lived in a mud hut in the middle of the African savannah. Armed with a translator at her side, Tourje sat down, among the gathering of goats and chickens, to speak with the man about his water needs in order to understand what kind of project her group, Engineers Without Borders (EWB), could accomplish at that site. As the conversation came to an end, Tourje heard the ring of a cell phone. To her surprise, the man, who had almost nothing to support his three wives and starving children, took out a cell phone. At the moment, Tourje realized how incredibly connected the world had become.

Most people don’t remember the dreams they had as a child. For me, however, the vivid images of my childhood nightmares will be forever ingrained in my memory because they always involve the same scenario: an earthquake.

An old man in his sixties chants a mantra in a metaphysical center in Anaheim, California. The smell of rose incense and sage permeates across a room with high ceilings and old carpeting.

A trip to the supermarket is reassuring when you find that you’re following your budget. Yet, while manufacturers aren’t raising prices on your favorite products, they are coming up with clever ways to offset rising costs by downsizing products, which means charging the same price for a lighter package.

The night view of Hong Kong from my airplane window showed pitch-black darkness enlivened with gold-illuminated dots everywhere. To me, it looked like a kid’s Lite-Brite creation, with the glowing pegs scattered all around without much thought or purpose. The aerial scene of Hong Kong both excited and scared me. I felt like a child, entranced by the beautiful display of lights and wide-eyed at the thought of being an exchange student in Asia. Though I was excited, there was still that mysterious and empty darkness.

“Good luck, Mallory!” a girl says to me. She has to be joking, walking around to each person and telling him or her “good luck” with a smile on her face. I’m mildly horrified because it’s the opening night for my drama team’s annual Christmas musical and we’re backstage, preparing to begin. Doesn’t she know that it’s bad luck to say good luck in the theatre?

Whether it be a simple T-shirt, skin-tight jeans, a dressy blouse or grey sweatpants, each piece of clothing has a style to communicate. Everything comes with a tone or color that may connect you to the serenity of nature, compliment the color of your eyes or force you to stick out in a sea of people.

This summer I visited family in Seattle. And yes, we took the Twilight tour. But what I discovered on that tour was something much different than the somewhat magical, absolutely cheesy and kind of action-packed world of vampires and werewolves. I discovered the actual lives of the people living there and what I observed is far beyond what the books describe.

It was a sweltering summer day in a village outside of Nairobi, Africa. Jenna Tourje, a second-year graduate student in urban and regional...

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