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Columns


Life

Stuck with me

I can still remember the day my little brother was born—January 1st, 1994. There was a picture taken of me talking to my mother as she lays in the hospital bed, wearing my bright blue “I’m a sister!” sweatshirt and remaining blissfully unaware of the small, sleeping baby in the background.


Life

Tales from below

Fourth grade was my golden year. I know telling you this is to publicly declare I am totally lame, but I have to say — those were the days. I mean, my middle part / gaucho pant combo was super trendy, and I had my multiplication tables memorized like nobody’s business. One could even say I was killing it.


Life

Bennett is my middle name

January has been a good month for Virginia Basketball fans. While some might fixate on obvious achievements—Mike Scott’s blossoming NBA career, blow-outs against seven of our first eight ACC opponents and the label of best team in the country according to ESPN’s BPI ranking—there have also been some subtler developments. The first of these is finally overcoming the Canes Challenge.


Life

Grounds for dating

“Name, year, major, hometown … oh, and what’s the most datable building on Grounds?” It’s my icebreaker of choice.


Life

Crushed

All in all, I led a very blessed childhood. This can probably be attributed to my family, which is functional to the point of strangeness.


Life

The trouble with chit-chat

I often ponder the big questions of life—things like whether the universe is infinite, if time travel is possible and why dentists and hair stylists feel the need to talk to you during every second of your appointment.


Life

On being a University woman

“Hey, bitch, give me your number,” one yelled. “I lost my number. I think I need yours,” another called. I wanted to turn around and give them all the middle finger, to tell them why their actions were wrong, why their words hurt not just me, but themselves too.


Life

The rush of Rush

It’s that time of the year. Well, it just was. I, along with 1,000 of my compatriots, sacrificed three days of shower pressure and milk that does not come out of bags to move back in early and participate in what is certainly one of the weirdest experiences of my life.


Life

Against bucket lists

I am not traditionally one to call myself superstitious, but my reflections have been making me suspicious as I consider that 2013 was perhaps the crappiest — for lack of a more appropriate term — year of my life to date.


Life

Cut it out

To borrow a phrase from my second favorite critically-acclaimed musical talent, A-Teens, my life is currently “upside down, bouncing off the ceilings.” If you are cut from a more high-modernist cloth, the words of T.S. Eliot surmise my sentiments quite nicely: “things fall apart.”


Life

Debunking the hero myth

It’s always funny how the smallest things can make lasting lifelong impressions on you — a certain song, a commercial on TV, or just a phrase from a book.


Life

Making time to live

In many ways I am a typical University student. I have always overscheduled myself, and just when I think I am at my limit, I add something else to my plate and manage to make it work. Last semester, though, I believe I finally hit the ceiling for the amount of things I was able to do.


Life

Making the man-cave

A beacon of renewal and rededication for many, New Years will always hold a special place in my heart as my least favorite pseudo-holiday.


Life

Confessions of a digital packrat

Rest in peace, small forest. If only I could reverse the papermaking process. I could probably restore anywhere from 30 to 75 trees from the printed mementos in my childhood room alone.

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