Parents

The parents of Minghui Yu—the 24-year-old graduate student whose death shocked Columbia’s campus and garnered widespread media attention just over a week ago—arrived in New York Thursday evening and met with University President Lee Bollinger Friday.

Up until now, I had always assumed that I was cooler than my parents. It was simply impossible for my middle-aged guardians to be hipper than I was. After all, it was I who read Kurt Vonnegut and watched Edward Scissorhands and Dead Poets Society over and over again.