Dear readers,

This past summer, I attempted to learn how to skate and immerse myself in the surprisingly exclusive New York City skating community. Since Alexis Sablone, a 2008 Barnard graduate and one of the best professional female skateboarders in the United States, developed her professional-level skating while at Columbia, I assumed that I could at least learn some basic skating skills and perhaps find a skate community to be a part of on campus...

Although students often spend Sunday nights alone, working on next week’s homework to make up for a weekend spent with friends, Matthew Wang, Columbia College junior and president of the Columbia eSports team, spends the night on Discord with more than 200 other members. At first glance, the server may seem quiet—nobody is constantly chatting or playing music when in fact, everyone is immersed in gaming as shown in their profiles: League of Legends and Overwatch scrimmages, or their nightly game of Minecraft or Hearthstone...

Over the past week or so, with a stomach full of warm dread and a numb mind, I’ve looked several times at a photo on my phone from the night of November 8, 2016: Three friends and I pose, smiling (it was early in the night) somewhere in the middle of a Westin in downtown Denver, the site of several Democratic watch parties...

Sports fans ache to see this kind of finish. Down by one and with two seconds remaining, Anthony Davis pulled up for a three-pointer. It could not have been more perfect: The ball sailed cleanly through the net as the backboard buzzed red to signal the end of the game. Even from thousands of miles away, I could imagine the crisp snapping of the white cords as the ball passed through. My dad rose from his chair; I screamed. And it was only Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals...

Dear readers,

Imagine yourself adding flour, sugar, salt, milk, water, and eggs to melted butter. You mix the batter before adding the vanilla last. Today, you are making crêpes. As the butter swirls around in the pan, you ladle the batter in, twisting it to create the delicate pancake soon to be enveloping strawberries, Nutella, or ham and eggs. Voilà!..

Three days before boarding a flight from Edinburgh to Los Angeles, I joined 30 strangers on a bus carrying snow equipment. We sat on pleather orange seats inside of what can only be described as a blue metal tin that carried us toward the snowy mountains. My friends and I readied ourselves for a day of skiing and snowboarding in the Scottish Highlands...