Dear Readers,

I used to be obsessed with the idea of starting over. I spent a majority of my school years in the same Maryland public education system, and I romanticized moving away as an attempt to remedy the feelings of loneliness that permeated my youth. By my junior year of high school, I was determined to graduate early and start over somewhere else—this time on my terms...

When Maria Ordoñez, a rising Columbia College senior, talks about her favorite small businesses in West Harlem and Morningside Heights, her joy is palpable. The Hungarian Pastry Shop makes her smile so much that she mentions it twice. When she tells me about Mofongo del Valle, a Dominican restaurant in West Harlem, she beams about the owners’ kindness—something she has experienced firsthand as she attended school with their daughter—and she describes just how much she loves the smell of 5 Estrellas Bakery in Washington Heights, exclaiming “Oh my gosh, I love it.”..

Content warning: This article contains mention of a homophobic slur.

Content Warning: This episode of The Ear discusses sexual violence and rape.

At 9:30 p.m. in Seoul, South Korea, the sun has long set, and Erin Chung’s parents prepare for bed. But for the Columbia College first-year, who woke up only a few hours ago, the day is just beginning...

My suitcase has seen better days. Its wheels are stiff and coarse; the handle pulls out only with considerable effort. There’s a large dent on its bottom, from the time when a Transportation Security Administration officer tossed it ungraciously off an airport conveyor belt. Stickers in varying states of disrepair adorn it: there’s a cat I found at a Bangkok night market; a torn orange doodle I bought from a thrift store in Rome; and a logo sticker from my old school that reads, a little too patriotically for my taste, “GO CHOATE!”..

Michael Rebell was growing frustrated. It was October, over 10 months after the trial had ended, and Judge William Smith still had not released a decision on the case. In the 50 years that Rebell had worked in education reform, he had never known a judge to take this long. His career had taught him that change often required patience, but that did not stop him from hoping that Smith’s decision would arrive sooner. The case he had presented, after all, was urgent: He believed democracy was on the line...

Dear Reader,