what-to-bring

Dearest Online Learning,

“We all are roses. I think we’re all these beautiful plants waiting to emerge from the soil,” Mamadou Yattassaye, CC ’21, said when asked about the rose imagery in his debut album, “To Stitch a Rose.”

Until quite recently, I had never really been anywhere. New York is a cluttered place where everything I could ever need is in the palm of my hand.

Columbia Int Fic has found a solution to the isolation of social distancing—specifically, through an art form called interactive fiction. Ideal for an online format, interactive fiction allows readers to engage with stories by making decisions for the protagonist, similar to “choose your own adventure” books.

In the span of only a few weeks, many of us were asked to evacuate our campus, as classes moved online and annual events—including Commencement—were canceled for the first time in centuries. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, students, alumni, faculty, community members, and more have engaged in spirited debate over how universities have responded to a public health threat that will impact global communities for years to come. The opinion section is still committed to our mission of providing a fair and equal representation of campus discourse. It is even more important now than ever to hear from you—as our words can bring us closer together while we are in isolation.

A doctor receives a call in his car. He picks up his phone and hears a shy, young voice inquiring about the age at which you can get gender reassignment surgery. The doctor replies that in New York City, you have to be 18 years old. The young voice belongs to a 14-year-old.

At its center, “Pippin” is about a prince recently graduated from university, played by Mark Pierce, CC ’20, experiencing severe existential doubts—a topic almost painfully relatable for Columbia students. However, when asking the Columbia Musical Theatre Society’s cast and production team, the play’s meaning manifests as so much more.

Sarah lives in a quaint apartment in New York City. Her walls are covered with magazine cut-outs, her desk stacked with books.