Taking away dislikes is not enough to stop social media harassment
In concept, removing “dislikes” from social media platforms seems like a good idea and a practical way to reduce harassment and negativity, but it might not be in practice. In reality, this is more superficial than it seems because rampant harassment persists. While there may be no public like-to-dislike metric anymore — having since been removed on platforms like Facebook and YouTube — this change is not enough. Many times, it seems that the most that any platform does is advise members to be respectful of community guidelines, with a possibility of flagging spam comments. Due to the popularity of sharing material, moderation of sensitive material or anything that violates community guidelines is often difficult.
What a broken bridge has taught us about anti-Blackness
Dining hall of horrors: We need to be more respectful of our dining staff
It’s a scenario that is all too common: You finish your meal in the Dining Commons and pick up your plates and cups. As soon as you enter the dish drop-off area, you are overcome with the thick and suffocating smell of who-knows-what. With a low droning sound, the conveyor belt rattles against tipped-over cups. The sides of the belt are splattered with sauce, milk, yogurt, coffee and sticky fluids; crumpled tea bags, pieces of food, stray forks and soggy napkins litter the space. Accidents happen, but this is a disaster on its own level.
What “The Zone of Interest” can teach us about fascism
Mount Holyoke College: the land of laptops left behind
American voters are unhappy with their Presidential candidates, so who will they choose to elect in 2024?
Bookworms, keep calm: Dystopian YA has returned
Maybe you spent countless hours scouring YouTube for the most recent compilation video of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, either in press interviews or sorrowful “Hunger Games” edits set against the song “Just A Game” by Birdy. Or, if you felt a need to categorize yourself with a fictional group as the basis of your prepubescent personality, perhaps you took the same “Divergent” faction quiz multiple times until “Dauntless” shined through your laptop screen, hidden under the covers on a school night.
“Before and after” weight loss content is problematic
Saying that TikTok promotes an unhealthy standard for young women and their body image is about as uncontroversial a take as you can get. Between videos touting buccal fat removal surgery and recommending Botox™ injections for teenagers, the platform is rife with content that could leave even the most conventionally attractive person in shambles after just a cursory scroll of their For You page. However, a special kind of damage is dealt by a prolific genre of “glow-up” videos: ones that show people, nearly always women, in a “before” and “after” side-by-side of their weight loss journeys.
The Hollywood labor strikes are over, but what has changed?
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike recently came to an end after 118 days, with actors celebrating the prospect of returning to work. The union came to a historic deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the largest increase in minimum wage in 40 years, according to The Washington Post. However, because the deal is so new, it remains to be seen if it will be honored and if actual change will occur in the industry.
The College must fix its parking problem
What is the best way to retain information in an academic setting?
The deadly consequences of Islamophobia: Remembering Wadea Al-Fayoume
On Oct. 11, Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy, was stabbed to death by Joseph Czuba, his family’s landlord, in a horrific tragedy. His mother was also attacked but survived. Their attacker was reportedly obsessed with coverage of Hamas’ attack on Israel and had begun to associate the actions of Hamas with every Palestinian.
Why we need to read archaic literature: the value of studying original texts
Opening a play — or any literary work — that was written hundreds of years ago can be a tremendously daunting task. The English language is incredibly dynamic and has evolved so much over the centuries that old texts might seem indecipherable through a modern lens. However, by reading these texts in their original forms, we can better appreciate the artistry of their creators and gain insight into the past.
What is an athlete but a tool of the state?: The Russian ban must stay
Amplifying trans histories is essential and liberating
How the WGA resolution will weather the streaming economy
In a critical new development, the Writer’s Guild Association reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, putting an end to the 148-day strike. While this is good news, the fight is far from over. The Screen Actors Guild’s labor union is still on strike, and writers have yet to see whether or not AMPTP will honor this new agreement.
What the Vassar lawsuit reveals about wage discrimination in academia
Five current and former female professors at Vassar College, another member of the Seven Sisters, have filed a wage discrimination complaint against the college. The class action complaint, which was filed on Aug. 30, 2023 alleges that Vassar has been paying them less than their male counterparts for decades.
Mount Holyoke needs to do better by its students of color
Mount Holyoke is a predominantly white institution, and it is undeniable that white people make up a majority of the student population, as well as the administration. While one could argue that none of this treatment was intentional or race-related, intention does not matter as much as the impact on students of color.
