Junior Year Semester One Reflections: Debussy, and a Memo for My Future Self

The gentle softness. A dialogue where the two of them find phrases slipping naturally out of their inner souls, flowing, overlapping with each other at times and pausing for a restful break at others… That sheer sense of indescribable serendipity and relaxation that render you speechless: a quiet observer to this brave new world where you anticipate the unknown rises and falls....
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Jobs on Campus

As a college senior, I have been thinking a lot about jobs. Real jobs. Work. Employment. A career. However you put it, it's anxiety-inducing and terrifying and something I get asked about way more often than I'd like. Post-graduation job plans are a topic I want to avoid talking about 99% of the time. Including now. So instead of talking about so-called real, nine-to-five, I'm-...
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Us

SETTING: Our Beloved World CHARACTERS: All the people in it SCENE: Pomona College, Claremont, CA Thursday, 3:30 pm. I walked out of my International Relations class, trying to put aside the heaviness sparked by the discussion on the Rwanda genocide and other ethnic conflicts. The first floor of Carnegie Hall — that classy building resembling the White House to some deg...
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Talking about Race at the Claremont Colleges

This past week has been an emotionally exhausting one for the Claremont Colleges community. While Black students and other students of color have been campaigning for institutional support for many months, this week saw culturally appropriative Halloween costumes and an email from a Claremont McKenna College (CMC) dean implying that certain students did not "fit the CMC mold", ...
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A First Year’s Time Capsule

I have officially finished the first half of the semester. My impressions of Pomona are fresh, and I would be lying if I said I felt completely at ease here. Being an international student, living in America is something I’m still not used to. Being at college, my new independence can feel overwhelming at times, and I am not yet sure how I will be able to call Pomona my new ...
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Anonymity Abroad: Discovering a Sense of Place

Garden
Hey everyone! Happy autumn! Definitely my favorite season, autumn in Paris features strange weather, scarves, and sighs of relief as hordes of tourists return home. For me, this time of year always includes time for reflection. Maybe it’s the coming of winter or the start of a new school year, but I always find myself thinking about how my year has gone, what I want for the upc...
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Pomona: School is Cool!

Kindergarten version of me...
I like the expression “Too cool for school”, but school can also be "cool." At least that’s what the kindergarten version of myself thought: school doesn't just mean classes, but also an interesting amalgam of academics, extracurriculars, fun events, etc. As I grew up, the elements that formed my perception of “school” have increasingly complemented each other well (for example...
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The Weekly Writing Workshop

I spend my Monday afternoons in Carnegie 107, a classroom which normally feels cavernous and academic. The seats are neatly arranged in rows, stretching eight or nine rows back. There is a podium in the front of the classroom, from which a professor would deliver a lecture about U.S. foreign policy or econometrics. But at 4:30 PM each Monday, fourth and fifth grade students ...
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Yes – I Saved That Couch’s Life!

As the semester came to an end, I decided to join the couch-(and other treasures)-saving crew, otherwise known as Clean Sweep. Clean Sweep is an initiative through Pomona College’s Sustainability Integration Office to reuse, reduce, and recycle students' waste and divert it from the landfill. Not only that, but we help the housekeeping staff by making sure that when they have t...
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#MigrationIsBeautiful

Just a couple of Saturdays ago, Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success (IDEAS) at the Claremont Colleges hosted "The Dream Run" -- a 5K on campus to raise funds for undocumented students attending Pomona High School. We ended up being successful, raising more than $2,500, which will hopefully provide other students the ability to attend college with minimal costs. ...
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