“So, what exactly is The Grind?”

Over my past two years at The Daily, as a columnist, desk editor and now managing editor, people have posed this question to me more times than I can count. Some phrase it charitably, like my friend back home who casually asked, “Remind me which section you edit for again?” Others are more direct: “So, is it just like a Substack blog?”

I can’t blame them. I had those same questions when I first visited The Daily’s Open House my freshman year, which the then-managing editors Gheed and Kristine graciously responded to. I was referred to a few New Yorker articles as examples of what I could write. Instantly, I was hooked.

To be honest, even by the time I committed myself to writing for The Grind regularly, I would be hard-pressed to explain to anyone exactly what the section entailed. Now that it’s part of my job, I find myself switching up my answer each time. We publish creative nonfiction. Student perspectives. Personal narratives. Musings on life — but not like Arts & Life. Not that we don’t publish articles on art, because we do. Honestly, it’s hard to draw clear boundaries. Sometimes our articles are also funny, or opinionated or journalistic in style. Also, there’s poetry. Did I mention the poetry?

I blame the name. The term “the grind” is suggestive of many things, none particularly related to the responsibilities of a college newspaper. As much as I have asked around, I have yet to find the specific origins of the section’s title.

At the same time, it is clear that “The Grind” moniker was far from an arbitrary choice. The idea of being “on the grind” perfectly embodies popular impressions of Stanford culture. We are a student body composed of entrepreneurs and forward thinkers, as public perception has it, and this point of pride only endures thanks to hard work and sleepless nights. We are productive, perhaps at a detriment to our life balance. We are overcommitted and proud of it. In other words, we are constantly “on the grind.”

Obviously, hard work is a sign of persistence and grit, and thus something to be admired. Yet, just as the act of “grinding” involves wearing something down, the idea of constantly being “on the grind” can also connote overwork and burnout. After all, grinding is harsh. It dulls its subject down, reducing it to bits. The phrase “the daily grind” conjures an image of monotonous office work that is as constant as it is inescapable.

For many students, being “on the grind” is a quintessential part of the Stanford experience, both in positive and negative terms. Now that I’ve started junior year, I can relate to that sentiment more than ever. Thanks to the onslaught of classes, clubs and jobs, my friends and I are forced to play jigsaw with our calendars, leaving no room for casual meetups. Grind culture has significant effects on the student perspectives we feature in The Grind, whether it is being written about or not. In that respect, perhaps the section’s name is more appropriate than I give it credit for.

However, it takes only a second of browsing through The Grind’s published articles to discover that they rarely spotlight the feeling of cramming p-sets in Huang Basement, cranking out cover letters or any of the other experiences one might consider as emblematic of being “on the grind.” Instead, many of our writers deliberately look beyond campus hustle culture in order to examine what truly makes being at Stanford worth it. We have articles about the merits of taking it slow and going on walks. We have articles speaking against perfectionism and in favor of uncertainty. What we are grinding away at is not our work, but the idea that college is necessarily all about work.

As a section, The Grind does not have essential coverage or specific themes that we require writers touch upon. We welcome any potential contributors to think deeply about any aspect of their lives and large society they want to explore, whether Stanford related or not. Yet, over and over again, we see people writing about how they’ve found fulfillment through holistic engagement with the world, in direct contrast to what they’ve been told about making the most at Stanford. Stanford culture is not grind culture, our writers insist, pulling in personal anecdotes as proof. All aspects of student life are worth writing about, not just the parts that look good on a resume.

In the end, my best explanation for what The Grind is about is that we highlight Stanford perspectives and experiences, whether they are centered around grind culture, well-being or anything in between. If that sounds like it encompasses just about anything, that’s because it can. There is, after all, no correct way of being a Stanford student. In that respect, “The Grind” can be a bit of a misnomer as a section name, though I love it all the same. The daily grind is only a fraction of the story. The other side can be found within our pages.