On June 18, Facebook formally announced plans to build Libra, a cryptocurrency available to Facebook users around the world, in partnership with high-profile companies like Visa, Stripe, PayPal, Uber, and Lyft.
Stanford is, above all, a place to celebrate the life of the mind. We come here to acquire knowledge and to sharpen our ability to put that knowledge to intelligent and creative use. The goal is that we will leave Stanford knowing how to think and what to think about in our adult lives. However,…
In the last few weeks, I’ve offered relationship advice to three of my friends (it has been a dramatic quarter, apparently), and each of those friends praised my ability to give insightful, thought-provoking relationship advice. It made me wonder exactly why I feel so fluent in the language of romantic love compared to other subjects…
I am currently studying abroad in Oxford, where every morning I take a walk around the meadows behind the Stanford House. Almost every morning, sitting on a bench next to the river, sits a homeless man smoking a cigarette, grocery bags on either side of him. The meadow trail is sparsely populated at this time…
In the two years since I started college, I’ve often been asked by friends and family if I think Stanford was the “right” choice of school for me. I’ve never had a good answer to that question. I do love Stanford, but until this quarter, I’d never had any other school to really compare it…
As a toddler, I refused to be treated like a child. I wouldn’t drink out of a cup with a lid; I thought sippy cups were patronizing. I retaliated with cold-shouldering and other methods when my mother tried to put me in time-out. Even though I was a small for my age and a girl,…
I’ve never been one to take strong stances on political issues. If there are arguments to be made on either side of a contentious topic, I’m usually able to empathize enough with both viewpoints so as to temper my own leanings. I’m wary of absorbing my parents’ or peers’ values wholesale, and I’m much better…
I had long ago declared economics as my major as I began my spring quarter of my sophomore year at Stanford. At the time, I was seriously considering pursuing a PhD in economics right out of undergrad, and I was advised by many economics faculty members that I should take a computer science class in…
Last summer, I worked at a nonprofit organization in the Bay Area through a Haas Center grant. The grant was called the Spirituality, Service and Social Change fellowship awarded jointly with the Office for Religious Life. The fellowship itself was not explicitly religious, but sought to deepen our service experiences through spiritual reflection in once-a-week…
This spring break, I traveled to rural Illinois on an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trip meant to explore the rural-urban divide. Much could be said about the content of the trip and everything I learned about rural issues. For the purpose of this reflection, however, I want to focus instead on the people I traveled…
Consider the following proposition: You have $10,000 to donate to a charity of your choice, and two charities to choose from. One gives merit scholarships to children in sub-Saharan Africa and one offers them deworming treatment. Your goal is to improve educational outcomes in the region. Which do you choose? It turns out that offering…
I often hear, particularly at Stanford, from people who have built a life philosophy around “living for experiences.” The philosophy goes something like this: Life is finite and transient and ultimately lacks a defined meaning. As young people with so much of the world to explore, our goal ought to be gaining as many unique,…
As a child and adolescent, I was severely underexposed to the idea of community. Thanks to my dad’s shifting job opportunities, I lived in 11 different houses in five different regions of the country by my 18th birthday. East Coast, West Coast, Rocky Mountains — I’ve been all over, never for more than five years…
I am an economics major, which means I’m quite familiar with the idea of core requirements. In the Econ department, you are required to take six classes towards the beginning of your academic career — ECON 1, 50, 51, 52, 102A and 102B — before you can take many of the electives and upper-division classes…
I am that girl who sits in the first row of class. Unapologetically. Whether it’s an introsem or a 250-person lecture, whether I’m alone or in good company, I will be seated in the front of the room, as close to the center as possible. I’m well aware of the social stigma against sitting in…
I’ve written about gratitude for this newspaper, and I stand by my claim that gratitude can radically alter your perspective on failure, setbacks and accomplishments. However, I also recognize that having a gracious mindset is not always feasible, especially in times of stress, frustration and regret. Sometimes, the rose-tinted glasses are off, and it’s hard…
This summer, I interned at a homelessness organization located in the Bay Area. I worked in the administrative offices in the education department, which create and coordinate both child and adult programming for the various shelter sites. The curricula focus on financial literacy, employment search, technology skills and personal improvements for adults, as well as…
After working for nine weeks in Menlo Park, I returned home to San Diego for the last month of summer. My internship had been slow and a bit lonely, and I was ecstatic to be returning to a month with my family. It would be my first extended trip home since I began college last…
Here you are, finally. Stanford University. For six months or more, you’ve been counting down the days until NSO, reading everything you can find online to prepare. Your family, your friends, your entire society has been hyping up this moment: according to the cultural script, you are now embarking on the greatest four years of…
Summer is fast approaching. Back in high school, that meant three uninterrupted months of hanging out with your friends. Maybe you worked a day job or went on vacation for a few weeks, but summer was probably your greatest opportunity for unstructured time with friends. In college, however, the summertime dynamic changes for many of…
Among the many dichotomies in human behavior, I believe one of the most telling is a person’s willingness — or lack thereof — to greet an acquaintance. There are those that will shout “Hey, Avery!” across a crowded courtyard to get my attention, even though we haven’t spoken since mid-winter quarter. There are others, such…
If you’ve been keeping up with spiritual trends or the recent positive psychology literature, you’ve probably noticed an uptick in the usage of the word gratitude. Religious leaders and psychologists alike recommend keeping a daily journal of things we are grateful for and appreciate, from the feel of the spring sun on your skin to…
Entering college this fall, I knew that my value system and perspectives would change during my time at Stanford. Everyone grows and changes during their four years of exposure to new ideas and people from across the world. Still, there were attitudes so deeply ingrained in me, so central to my identity that I could not…