2018-19
Winners from the 2018-19 academic year
Winners from the 2018-19 academic year
“My parents are going to be so mad at me,” stated my dear friend Trista. The antithesis of a troublemaker, Trista had earned countless awards recognizing her honesty and faithfulness throughout grade school. She sat on the other side of the lunch table from me holding her test. When I…
American author, poet, and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson emerged as a distinguished member of the literary movement known as Transcendentalism in the mid-19th Century. The writings of Emerson enchanted readers with refreshing reflections on the individual, natural facts, and intellectual self-reliance. Emerson’s 1837 speech, “The American Scholar,” was delivered at…
On December 13, 1937, the Japanese captured China’s capital Nanking, thus marking the inception of mass murder and rape that continues to haunt Sino-Japanese relations today.1 Nanking stood as China’s capital from the third to the sixth century but fell just five months into the war under the leadership of…
A herd of toddlers crowd the ballet studio. Most of these miscreants spin in circles or invent entirely new dance moves. One child, however, marches around in tiny toddler steps to correct her less devoted classmates. She even treks to the teacher’s side (if not in front of the teacher)…
Setting: Johnny Rockets restaurant, approx. 7:50 pm. The ladies are in the restroom discussing their plan of action while the boys do the same at their designated booth. Candace: Okay look, I know the two of you haven’t really hit it off yet but— Amelia: But nothing Candi!…
Dear David Livingston Smith, I must first of all commend you on your willingness to broach this controversial topic. In 1975, my book Sociobiology garnered much criticism from my colleagues, not because of its theories but because of the application of those theories to humans. I stated that our actions…
There is no doubt that current societal standards for female beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness–and thinness at a level that is impossible for most women to achieve by healthy means. In their pervasiveness, the mass media are powerful conveyors of this sociocultural ideal. – Marika Tiggemann The tension…
As we face an age of severe environmental destruction, it is now more urgent than ever to understand ourselves in order to save our reality. As renowned scientist E.O. Wilson has said: Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the…
Living during the same time under relatively similar conditions, how different could two philosophers be? Soren Kierkegaard wrote his book Fear and Trembling after he broke up with his fiancé, Regine, and was able to explore the implications of faith. Karl Marx wrote on communism after being faced with corrupt…
Is it possible for an individual to single-handedly change the fortunes of an oppressed group of people? Moreover, is it believable that this individual is simply a “mother” trying to educate her “children?” This was the essence of a case that occurred at the Boston University Metropolitan College: “I didn’t…
In The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle discusses what makes a good professional. For Aristotle the difference between the ordinary and the exceptional is his balance between reason and soul: “the function of man is an activity of the soul in accordance with or implying, a rational principle” (109a8-9). Aristotle specifically distinguished…
As a Chilean immigrant to the United States, I wish borders between countries would not exist, yet I understand their significance. Today, borders between countries work as a system for humans to coexist in safety. The importance of a sovereign territory under certain political and economic systems allows humans to…
Russification or Russizination is defined as a form of cultural assimilation in which “non-Russian” communities forfeit their cultural identity to conform to Russian norms and traditions. Throughout history, Russian politicians and social figures have sought to further “russify” Russia as a form of extreme patriotism. For instance, the slogan and…