NOSTALGIA WEEK | Salvaging My Musical Safety Blanket

One of my lovely friends—I don’t know what I would do without him—recently introduced me to “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano,” a piece from Sampha’s debut album Process. The song’s title quite literally captures the essence of it, in which the British songwriter repeatedly croons, “No one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home.”

Like Sampha (“And you drop-topped the sky, oh you arrived when I was three years old”) and countless others, I began playing the piano at an early age—seven, to be exact. Even now, I can still see myself seated in front of the golden piano in the basement of my apartment, the keys neatly spread out in front of me, my fingers stumbling through each step of the C Major scale as my teacher’s hands hover above mine, the disparities in size and skill both apparent. By first grade, I had found a new teacher who would place a white eraser on the back of each hand as I struggled to read through a single line. With time and practice, my indifference began to shift into a tentative love.

Nostalgia Week | Little Time

Daydream for a moment and imagine that you’re standing in the wings of an auditorium, looking at the empty stage in front of you; the set pieces have been taken down, the lights give off a dim white glow, and it’s absolutely silent.  You slowly walk forward, and you can hear your footsteps lightly thud and echo. You stop at the very center of the stage and you stare at an audience of empty seats. Now, you walk up the center aisle and up the stairs until you reach the exit doors at the very back.  You turn around and take in every detail; the curved walls, the empty seats, and the silent stage.

NOSTALGIA WEEK | What’s Your Favorite Childhood Memory?

Olivia Faulhaber ’21: I will never forget the time that my family and I vacationed in Woodstock VT. We decided to take our bikes to Sugarbush Farms. However, the ride there was BRUTAL. I will never forget the moment that my sister saw the steep heel that we had to summit. She literally started crying. It was so funny to me for some reason.

SOUND OFF | The Olympics Gym Playlist

With the 2018 Winter Olympics well underway, many have found inspiration to hit the gym and keep their New Year’s resolution well and alive. Here’s a playlist inspired by the music of the Olympics, whether it’s a song endorsed by athletes themselves or played during competition. Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Migos: Post-interview, Chloe Kim was asked what music she was listening to between her runs, and she responded with “Toxic” and “Paparazzi” by Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. Afterwards, she included “Motorsport” by Migos ft. Nicki Minaj and Cardi B as one of her pump-up songs.

OF MARGINAL INTEREST | An Olympian Feat: the Economics of Hosting the Games

As we speak, college students worldwide pull out their shotskis and ice luge molds in celebration of the most riveting quadrennial exercise in patriotism, team spirit, and demolition of self-worth—the Winter Olympics. This year’s games are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a city of 40,000, of which only 35.6% were interested in the Winter Olympics, according to a survey taken last April by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. While the Games have proceeded swimmingly and the drone light show/technical precision/flagbearers (I’m looking at you, Tongan flag man) of the opening ceremony were spectacular, the potential $13 billion price tag for this year’s Olympics has raised some questions, particularly as Rio, host of the 2016 Summer Olympics, still faces $40 million in debt. Between Rio and Montreal, which took 30 years to pay off debt from its 1976 Olympic Games, a valid question can be raised: why do countries even want to host the Olympics? And when they do, how does it work out for them economically?

ON MY MIND | In PyeongChang, a Vision of Korean Peace

I haven’t seen Black Panther yet, but I know enough of the story’s basic premise — what might an African nation, untouched by centuries of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, look like in the 20th/21st century? — to use it as a generative point of speculation within my own interests in the history of the Korean War and its aftermath. Thinking, then, along the lines of the Wakanda’s Afrofuturism, I’m prompted to ask a similar question as I watch the international spectacle and geopolitical maneuvering of the 2018 Winter Olympics unfold in Pyeongchang: what might the Korean peninsula look like today if it had never been invaded and brutalized by the United States? But wait, you might be asking, when did the United States ever invade Korea? Didn’t the U.S. military defend the South against the evil Communist regime of the North?

SUNSPOTS | What Are You Most Excited About for the Olympics?

Jacqueline Quach ’19: The flashy figure skating outfits! Where else can one appreciate such brightly colored, such meticulously designed and bedazzled fashions? Eunnuri Yi ’20: I’m most excited for all of the nationalism-tinged drama that will inevitably ensue in skating!  I’m not excited about the (also inevitably?) inaccurate and distorted news coverage on Korea, which has already started! 😡 A real quick and should-be obvious fact check: The Olympics are happening in PyeongChang, South Korea — NOT Pyongyang, which is in North Korea. Griffin Smith-Nichols ’19: I am excited to see Iceland’s 5 athletes sweep the board with the rest of the world’s 2,947. Áfram Ísland!