Life

INOCCIDUOUS THOUGHTS | I Taught Doctors About Health

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This past weekend was quite the ride. I visited SUNY Upstate Medical University for a PATCH (a pre-health organization I’m part of) field trip, taught for a program called Splash!, and ran the Syracuse Half-Marathon. And, of course, I spent that weekend avoiding eye contact with an upcoming organic chemistry prelim glaring at me from a few feet away. It was a test of endurance, physical and mental, which has admittedly left me exhausted, but I’m quite proud of myself for accomplishing so much during such a fast-paced weekend. Of all these small endeavors, there’s one in particular that made a big impact on my confidence and feelings of competence: teaching.

Caption Contest

CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST | Week of November 26

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Meet us halfway and submit a caption for this week’s cartoon! The Sun staff will vote and the winning caption — along with the winner’s name — will appear in the Monday, December 3 edition of the paper. The deadline for submission is 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 2. Drawn by Alicia Wang ’21

Congratulations to the winner of Cartoon Caption Contest #18! “Sure, I’ve put on a few sides.

Life

Interlude | Finding Wisdom in Cosmic Cows

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One must still have cows within oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. -Friedrich Nietzsche
Okay, so maybe that isn’t exactly how the quote goes. Maybe I’m grossly misrepresenting the intentions of good ol’ Friedster. Maybe I’m committing some kind of appalling literary vandalism that’ll get me blacklisted by any PhD program I might one day deign to apply to. Maybe I’m just illiterate, who’s to tell, really?

Caption Contest

CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST | Week of November 12

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Meet us halfway and submit a caption for this week’s cartoon! The Sun staff will vote and the winning caption — along with the winner’s name — will appear in the Monday, November 19 edition of the paper. The deadline for submission is 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 18. Drawn by Alicia Wang ’21

Congratulations to the winner of Cartoon Caption Contest #17! “We’ll never get that sunken treasure if you keep coming up for air.”

Life

SKATCH | Happy Now?

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About a week ago, I watched this video:

And my goodness, did it make me think of Cornell. Anna Akana is a Youtuber, life guru, and mental health advocate who creates videos about relatable and relevant topics, as well as longer narrative films. In this particular video, she discusses how impossible it feels to be happy when it seems as if your whole world is on fire — a sentiment that many Cornellians share on a weekly basis. Here at Cornell, sometimes it feels as though there is only one viewpoint: negative. “Look at our government; what kind of world do we live in? Look at everyone getting internships and having their lives together; do I even belong?

Life

EAT SLEEP REPEAT | “It’s Called Self Care” — Why the Mantra Is Ruining My Life

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In the past week I have napped an average of two hours per day, impulsively bought three sweaters that I cannot afford, practically inhaled Twizzlers and an entire sleeve of Oreos, and watched five of the raunchiest past episodes of The Bachelor, all while telling myself, “It’s called self care.”

Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and looking back I think my actions were probably the complete opposite of self care. In the moment, however, I was so encapsulated in my stress from prelim season that I allowed myself to do practically anything just because I have this extremely vague mantra to “affirm” my desires. And it doesn’t seem like I am alone in my quest for an excuse to treat myself. It seems as though social media’s mainstream idea of self care just feeds into a cycle of bad habits, and undermines the necessity of actually taking care of ourselves and our bodies, straying away from what the term was actually meant to accomplish. The term “self-care” originated as a medical concept, as a way for doctors to tell patients to treat themselves and lead healthy lifestyles.

Life

Ruminations | Eating Is An Election

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‘Tis the season of campaign ads, mudslinging, robocalls, selfies of people with their “I Voted” stickers, and all of those other wonderful things that go along with election season. Let us all be grateful now that the ballots have been cast, and it’s over: our social media feeds can live in peace, for a moment. Surely, we have all been harassed to send in our absentee ballots, find our voting locations, and exercise the right that we have been given. I know some of my friends are sick and tired of hearing my not-so-subtle reminders that elections are important. Hopefully, before you vote in any election, you take the time to research the candidates, their background, and their qualifications.

Life

INOCCIDUOUS THOUGHTS | I Feel Bad…

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There’s a time and a place for guilt. Most times it’s within reason—after doing something immoral, unethical, or unkind, it’s a necessary part of self-regulation that, without intention, keeps our emotions in check and subsequently provides a feedback mechanism for changing or continuing a behavior. Psychology Today assembled a short list of five types of guilt and how to cope with them. Interestingly, they preface with Freud’s psychodynamic theory of guilt and anxiety due to the repression of unconscious desires. With Freud in mind, the five types of guilt were listed as being: guilt for something you did, such as hurting someone physically or emotionally; guilt for something you didn’t do, but want to, such as having the desire to cheat on your partner; guilt for something you think you did, but didn’t, such as causing someone else’s misfortune by wishing it; guilt that you didn’t do enough to help others, including “compassion fatigue” which puts your own mental vitality at risk; and lastly, guilt that you’re doing better than someone else. These feelings of guilt are fairly common, but they’re rudimentary.

Campus

OH, FISH | The ABC’s of Drinking Culture

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Alcohol Use Disorder
The label “alcoholic” is no longer appropriate to refer to someone with alcoholism. My uncle is not an alcoholic; he has an alcohol use disorder (AUD). As if this euphemism can make it easier to separate––and save––oneself from the problem. AUD is “drinking that becomes severe,” and my uncle is not a severe drinker. No, he has a problem with drinking severely at times… sometimes… most times.

Caption Contest

CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST | Week of October 29

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Meet us halfway and submit a caption for this week’s cartoon! The Sun staff will vote and the winning caption — along with the winner’s name — will appear in the Monday, November 5 edition of the paper. The deadline for submission is 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 2. Drawn by Abraham Reiss ’22

Congratulations to the winner of Cartoon Caption Contest #16! “I’m not ready to get up yet.