I remember leaving high school and being completely confused about how to conduct some financial aspects of my life without the help of my parents. How do I file my taxes? What does signing a lease and renting an apartment actually entail? How do I finance a car? All these thoughts and more were running through my head at high speed when I [...]
When I think back to my childhood, I can usually come up with a handful of memories that have stayed with me through the years: spinning on the tire swing in my grandma’s backyard, the time my family and I drove 530 miles to reach Big Bend National Park, or the time my brothers and I were certain our babysitter had unknowingly swallowed [...]
The United Kingdom currently uses the two-hundred-year-old British undergraduate degree classification system as a grading structure for undergraduate degrees. This system consists of degree levels divided into five distinctions: first-class honors; second class, upper level (also known as a 2.1); second class, lower level (2.2); third class; and pass without honors (or an “ordinary degree.”) Though many other countries including Australia, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa [...]
Over the past four years, I’ve spent a large amount of time in poetry workshops. At Emerson College, classes are usually no more than 30 people, and the writing workshops are even smaller. As a Writing, Literature & Publishing major with a focus in poetry, I took full advantage of the writer stereotype. At any given time, I more than likely had a [...]
According to political scientist Robert Putnam, successful democracies rely on strong social networks. In his 1993 book Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions In Modern Italy, Putnam analyzes the regional governments of Italy, positing that prosperous institutions have strong social networks, whereas less successful institutions have weak social networks. Strong social networks, he reasons, promote trust between citizens, thus strengthening the democracy. Now, a more recently published [...]
There are only five 20×24-inch Polaroid instant cameras in the world. One of these 5-foot, 235-pound mammoths of a camera is responsible for many of the iconic photos produced by artist William Wegman. And if you haven’t heard of Wegman or his work with the camera, you have probably seen his art in someone’s home, online, or in a museum at one point or another. [...]
One thing is certain when you sit down to talk with David Rigby: you will learn something. The man knows his history (especially of the World War II variety), he is passionate about it and he wants to share that passion. Fortunately, I’m a history buff so our interview ended up lasting longer than I planned—and it was time well spent. Rigby holds [...]
This summer, Lori surprised the staff with a party bus trip to Kimball Farm in Westford, MA. The party bus was filled with gift bags of snacks and the music we played from our own devices. The team enjoyed some (unexpectedly competitive) mini golf, bumper boats, batting cages, and other activities. It was a hot, sunny day, and we topped off the afternoon [...]
In July, some very old guests visited New Jersey: dinosaurs! If I had the time for the four-plus hour drive from Boston, I would have definitely gone to the Walking With Dinosaurs show. When I was little, my mom painted my whole room into a dinosaur mural. I had a Stegosaurus on one wall, an Apatosaurus (a.k.a. Brontosaurus) on another and even a Velociraptor tucked under the window. It was amazing. There was, [...]
The world is constantly moving toward an overwhelmingly technological future. Every day, there is a new high-tech innovation or breakthrough—it’s rather exciting to be living in the forefront of the Information Age. With the way technology seems to be incorporating itself into everyday life, it’s essential that schools and classrooms become more equipped with digital-based curricula and devices. To get the ball rolling, in [...]