A neon crowd of girls stand in a black-lit room, yelling to each other over the pounding bass of the dance music. It could almost be a typical scene from a Friday girls' night Uptown. There will be dancing, maybe even a punch or two thrown. But it's 8 p.m. on Thursday night, and they're not at Brick Street, New Bar or anywhere else Uptown.
On a cold evening in February, my friend Jack and I took one of our frequent late night walks that are often catalyzed by some emotional trauma. Tonight, however, the walk was to just get out. We sped from Elliott Hall down to Peffer Park, snipped off the end of fresh cigar, took a light to it and caught up. Jack had finally started dating this dynamite chick, Lindsay, and he was over the moon. We eventually made our way Uptown, to meet up with some of my friends at Cellar.
6,594 feet high, standing among wispy, white clouds with the crisp mountain air caressing my cheeks, I looked out and saw nothing but mountains for miles. It was noon, and we had summited Mount LeConte in four hours. Four hours of navigating lush forest, steep sandstone steps and glistening rock faces. Four hours of readjusting the straps on our packs and stopping to chug water and catch our breath as we rapidly gained elevation on our ascent. Four hours of being drenched in sweat despite the shade from the trees and the pleasant summer temperature.
I was exhausted as I made my way across the main floor of Grand Central Terminal, awkwardly pushing through the bustling throng of New Yorkers in my path. Navigating the station's chaotic rush-hour foot traffic had become an annoying, yet necessary, part of my morning routine.
The most striking visuals among the subway platforms and hidden hallways beneath London are not the train cars hurtling miles underground, known affectionately as the Tube, but rather the colorful characters who occupy the winding paths tucked beneath the city.
Trinity College is located in the middle of buzzing Dublin, Ireland, and is semi-regularly swamped with tourists ducking in to see the Book of Kells, or just for a quiet sit. Founded in 1592, the school features Victorian architecture influenced by other institutions such as Oxford (UK) and Cambridge. The grass is cut very low like a golfing green, and the library is the largest in Ireland. In the center of the walled buildings is a campus bar, where students can grab a cider and watch rugby on a massive field. Compared to Miami, where King Library was built in the 1970s, Trinity's campus is a sort of elite utopia without (most of) the snobbery. And the campus life is so nice -- dorms are actually reserved for upperclassmen.
Wanchese is a small fishing village, located on the southern end of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Roanoke is a curious place -- protected from the Atlantic tides by the Outer Banks, it was home to the first English settlement in 1585. Notoriously, the entire colony vanished without a trace two years later, and many legends circulate as to the fate of the colonists. Today, Roanoke is settled again, with the rather upmarket village of Manteo to the north and the working-class village of Wanchese to the south, where my parents recently purchased a 1910 farmhouse. It was from there I would begin my journey.
Here's what's worth watching, streaming and procrastinating with this weekend.
The arrival of September means the unfortunate combination of two phenomena: the beginning of classes and onslaught of fall television. It's difficult to find time to study for midterms or write that poly sci essay when there are so many new compelling programs vying for network approval. The fall schedule can be complicated to navigate, so no matter how you're trying to procrastinate, whether you're looking for an HBO megadrama or a silly late night comedy to binge through, a new hit or an old favorite, we've got you covered.
Just about everything you might expect to be annoying about an animated, 19th-century film about dueling Parisian child ballerinas cripples "Leap!" It's essentially a Barbie movie with twice the budget, worse characters and even less plausibility (but better pop songs.)
Television, which was once condensed to weekly programs on three or four channels, has expanded so vastly in recent years that it's impossible for a person to watch every show of note. In such a diluted market, the TV series-as-a-cultural-event, where, for the course of an hour, a large swath of viewers has their eyes on the same program, has essentially died.
Film: "Mommy Dead and Dearest" (Kirby)
When Malory Owen was 4 years old, her parents lost sight of her at Hueston Woods. Like any good parents, they panicked, assuming the worst had happened on their guided tour.
The sun was beginning to set, the color from the sky fading and turning grey. The music from Mega Fair was still booming, but the event was dying down. People began to trickle into the area around the Sundial. Waiting.
I was scared to step into the new wing of Armstrong. That sounds a little silly, and maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration. But it's true that I avoided the new addition like the plague for the first two weeks that I was back in Oxford.
Abby Gromek can't remember the first time she stepped on a trampoline. However, she can remember the day it began to mean something more.
Jake Gold and Nick Froehlich, guest columnists
Harris closes, Maple Street changes, Armstrong and Bell Tower expands, and more
Welcome, welcome back, or hello again! Whether you're an upperclassman, the new kid in town, enjoying retirement, or somewhere in between, these events will help you find your place at Miami and around Oxford.