Columns

Four years ago, Alec Benjamin released his hit single “Let Me Down Slowly,” earning him a record deal with Atlantic Records. Ever since he dropped out of high school to pursue a music career, he has released dozens of singles and three studio albums, the most recent being “(Un)Commentary.” Benjamin is as much a storyteller […]

As I nervously walked to the top row of Levi’s Stadium with my friends, clutching my $9 garlic fries, I realized if I fell off the stands, I would have the most epic death ever. The Weeknd concert at Levi’s Stadium on Aug. 27 was my first concert and I had no idea what to […]

Kavya’s Experience: As I dragged my feet into my summer SAT prep academy (whose name I’m choosing not to divulge),  I looked upon the wall with a list of all the participants’ names and searched for my name. Next to my name, I spotted the number 2. Confused as to why some of us needed […]

The scene is very 1980s and pre-internet: A 20-sided dice rolls onto a table as a group of teens huddles around, anxiously awaiting the outcome. The fate of dwarf paladin is about to be determined by this one dice. If it rolls a 10 or above, the character is spared; otherwise, they die and the […]

Writing essays is hard. I know this, you know this, we all know this. From brainstorming to nitpicking every word to figuring out what the teacher even means by words like “creative” or “analytical,” the process of essay writing is filled with plenty of struggles. My biggest issue with essay writing is just simply how […]

In Saratoga, we’re blessed to have clean, healthy and good-tasting water flowing from the tap. There is no need to drink bottled water. Having said that, we acknowledge that not everyone is lucky enough to have access to clean water, especially in California’s more rural farming areas where there are droughts and a lack of […]

During the early hours of the night, 12-year-old me lay in bed overthinking the true nature of life. Earlier that day, I had heard about Elon Musk’s claim that we are likely living in a computer simulation. As I sat contemplating this theory, I imagined a highly evolved, intellectual alien peering at a holographic screen […]

10. Eight. Statistics say it’s one of the second most common numbers to roll on a pair of die, yet the lack of eights I roll during Catan games says otherwise. 9. Twenty-one. While playing blackjack, twenty-one never comes when I want it to. It’s almost as if it’s been avoiding me…  8. Thirteen. After […]

Adieu This is the word people start with to flex on their friends and act intelligent. It’s probably the first opener you’d tried that sounded strategic, only to realize it’s mid. Crane 3Blue1Brown, a YouTuber mathematician, accidentally thought that this was the best opener. It has a nice balance of vowels and common consonants. I […]

“Lol our chemistry test is tomorrow, and I haven’t even started studying yet,” read a text sent by a friend. After reading their text, we definitely weren’t “laughing out loud.” The abbreviations lol and lmao (“laughing my a– off”) were first popularized in the late 1980s along with some now-archaic slang, including RAO (rolling all […]