Columns

I have melissophobia, or a crippling fear of bees (and throw in wasps and yellow jackets for good measure). But put me in a room filled with spiders and snakes and I would be relatively calm. After all, they can’t fly into your hair and sting you (yes, I am speaking from personal experience).  Luckily, […]

California, with roughly 40 million people, is more than just the country’s most populous state. It is home to two of the world’s most famous cities: the startup neighborhoods of San Francisco and Silicon Valley and the endless freeways of Los Angeles.  LA is a common vacation spot for northern California residents, but do you […]

“Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Straits Maybe all high school relationships are destined to end. “All Girls Are The Same” by Juice WRLD My editor wanted this here because he sings this song while crying in the shower. While it’s an objectively bad song, here’s a little reminder that it exists. That being said, I […]

Just recently, I was cleaning all the junk under my bed. While having a sneezing fit from all the dust, I found my best friend from my prepubescent days: Bunny.  Bunny hopped into my life just as all other plushies I happily received from my piano teacher when I took lessons from age 6 to […]

Like many other countries, China celebrated the Lunar New Year as a festive start to 2023 — and as a relatively recent immigrant, I was not there.  While sitting in a local restaurant and finishing dinner, I remembered what this was like in China: the lively firecrackers, exciting TV shows and, most importantly, the iconic, […]

Every school year has brought  the same dilemma for my class: Will we have a hoodie? The answer to that, I cannot tell you. However, I can complain about the trials and tribulations that need to be taken into account when pushing a class hoodie from design to purchasable merchandise while serving as a class […]

When I go to Starbucks and the barista asks me for my name, I avoid all the hassle that comes with saying my real name. It’s already a mouthful to say “mocha cookie crumble frappuccino.” Instead, I take the easy route and say “Anna,” saving much trouble for both me and the barista. For as […]

On the night of Nov. 8, 2022, two burglars kicked down the front door of Saratoga resident Paul Corsbie’s house when he was out of town. The burglars quickly ransacked his bedroom and hauled away a 300-pound safe — effectively evading security precautions he had installed such as alarms and cameras. Though the police responded […]

2023 has arrived and good old-fashioned water is now officially obsolete. Behold the almighty sports drinks. Packed with replenishing electrolytes to satisfy your hydration needs, they also come in a seemingly endless variety of zesty flavors. In a quest to find the best of the bunch, we put our taste buds to the test and […]

If you know me, you know I am a major movie buff. A film bro. A cinema connoisseur. If I have free time, you’ll find me in front of a screen.  I mostly enjoyed arthouse and independent films this year, but I look forward to broadening my horizons even further in the upcoming year. Movies […]