Any current Princetonian reading this has probably seen the open letter addressed to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, appealing for (political, though it never says so directly) diversity in the selection of books assigned as Pre-reads to incoming first-years.
Raise your hand if you ever have walked past someone you know and tried your hardest not make eye contact — you get extra points if you made eye contact from afar, and then one or both of you whipped out your phones or suddenly pretended to be very interested in the sidewalk’s cracks.
For many Americans, the 2016 election period, as well as its aftermath, was a very emotionally turbulent affair, casting into doubt everything they thought they knew about themselves, their neighbors, and their country at that time. However, they were not alone on these tenterhooks; the non-American part of the world waited with interest, and for many families, their main source of information was the relatives they had in the U.S., who were mostly either studying or working, sojourners in a foreign land.
My freshman year was generally a breeze — making new friends, experiencing Princeton — but for a single blight.
