Author Archives: Claire Stanford

When I arrived at Yale in that eons-ago fall of 2002, the word “facebook” referred only to an actual book with a blue cover that held the black-and-white photos of every member of the incoming class. I see that this book — officially titled Old Campus — is still offered every year, but I suspect »

A degree from Yale University ostensibly signifies the best education money can buy. Spending four years at Yale is the first step to running multi-billion dollar companies and whole countries, to winning Nobels and Pulitzers and maybe even Oscars, to building skyscrapers or curing diseases. In four years at Yale, I have learned multivariable calculus, »

A film recently spoke to me in a way movies these days rarely do. No, I’m not talking about “V for Vendetta” or “The Libertine” or any other pseudo-intellectual movies out right now during the post-Oscar dry spell. I’m not even talking about “She’s the Man,” though I did thoroughly enjoy it — especially the »

On Saturday, March 18, when I take a nonstop JetBlue flight from Oakland to JFK, I will return to Yale from a break for the last time. I had this realization in class on Tuesday and spent the rest of the lecture controlling a minor panic attack. There are many things I will not miss »

Here is a question with which even the greatest thinkers of our time would struggle in vain: What does it mean to be a Yale woman? For most boys I know, it means simply not being as attractive as the women at other schools (thanks, guys). For New York Times reporter Louise Story, it means »

Like most Yalies, I found out that Gunther was coming to Yale through an offhanded comment in the YDN’s lead story January 19 on the continuing AKS saga. Rather than voting on AKS’s move to impeach YCC president Steven Syverud, “the main item on the YCC agenda was the approval of up to $16,000 in »

For me, winter break was a welcome change from the pressures of maintaining a facade of youthfulness — an opportunity to embrace the 80-year-old woman within, who I could feel just dying to burst free. My foray into the life of an octogenarian began when, wanting a little activity to keep myself occupied while listening »

I love everything about the Saturday of The Game. I love the tailgate, I love the halftime show, I love the Saybrook Strip. I love the feeling of coming back to a warm shower and a big dinner. I love curling up that night, tired and already a little hung over, to watch a movie »

At the beginning of this year’s football season, the team coaches divided their 116 players into groups by major so that the upperclassmen could advise new players regarding the classes they should take. But as 200-plus pound freshmen gravitated toward the economics and political science majors, defensive end Jarren Simmons ’09 could not find a »

There’s no better time than college to celebrate Halloween — no parents to make you give out candy at the door, no kids of your own to have to take out, and the holiday perfectly situated at the end of midterms, with perfectly skippable classes the next day. I mean, for the love of God, »

As the saying goes, “All roads lead to Toad’s.” But it is doubtful that many graduate students will be among Toad’s sweat-drenched throngs. It would surely be odd to find a first year medical student drinking jungle juice at SAE or Beta Late Night. So where do the Cold War TAs go to have a »

This is the time of the year when you’re just about settled in, but something is still not quite right. You look around at your room, and it seems … just a little lacking in personality. The coffee table you made out of a piece of plywood and an upside-down recycling bin isn’t looking quite »