Victoria Hall-Palerm
HALL-PALERM: Ignore importance

Whatever side of the Yale juncture we’re on, though, if there’s one message I want to leave you all with, it’s to fight against the allure of “importance.”

HALL-PALERM: The mundane things

Everything at Yale seems so lofty, so long-term and so impossibly important that sometimes it becomes hard to get a reality check, or to deal with the day-to-day tasks that face us every moment.

HALL-PALERM: Imagine actually governing

Focusing exclusively on the election means we’re paying no attention to the people who are currently in office.

HALL-PALERM: What did you learn today?

We should make a greater effort to carve out a space to talk about what motivates people in the classroom.

HALL-PALERM: Getting away

It goes without saying that a great number of students here go through the motions of everyday life, all while grappling with seemingly insurmountable and inexpressible challenges and levels of grief.

HALL-PALERM: Gratitude following Juno

The feeling of elation with which we greet these natural disasters felt a bit out of place when compared with the feelings of dread they inspire in the greater community.

HALL-PALERM: Resolving not to plan

Sometimes I feel that my life has been so choreographed that I haven’t left any room for unexpected additions.

HALL-PALERM: Challenging our convictions

If the other students in the class were anything like me, they took this class not to fundamentally shift their perception of inequality. They took the class precisely because they were already aware of the problem.

HALL-PALERM: Poise under pressure

In one of my classes, the professors attack our presentations with indiscriminate ruthlessness. It’s an important experience, one that makes me think whether I’m learning how to think for myself or whether I’ve been succeeding through pandering my instructors.

HALL-PALERM: The way we give

Don’t stop giving to the places that meant something to you just because they’re affluent; but remember that there are other worthy causes, and give to those as well.

HALL-PALERM: Republicans are people, too

Somehow what is at stake in elections got completely and utterly lost in the fray. No one wants to talk to the voters about where they actually stand on issues, because that’s too contentious and complicated a topic to boil down into a bumper-sticker size.