Justin Kosslyn
Justin Kosslyn
Recent Stories
Kosslyn: The world beautiful
Elihu Yale made his fortune as an employee of the British East India Company. That much you’ll find on Yale’s Web site. Somewhat less publicized, however, is his firing, for corruption and misuse of power, in 1691. It appears that in his capacity as governor of Fort St. George, Elihu carried the fortune-seeking ethos of his era a little too far.
Kosslyn: Resist ‘leaderliness’
"Do you want to be a student leader?” I had been walking along, enjoying the spring and minding my own business, when the man behind the plastic table asked me that question. The table was covered in pamphlets; he was hawking some leadership conference.
Kosslyn: Dry foundations
Chocolate-brown and larger than a football, the cow patty had lain undisturbed on the parched soil of a nameless New Mexican ghost town. Undisturbed, that is, until my left foot landed right in the middle of it. Fortunately for me, the patty was rock-solid — a good platform to stand on.
Kosslyn: My ulcer alerts me to problems
I appear to have an ulcer. A stress ulcer. The test hasn’t confirmed it yet, but all the evidence suggests that the twisting in my gut is an ulcer. I’ve never had one before, but now, as a second-semester senior, I seem to be afflicted.
Kosslyn: For better administrators
Earlier this year, a friend of mine e-mailed an administrator with a routine question about an event he was planning. Despite several follow-ups, it took four months for the administrator to respond. The plan died.
Kosslyn: Two ways to reduce our tribalism
Yale is tribal. Generally speaking, we eat, drink and come to know that small sliver of Yale that resembles us, that tribe with which we feel most comfortable.
Kosslyn: Elegance, not tech support
Computer science is tragically misunderstood. Popular opinion notwithstanding, my major is not preprofessional.
Kosslyn: Honesty will free us
Fraud. Impostor. Fake. An acquaintance recently used those words to describe himself. We were in an economics lecture, skimming articles on our laptops while barely following the professor’s accented lecture. Then we started quietly discussing politics.
Kosslyn: Leave elitism at Casino Night
Casino Night, that annual role-playing spectacular, is tomorrow.
Kosslyn: Numbers can’t measure life
I would like to invent a stressometer. A barometer of sorts, it would quantify campus stress levels. The semester’s jittery curve would inch downward from a high start, stabilize for a month and spike around the middle of the term. For midterm exams are now upon us and we are anxious about our scores.