Over the past holiday breaks, I have noticed a number of changes in my regularly-observed traditions. As my older sister went off and moved to college, I was left to pick a pumpkin carving design out alone....

My Bat Mitzvah was a really big deal to me; I’d attended Hebrew school twice a week since first grade, I’d learned the bare minimum of a new language and had studied for months before the big day....

My mom pestered me for days to help her decorate our Christmas tree this year (yes, we are a nice Jewish family with a Christmas tree). Swamped with homework and supplements, I resisted until she finally...

We met a few weeks ago when you pulled me aside after my second period AP Physics B class to ask some questions about my experience at Harvard-Westlake. Aside from the lack of a range of student voices,...

My mom starts preparing for Thanksgiving about six months in advance. Around May, she’ll start thinking about what she’ll cook this year. Of course there will be the staples: turkey, stuffing, cranberry...

She wasn’t answering her phone. I found out about the Los Angeles International Airport shooting at school, when I heard classmates talking about it in the lounge. I immediately picked up my cell phone...

I ditched a class a few weeks ago. I simply did not attend third period, my directed study in Ancient Greek. I didn’t forget about class, I wasn’t cramming for a test, I wasn’t even at home "sick." No,...

I started my junior year with the same questions and anxieties that I’m sure many of my classmates also had: is it really as bad as they say? How will I deal with the workload? Will I sleep? Will I have...

There’s always that one adult in your life telling you to not rush growing up, that there will always be a time and place for everything, and, well, that you’ll get there eventually. While that little...

At one of the countless colleges I visited, the tour guide described the university’s engineering school. I was pretty tuned out, thinking I would never need to know what it offered since I had no interest...

The last Semiformal  took place at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Hollywood in 2011. The dance the year before was at the California Market Center in Downtown’s fashion district, and the year before...

It’s three o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday. I have an unfinished math assignment lying on my desk, but I’m in bed. I’m not sleeping and I’m not even trying to sleep. My laptop is open, Netflix...