After a summer of escaping school work or reporting to time-consuming summer jobs, September approaches once again. This year, we will be exchanging Zoom squares for lecture halls and breakout rooms for discussion sections as vaccinated Bruins return to campus for the first time in over a year.

Anyone who has walked down Bruin Walk and encountered the array of stickers, succulents and baked goods on sale knows that UCLA is brimming with entrepreneurs.

This October, Bruins might not find ghosts or zombies as terrifying as in previous years.
Instead, the real scare is figuring out how to battle higher education costs and mass unemployment amid a pandemic, all while trying not to fail midterms.

Ask any returning Bruin, and they will likely admit that getting around Los Angeles is hard. And just when we thought we had figured it out, COVID-19 came to town.

2020 has forced the global community to recognize its shared experiences more than its differences. It has forced us to recognize that our societies and systems can be as diseased as our bodies and has galvanized the people of the world to fight for the principle that Black Lives Matter – everywhere.

A few weeks ago, a cap and gown arrived in the mail – a bittersweet ending to four years for my freshly graduated brother. Somehow, his entire college experience was supposed to fit into a small FedEx box.

If I had to pinpoint one of the most integral places in my life, it would be the dinner table.
Growing up, my dinner table was the place where I learned how to argue my ideas, how to use new vocabulary and how to practice good manners.

The novel coronavirus has unleashed a novel vocabulary.
World War I left us with words like “trench coat” and “no man’s land,” while the rise of internet speak brought on the “meme” and Twitter linguists.

The “Instagram vs. reality” meme, though a bit stale at this point, is a reminder of the self-awareness about our Instagram profiles and the fantasy life they portray.