(Originally published in The California Aggie) At the height of their fame, Jon and Kate Gosselin and their eight kids were one of America’s favorite families. But celebrity came at a price. Their TLC reality show, “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” documented the everyday struggles and triumphs of raising six-year-old twins and two-year-old sextuplets. Episodes […]

(Originally published in The California Aggie) Have you ever wanted to know what celebrities are really thinking, at any given hour of the day, with no publicists around to influence what they say? If you answered yes, you’re in luck, ’cause we’ve got Twitter. At first I didn’t get the appeal of Twitter. Why limit […]

(Originally published in The California Aggie) Newsflash! Women are often objectified in mainstream media! Well, if you’ve been anywhere besides under a rock during the 20th and 21st centuries, the above statement shouldn’t come as a shock. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take notice when the tendency to present young women as sex objects […]

(Originally published in The California Aggie) Brian Douglas didn’t major in film studies when he was an undergraduate at UC Davis, but that didn’t stop him from writing, directing and producing his own movie. The film, about five college students who debate politics, culture and more as they work on a class project one night, […]

(Originally published by Stanford News Service) Not many high school students can boast that they’ve already lived in a Stanford University residence hall for three weeks by the time they reach their sophomore year. Or that they have their own Stanford undergraduate mentor devoted to helping them navigate the complex world of college applications. But […]

(Originally published in LA STAGE Times) Every traveler has a story about that wild cab ride she’ll never forget, or the memorable taxi driver who was his first introduction to a new city. But it turns out, those taxi drivers may have the best stories of all. That’s the idea behind Global Taxi Driver, a work-in-progress […]

(Originally published by Stanford News Service) At Cardinal Free Clinics (CFC), most of the patients have no insurance and some haven’t seen a doctor in years. The doctors, when their shifts are over, will head back to class at the Stanford School of Medicine, where they will one day earn their MDs. CFC is a unique partnership […]

(Originally published by Stanford News Service) Sprinkled among the red, white and blue of Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games will be 27 athletes who are also pure Cardinal. Two new additions to the Stanford Olympic roster were announced Wednesday. Incoming freshman Nina Ligon will represent Thailand in equestrian eventing and alumnus Ryan Nelsen […]

The Believer is not an easy movie to watch. Pure, unfiltered racism bursts from the neo-Nazis at its center, vicious enough to make even the most moderate or non-religious viewer squirm. But trying not to be totally engrossed by this formidable film would be useless, for few films in recent memory have presented a main […]

(Originally published in The California Aggie) Go see Waiting for ‘Superman,’ the new documentary film by director Davis Guggenheim, and I guarantee you’ll walk out of the theater convinced of the reasons why the American public education system is in ruins. But is it the truth? Waiting for ‘Superman’ portrays inner-city public schools as the […]