The first time I went to the symphony—Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet—by myself, I took the essentials: my phone to communicate with my parents, my water bottle to stay hydrated, and The Fountainhead to keep anyone from wanting to talk to me. Despite being packed full of well-dressed adults, Benaroya Hall seemed cavernous when I went alone. I found my seat, opened my book, and pretended to be riveted by the concept of hating poor people for being...

My dad came in through the front door, excited. “Anne! Did you know that when you say ai, “love” in Chinese, it needs to be in reference to a concrete object?” Even though my dad is fifty-seven, he’s tackled learning Chinese for the first time with the enthusiasm of a ten year-old. Every night, I’ll hear him watching a soap opera or Chinese news, muttering phrases and taking notes in his binder. I watched my mom as she...

In true millennial fashion, I first became interested in attending UChicago after seeing an absurdist meme on Facebook. In the meme, a student had labeled a picture of Sisyphus “UChicago student” and his boulder “GPA.” All students complain about their course loads, but only UChicago students would do so using a Greek myth. When I asked my cousin about her experience at UChicago, she mentioned that her classmates talked about what they learned in class even at parties. She only...

He codified the legal structure of an empire. He was part of the most famous boy band in Byzantine history. It all began when Justinian Timberlake moved from the backwoods of Macedonia to cosmopolitan Constantinople to pursue a career in the emperor industry. His uncle Justin had become emperor despite being illiterate, but when he helped move Justinian out to the city, he’d made it clear that education was important. As a result, Justinian diligently went to school even...