Follow NYU Shanghai student, Zixin Harry Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a class field trip of various scandals that have taken place in DC! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
2018-2019 | Fall
HUMANS OF NYU WASHINGTON, DC | Carol Wu
“I attended the NYU Stern Executive MBA event at NYU Washington, DC with guest speaker, Brian Brooks, Executive VP at Fannie Mae, and thought the event was both engaging and fascinating. As one of the few underclassmen present, I previously thought that I wouldn’t be able to understand anything the speaker would be talking about, since nearly everyone who was in attendance was an older, EMBA student. Instead, Brooks made it really easy to follow along, and it was amusing or, better yet, painfully amusing to see him attempt to crack jokes. Having had no academic exposure in the subject matter of housing, I learned a lot from just his one hour long talk. Now, I know what exactly Fannie Mae is; the magnitude of housing’s influence in the economy; the effect of an increasingly diverse American population on the economy; and how solutions have been created to combat the problems arising from aging baby boomers, revolutionary millennials, and the overall changing dynamics of our society.”
– Carol Wu | Liberal Studies Program
NYU DC VIOLETS I Opinion I Hate
By YoYo Zhang
It’s easy to be angry.
It might take a tremendous amount of opening up to share your sadness but it only takes a few sentences (think Twitter) to make everyone who sees it furious. It’s also easy to find people who agree with you on who to hate. Open up any social media and you will undoubtedly find groups spitting furiously in each other’s general direction.
“The Warrior fans are all bandwagons and their players only play for money!”
“Drake is the GOAT and every other artist can kill themselves!”
Or,
“Clearly, CLEARLY, this dress is white and gold.”
Interestingly, few opinions find their way out of their original community. Look at Reddit. Groups hate each other but the anger is bounded by the walls of their respective subreddits. If a user ventures into an opposing subreddit and posts his views, he will be downvoted into oblivion and be banned by the moderators for posting inappropriate content. But why would you do that? Why leave the comfort of being surrounded by people who agree with you? Why risk losing karma when you could gain hundreds if not thousands of upvotes by boarding the hate train happily marching around in your own subreddit?
Now expand the size of two inter-hating subreddits to the size of a nation. For more excitement, make sure that the most upvoted people get the privilege of running their respective subreddits. Now, there are two paths for people to become the moderator of these subreddits. They can conjure up a vision of a wonderful future when the forum in under his control or post something the supporters can all hate together. Way waste time persuading others when you can simply shitpost, sit back, and enjoy the torrent of upvotes thrown your way.
“George W. Bush??? Aww I hate that man.”
“I think I vomited a little (seeing Ted Cruz)”
“If you see Donald Trump, would you please stab him with a silver stake?”
Playing the political game isn’t about who proposes the most helpful legislations or who is the most benevolent to the people. It is, and only is, about counting votes. Why take that first step and engage in discourse with the “other side” when you don’t need their votes anyways? It’s the path of least resistance so why stray off into the thorny shrubbery?
It’s difficult to rally people behind hope, or positivity, or love.
It’s effortless to rally people behind hate and anger.
Keep hating each other now, don’t stop anytime soon.
Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of NYU DC Violets or the NYU DC Program, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.
NYU DC VIOLETS I Nonfiction | Interview With Sophomore Cynthia Orizaba
By Carol Wu
At NYU DC, there are two kinds of students – freshmen and interns (a.k.a the upperclassmen) – and like many of the “interns”, sophomore Cynthia Orizaba seems to eat, sleep, and live in her internship attire.
When you look at all of Cynthia’s accomplishments, it only seems fitting that her motto is what Walt Disney once said: “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
As an intern at Trade and NAFTA at the Embassy of Mexico, Orizaba is constantly on the go, running from the NYU DC building to her office at the embassy. To top it off, she juggles that internship with another one, as content manager of DC Dialogues. With these two internships, she still manages to find time to fulfill her responsibilities as Vice President of Hall Congress. So, what’s the secret to her success? Starbucks’s Mango Dragonfruit Refresher beverage. Its 70mg of caffeine hits her with just the right amount to keep her up on her toes.
It wasn’t an out of the blue decision for Orizaba to intern at the Embassy of Mexico. Orizaba’s parents are Mexican with indigenous heritage on her mother’s side. Her exposure to the language and culture of Mexico provides her with the experience and knowledge a qualified intern at the embassy would need, and so far, it has helped her as she provides the embassy with support through her proficiency in translating.
The Embassy of Mexico is like a family, where everyone greets one another regardless of what department they are from. This comforting and welcoming environment has allowed Orizaba to thoroughly enjoy her time there, through which she has gained a fresh perspective and new expertise in trade. In the United States, trade between Mexico and the US is often only perceived in the perspective of the latter, but through her internship, Orizaba learned to observe trade through Mexico’s perspective. Orizaba has also had the opportunity to attend events across Washington, DC, giving her exposure to the complexity of trade and its various components.
Orizaba’s interests are just as diverse as her commitments. As a skilled musician, Orizaba can play the violin, viola, and cello and is working towards learning to play the piano. She is also an avid reader with a preference for fiction books, and her latest read is Grant by Ron Chernow.
Her stay at Washington, DC has been made a pleasant experience by the abundance of resources and free events that are offered, along with the the prime location of the NYU DC building in relation to DC’s prominent attractions.
Orizaba will be studying in New York for her spring semester and in Madrid for her junior year.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | Student Networking Night
Follow NYU Liberal Studies First-Year Away student, Anran Mitchell Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a Student Networking Night with students from other semester in DC programs such as Boston University, Brown University, Lutheran Colleges, Ohio State University, University of California, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, and University of Wisconsin! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | Associated Press Tour
Follow NYU Shanghai student, Zixin Harry Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a class field trip to the Associated press! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | GW Collections Tour
Follow NYU Liberal Studies student, Mitchell Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a class field trip to the George Washington University Special Collections Research Center! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | Connections Meal
Follow NYU Shanghai student, Zixin Harry Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a Connections Meal, which is a small group dinner in DC with NYU Washington, DC students, an NYU Washington, DC staff member, and an NYU Alumni! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | Group Meal
Follow NYU Liberal Studies student, Mitchell Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights a group of students making a meal in their apartment! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.
TELL YOUR DC STORY | Welcome Week
Follow NYU Shanghai student, Zixin Harry Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video highlights some of his Welcome Week experiences! Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.