Contributing writer
Rachel Chen
Latest Content
Like Riding A Bike
But maybe there’s a way to outgrow training wheels without outgrowing imagination. Call it visualization, or self-romanticization, or a million more mature, adult behaviors — but in the end, I haven’t left the wild, unfettered imagination of my childhood behind.
Homecoming: Working Out In the Long Run
"This story doesn’t end with me running a marathon, trembling arms raised in victory and frigid medal between my teeth. I may never enjoy running, or even feel truly comfortable jogging with a friend." RC ponders what it means to run.
Professor Elizabeth Bartholet's Call for a Presumptive Ban on Homeschooling
Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard Law School professor, recently published a letter calling for stricter regulations on homeschooling, sparking a debate about issues ranging from government intervention in schooling to Harvard elitism.
Love in the Time of Corona: Long Distance Edition
The classic Zoom movie night! Spend some quality time arguing over who has to deal with the screen share lag.
The Other Dog
Ask anyone who knows me — I cry easier than a toddler at the dentist. But for some reason, it wasn’t the hundreds of patients we’d seen in various stages of disease or the abandoned children ecstatic to receive their first toy who finally broke the dam on my tear ducts. It was a stray mutt minding its own business in the corner of a park in Concepción, Iloilo.
When Fandom Becomes Family
The sincerity with which the Leakycon attendees treat panels and merchandise stores alike reveals an enduring relationship to Harry Potter: a conception of the Potterdom as an evolving universe with abiding relevance to modern life.
5280 Feet of Footloose
The Dance Mile's website promises “5280 feet of pure awesomeness,” and under the rules section, they insist in all caps to “HAVE THE MOST FUN POSSIBLE.” It’s barely noon on Saturday, and FM has sent me to a dance party in the middle of Boston hosted nominally by Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Asian American Poets Take a Stand
Beyer has authored a poetry collection called “We Come Elemental,” Tran placed in the Top 10 at the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam, and Yoon was a recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2017.
A Safety Toolkit in Your Uber
The recently announced safety feature is simple: If you feel unsafe or if there is an emergency during your Uber ride, a button within the Safety Toolkit of the Uber app will allow you to call 911 and send your updated location and the car’s make, model, license plate, and driver to emergency responders, all within seconds.
Imprepster
I window shop for a middle name too. I spend so much time on babynames.com that I feel like an expectant mother. Elizabeth, Isabella, Valerie—I try them on in my mouth, in doodled script, in the mirror with my best ‘ello guvnah accent.