Vol. CXXIX, Issue 5

Sunday, Nov. 9, Caltech hosted its inaugural campus bird walk with the Pasadena Audubon Society (PAS), a local nonprofit dedicated to birding and bird conservation.

Okay, so if happiness isn’t the next achievement or perfect Instagram moment, what is it? Enter Aristotle, who’s honestly the GOAT when it comes to this stuff. He had this word—eudaimonia—that gets translated as “happiness” but really means something closer to “flourishing” or “living well.”

I’m sitting here three days later, and I still can’t get it out of my head. The movie, I mean. Wicked. I went because everyone was going and I needed a break from studying for finals and maybe because I was curious about all the hype but I wasn’t expecting… this. I wasn’t expecting to leave the theater feeling like someone had reached into my chest and rearranged everything.

From the gridiron to the front office, Terrance “Terry” Tumey’s career spans roles as a college football player and coach, an athletic director in Division I, II, and III institutions, and an executive at the San Francisco 49ers. He earned a B.A. in political science from UCLA, where he played and later coached football, and completed his MBA at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Last month, Tumey joined Caltech as the director of Athletics, Recreation and Instruction (ARI).

When suggesting games to friends, I’ll often get a response along the lines of “Oh, I’m not good at games.” This statement can be a bit confusing in that it is so general. What does it mean to be “good at games?” There are definitely types of games one might not be good at, for example I suck at shooters, but I find it hard to believe that one can be bad at all games.

Many talented artists have existed throughout history; these people—Van Gogh, Da Vinci, DeVito, etc.—have a special connection to their craft, every creation advancing the world of art one stroke at a time. Presently, people can only observe their works in museums and exhibits, but never witness their creation. However, as I learned this summer, these masters of art still walk among us.

Gold has captivated humanity for millennia. In 1848, the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in the Sierra Nevada foothills initiated one of the largest migrations in U.S. history and left a lasting impact on the environment.

Oscar Wilde subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” but the Theater Arts at Caltech (TACIT) cast made clear in their recent production that the inverse is equally applicable: a serious comedy for people who can appreciate some well-placed triviality.

There will always be that strange feeling—the fear of not belonging, the sense that everything I do is so tiny, so fragile and transient that nothing will remain.

The November air was 50 degrees when we lined up outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I adjusted my layers—comfortable but warm, as the email instructed—and felt my heart racing. It had been so long since I’d heard Italian sung like this.