What's been your most gratifying moment at Columbia?
I don't know, I keep think about Birthright, which was with Columbia Hillel. Though I was the honorary Barnard Bear for the whole trip. So yeah, I don't know, I guess going out into the middle of the Negev dessert in Israel, where you couldn't see any lights, and sitting in a circle with my now closet Columbia friends and Barnard friends, and talking about what we're thankful for in life, and what we're all working towards and working on. And everyone just basically breaking down and sobbing, and then like, immediately getting back into just laughing and going back and having fun.
If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Oh god. So much. I don't know. Middle-school-self is too much of a lost cause to even touch that, so I'll go back to high-school-self. I guess being more honest, about like...hm. Okay it's kind of cheesy but on Birthright I met this amazing person. Her name is Rachel Bronstein, and she's just so amazing. She would just, I don't know, say anything that she was thinking, or feeling, or wanted. No matter what. And she was such a nice person that it was always fine, and there were times when she'd just be like, "oh I have a nipple ring," and just bust it out in front of everyone [laughs]. But, I don't know, it was just really refreshing to meet someone who wasn't afraid of what people thought at all. And because she was just so honest and openly weird and genuine, I just couldn't help but love her so much. And I feel like since then, I've just said whatever I felt like at the time, and yeah, it's so much better. And I feel like people like you and respect a lot more. I guess in high school I was just kind of... I didn't want to offend anyone, and I didn't want to like... I was like, weird or interesting to a degree, like not any weirder than anyone else I hung out with. I had a bunch of different friend groups, so I'd had my arsty stoner friends, and my academic achiever friends. So when I was with them, I'd only talk about certain things, or if I was with my family I'd only talk about certain things. And I'd like, purposely kind of edited whatever I said. So yeah, I'd just say whatever I felt like all the time. I just want... I'm trying now, and I think I've become fairly good at it, to just, if I feel like saying it, not feel like I shouldn't. You know sometimes it just like, especially if you've known someone forever, it doesn't organically come up, like you don't want to say it, but you shouldn't have to feel like they won't accept you or something.
What would your gravestone epitaph say?
I don't know, my like first inclination would be to say, "well guys, it's been nifty."
What's your favorite drunk food?
So much. Not Tom's. Actually, Tom's isn't always terrible, but it's generally a pretty bad mistake. Ugh, okay, last, one of the last times I was super drunk, Karina and I were down on Bowery, and we stumbled into this diner, that's coincidentally called the Bowery Diner. And I had the most amazing cheeseburger, that had worcestershire sauce and caramelized onions and barbecue sauce. And she got this giant stack of pancakes and we split it. And we got more drinks. The best drunk food is more drinks.
