Hopkins School Op-Ed The Razor

April Fools’: Has Humor Turned Dark?

Bea Lundberg '27 Assistant Op/Ed Editor

April Fools’ Day is a holiday celebrated around the world, known for its traditions of playing lighthearted tricks on the people in our communities. Although the holiday sets a specific date for people to participate in comedic acts, humor is a prominent part of society no matter the time of year. The innocent nature of April Fools’ Day is the very thing that gives it its charm, but with the current social and political climate, why have jokes on the internet become particularly cruel in recent years?

Celebrity Baby Names: Original or Just Weird?

Anjali van Bladel '27 Op/Ed Editor

I’ve always had a hard time getting people to say my name correctly. While there’s an abundance of Anjalis in India, most people in the United States have never met someone with my name before. Growing up, I always resented having to explain its pronunciation every time I met someone new. However, as years go by I’ve only become more and more grateful for my simultaneously unique and ordinary name, because the baby names chosen by celebrity and influencer parents have increasingly ventured into even stranger territory.

Dialing Down Distractions: Phone Bans in Schools

Gitanjali Navaratnam-Tomayko '28 Assistant Op/Ed Editor

At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, tens of thousands of schools across the US began implementing phone bans in an effort to increase focus among children and break phone habits and addictions that research suggests is detrimental for their development. Despite this ban being in place in more than 77% of US schools, it remains controversial. Through various efforts, Hopkins has also tried to limit phone use during school.

The Prom-Pros of Promposals

Rain Zeng '26 Lead Op/Ed Editor

Prom season is fast approaching, and upperclassmen from across the country are scrambling to prepare for this monumental event in their high school experience. An excited junior or senior might find the following on their shopping list: a formal outfit, flowers, and a poster board. The latter, of course, is for one of the most memorable elements of prom: A “promposal” is an elaborate and public invitation of a date to the dance. This usually entails terrible puns on posters and personalized gifts and is often, but not always, romantic in nature. Some in the audience might roll their eyes at the spectacle, while others swoon. But why does this tradition persist, and why is it so important?

International Women’s Day: For All Women

Rain Zeng’26, Op/Ed Editor

March 8 is such an important day for women in other countries — and I’ve always wondered why it isn’t for Americans. My parents and relatives celebrate International Women’s Day through gifts, and women even get a half-day off work every year in China. As a child of immigrants, I know that there are many aspects of American culture that differ from that of other countries; holidays and traditions celebrated elsewhere may not be a commonplace observance here.

The AI Friend Dilemma: Go Outside (Please).

Anya Mahajan ’25, Lead Op/Ed Editor

Human-to-human interactions have steadily declined due to the silent period of suffering during the pandemic. The final nail in that coffin of connection? Artificial intelligence (AI) companions, offering a person something to confide in, with a free, instant accessibility that will always beat out your friend who takes 3-5 business days to text back.

What's in a "Scarf"? Modern Cultural Appropriation

Anya Mahajan '25

This summer, the “Scandinavian scarf” took TikTok by storm. The only thing is, the Scandinavian scarf

isn’t Scandinavian — it’s Indian.

Granny? More Like Mommy: The Prevalence of Ageism in Beauty

Winter Szarabajka ’27 Op/Ed Assistant Editor

Throughout history, beauty has been defined extensively by characteristics such as a youthful appearance, perfect skin, and cleanliness.

Letter to the Editor: Heidi Dawidoff

Heidi Dawidoff

The Letter to the Editor excerpted below was written by Heidi Dawidoff, a retired Hopkins English teacher, in response to Mira Krichavsky’s story in the December 2023 issue of The Razor about the merger of the all-boys Hopkins Grammar School and all-girls Day Prospect Hill (DPH) (“Looking Back on a Thorny Path to Coeducation”).

Short-Form Content, Social Media, and Sinophobia

Rain Zeng ’26 Op/Ed Editor

The past few decades have seen a spread of East Asian culture, with phenomena like the internationalization of Japanese anime and the global rise of Korean pop culture.

We Think Hopkins Needs to Rethink How We Do Our Thinking

Aerin O’Brien ’26 Op/Ed Assistant Editor

Recently, I was watching an episode of “Grey's Anatomy” where the interns were learning how to triage patients in a mass casualty event.

Confessions of a Procrastinator

Hanna Jennings ’24 Managing Editor

To my current teachers: you can stop reading now. During my four years at Hopkins, I’ve heard the warning what seems like a million times. When an important project or the infamous research paper is assigned, teachers and advisors co-conspire to make sure that you are not saving it all for the last minute.

Redirecting Resources: Climate Change or the Milky Way?

Edel Lee ’26 Assistant Op/Ed Editor

Two months ago, India’s Chandrayaan-3 made history as the first spacecraft to land on the southern polar
region of the Moon.

Hot Brothers and Two Lovers: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Miriam Levin ’26 Assistant Op/Ed Editor

What would you do if two of the hottest guys you knew were fighting over you? That’s the premise of the Prime Original TV series The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Brennan Is Everything; Elicker’s Just Ken

Teddy Witt ’24 Lead Op/Ed Editor

If you live or spend a lot of time in New Haven, you’ve probably seen white and blue election signs go up in your neighbors’ yards — white for Liam Brennan, Hartford’s first inspector general, and blue for the incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker.

Never Have I Ever... Felt More Represented On-Screen

Asher Joseph ’25 Op/Ed Editor

According to tennis legend John McEnroe, narrator of Mindy Kaling’s hit Netflix show “Never Have I Ever,” “Aunties are older Indian women who have no blood relation to you, but are allowed to have opinions about your life and all your shortcomings and you have to be nice to them because you’re Indian.”