Direction
How am I back at square one again?
Philip Rienstra (‘21) majored in writing and music and has plans to pursue a career in publishing. They are a recovering music snob, a fruit juice enthusiast, and a big fan of the enneagram. They’re currently living in Grand Rapids with their partner, Heidi.
Bullet Journal Guy
I had never learned to actually do creative work in the first place.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: Review Part Two
Literally every item can be used on a weapon or shot with an arrow, even if the added effect is only a bit of extra damage.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: Review Part One
It’s a bit less about you, and a bit more about everyone else—and that feels good.
A Comprehensive Tier List of the Starbucks Menu
The Chocolate Cookie Crumble is the Mocha Cookie Crumble without the coffee, and the Double Chocolatey Chip is the Java Chip without the coffee. They have all been placed into C tier for this confusion alone.
I Was Wrong About: John Cage and 4’33’’
I was only halfway towards actually understanding which artistic boundaries needed to be enforced. That is, none of them.
City of Tears
As the ghostly songstress resumes her song, you begin to hear that same voice that has been singing as part of the background noise
French Onion Soup
If I had to choose between a mediocre french onion soup and a meal of three corn dogs with spicy mayo, I would choose the former every time
Five Fantastic Games I Played This Year
Like Stardew Valley, it has you running a little farm next to a shoddy cabin in a small town—except, the main thing you’re growing on your farm is the little creatures.
All Ten of Taylor Swift’s Albums, Ranked
By changing the one visual constant of the first three albums—the swirly-font Taylor Swift—the album immediately tells us that this is going to be a Taylor that sounds different.
Triscuits
I did, in fact, want to feel like I was eating a wicker basket.
Coffee Crimes
Flooding stores with fresh hires just before a vote count in an attempt to dilute the vote? Illegal. Dragging their feet as long as possible with unionized stores, refusing to negotiate a contract with the union? Illegal.
A Place I Mostly Hated
The outlets worked some of the time but not always, and bugs could come in through a crack in the door frame that didn’t shut when you closed the door.
I Was Wrong About: Myself
Lines like “If their identity is based on feelings, and their feelings are always changing, then their identity is always changing”, though embarrassing, gave me this sweet sense of self-revelation that made me feel relieved and enlightened all at the same time.
The Enneagram Types of The Mighty Nein
Critical Role has garnered a reputation for being a titan of a show in the DnD community—both in popularity and in sheer length.
The Queer Alumnus Dilemma
Calvin’s attitude of dismissal and thinly-veiled condemnation towards LGBTQ+ people doesn’t turn queer students into straight students, or even into more faithful queer students.
Siren’s Semantics
I’m pretty sure this one is McDonald’s’ fault.
Butterfly Weed!
But it wasn’t until I met Heidi that I started to learn how to truly delight in something as simple as knowing the name of a plant.
Review: Arcane
Video game-based content is rarely, if ever, this good.
I Was Wrong About: Sports
Melee is boring too if all you can see is two cartoonish characters flailing around on a screen.
How I Accidentally Became a J-pop Fan
I played my way through hundreds of songs and grew intimately familiar with the contours of songs that I couldn’t so much as remember the title for.
Things Would Have Been Different
He would’ve kept carving the crosses, coasters.
Medium Friends
In comparison, it feels trivial to call today’s friends close when every time we hang out has to be planned two to five business days in advance.
I Was Wrong About Taylor Swift
No, I have not heard the new song by The Weeknd and I don’t plan to, because I’m different.
