Makayla Tracy PZ ’30 writes about rising diesel costs in the context of the 2026 midterm, arguing that rural precincts dealing with high prices need to reconcile a cost-of-living crisis with party allegiances. With many flipped Senate seats representing rural, traditionally conservative areas, high diesel prices meant higher out-of-pocket costs for many voters working in diesel-reliant sectors.
Opinions
OPINION: Movie marketing needs to stop misleading audiences
Lilah Daniels SC ’30 writes about the concerning pattern in which studios and promotional teams deflate the nuances within movie adaptations. She says that some of the movies touching on authoritarianism, domestic violence and the cycle of abuse have been promoted in a way that undermines these themes, focusing solely on memes and aesthetics.
OPINION: Shoutout to AI for making school reasonable again
Celeste Cariker PZ ’28 reflects on an article she wrote about AI as a first-year. Now, she feels that AI’s presence in course curricula might lead us to a writing revolution.
OPINION: A third place in plain sight: The movie theater
From blockbuster showings like “The Odyssey” to A24-produced creative documentaries such as “You Can See Everything,” 2026 has been a successful year for film in recent memory, bouncing back from COVID-19, which threatened to end the era of big-screen cinema. Calli Taffel PZ ’30 writes about Gen Z’s uniquely desperate search for third spaces, human connection and cinema’s renewed rise.
OPINION: Don’t let the midterms fool you — Oligarchs and their money-backed media campaigns are still driving our backsliding democracy
Olivia Brinkman Schooler PO ’29 argues that the polarization and deep division leading up to midterm elections were largely a result of mass media without guardrails and an influx of money-backed political campaigns.
OPINION: The blue tsunami is forcing Democrats to do their least favorite thing — actually govern
Jun Kwon PO ’28 analyzes the recent midterm results, where Democrats took back control of the House and the Senate in historic sweeps. Nearly every swing state and district went in Democrats’ favor and displayed positive signs in voting patterns and turnout.
OPINION: Money talks, and it sounds like bigotry in our classrooms
In some 5C classes, bigotry is still up for debate. After following the paper trail, Elena Gutierrez PZ ’27 found the answer: billionaires are spending more than she is to keep that distracting rhetoric alive, through what researchers call the “Civility Industrial Complex.”
OPINION: Write right — buy a legal pad
Luca Davis PZ ’27 contemplates the true purpose of note-taking, which he believes to be a vehicle for processing information — not record-keeping. He writes that notebooks and iPads alike are ill-suited for this purpose. Instead, he suggests using the starchy and yellow legal pad. It is just a stack of pages bound at the top, and as one flips through, the pages disappear.
OPINION: It’s time to banish laptops from our classrooms
Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College, argues for a laptop ban in the classroom. After a conversation with senior students in which they discussed how laptops have made classroom environments increasingly tedious, he was inspired to write this op-ed.
OPINION: The bureaucratic veil over Pomona’s Center for Global Engagement
Zara Seldon PO ’29 recalls her experience with Pomona College’s Housing and Residence Life (HRL) office in her forced double as she attempted to remove an extra wardrobe. The new Center for Global Engagement (CGE), replacing Oldenborg, has caused a housing crisis evident through many residents’ experiences, but one that HRL was neither prepared to handle nor receive blame for.