The following essays and visual memoirs, written and illustrated by students in the introductory writing subjects at MIT, were selected for publication in Angles 2015 by the editors and a review board of lecturers. The 21 works are categorized by theme and linked below, each with an enticing excerpt. For more information on Angles, including the thematic categories, please see our About page.
Preoccupations
While others sat calmly, moving their pencils in measured strokes, I jerked my hand across my paper pad.
Remembering How to Fly (visual memoir) by Elisa Young
What part of my younger self have I left behind?
Solving the Cube by Andrew Tang
The cube provided me with comfort and confidence throughout freshman year.
Wiffle Ballers by David Hesslink
I feel more like a good wiffle ball, in unpredictable motion, than a good wiffle baller.
Examining Self and World
And We Screamed, We Matter by Grace Assaye
I felt myself growing more comfortable with the idea that I was Black.
Are You Feeling Hyggelig? by Helen Nie
…a language is more than a set of words to communicate with; it is also the perception with which we see the world.
Honed to Perfection (author requested to remain anonymous)
That day, that conversation, was the last time I made myself vomit food I had just eaten.
The Post-Integration Black Athlete by Toby Tasker
The over representation of black athletes in college and professional sports is a complex issue.
Reading, Writing, and ‘Rithmetic by Reva Butensky
There were no coordinates for her soul from which to extrapolate the distance between mind and body.
The Tiger Cub, the Mother, and the Piano by Angela Leong
Parents want their children to excel in music—but Lord forbid the kid harbor dreams of becoming a musician.
The Ultimate Drug: Taking the Edge off Performance Anxiety by Austen Yueh
By producing an artificial calmness, beta blockers dull the general expressivity and emotional passion of a performance.
Unnecessary Burden (visual memoir) by Abigail Choe
Infinity is not a fixed number. It refers to the continuously increasing state.
Family Connections
How Could I Have Known? by Rachel Han
Her description of people with autism, as those who have trouble understanding other people’s feelings or talking about their own feelings, especially sticks with me.
How to Tell the Color of the Sky by Trang Luu
We landed during the winter, but the bitter cold of the temperature did not shock us as much as the coldness of our new neighbors.
La Casa de la Abuela (author requested to remain anonymous)
I was in a warm paradise of grandma’s love and good food.
Not Forgiven, Not Forgotten by Jenny
I realized that I had an entire repressed memory of my dad’s affair.
Science and Technology Fascination
Bug Appétit: Eating Bugs to Save the Planet? by Joy Yu
It might surprise you, as it surprised me, that according to the FAO, insect-eating is practiced regularly by at least 2 billion people worldwide.
Is the Universe Actually a Giant Quantum Computer? by Alexandra Churikova
Physicists are not the only ones keen to reap the benefits of quantum computing; agencies like the CIA and NSA might be on its tail too.
Learning from Organoids by Taibo Li
…traditional cell culture protocols are often insufficient to faithfully recapitulate delicate biological structures outside of animal bodies.
Magic Mushrooms or Medical Mushrooms? by Sean Soni
Despite all of the promising breakthroughs scientists are making, it is still difficult for them to study psilocybin due to restrictive laws.
Ultimately, the goal of particle physics research is to better understand the world we live in.