Columns

WANG | To Be Kyler Murray

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For some reason, on Saturday afternoon, I sat myself down to watch the University of Oklahoma and Texas football teams lock horns to determine the winner of the Big 12 Championship.  And even though I don’t know half the words I just typed thanks to my neophyte nature when it comes to college sports, and my disdain for football that largely stems from the abusive damage it lays on its players, I stayed sitting and watched. Because once in a while, you just have to see something exceptional. Kyler Murray, who plays quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners, is short for his position. He’s also one of the five most talented athletes in the world.

Columns

WANG | Fighting Words

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Wang Dan is still alive, somehow. The Tiananmen Protest activist is perhaps the most famous almost casualty of the restlessness that swept through the Chinese youth during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Jailed, attacked and almost assassinated, the man who organized one of the most significant protests in modern history when he was still a freshman in college arrived last week at Cornell to a packed auditorium. On first glance, he’s a less than imposing man. But then listen a little, and the ferocious takes on the state of modern Chinese society roll out rapid-fire style.

Columns

WANG | Even Ravens Get Bored of Scarecrows

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In the biggest game of his life, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda had finally run out of surprises. In a critical Game 4 of the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Maeda had been asked to bail out the Dodgers in another sticky situation. Bases loaded, two outs, down 5-4, he was tasked to holding the Red Sox from expanding their lead any further. Up to the plate came Steven Pearce, who looked like the kind of guy who spent his spare time wrangling cattle just for kicks. As a pitcher, Maeda is particularly meticulous.

Columns

WANG | Making Work Meaningful

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There’s a moment in David Bowie’s 1972 Top of the Pop performance of his hit song “Starman” in which it seemed the entire Isle of England froze. Bowie, dressed in a skinsuit mishmashed with beaming colors and buoyed by a shock of red hair, is in the midst of an upswing. For a piece of innovative musical composition that promised deliverance, “Starman” begins ominously on the 11th chord, before moving up an octave to prepare for the chorus: “There’s a Starman Waiting in the Sky; He’d like to come and meet us.”

In this upswing, surrounded by hipsters, instrumentalists and college students, Bowie’s lead guitarist Mick Ronson shyly approaches to sing with him; instead, in one sweeping gesture, Bowie embraces him for the chorus. They sing together; a country implodes in shock. Nowadays, this doesn’t seem much.

Columns

WANG | Right or Wrong, April Ryan doesn’t Hold Back

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“Mr. President, are you a racist?”

It took six years and a group of the world’s most brilliant scientists to develop a nuke that would bring the world to a halt. As it is, it only took April Ryan five words to have the same effect. Let’s set it up. The day of April Ryan’s question had been rather a tumultuous for the president. The day before, he had been reported as to calling Haiti and El Salvador “shithole countries,” which was rather unfortunate for his now exhausted public relations team, outrageous to just about anyone else outside the GOP, and rather hilarious to the rapidly growing sadist population in the country. How could he say that?

Columns

WANG | Indistinguishable Asians

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A few months ago in the spring, I had a sit-down with a charming professor about a homework problem I was stuck on, and while the chat was productive, it soon devolved into tiptoeing around a racial issue that, frankly, has worn a bit thin on me. When I told her I was Chinese, she inevitably started talked about her experience traveling abroad in mainland China, and while her eyes glowed when she talked about the sights she saw, her mouth began to twitch uncomfortably when she descended from the sights to the people. And word for word, before she began, I knew what she was going to say. It isn’t a secret in the Chinese American community that there is a certain disdain for their peers from abroad. Whether it’s true or not, nationals are regarded as louder, less behaved and generally less suited for assimilation in America.

Columns

WANG | Make Me Laugh

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If you haven’t noticed yet, some companies have already fired up their recruiting engines for next summer’s internships. Along the way, students, especially current sophomores, have scrambled to attend recruiting events, network and hopefully be asked to interview for a coveted position for next summer. Interviewing for an internship can be incredibly stressful for students, especially when they have to balance it with schoolwork, extracurriculars and a social life. For instance, one of my friends dropped a class because it was interfering with her networking session, and as a fellow business student, I was sympathetic. A lot of business students feel pressured to prioritize to put interviews which seems incredibly backwards.

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WANG | Public Versus Private

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Back when I was in high school, I was friends someone who was incredibly smart, gifted and a good friend. He managed to graduate at the top of of our class, and was a ferociously talented pianist. In all honesty, I thought he would get into every college he applied too. The problem was, it didn’t matter what I thought. When college decisions came out, he didn’t get into Harvard.

Columns

WANG | Hear for You

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I always thought the greatest superpower anyone could wish for was the ability to speak the right words at the right time. Its potential would be substantial. Businessmen could use it to swing negotiations; socialites could use it attract the attention of others; politicians could use it to push their agenda across. And I? Well, I could use it to get me and my friends to calm down a bit.

Columns

WANG | New Club! Application Required.

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My friend and I are half-heartedly considering starting a new club at Cornell. One matter we stumbled upon was how selective we wanted the club to be. Personally, I wanted it to be open to anyone, so we could attract the most students. She wanted it to be capped at a certain amount, so we could maximize our time with each member. Who was right?