Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. When I'm not studying or writing a blog post, you can find me drawing as the Design Editor for The Dartmouth, hosting my radio show at WebDCR, or spending time with my friends. And if I'm not doing any of those, I'm probably watching cat videos. Follow along as I share the moments that make Dartmouth feel like home!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
My main interest in philosophy lies in normative and applied ethics, so when I saw the opportunity to take a class on the former, I didn’t hesitate! The class focused on consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. I enjoyed the ample opportunities for discussion, including discussion posts about the readings, as well as the table-wide conversations. My table, in particular, had lots to say, and there was one reading in particular where we ended up diving into discussion, not once, but twice! In fact, we had so much to say that all of us coincidentally chose to write our essay on this reading — and none of us knew until after we started talking about our papers!
While not explicitly required for the Philosophy major, you can choose to take this (and many other Philosophy courses!) as one of your four electives. Prior to taking this class, feminist philosophy was completely new to me. I had traditionally been exposed to “traditional” European philosophers, and taking the class helped me realize that my lack of exposure to other philosophers outside of this demographic was a product of epistemic injustice. The class consisted of weekly readings and discussion posts, some reflections, guest lectures from the authors of several readings, and a final project of pretty much any format about any topic of our choice! I walked away from the class with a much more nuanced understanding of agency, commodification, and labor; the harms that are a result of the very nature of women tailoring themselves under male desire seemed much more insidious.
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how I joined a sorority earlier this fall by going through the recruitment process. I've come a long way since then. In fact, this term, I am living in my sorority house!
Prior to this summer, I had only ever lived in the dorms in my house community. This was largely due to the fact that School House dorms are conveniently located in the center of campus, near FoCo (our main dining hall), Collis Cafe (another dining hall), and Robinson Hall (where the radio studio is). As someone who heavily prioritizes location over all else, living in the dorms was a no-brainer. But when the housing form for sophomore summer landed in my inbox, I realized that I would randomly be assigned to either (and this varies every summer) Fahey and McLane, Byrne, Goldstein, Thomas, or Hitchcock. In short, the odds of my living farther away were high, and I started to wonder what my other options were.
I then remembered that I could choose to live in my sorority house. Some Greek houses are owned by the College, meaning it costs the exact same to live in a house as a residence hall; others are privately owned, meaning they set their own room and board fees. Either way, I quickly realized there would be no drawbacks to living in the house; in fact, sophomore summer would be the only time when I could live with mostly '27s, giving me an opportunity to get closer to sisters in my class. And practically speaking, if there's any time to live farther away, it's when the weather is fabulous.
As someone who's been living in the house for 3 weeks now, I can say with confidence that I do not regret my decision in the slightest. From a purely practical perspective, the amenities are fantastic. All the rooms are singles, and a good portion of them have full-sized beds (goodbye, dorm Twin XLs!). The building has air conditioning, a formal room with couches and a TV, a kitchen, and a pantry stocked with food (disclaimer: not all of these amenities are at every Greek house). There's also no need to walk toHinmanto retrieve mail, as you can get letters and packages delivered straight to the house. The best part, in my opinion, is thatmy sorority house is owned by the College. This means that we have access to all the other amenities that residence halls do, such as the ability to call Residential Operations if there happen to be any problems.
I would be remiss not to talk about the actual sisterhood itself. Living in the house has made it so convenient to spend time with my sisters! A lot of the events we have are at the house, so going to, say, watch a movie with my sisters is as simple as walking down the stairs. And because I know every girl living in the house, I can't help but feel right at home.
If you're like I was—staring at your closet wondering what "essentials" actually means—here is what I packed, what I'm grateful I brought, and what I now know you can leave behind.
New England's most iconic clock tower, captured from every angle and in every season! From sunrises to snowfalls, here's Baker Tower in all its glory. A visual love letter to Dartmouth's most timeless landmark.
