Chris Morris-Lent

Sixty-nine theses (not in order)

Neither New York nor Columbia was what you expected.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Dec 2 08:14 pm ET

World’s unFair

I had, after all, been homecoming king and nearly valedictorian in high school, gotten into Columbia, attained decent grades, made friends, had sex, won a Spectator column, and improved my writing.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Nov 18 07:20 pm ET

The Columbia conundrum

College is supposed to be a time of unrivaled variety, but it is so hard to dabble at Columbia. Life more resembles a series of obsessions or addictions.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Nov 4 06:16 pm ET

‘Enthusiasm’ is curbless in Larry David’s show

Though each season of “Curb” ostensibly has a plot, it’s always only a pretense for the show to explore its big theme, which is pretty much its only theme: Larry David blundering his way around Santa Monica.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Oct 18 10:51 pm ET

What was your (L)SAT score?

Chris Morris-Lent wonders why Columbians are so fascinated with standardized test scores.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Oct 7 06:30 pm ET

What’s your GPA?

We compare ourselves to others, not others to ourselves, and find one or the other wanting. ‘Comparisons are odious,’ goes the old platitude. But what else do we have?

By Chris Morris-Lent | Sep 23 07:19 pm ET

What's your major?

Life is full of stupid conversations, and, if you are a first-year, you have spent the last week having them.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Sep 9 08:01 pm ET

CML contra senatus

Some are content to have a resume do justice to their personality—a column will have to do the same for me.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Apr 22 07:23 pm ET

New book gets good critical reception for bad writing

Castle Freeman’s new novel, Go With Me, has been called “a gem that ... cuts like a knife” by the Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews asserts that “if all novels were this good, Americans would read more.” It is the archetype of the kind of fiction that everyone has enjoyed since second grade, but it is also respectable and critically acclaimed. What could possibly go wrong?

By Chris Morris-Lent | Apr 8 09:39 pm ET

Playing the race card—Part II

We are who we admit, and much of the blame must go to the admissions office’s amazingly cynical affirmative action policy.

By Chris Morris-Lent | Apr 8 06:47 pm ET

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