Sibelan Forrester is the Susan W. Lippincott Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Russian at Swarthmore College. She specializes in twentieth-century Russian poetry and Russian women writers. An award-winning translator, Professor Forrester has published translations from Serbian, Croatian, and Russian. She
My dad is infamous in my family for his terrible shopping advice. If you hold up two shirts and ask him to help you decide which one to buy, he’ll say, “Well, if you like them both equally, then it doesn’t matter
When I was ten years old, I remember being tasked with an assignment in which I had to plan my future career. When I say plan, I mean really plan. At ten, the only thing I wanted from life was to be
CW: burnout Dear graduating students (and all those who began this experience with us, and all those who embody the experience of this letter), First of all, congratulations. We made it. Whether you’re still finishing up multiple theses and prepping for honors
It’s been a pretty good four years here at Swarthmore College. Overall, I did enjoy most of my time here (barring two and a half semesters we won’t talk about for … reasons) and firmly believe I made the right choice in
Recently, during one of my too-many-times-a-day Twitter procrastination scrolls, I stumbled across a poem. I immediately screenshotted it and sent it to a few friends because it struck a nerve with me. The poem, by William Martin, is called “Do not ask
Over Garnet weekend, President Valerie Smith and Vice President of Student Affairs Jim Terhune made public for the first time the College’s decision to hold the Swarthmore 2022 commencement ceremony on Mertz Field. This decision represents a stark departure from the long-standing
Last year, for the first time in Swarthmore’s history, commencement was held virtually due to an emergency campus evacuation because of rapidly rising U.S. COVID-19 cases; this year, however the Class of 2021 will have two commencements. After a period of uncertainty,
Graduation was never meant to be about me. I made my peace with that even before I got to college. Graduation was for the family I left behind, for them to parade me around and proclaim, “Look at our daughter! She has
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG. As graduation
