Makayla Hickey (she/her) is the Associate Opinions Editor for The Heights. She is from Norfolk, Mass. You can contact her at makayla.hickey@bcheights.com.

Across the Pond: Strategic Spontaneity
Column, Opinions

Across the Pond: Strategic Spontaneity

I spent my winter break prepping for my upcoming semester abroad by creating the framework for a travel spreadsheet. I immediately set up columns for flight information and started compiling a list of dream destinations. I couldn’t wait to begin strategically booking out my weekends.

But as the day of my flight to London approached and packing took priority, the idea of pre-planning trips with friends took a backseat. All of my energy went into preparing for move-in, and I kept telling myself that I’d have more than enough time to plan trips once I was settled across the ocean.

Across the Pond: Childhood Dreams and Double-Decker Buses
Column, Opinions

Across the Pond: Childhood Dreams and Double-Decker Buses

London has been a dream of mine since childhood. It was a place I saw in storybooks and movies, dotted with grand palaces and cherry red double-decker buses. Hollywood’s version convinced me that it was the pinnacle of perfection, at least in the eyes of my younger self.

Standing in Maloney Hall on that dull February day, I was overcome with excitement, knowing I would finally get to live out the life 11-year-old Makayla had always dreamed of.

The (Limiting) Language of Love
Column, Opinions

The (Limiting) Language of Love

So how can love span both mutual and unreciprocated feelings, encompass romance and platonism, and be both given and felt? By using the word in such a variety of ways, we are simultaneously overgeneralizing and severely restricting love in our language.

A Psychological Analysis of Concertgoing
Opinions, Column

A Psychological Analysis of Concertgoing

The necessity of music as an emotional outlet is indisputable in my opinion, but it typically serves as background noise to the ever-moving world around us. Concerts provide a brief interlude from the onslaught of life’s stressors, allowing us to live life in a pure state of awe and uninterrupted emotion.

Is Kindness Really a Virtue?
Opinions, Column

Is Kindness Really a Virtue?

For as long as I can remember, the value of kindness has been emphasized in nearly every aspect of my life. “Be kind to others” was scribbled at the top of the easel papers that served as elementary school classroom constitutions.

1 2