When Your Major Starts Feeling Like Your Identity
A major is supposed to describe what you study. Somewhere along the way, it can start describing who you think you are allowed to become.
PROJECT SEMICOLON / THE BLOG
Stories about being human.
Fresh perspectives, lived experiences, ideas, and conversations about life in all its complexity.
At the forefront
Perspectives worth spending time with
FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY
Explore by topic
FIND RELEVANT WRITING
Explore by condition
Fresh perspectives
View every article →
What First-Generation Students Carry That Other People May Not See
First-generation students may be learning college while also translating it for themselves and their families. The pressure is often structural, not evidence that…
College Doesn’t Have to Be the Best Years of Your Life to Matter
College can be meaningful without being magical. You are allowed to have lonely semesters, change direction, make ordinary memories and still have a…
Drinking Culture and the Pressure to Keep Up
College drinking culture can make alcohol feel less like a choice and more like an entrance fee. You are allowed to notice when…
When “Everyone Drinks” Stops Being Harmless
“Everyone drinks” can make consequences easy to explain away. The useful question is not whether your friends drink too; it is whether alcohol…
Vaping, Nicotine and the Stress Loop
Vaping can feel like stress relief while nicotine dependence quietly creates more stress to relieve. Understanding the loop makes it easier to stop…
Cannabis, Coping and Knowing When It Isn’t Helping Anymore
Cannabis can be social, recreational or something a student reaches for when sleep, anxiety or stress gets loud. The useful question is not…
The Morning After: Anxiety, Regret and Alcohol
The morning after drinking can bring physical symptoms, missing pieces of memory and a brutal replay of everything you might have said or…
Why Pulling All-Nighters Can Wreck More Than Your Grade
The all-nighter is treated like a weird academic rite of passage. Your brain, unfortunately, did not sign the tradition agreement. Sleep loss can…
Sleep Is Not Optional, Even During Finals
Finals culture treats sleep like an optional luxury you can borrow against. Your brain is less impressed by the tradition. Protecting sleep is…
More on Mental Health
Explore topic →
When Your Major Starts Feeling Like Your Identity
A major is supposed to describe what you study. Somewhere along the way, it can start describing who you think you are allowed…
Mental Health Awareness Week Is Not a Mental Health Strategy
Posters, panels and green ribbons can start conversations. A campus mental health strategy has to change what students can actually reach, expect and…
What a Healthier Campus Drinking Culture Could Actually Look Like
A healthier drinking culture is not one where everyone suddenly makes the same choice about alcohol. It is one where safety, consent and…
More on Anxiety disorder
Explore topic →
The Morning After: Anxiety, Regret and Alcohol
The morning after drinking can bring physical symptoms, missing pieces of memory and a brutal replay of everything you might have said or…
When Going Home for Break Doesn’t Feel Like Going Home
Campus empties out and everyone starts talking about going home as if home means the same thing to everybody. It doesn’t. Break can…
Transfer Shock Is Real
Transferring can look like a clean academic move on paper and feel like social whiplash in real life. You may know how college…