I found many of the readings particularly interesting. I interned in Washington, D.C., this Summer and witnessed issues regarding the Homeless population throughout the city, as well as issues regarding immigration policy (specifically protests regarding the Venezuelan election). I think many of these articles were relevant to what I was hearing and seeing during my internship experience in the city this Summer. 

The first article A Growing Number of Homeless Migrants Are Sleeping on N.Y.C. stressed the significance of issues intertwining and the importance of cultivating supportive cities for migrants. The article emphasizes that both the migrant issue and homelessness issue are prompting an even bigger problem that has pushed both of these issues toward the forefront of the thoughts of each city experiencing homelessness and migrant issues. One particular concern is how we can take care of these issues while ensuring that things are being taken care of in a humane and proper way that does not just disregard the issue nor eradicate people to solve the problem. 

In The article Immigration Wave Delivers Economic Windfall. But there’s a Catch Whereas the previous New York Times article stresses the impact of homelessness, a lack of resources, and an increase in migrants, the second New York Times article emphasizes some of the more positive aspects of immigrants coming in and how they can positively contribute to the economy. One specific quote that stood out to me during the article was, “Many economists say immigration is a net economic positive in the long run” and essentially establishes the idea that more immigrants = more labor = more money and more benefit to the economy. I found this article interesting because it stresses the more positive aspect of immigration and how it can actually positively benefit workers who are already established in their roles and the economy in the U.S. With immigration typically being a very black-and-white debated object, having a middle ground that establishes some sense of both good and evil makes it attractive to digest, interpret, and process for a better understanding of where to stand on the issue and how the problem should be mitigated. 

In the article, YouTube Livestreamers Made Money ‘Hunting’ for Migrants Along the U.S. Border and hearing about this issue and how people are going about making a profit off of watching others be harassed and threatened, I felt particularly concerned and uneasy about how this type of orchestrated money-making scheme is a human rights issue and a violation of the privacy of others. “Far-right extremists have spent the past week harassing and threatening migrants on the United States border with Mexico while making money by live streaming it on YouTube and Rumble.” Seeing others so clearly prioritize their funds and wealth over the immigration issue makes me particularly concerned with how our policy leaders and presidents will solve the problem. If so many people take it seriously, how can we expect it to be unresolved or successful in the long run? 

I also found the last two sources that were a part of our assigned reading, “Following the asylum-seeker odyssey: a timeline” and Bus by Bus, Texas Governor Changed Migration Across the U.S.” did an excellent job at conveying facts, statistics, and numbers that have not necessarily been broadcasted on significant levels. In the latter article, I found it interesting just how extreme this issue is and just how much it is exponentially accelerating. Emphasizing throughout its entirety, it explains just how much the list of cities keeps on expanding and just how many people at a time are traveling on these buses being offered. Even though they are constant and consistent, there are still continuous amounts of people and immigrants trying to get to the US safely and attempting to find some sort of safety. In the article it emphasizes the importance of these bus trips for migrants stating explicitly, “so many of these trips are life changing for those who have them offered.” With only select people having them offered, it stresses the significance of luck in these processes and just how promising it is for those who have the opportunity to travel to the US via one of these bus services.

Growing up in Texas, I’ve met people who have been bused to other cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and I’ve witnessed many face discrimination based on their nationality. Seeing these realities up close has shaped how I view the stories surrounding immigration.

In New York, many homeless migrants sleep outside rather than in shelters because they feel safer in the open. One of them said, “Here we all take care of each other.” This distrust in government represents a fear that many immigrants share, coming from countries where the government has failed them before. It reminds me of stories I’ve heard from people in Texas who share similar fears, avoiding shelters or government assistance out of concern for their safety or risk of deportation. This mirrors the broader sentiment of vulnerability many migrants feel even after arriving in the U.S.

Busing migrants to cities like Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago has put strain on these cities, and more recently, Boston, Detroit, and Albuquerque have been affected. New York City has spent more than $5.1 billion to manage the surge of immigrants, most from Venezuela, with reports even saying the city has paid some to leave. In Texas, I’ve met people who were directly impacted by this strategy, some of whom had no idea where they were headed when they boarded the buses. Their American Dream, much like the one portrayed in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, becomes a story of hardship and exploitation rather than opportunity.

In New York, the overwhelming number of migrants has created confusion about how many buses are coming and when. The city requested $315 billion but only received $31 billion, showing how unprepared cities are for this surge. I’ve seen the disorganization firsthand in Texas, where there are often gaps in how migrants are handled, with no clear guidance on where they will go or how they will be supported once they arrive.

One story that disturbed me to my core involved the exploitation of migrants on platforms like YouTube, where people harass migrants for entertainment. In Texas, the desperation is real—crossing the border through a desert where dehydration and death are constant threats. So to see people monetizing this suffering, while harassing migrants, is horrifying. In one story, a person stabbed and shot a barrel of water meant to save lives along the border. This hits especially close to home because organizations like Humane Borders work tirelessly to maintain water along the border to prevent migrant deaths. Seeing that work sabotaged by individuals for personal gain is infuriating.

The contrast between how different migrant groups are treated is stark. Ukrainian migrants have been welcomed more easily, reflecting underlying racial and geopolitical biases. The U.S. government responded quickly to the Ukrainian crisis with programs like United by Ukraine, but Central and South American migrants continue to face delays and harsher restrictions. In Texas, I’ve seen how people from Mexico and Central America are treated with suspicion and judged more harshly than migrants from other parts of the world.

I find Governor Abbott’s bus policy fascinating. It seems that his aim is to impose the realities of irregular migration on Democratic cities that would have otherwise been insulated by geography from feeling its effects. It was interesting to note in the Bus by Bus NYT piece that Abbott had chosen the destination cities because they were run by Democrats who support Biden’s border policies. We talk about NIMBYism in the context of land development, but it seems to me that there is a fair amount of migration NIMBYism in the US too. On one level, Abbott has successfully highlighted the hypocrisy of those who supported looser border policies for Texas when they did not feel the effects. Now, there is broader support in these democratic cities for curbing migration. I noted in Donaldson’s timeline of the migration crisis in NYC that Eric Adams, at one point, said that the migrant issue would “destroy New York City”. So, Abbott has been very successful in his goal and on some level, I think there is a moral case that the burden of migration should be shared across the country. I thought the detail of the Cuban migrant who said that the Texan Governor was “very generous” for the bus ticket was wonderful. However, we must also acknowledge that Abbott seems to have malicious intent. It was striking that Texan officials do not provide any warning or notice when the buses are going to arrive. Moreover, they seem to be actively trying to inconvenience the city authorities. For example, when Mayor Adams instituted his order that buses had to provide some notice, the buses started dropping people at train stations in NJ. 

I was also curious about the shelter system in NY. Not only has the migrant crisis forced the city to alter its obligations to provide shelter to all, but the city is also tearing down migrant encampments that are springing up around the place. This reminds me very much of what is happening in northern France. There seems to be an implicit desire in this policy that the migrants will simply vanish. Where are the migrants supposed to go then? In reality, I think such policies are just making life more miserable for them. I read the comments on the NYT article about homeless migrants, and I was struck by the lack of sympathy for the migrants and the general view of them as a nuisance. I imagine that some people in NYC who condemn Abbott’s treatment of the migrants at the border are not thrilled about the migrants in NYC. 

I found the report on the “illegal hunters” streaming their content on Youtube very distrubing. I think there is a generalised dehumanisation of migrants happening in lots of Western countries. When people are consistently talked about as “illegals” or “aliens” and otherwise dehumanised, it follows that they should not enjoy the same basic rights or decent treatment that we would expect for ourselves. 

Finally, I have been thinking a lot about why migrants from Ukraine got such good treatment in the US and, indeed, in the UK while migrants from other countries do not. On a fundamental level, there is very little that distinguishes many Ukrainian refugees from many Middle Eastern, African, and South American migrants to Europe and the US in the past few years. I think racism and assumptions about Ukrainians’ potential to integrate are at the root of much of the lack of protest against Ukrainian refugees.

Bruno Verduzco, a Princeton student with roots in Mexico City, has quickly become a standout figure on campus, known for his deep passion for politics, human rights, and the arts. As the Publicity Chair for *Más Flow* and an active leader in the NGO *TECHO México*, Bruno has demonstrated a unique ability to connect with people and inspire change. Despite his last name, Verduzco, meaning “dark green,” his personality is anything but – described by Vicky Caballero Quinn as “dependable, energetic, and bubbly,” he radiates positivity wherever he goes.

Reflecting on their first true connection, Amanda Hugas recalls, “I had seen Bruno around at various events and social gatherings during our freshman year at Princeton, but we really connected during Más Flow auditions. Despite his tall, lanky frame, he had a confident salsa step, and his positive energy and smile immediately made me feel we’d click.” This energy carried over as they spent time practicing together, bonding over their shared love for dance.

Beyond his lively presence in group settings, Bruno is also the kind of person you can sit with for hours in deep conversation. He’s the kind of person you could speak to for hours, and you can feel that he genuinely cares about people on a fundamental level. Our coffee chats have lasted for hours, and moments lying on Cannon Green just talking have made me feel truly safe and secure in our friendship.

Bruno’s dedication to social causes extends beyond campus involvement. With years of experience at TECHO México, where he has led initiatives from hurricane relief efforts to housing development, he is committed to making a tangible difference in the fight against poverty in Latin America. While sometimes uncertain about the future, Bruno’s passion for art, politics, and advocacy continues to drive him forward as he seeks to blend these interests into a career in international human rights.

Sources:

Amanda Hugas

Vicky Caballero Quinn

Lizet Rodriguez

Bruno Verduzco

Her eyes widened when she heard his name. “Of course I know Ollie,” she replied with a bright smile on her face, “he was the most memorable conversation I had during bicker two years ago.” That was Hutshie’s reaction as I passed her in the aisles of the Ustore on Sunday night, doing what appeared to be her weekly errands. To those who know him, Ollie De Bono is one of the kindest souls on the Princeton campus. In his Instagram profile picture, he wears a green cap with the words “Ivy Club Princeton” embroidered on it. The color of the hat blends in perfectly with the background, a combination of wood brown and natural green. His t-shirt is unpretentious and reflects his warm smile that radiates a welcoming casualness. His modesty is actually a quality that stands out as one of his defining characteristics, according to his friends. His girlfriend, Callie, noted that he would almost always be “too modest” to reveal the parts of himself that are much harder to fathom and unknown to most people he meets. Behind that quiet gaze is a world traveler who has accumulated countless anecdotes over the years during his many international excursions. With his best friend Nelson, he hiked the Camino de Santiago—specifically, the Camino del Norte—a 500-mile network of pilgrimage routes in northwestern Spain known for its challenging elevation changes. Nelson recalls the gratitude he felt for his positive spirit and encouraging attitude throughout their hike, which allowed them to rise to the challenge despite the difficulties they faced. How endearing! Wait until you hear that travel is more than just a way to see the world for him—it’s a way to give back. Callie highlighted how, throughout his travels, Ollie has maintained a deep commitment to service. In Sri Lanka, he “helped an orphanage” and in France, he “took care of the disabled.” At the heart of all his adventures is a sensitivity that his musical taste is perhaps best able to capture. The pieces of his life could have been the soundtrack to Indiana Jones, but instead they are the sounds of “artists like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Ray” of whom Ollie seems to be a “die-hard fan.” With Ollie as a student, this semester’s journalism class promises to be a real treat!

I loved how these articles (and video) took on similar topics – comparisons and analyses of Trump and Biden’s immigration policies – and still felt like vastly differently articles. I’m continuing to approach our weekly readings as “example of craft,” (and then waffling between that and whether I should think about policy, but whatever) so I was focused on the way they all transmitted their information. The first article, which takes on a historical perspective, was really powerful in building out patterns and providing a strong argument for why Trump’s plan won’t work. But at the same time, there were ambiguities, and that historical focus felt unexciting if that’s fair to say – not boring by any means, but I can’t imagine it captured public attention. Jonathan Blitzer’s article, meanwhile, did a great job of politically analyzing. It used lots of data, maintained clarity through well-defined points, and also had some entertainment factor. The article written by Taladrid, however, was my favorite – and I realize the goal of these readings isn’t value judgment, but I only point that out to notice my own taste in writing. I found the narrative about Bárcena, whose description could’ve been a profile, really compelling. It entertained me, and at the same time the narrative was used to tell a fantastic story about the border and about US-Mexico relations. I was particularly impressed by the pangs of data which pierced the narrative flow – references to Biden’s border-enforcement budget compared to his budget for root causes of migration, “we’re trading one and a half million dollars per minute.” In my own writing, I realize I tend towards preferring narrative, but I want to take the lesson of purposeful data from this article. Using tight, concise, and sparse data points managed to make a deeper impact than a paragraph of data would have. Just something for me to think of going forward.

The monetary/political aspect of the border really caught my attention this week. By highlighting trade-relations between Mexico and the United States, I felt like Taladrid brought up the often-unseen part of politics – an affirmation of how imaginary harsh border policies are, his article showed that mutual exchange is necessary for the survival of both countries. In this context, “closing the border,” and other enforcement techniques felt as political as López Obrador’s new airport. I felt like Blitzer’s article did an amazing job of showing the border as a political issue too; seeing Republican pushback against Biden’s border bill, when it’s something that they would support if one of their politicians raised it, shows the absurdity of the political game. More than anything, it maybe shows the benefit Trump and other Republicans get from illegal immigration – they can mobilize the topic, and therefore use it to gain more votes.

After Tuesday’s debate, it felt impossible to read these articles without thinking about Kamala’s insertion into this conversation. When immigration came up as a topic, I remember feeling the air leave the room I was in – there’s an understanding (one shown by Taladrid in Mexico’s double-bind, where they fear helping Trump get reelected) that any conversation around immigration will go Trump’s way. Kamala managed to rope-a-dope, which the media loved, but not before making certain statements about border security. The parallels between her and Biden were clear, and it felt, again, like a very political move. My final comment is that I find it super interesting how, when immigrants from other countries come to the US, those countries feel the pressure. While Mexico tries not to make their border policies based solely on American interests, I was wondering how Haitian news outlets might be reacting to Trump’s comments about Springfield.

Frankie Solinsky Dyurea pulls out a Tunisian Blend Camel cigarette from his backpack, a habit he picked up during his summer trip to Morocco as a Princeton junior studying Arabic. Alone in Morocco and excited by the prospect of cheap cigarettes, Frankie says he wanted to act on impulse.

“For a good amount of my life I did feel controlled,” Frankie says. “Trying to find independence now when I feel like I had it restricted as a kid,” he adds.

With the cigarette still in hand, he pulls out his student ID, tracing it with his fingers. Occupying the entire width of the laminated card is his name: “Robert Frank Solinsky Dyurea.”

“I’ve been correcting people when they say ‘Frankie Dyurea,’” he explains. “I wanted to claim my full name.”

Despite his quest for independence from his parents, Frankie is proud of the four names that bind his identity. The outer corners of his name—Robert Dyurea—hold the memory of a Catholic priest who broke celibacy in secret to marry and father a child, Paul Dyurea, Frankie’s father; the inside—Frank Solinsky—holds the memory of a man, once destitute, who worked to send his daughter, Susan Fischer Solinsky, Frankie’s mother, to Princeton.

Frankie stands at a crossroads. On one hand, he values his independence; on the other, tinges of his hometown in Burlingame, California, follow him to Princeton, 2,900 miles away.

Paul’s earliest memory of Frankie’s thirst for independence comes when Frankie was just seven, on a ferry ride during a family vacation to Italy. Paul and Susan, seeing Frankie sitting on the deck by himself, decided to join him. “We probably grabbed him and pulled him over,” Paul recalls. “He got up and sat on the other side.”

Frankie doesn’t remember the ferry ride or much of Italy, but his parents have told him the story enough times for it to stick.

What he does remember, however, is the freedom that his parents gave him to pave his academic path at every juncture. His earliest decision came at five years old when his parents managed to get him redistricted to a Spanish immersion public school. Frankie was given the final say on whether he would enroll.

Decisions continued. Paul recalls a fourth grade Frankie after an admissions interview at the Synapse School. “I know you told me not to set my expectations—but I’ve set my expectations and I want to go here,” Paul recalls Frankie insisting. Frankie was admitted, and completed middle school there.

But when it came to college, Frankie says he wasn’t excited when he was accepted to his mother’s alma mater; in fact, he hadn’t even wanted to apply to Princeton—it was Susan who made him.

“I was controlled into applying,” Frankie says.

“Antebellum”—that’s the word Frankie chose to describe Princeton when he first toured it with his mother. “I didn’t want to follow in her shadow and I thought that that was what it was when I got in,” he says.

“I got in here,” he says referring to Princeton, “and Columbia and I think if I hadn’t gotten into Columbia I wouldn’t have gone here.”

“It affirmed that I was personally capable of doing this; that I,” he searches for the right word, “deserved to be here beyond the fact that my mom had gone here.”

It took Frankie three weeks to choose between Princeton and Columbia. Still, Frankie involved his family in his decision. “I ran the decision by a lot of people in my family, because I have a hard time making decisions,” Frankie admits. “It was tough and it felt like an important one.”

Now, in the place that Frankie disdainfully refers to as the “bubble,” he sits holding the names of his two grandfathers inked onto his Princeton ID: “Robert Frank Solinsky Dyurea.”

Rev. Robert F. Dyurea was a Catholic priest. He married Luilan Dyurea, a nurse at the hospital where he worked and, two years later, fathered Paul—both in secret. Marriage violated the church’s celibacy law and Rev. Dyurea risked excommunication. In 1971, despite overwhelming opposition from his congregation Rev. Dyurea was excommunicated, according to the New York Times. Paul was only five.

The scandal caused a rift. “The Duryea side, I’ve been estranged from,” Frankie explains.

The Solinsky name carries another story—Frankie is the sixth “Frank” in his maternal family to bear the name. “The Solinsky name comes from Count Solinsky,” Frankie explains. “They called him the Count, but no one knows if he was a real count with royal blood or if Americans were just racist,” he laughs.

“My grandpa grew up shit poor in California,” he adds. Despite that, Frank worked to send his daughter, Susan, to Princeton. Susan is now working on her third start-up, according to Paul.

“She goes to all these conferences and acts as a mentor to a lot of women founders,” Frankie explains. “I very much respect her and I think she’s incredible.”

Frankie gets his height, all 6’1’’, from the Solinsky’s and the Duyrea’s. He still holds the Lick-Wilmerding High School high jump record and was Captain of his Varsity Jumps Team, according to his profile on NCSA College Recruiting.

But for a long time, Frankie went by “Frankie Dyurea.” The byline on his Nassau Weekly publications—of which Frankie has been a contributor since freshman year of college—still read, “Frankie Dyurea.”

His choice to reclaim “Solinsky” coincided with his maternal grandmother’s passing. “I was boarding the plane to Argentina when they called me to say that she had her second stroke—and there was nothing I could do,” Frankie recalls.

“It changed me.”

“I feel a lot of pride for the Solinsky part,” Frankie says. For Frankie, the memory of his grandfather growing up with nothing to eat is close enough. “I don’t want to fall back,” he adds. “I take a lot of pride in the fact that my grandpa figured his stuff out, and was able to put his daughter through college.”

“My mom succeeded,” he adds.

Susan would graduate Princeton in 1986, writing her thesis on Spain, under the Department of Romance Languages and Literature, according to the Princeton Mudd Manuscript Library. Now, a comparative literature major and Latin American studies minor, these are interests that resonate with Frankie 38 years later.

“I get my mom’s interests,” Frankie says. “As much as I try to resist it, I’m a lot of her.”

“I still resist it,” he admits, “but a lot less now.”


Sources:
1. https://nassauweekly.com/byline/frankie-duryea/
2. https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-track-recruiting/california/san-francisco/lick-wilmerding-high-school/frankie-solinksy-duryea
3. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/16/archives/parishioners-rally-behind-priest-who-married-excommunicated-cleric.html
4. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/robert-francis-duryea-2941273.php
5. https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp01t435gd59v?mode=simple
6. Frankie Solinsky Dyurea
7. Paul Dyurea
8. Harry Gorman

I found this week’s readings interesting in the context of our discussion with Matthew Longo last week and his reference to the idea that people will go where the money is if the money does not go where the people are. The statement from economist Jean-Baptiste Say has an air of inevitability about it, as though it was a law of nature. The idea of migration being a force of nature is echoed in Taladrid’s pieces that we read for this week. In the Taladrid, former Mexican Ambassador to the US Arturo Sarukhán says that you ‘can’t enforce your way out of a migration crisis’” because the people and smugglers will simply find alternative routes. Indeed, as Lopez Obrador says, “people don’t willingly leave their own homes… they do it out of necessity.” The US has committed funding to development in Central and South America, but US politicians are under pressure to solve the problem now, which means enforcement. As a result, the US government spends much more money on the federal agencies that enforce immigration laws and guard the border. They treat the symptoms, not the cause.

Although I don’t think the question was asked explicitly in Taladrid’s piece, as I was reading, I asked myself whether the situation was sustainable. Moreover, if the situation were unsustainable, what would give out? Matthew Longo alluded to this last week, and I am inclined to agree: liberal democracy would give out. If the whac-a-mole of enforcement does not work, then many will see the immediate solution (the solution for the next election cycle) as a bigger hammer or a hammer wielded with less restraint. This is how we arrived at the “museum of deterrence”, that is, the wire, barriers, and blades on the Rio Grande, S.B.4, and Trump’s plan to deport millions of migrants when he enters office. 

I am also interested in performative action in migration policy. Specifically, I am interested in performative cruelty. Operation Wetback, as Burgess outlines, was largely performative in its outcome, even if its intention was substantive. The government claimed to have deported more than a million illegal immigrants, but the figures didn’t add up. Moreover, many of these deportations were coercions to leave the country rather than legal deportations. Burgess also points to this evidence that US citizens were caught up in the operation. The purported success of Operation Wetback lay in the Bracero program, which provided an alternative route for migrants to migrate legally to work nine months a year on farms. But politically, Operation Wetback allowed Eisenhower to say that he was getting tough on illegal migration. We might note, however, that the performative action came at the cost of a chip on the rule of law in the US.

It seems that creating safe routes for migration, does dissuade people from coming dangerously. In addition to the Bracero program, the parole program in certain South American countries that resulted in a 90% drop in irregular migration from those countries. Someone who supported Operation Wetback might say that there is a crucial difference between people coming legally and illegally, even if it results in the same de facto outcome. However, speaking from the UK, temporary migrant workers are just as much an “other” to be blamed in times of economic depression as irregular migrants. For example, after Brexit, a political event inspired in part by legal rather than illegal migration, farmers’ crops rotted in fields because the seasonal workers from Romania and Poland could not come any more. If migration policy is purely motivated by racism, then that policy is a threat to liberal democracy and the economy of that country.

When walking past the construction site that will be Hobson College, Allison Jiang passes a sign along the fences: “Princeton Builds Access. Access Builds Serendipitous Collisions.” The wording has become somewhat of a joke among Princeton students – two years ago, every senior member of the Tower eating club used the phrase “serendipitous collisions” in their thesis.

But for Allison, the meaning rings true.

“I like to stick with that idea [of serendipitous collisions], because I feel like a lot of the friendships and connections you make here, they just kind of happen, you happen to be in the right place with the right people,” she told The Roth Report.

In fact, she says she has made most of her friends at Princeton through random, chance encounters.

“When I first got here, I had the mentality of ‘I’ll meet people through classes and clubs,’” she said. “But strangely, I found that most of the people that I talked to have kind of just been random and in passing.”

That hasn’t always been true for Allison, though. She was raised in downtown Chicago before moving to Shanghai with her family at eight years old. She went to a British International School before going to a boarding school in Massachusetts, the Groton School, for high school. Though she says that she made lifelong connections at Groton, Allison says that with about 80 people in her grade, there weren’t enough people to have those chance encounters.

“[The social environment was] almost like everybody knows somebody, or there are a lot of students who like their parents or teachers at the school,” she told the Report. “So I felt like everybody was very interlocked.”

But Princeton is large enough to foster those chance encounters that turn into lifelong friendships. And most of those have to do with a shared love of music. Allison has played violin since she was four years old, and she sings as well. She is part of multiple music groups on campus, including the chamber music group OPUS, the a capella group Shere Khan, and her own band, Pocketbook.

In fact, Pocketbook – made of Allison, keys player Simon Marotte, and drummer Ryder Walsh – started because of a serendipitous collision.

“I was in a freshman seminar with [Simon], and we had randomly jammed out once in NCW common room too but reconnected during a music class,” Allison said. “[I] started singing with them and it stuck!”

Simon agrees that it was serendipity that brought the band together.

“That encounter at the piano was pretty serendipitous. We both loved this song called ‘Best Part’ by Daniel Caesar. I’ve always loved playing on piano, and she sang it really well. And I think that was really serendipitous and like a motivating factor for me in wanting to work with her. But also, I feel like it’s kind of in the spirit of jazz to like the spontaneity of that.”

Pocketbook is slated to be the in-house band for Princeton’s late-night show, All-Nighter, this year, which the band is especially excited about. They perform original songs, covers, and improvised songs.

Another one of her serendipitous friends, Sophie Zhang, says seeing Pocketbook perform is one of her favorite memories of Allison.

“I remember, me and my friend were there listening to the song, and our jaws both just dropped because it was so unexpectedly amazing,” she told the Report.

Sophie and Allison knew each other tangentially from OPUS, but became close through a series of what Allison says are random events.

“We overlapped because one of their friends is in my writing seminar, and then we started hanging out more,” Allison said. “And then we texted a little bit, like to grab a meal, completely separate from that club. And now we kind of like randomly happen to be in the same dating club, so we’re hanging out more, just kind of a random turn of events.”

Sophie also said that their friendship came about through a serendipitous collision.

“I always thought that she would be the type of person that I would want to be friends with but we never really got a chance to connect,” Sophie said. “When I first met her, we just slowly got to know each other well. And I don’t even know how it happened, but, we just kind of bumped into each other, decided randomly to start talking to each other, and we really enjoyed each other’s company. So we see each other pretty often.”

Another close friend, Shravan Suri, also says he got close to Allison through random encounters after first meeting in Shere Khan.

“I ran into her a lot randomly, and so I think because of that, we just got closer through running into each other often,” Shravan told the Report.

Shravan says he and Allison also grew close on a Shere Khan tour in addition to getting meals together. They plan to spend Thanksgiving break together in Chicago – all in a friendship that happened through random encounters. Shravan says the change encounters outside of Shere Khan have been instrumental to their friendship. 

“We have completely different majors. We don’t have too much that would have brought us together in the same way that like acapella has,” he said.

As Princeton builds Hobson College, one of its focuses is “how the college will house spaces of creativity and serendipitous collision.” Allison and her close relationships are prime examples of how those collisions can turn into lifelong friendships.

A set of readings/videos that were fact-based was really refreshing after a week of mass spreading of misinformation surrounding immigration in the US. I’d like to talk about this more in class a little bit, since it was just beginning when we last held class, but I think the story of the Haitian migrants in Springfield, OH is incredibly important right now.

I mean, just this morning, J.D. Vance was pressed on CNN about spreading that misinformation. This was the interaction:

VANCE: “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the Ohio senator said.

CNN’S DANA BASH: “You just said that this is a story that you created.”

VANCE, “It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies. Her policies did that. But yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris’ policies.”

Let’s sit with that for a second.

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

He tried to spin the comment into “creating focus,” but it has been proven time and time again that this story is false. And now those migrants are fearing for their lives, there are bomb threats and acid throwing, and the Proud Boys allegedly showed up. The power of misinformation is really on display here.

Ok, I’ll be done with that for now, because these readings laid out the facts. I really appreciated the fact-based argument from the Center for Migration Studies of New York. Using statistics and charts lays out the arguments clearly – I thought the economic impact was particularly well-explained as it pertains to the workforce.

I also appreciated Burgess’s comparison of Trump’s mass deportation plan to Operation Wetback, and why Trump’s plan would differ drastically from the operation he seeks to replicate on a much larger scale – how it “misrepresents the context and impact of Eisenhower’s policy while ignoring the vastly changed landscape of U.S. immigration today.”

Blizter also uses a fact-based argument to say that Biden’s executive order is more likely a political move to show Republicans that he is also tough on the border – as the PBS News video stated – even as it is likely ineffective and so vastly different from the bipartisan border-security bill that he had pushed for: “From a policy perspective, though, it’s difficult to see how this order would concretely address a sudden, or even a gradual, jump in new arrivals.”

Blitzer also gives a great summary of the situation as the election nears: “Judging from the polls, voters remain deeply confused about what Biden can realistically control regarding the forces of global migration. Republicans are capitalizing on the situation, and Trump is using language that’s grown openly racist and fascistic.”

Immigration came up a lot in the debate between Trump and Harris, and Trump received pushback for pushing his followers to block the bipartisan legislation. We shall see if Harris also wants to carry out the border policies that Biden did.