THE GAME OF

Is it better to try and fail than to not try at all? For most of us, every signi cant decision we make takes substantial consideration and thorough evaluation. We weigh the pros and the cons in charts, graphs, and group chats before reaching any semblance of a decision. We pursue scenarios that result in a predetermined outcome. We know where it will take us and how it will all play out. We shy away from things that are not guaranteed and are unfamiliar to us.

But if we refrain from trying new things, how will we grow? Are we locking away versions of ourselves by refraining from taking chances? Sure, not everything goes exactly as we expect it to, but instead of viewing that as a loss, we should focus on what we have learned from the new experience. Life isn’t going to be perfect whether you play it safe or not, so there’s nothing to lose when taking a chance. ose who truly rise above are the ones who roll the dice and place the bets when others are too

WRITTEN BY DANA LIBERTO, LAYNE SCHULTE, & NIKKI COHEN EDITED BY ADDY CROSBY, NOELLE KNOWLTON, & LEXI FERNANDEZ

goal in life, is to have the mindset of no longer gambling happiness. I want to make every hour studying, every moment, and every sip worth it—not just in the long run, but in the present moment. Life is too short to waste it on things that have already been wasted.

As a society, we are motivated by our wants, cravings, and desires. Typically, these are provoked by powerful emotions. We will not stop until the heart is happy, even if that means risking our mental health and well-being. What’s more important: love and passion, or maintaining one’s personal balance? You chase a er someone you’re madly in love with, even if the feeling is not reciprocated. However, to keep ourselves sane, we convince ourselves that they are. We are all guilty of it—it is human nature to follow your heart even if it logically does not make sense.

e worst part is we never learn. e heart wants what it wants in a constant cycle that ends in heartache, even though you envisioned it would end the way you dreamed it would. If we all follow our hearts rather than our head, why is it that we still feel such an ache? Has empathy disappeared?

afraid to even try. e next time you nd yourself at a fork in the road, consider taking the road less traveled. Let’s see where it takes you.

We inherently put all of our eggs in one basket, even if that basket has a massive hole in it, or the eggs are no longer viable. An obvious example of this is when students pursue a degree for a relatively taxing career. It may take until the third year of medical school to realize you are burnt out, exhausted, and unhappy. But you already put three years of e ort in and don’t want that hard work and dedication to go to waste. is is a re ection of the sunk cost fallacy. You could be gambling away a chance for happiness over a chance for success. Less noticeable examples of this concept include buying a cup of co ee that nauseates you at the rst sip, but you spent $6.78 on it! You can’t let that money go to waste. But isn’t the money already wasted? Whether you drink the co ee or not, your $6.78 is gone—already spent. You might as well throw it away or get a new co ee that you can get your calories’ worth of enjoyment. My advice, and current e heart is powerful. It beats over 100,000 times a day. Every cell in your body gets blood from your heart. Your heart continues to beat even when it is no longer within you. How are we supposed to ignore the electrical powerhouse within us, even when the mind is telling us not to? We, as humans, are powerful, hungry animals. Our passion, our love, is what drives us to pursue what is racing deep in our minds. Our hearts cannot be tamed.

SHOOT STAFFERS: Anisa Velazquez, Tia Kearney, Brianna Piderit, Jamie Mandeville BEAUTY: Brynn Lewin, Emily Rojo

MODELS: Shadaria Jackson, Tia Kearney PHOTOGRAPHER: Kevin Farley, Widad Muhammad VIDEOGRAPHER: Mary Tierney LAYOUT: Chloe Evers

WRITTEN BY Noelle Knowlton EDITED BY Lexi Fernandez

I’m all but washed up in the tide of her breathing. Hozier croons a reverent ballad, her siren song. It is like the sea. e sonic soundscape of his whispers caresses her like the lull of the crashing surf, echoing in her mind as if reverberating the distant hum within a conch shell. His rippling falsetto smooths the shore in an opalescent gleam, as glossy as the saltbrined hair slicked down her back, receding into the night.

Engulfed in a stillness, she surrenders herself to the unrelenting sway of waves of waves of waves. Shards of moonlight shatter the current of glassy oblivion as she slips below the surface, gilding her descent into the obsidian abyss in an aura of incandescent silver. Her dress bores up in the ebb and ow of the water, silken and bare in the shadow of his touch. She becomes consumed by the water, lling the recesses of her lungs as he was once all-consuming.

Choking down the water, each swallow sealed her fate. But her watery grave became her refuge.

e part of him that lived within her died And she was born anew in a briny baptism that cleansed her of the lth of his desires.

Drowning.

In the sea of love. Where everyone would love to drown.

ey better bind him to the mast, lest he never returns to Ithaca, as she herself is past the point of no return.

Transformed into a creature of temptation, forged by his image of her.

She serenades him with her homeric hymn, an anthem of femininity like Stevie Nicks’ hypnotic rhapsody, our witchy woman, a modern Circe.

She saunters in the moonlight— a divine, mythical, celestial being bathed in the glow of her muliebrity.

She has reclaimed her allure. Her sensuality. Her womanhood. Her worth.

As she lures him to the water’s edge with this refrain, he presumes that he will be blessed with the opportunity to claim her, to degrade her.

But when they embrace, his fate is sealed in a kiss of death and she drowns him in the very waters that puri ed her of him.

cup unsalted butter,* softened cup firmly packed light brown sugar cup unsalted butter,* softened cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar large eggs (100 grams) tablespoon vanilla bean paste

2/3 cup granulated sugar large eggs (100 grams) tablespoon vanilla bean paste

2/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda

2/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda

3/4teaspoon (2.25 grams) kosher salt cups semisweet chocolate morsels*

3/4teaspoon (2.25 grams) kosher salt cups semisweet chocolate morsels* flour, baking soda, and salt.

Gently stir in chocoa 1-tablespoon scoop, leastn spatula, remove from completely on wire racks. airtight container at room tem-

Sugar

all-purpose flour

Shoot Staffers: Alexa Martin, Vallerie Kolczynski, Kassidy

Saba, Jocelyn Campo

Beauty: Emily Rojo

Model: Mikell Mills

Photographer: Alex Suarez, Jordyn Daigle, Joceyln

Campo

Videographer: Britnee

Blake, Blake Boyar

Layout: Clara Celedon

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