Here’s a quick update of what’s going on right in our lives. The two week grind period between thanksgiving break and winter break is no joke, but we got this, we hope.

Everyone has a different opinion regarding the "n word" it’s important that all voices are heard. This episode is an inside scoop of a white sophomore on Middlebury's campus and his experiences with the word ni**a.

A major questions on many college campuses for students is, “Are you allowed to say ni**a if you’re not black?” It's both a complicated and simple question. But here are our separate opinions on this topic. Stay tuned for next week's episode where we have a guest speak about his opinion as well… there are numerous opinions and they all deserved to be unpacked and heard.

SHOUTOUT TO ALL THE BLACK WOMEN IN THIS CRAZY WORLD!!! A black women embodies resilience in the face of systemic oppression, gender discrimination, defies stereotypes portrayed in media, and much more. Through all of these burdens in society, we're suppose to be unbothered and strong. But.. when a black male tells you to stop being strong without taking a second to realize WHY we have to be so strong hurts. We have something to say about that...

As Middlebury students we are given an opportunity to choose one class to take for the whole month of January. This is a very stressful time because we have to wake up at the crack of dawn to select this singular course. It creates a big dilemma because we are never sure which class we should devote a whole month to. Do we choose a class that helps us fulfill a major requirement or one that generally sparks our interest?

Although studies have shown that working in group projects are extremely beneficial and fun, we think they bring frustration instead of encouragement. So, STOP IT.

It’s a little crazy how apparent black culture is on our campus. For example, we hear rap playing every Friday and Saturday, students choosing to speak with a certain vernacular and more. But whats unfortunate is that students don’t ever want to talk about the issues in the black community. Maybe we should address the things they enjoy rapping along to, such as struggling and hustling.

We sat down and had an honest conversation about dealing with our hair in Vermont. Having our hair natural in a secluded area is difficult at times. We discussed how the standards of beauty sometimes trump our confidence to wear out our natural hair.

Meet our special guest today, Tré! Tré is a sophomore at Middlebury College who shed some light on the challenge of being black and queer on campus.

“You have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have.” It’s hard being a person of color in a society that has the ideology of “white being right.” Growing up as a person of color you learn off the bat that the time and dedication we put in our goals take a lot more than meeting the minimum standards. My mindset (Destini) is no matter how much encouragement we get as black people to work harder we can’t ignore the systemic hurdles that impede our success on an everyday basis. Megan’s mindset is to always look at the positive in every obstacle. Whose mindset do you agree with? Meg or D?