Editor’s Note Angles 2024
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. – Ursula LeGuin
It is with great pleasure and pride that we publish the seventeenth annual online edition of Angles this fall. Our magazine showcases exemplary student writing in our foundational undergraduate writing courses taught during academic year 2023-24. Our title, Angles, reflects the fact that our students voice different viewpoints on their life experiences as well as social and scientific issues; the name Angles also acknowledges the mathematical dimension of MIT.
Although the pieces within Angles 2024 differ by genre and theme, our writers are united in their deep commitment to the craft of writing and their desire to reach a wider public.
As you peruse this volume, we hope that you will experience the imaginative power of story, the creativity of images, the strength of argument, the beauty of language and the discovery of new knowledge. These essays originate in a range of courses taught within the foundational program: Writing and Rhetoric, Writing and Experience, Expository Writing for Bilingual Students and Science Writing and New Media. Over the summer, our editors work closely with student writers to assist them in polishing their pieces for publication.
Angles 2024 begins with two pieces that focus on MIT as a home and community. The poignant graphic essay “Finding Home in 100 Days” narrates the author’s experience as a first-year student of becoming a member of the MIT community and feeling at home here. “Institute of Hacks…” recounts the joyous and prankish history of MIT hacks and speculates nostalgically about the uncertain future of a dying art at the Institute.
The next group of pieces, all personal narratives, focus on a range of themes: the intergenerational dynamics of family, recovery from trauma and self-doubt and the lives of regular customers at a café. For example, “Celeste in the Woods” transports the reader into the author’s early childhood, experiencing the wonders of the natural world with her grandmother. In “Possible Quotes,” the narrator bravely recounts her recovery from trauma and emergence into a more empowered sense of self. In “Sureshot Coffee (and Friends)”, the writer, a barista at a community café, imaginatively muses about regular customers, whose lives she briefly glimpses as they order their favorite drinks.
Moving into broader social issues, our third group — research essays — is entitled “Self in Society”; one piece critically examines a controversial current issue in the U.S.: book banning. Another essay, “A Harmful Gift,” written by an international student new to American tipping culture, argues that gratuities actually do not help the food service workers they promise to benefit.
Our last category of essays, “Explorations in Science and Medicine,” focuses on contemporary medical and scientific challenges. One piece, “Pixel Perfect…”, critically examines both the assets and drawbacks of using AI to check the validity of radiologists’ readings of patient scans and arrive at more accurate diagnoses. Another essay thoughtfully explores the enormous potential and possible dangers of gene-editing tools, CRISPR/Cas9. “My Medical Journey with POTS” draws upon relevant research to explore issues that emerge from personal experience to try to understand an often misdiagnosed medical condition, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome).
For each essay, we have included the prompt that inspired the piece. This feature will be particularly interesting for instructors seeking to design or modify their own assignments, as well as students working on similar essays.
As Angles 2024 goes to press, we would like to thank Comparative Media Studies/Writing for its continued support of our project, as well as the Basha Fund and numerous other donors who fund Angles. In addition, we deeply appreciate the hard work of the Selection Committee, including Jared Berezin and Elizabeth Fox and the commitment of Andreas Karatsolis, Interim Director of MIT’s Writing, Rhetoric and Professional Communication Program (WRAP). We also wish to thank our student editorial assistant, Paige Bright, as well as Sarah Smith, Jessica Tatlock, Andrew Whitacre and Michael Gravito from CMS/Writing. We are also thankful to Sylvia Figueroa Ortiz, Community Engagement Program Manager at the MIT Libraries, who will co-sponsor our annual Angles celebration this year. Lastly and most importantly, this magazine would not be possible without the very hard work and dedication of our student authors, who carefully polished their essays over the summer for publication.
Happy reading!
Andrea Walsh
Caroline Beimford
Louise Harrison Lepera
Cynthia Taft
Co-editors, Angles 2024