Author: Noah Tesfaye

For the past six or seven weeks, I’ve been commuting three days a week to Oakland for an internship. And it’s been tough. I’m not going to act like I had the greatest time in the world going an hour and a half twice a day. Nonetheless it’s been well worth it and I’ve enjoyed every day at work.

What I wanted to talk about today is the form of media I want to dive more into: podcasts. When you have a commute like I have had for the past month and a half, and you’re too tired to completely concentrate on a book, podcasts are the go-to medium to learn and pick up tidbits of information. And in many ways, podcasts made my commute genuinely interesting and spark new ways of thinking every day.

“The Daily” by the New York Times has been the very epitome of this. You get twenty minutes of information about what happened the previous day or about a relevant topic that you may have not learned the story about. It’s concise, to the point, and leaves. That’s what makes it such a great podcast and it truly makes the most of this platform. That’s why it’s consistently one of the most listened to podcast everyday on iTunes.

There’s “Still Processing,” my favorite newly discovered podcast, also by the New York Times. Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris are two black culture writers and they pick apart media with an eye for its historical and cultural significance for black people. They make me giddy and so excited about all of the references they make throughout the show and their positivity always lifted me up when I was having a bad day.

The power of this medium extends beyond just information-focused podcasts like “More Perfect” and “FiveThirtyEight Politics.” When I want a laugh, I listen to “Bodega Boys” by Desus and Mero, or “The Brilliant Idiots” with Charlamagne Tha God and Andrew Shultz. If I want a deep dive on hip hop, I’ll put on “Rap Radar” or my favorite, “The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory and Mal.” Tech? How about “The Vergecast” and “9to5Mac Happy Hour.” No one does long-form conversations like Joe Rogan either on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” You kind of see where I’m going?

There’s a podcast for nearly any type of topic, which gives each one, almost like a YouTube channel, its own personality. Depending on the mood, I’d just throw on a podcast and learn, laugh, or get frustrated at the world, without anyone understanding why my facial expression would change so much on the BART. Each podcast I tune into helps engage me in different ways and caters towards different interests. The result? I’ve always got something to listen to and learn.

Podcasts are the perfect medium because it allows you to work on other things while consuming information. It allows people to do physical work, whether it is going to the gym or commuting, and still learn something new. From driving to walking your dog, the medium can be used during lots of times throughout the day. I want to further explore the medium this year with my school paper and have longer discussions, or even short daily podcasts about what’s going on everyday and publish them to Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud. I can imagine doing investigate pieces, where we have the people involved in stories talking to our audience. You can have more powerful stories and new ways to share those stories, and this is the part of the future in news.

And do you want to know the best thing about the platform? It’s not oversaturated! This means that anyone can create a podcast about anything and you still could attract a substantial following if you have great content. It’s better than YouTube in this way, and most of all, you do not have to have the 100% focus of your audience. It just makes sense to create this form of content in 2018, and who knows, maybe someone reading this may just become the next Joe Rogan. I’ll see you all next week…

One of the things that terrifies me the most is the idea of “peaking” at a young age. It scares the living hell out of me. Whenever I hear the story from anyone about how high school “was the best four years of my life,” I don’t know what to say. Don’t get me wrong, that is totally a fair and valid opinion to have, but I just don’t want that. It’s kind of like you’re trying to just say that you passed the easiest level of Super Mario Bros and just giving up after that believing your joy cannot get any better.

I dream about undergrad, grad school, and so much more. I want to live a life of constant evolution, always looking to make the most out of all the opportunities I have. That’s what makes this statement about high school or college being “the greatest time of my life” so worrisome. What are you living to achieve if you’ve already reached your peak? What do you want to do for your future if you’ve already gotten to the best part?

I’m going to come off as incredibly crazy when I say this, but it’s the truth: I want to peak at the age of 65. Yup. 65 years old. Six and a half decades. Allow me to explain.

Every single day, I am always trying to get better, at anything. This continual hope to get better at something, whether it means reading a chapter of a book, to researching on a topic that I’m passionate about, or anything in between, is crucial. I may not be doing anything that I’m particularly interested in, but if it is pushing me further towards my goals, that’s what I do.

I also try to set goals that are almost bigger than life. If it will take nearly my whole life to achieve them, I know that my journey to achieving my “peak” is something constantly evolving. It gives me something to always wake up to and try to be prepared to be the best I can. Every single day is a chance to further the chase. So even in the worst of days, I can still see that goal and be excited about where I want to be one day.

I don’t really know where this belief in my head originated from. It could have been one of those Gary Vaynerchuk videos that I may have stumbled upon, or it may have just been reading history and seeing great people do incredible things beyond what was considered a human’s “prime.” And it just made sense. Why not just continue to build up your journey all the way to the point where you know the goal is near impossible, but the path to this goal is the true accomplishment?

Maybe having this goal of becoming my best at 65 years old is irrational (it probably is). But at the very least, I still believe that this goal is the reason why I want to make the most of the opportunities I have. It’s what keeps me ticking at all times. And sure, even though no one may understand why I think this way, I find it to almost be a reason to justify why I think this way.

Reaching my very best at 65 probably is an understatement though. I mean my idol, the Notorious RBG (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), is writing some of her best descents yet, most of which has come after that age. She’s such an inspiration for always pursuing what you love and working as hard as you can when people expect you to not be as passionate as you once were. I want to be able to enjoy whatever I may do at that point in my life and I want to appreciate it as much as I ever had.

So, age 65 is when I want to accomplish the final goal. So I’ll just continue to work hard knowing that I’m still more than forty years away from the beginning of the end of this journey. See you all next week…

I’m here, sitting at my favorite coffee shop, writing what I think is going to be another blog post, amongst people that I have no idea who they are. But I do know that I always see the same people around here, which is kind of reassuring I guess. The one thing that still blows my mind, the one thing that I still don’t get is that I don’t see any more black people, no one else like me. I literally almost break my neck whenever I see another black person here. It’s like a shot of pure energy hits my spine.

This lack of people like me, other African Americans, has been a weekly occurrence for sure. I mean, when you really think about it, I always find it really frustrating to be that one person that people will always look at and judge, but I’ve gotten used to it, or at least I think I’ve gotten over it. Where am I going with all of this? Well, this week I really got to start reading a new book. Initially, I thought I would be getting a story about a movement and the reasonings behind that movement. But what I got, what I’m still learning even only through six or so chapters, is that there are people who are like me out there. I am of course talking about this book: The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley.

I bought this book in the stash I bought in New York back in February that I so often refer to. I’ve always wanted to read it. I knew it was an important piece of literature: that it was able to redefine the way so many would think. As a young black man, I wanted to be able to discover something new about who I am, what this heritage I am now a part of really means. This is what I wanted. What I didn’t realize necessarily, and maybe even not yet, is that I don’t just want to read this book, but I need to read this book.

Every single book I’ve read in English in high school has been written from every perspective except for a free-thinking, free-spirited African American. When people talk about “To Kill a Mockingbird,” I reckon that while I may have enjoyed the story at the time reading it, I find the story to be less inspiring now in hindsight. It is a book about the white man saving black people, which although I understand in parts its sincerity, I can’t help but look at it as a story as such. The black people in the community were helpless, had no real power, had no substantial reason to live aside from their own families.

That is why I am so profoundly struck with such awe at Malcolm X’s biography: it bluntly tells you how he feels to be himself in America, unapologetically. It doesn’t give me the necessary reflection I want to hear within books that I enjoy, but it tells a story that I somehow understand. I understand his frustration to constantly be forced to appease people that we KNOW are not good for us. I understand how he knows he deserves more in life, deserves to be a bigger, more powerful person. I understand his unabashed love for New York City, and specifically Harlem. Everything he says, no matter how bizarre, no matter how absurd, I get it. This is the first time since Between the World and Me that I’ve been able to read a book that really struck to me personally where I can really see why he feels the way he does.

It’s kind of weird to connect with someone that for so long was seen, and is still seen today, as an extremist. I’m still only so far in the book, and to be completely honest, I cannot wait to finish reading. But it does shock me that one cannot at least take the time to understand where he has come from. It’s a story so powerful that you cannot even begin to realize that it really did happen. But it did. And he lived fortunately long enough to tell it.

I don’t know how the story will end. I mean, I do know how it ends, but I want to see where he ended up, what his state of mind was at the end of this journey, of this path to self-discovery. But if there is anything that I am most excited about by reading this piece of history is to learn how I can apply some of his own messages to my life. How can I learn to become someone who truly focuses on what he believes in? How can I be a better person? How can I make sure that I can uplift those around me? All of these questions are goals that I have and that I hope to fulfill in the future once I finish reading. Now, I’m going to go back to finishing the book and I’ll see you all here next week…

If I could describe being both Ethiopian and Eritrean in one word, based on the history, it would be conflict. Ever since we rose up and defeated the communist regime known as the Derg, Ethiopia and Eritrea have fought over regions they share borders, especially at Badme, a town in Eritrea. For the past twenty years, there has been unofficial war between the two nations, which cost the lives of over 70,000 people.

For a brief recent history, the main jist is that the former prime minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi did not follow through with a peace agreement signed in 2000 between him and President Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea. This led to a sudo state of war and conflict for the past decade and a half or so. After Meles died and his successor, Hailemariam Desalegn stepped down a few months ago, Ethiopia finally had an election this year. Its winner, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, is the first president of Oromo descent, the ethnic group who was in severe conflict with the Tigray TPLF party and with the government, which resulted in numerous state of emergencies and countless deaths.

What makes Abiy so different from any Ethiopian prime minister thus far is that he has been extremely progressive. Like insanely progressive. He has a masters from the UK and a doctorate from Addis Ababa University, and he’s only 42! He and his chief of staff have Twitter accounts, and they post regularly. He’s ordered the releases of thousands of political dissenters from prison, condemned the previous regime’s torture methods, and opened televisions networks and websites for Ethiopians to use for the first time. The lifted state of emergency after the numerous protests in the country have signaled a new direction for Ethiopia: one of peace and future-driven thinking.

But in his first inaugural address, Abiy spoke to finally making peace with Eritrea. And last week, he went to Eritrea and signed an agreement with President Afewerki to end the war, giving up the conflicted town of Badme, and resuming economic trade with Eritrea. But it goes beyond that. Eritreans and Ethiopians for the first time can now travel between each country and can make phone calls to each other. And just today, Saturday the 14th of July, Isaias finally came to Ethiopia for the first time in over twenty years to continue discussions with Abiy.

For me personally, this is some of the greatest news I may ever hear in my lifetime. I genuinely hoped and prayed that this would become a reality, but I never thought this could come so soon. My grandmother on my mom’s side is from Asmara, and for decades, she has never been able to see her family. I’ve never been able to visit aunts and uncles and cousins for fear of consequences that could happen if I were to travel to Eritrea. But now, this door finally opens a new chapter for us to be able to establish new relationships and new opportunities to make each country better.

I can’t wait to visit Asmara and see all of the Italian architecture. I can’t wait to visit the Red Sea in Massawa at night, talking to my family for the first time and eating some great food. I can’t wait to learn more about Eritrean culture, finally picking up some Tigrinya and exploring the countryside. New pictures, new memories, and new stories that I can write, the possibilities are endless.

My grandma also has a weird personal relationship with Isaias, which I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but has caused arguments with my uncle and her about his behaviors as a leader. He’s definitely a very, very bizarre and quiet person, and you can read about all of the insane things he has done leading Eritrea for the past twenty years, including never holding elections and more. But I’m really curious to see that first interaction and find out what would happen that day.

If you didn’t know, the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on December 10th. I’d like to offer a completely unofficial nomination for Dr. Abiy Ahmed. What he has done in just three months as prime minister has objectively shifted the course of peace for all of East Africa. Assuming he is able to stay focused and put the people first in all of his work, he is deserving of this award. I am so, so, so damn excited about this new future and when I get the chance to go visit Eritrea for the first time, I will be sure to write back and share those stories. Till next week…

Up until the Wednesday two weeks ago, I was going to write my thoughts on this book. That was the plan until, well, you know what happened. I don’t have to say anything else. But if anything, writing about this book that I just read is more pertinent with the resignation of Justice Kennedy. This book speaks towards the severe injustice within the American justice system, through racial, socioeconomic, and mentally disabled lines. That is why I don’t just think that “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson is very important to read, but I think it is a must read for anyone, especially for people who call this country home.

I began reading this book after a recommendation from a friend in February, when Stevenson actually visited her school. I knew about his work, and I was so inspired by the museum he helped create, the National Museum for Peace and Justice, but I never heard about the book. So I bought the book in at the beginning of the year and began to read. But as school picked up, I set it aside and didn’t really pick it up until a few weeks ago when I started commuting for an internship. So I just read, and read, and read, and read. And when I finished it, I was truly both horrified and somehow motivated to do something.

The main premise of the book is Stevenson’s journey as an attorney representing clients for free on death row in Alabama. It details how his firm was founded, the Equal Justice Initiative (officially a dream to work there one day), and his relationship in particular with one person on death row named Walter McMillian. I will not mention anything about the specific cases Stevenson and his team tackled throughout the book, as I find the stories far more heart-wrenching if you go in with no expectations, but this is heartbreaking. There are children sentenced life without parole for non-homicide felonies, mentally ill people who are set to die without ever being diagnosed properly for their conditions, and so much more.

The book also shares Stevenson’s experience being a black attorney, not being taken seriously as a lawyer, being refused at times initially from entering a courthouse. What inspires me so much about this book is this necessity to always persevere. Above anything else that may go on in life, Stevenson exemplifies what it truly means to be a human. He is honest about his shortcomings at certain moments, but he explains how he bounced back, how he reinforces within his clients that he will do anything to ensure they will not be imprisoned for crimes unfairly and for crimes they did not commit. I really hope one day I get a chance to meet him and learn from more of not just his work as an attorney, but of his life as a person, as a human.

The single most important thing I took away from this book as a whole is that there never will be true change unless we actually try. There would have never been changes to death row and life without parole policy had Stevenson not worked to help end them, which he did thanks to victories at the Supreme Court. And when there were times when an appeal would not pass, EJI continued to try and try and try again. The only true way for the justice system to ever change is if people are diligent and are willing to take any measures necessary to ensure we administer punishments fairly. We need to work harder to be in a time where people no longer go to prison for crimes they did not commit, and more importantly, no longer receive sentences they do not deserve. And there is one important way that we can change that: vote. Support candidates that we believe have the best interest of the underrepresented, whether it be judges, DAs, or county sheriffs. We need to go out and support these candidates. Will everyone get out to vote? No. But we can get more people to vote, get more people to understand the stakes, that lives are at risk. So read “Just Mercy” and learn even more about how much our justice system really needs to change.

This week, the American public realized how important the Supreme Court truly is. For anyone who follows the court, the resignation of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy came to some surprise, but this decision was nowhere outside the realm of possibility. But with the very thought of conservative majority for the foreseeable future now a reality, so many of the norms Americans have been accustomed to, like abortion rights, affirmative action, gay rights, and so much more are all now in jeopardy.

I will be the first to say that I am beyond terrified. When I first saw my phone blowing up with Twitter notifications and news alerts, I genuinely couldn’t contain my frustration. After the upholding of the travel ban, I had assumed with the end of the SCOTUS term, there would be no resignations. But with Kennedy choosing to leave under a Republican (he was appointed by Reagan), it made sense that he would resign at this time. I could not believe that there could be another Gorsuch back on the court by November. And with Trump poised to give his nomination within the next week or so, the court would be firmly voting conservative for decades.

Whenever something happens with SCOTUS, the one place I’ll always go to is my RBGANG (for Ruth Bader Ginsburg) group chat from my Columbia summer program. We started throwing out all different types of possible solutions to this problem. We thought about court packing, impeaching Clarence Thomas, or just begging for there to not be a vote until the end of the Mueller investigation, or at the very least, until midterms.

But of course, I knew a lot of these ideas were near impossible. My professor from my class reminded me that Clarence Thomas was indeed the most senior member of the court, let alone the fact his impeachment pertaining to lying about the Anita Hill sexual harassment claims would never be voted on in a Republican-controlled Congress. She showed me a possible court packing strategy outlined in this article, but I could not see any president willing to commit that kind of political suicide. The only reason Roosevelt entertained it was because he was one of the most, if not the most, favored presidents ever, and he had no term limits.

The best case scenario, the one chance there is to not have an extremely conservative, more importantly young, justice is that somehow, against all odds, is if senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski vote against the appointment. They voted against the ACA repeal, but did vote to appoint Gorsuch. They said they plan on being very thoughtful about who will be appointed, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t vote for a Trump appointee. They singlehandedly hold the power to shape policy for the next forty years.

The real question I had for this really was how the hell could this have happened. I, in many ways, blame the midterms of 2014 for this. Obviously, when there were nine seats gained by Republicans in the Senate, the main reason I saw this happen was because of the lack of unity within the Democratic Party. Sure, they could not stop the filibuster that prevented Merrick Garland from ever getting a hearing, but still. I really, really wish there was more enforcement throughout the Clinton campaign about the court. I feel as though there still is such a general lack of concern for the very power of the court itself that when it comes to elections, people still are not aware of the very rights that could be changed with a presidential election. Is this in part because of the lack of substantial civics education throughout middle and high school? Possibly. But perhaps more than anything, I am most frustrated by the very fact that the consequences are not stressed enough.

Are Americans really aware, I mean really, really, REALLY aware that the Supreme Court can change their rights at any instance? Any rights, like equal rights for gay people, being allowed to receive the same benefits of being married. They can control the extent to which affirmative action based on race can exist in this country, or whether abortion rights will remain. They can destroy criminal rights reform, by reinstating life without parole for minors in non-homicide crimes. They can enforce an immigration ban for the foreseeable future, and they already have with a repeat for Korematsu v. United States in Trump v. Hawaii. The court has the power to change how the law is interpreted in every sense, for every single American. They are the real world Thanos, with the ability to change everything with a snap of a finger, or really a 5–4 decision.

Gorsuch and the next possible appointee won’t be the end of this however. I want my idol RBG to fight till her last breath, and she might very well pass on the bench, but that is a possibility. I believe she can stay around for the next two, or even six years. She’s more fit than any other justice, and she has the fire to stay for another ten years. Other justices could be on their way out as well. Clarence Thomas could consider retiring as well, but who knows at this point. Everything’s on the table.

I think the single most valuable lesson from this resignation is that we must respect the power of the Supreme Court. I truly believe that it is the most powerful and most important branch of government. Justices are appointed for life and have the power to determine the degree to which the law is applied. They are the final say in such matters, and therefore, there is no office we should put in higher regard. More than likely, there will be another young conservative justice on the court within the next few months, and we will be seeing the resulting consequences for decades. I was going to say we should be optimistic and hope for the best, and while yes that is what we should do, I am probably not going to do much else except think about how this circumstance could have been so different. It could have been so different. I hope this situation serves as a harrowing reminder to never ever forget the power of the Supreme Court of the United States. Respect SCOTUS.

I want to talk about tech today. I don’t think I’ve ever written a post on tech, but this week I want to talk about the one piece of tech I cannot live without that is not my phone or laptop, both of which are essential in their own ways. No, what I’m talking about is headphones. They’re the way I experience almost all of the first listens to albums, get transported through stories in podcasts, and keep myself isolated from the world.

The single piece of technology that allows me to be as effective as I am studying, writing, or researching is my Bose QC35s. I live by this single piece of technology every single day. I got them about a year and a half ago, and they have been the best times listening to anything in my life. I’ve tried Beats, I’ve tried Sennheiser, I’ve tried Audio Technica, I’ve tried everything. But these headphones somehow remain atop the very best I’ve ever used and definitely the greatest pair I’ve ever owned.

The single most valuable part about a headphone for me personally is the comfort, and I have consistently worn these headphones for many, many hours. I’ve worn them for 22 hour flights to Ethiopia, for eight hour study sessions, and through the recent hour and a half commute to my internship, and I never feel like I need to take them off. They fit perfectly around my ears, and the seal they create is impeccable. They’re also wireless if you didn’t know, which allows for ultimate mobility. They also can be used powered plugged in as well, or without power using the included audio cable.

But what sets these headphones apart is the noise cancelling. Now, anyone who loves headphones knows that Bose is the very best available when it comes to pure noise cancelling, and these are the very best Bose have ever made. When I want to tune out a busy coffeeshop as I am right now, I put them on. When I want to tune out my brother, I put them on. Sometimes I don’t even play anything through the headphones and just turn on the noise cancelling because it is that good at it. Within the app, called Bose Connect, you can actually toggle between full, low, or no noise cancelling, depending on the circumstances. I usually just leave it on the highest noise cancelling setting so I can listen to music at lower volumes and still not hurt my ears.

Overall, the sound quality is solid. It definitely sounds clear for the most part, but it takes a higher volume, which I cannot listen to regularly, to hear how great these headphones are. They definitely are not the best in this class, as I’d argue that headphones by Sony are probably more balanced, but the bass here still packs a punch. Mids and highs are a bit muffled here, but they are still respectable. It definitely is tuned more towards hip-hop, but you can use a phone amplifier, or your respective audio listening apps to be able to correct for this.

I haven’t mentioned any complaints yet, but there is one, albeit major frustration I have with these headphones: the ear cups. They’re very, very comfortable, but they are horrible quality. After only a year of use, the pleather begins to flake, and now I have a pair of headphones that lacks much of its original padding layer. I hate the fact that I have to replace them for $30, but I’m going to buy it anyways, so that’s that.

The one thing that deters a lot of people from buying headphones that sound great is price. But if I’m going to be completely honest, for a gadget, a utility that you will use every single day, paying the extra money upfront for a great pair is absolutely worth it. The version I have, version I, is available for $330, but if you want to pay for the version II that has an “Action” button for noise cancelling toggle and Google Assistant, it’ll set you back $350. That is a price that many may be afraid of paying, and for good reason. But if you want to truly get a tool that you can use every single day, one with a $30 annual membership for a new set of ear pads, this is a worthy investment that you will not regret.