April might be the cruelest month, in the slightly melodramatic words of T. S. Eliot, but January is definitely the longest. Well, not in any mathematical way, but there is a scientific reason behind this phenomenon: There’s really not much to look forward to in January. And after an exciting, holiday-filled month like December, this absence of exhilaration and anticipation is particularly noticeable. To put it briefly, January is boring. And you know what else is boring? Week 5. Students go about their daily routines in a “Groundhog Day”-esque manner, and the only thing to look forward to is the end of midterm season, which somehow only ends when finals season begins.
This week at Mirror, we investigate student participants in experimental studies and the art of nude modeling. We highlight a beloved winter pastime — intramural hockey — and one writer shares her quest to find Hanover’s best hot chocolate, the perfect cure to your winter woes. And have you ever wondered how the freshmen dorms compare to popular Foco foods? Look no further than this week’s issue for the answer.
There’s something encouraging about making it over the hump. We’ve gotten through the longest month of the year, and it’s no longer pitch black by 5 p.m. And who knows, maybe the groundhog won’t see his shadow, sending us out of this winter abyss. We can dream, right?
