Written by Grayson

  In 1776, 13 North American British Colonies declared independence from the British Empire, the world superpower at the time. These 13 colonies became the United States of America, the world’s unipolar power since the end of the Second World War.  13 years after the American Revolution, the French had a revolution of their own, a revolution that painted the fabric of the French Republic and its empire. The beliefs that these two events established, in my opinion, are what distinguish these moments from the rest of history. Without the US Constitution's tenets of freedom, liberty, equality, and free expression, the American Revolution would not have been unique and the French Revolution would not have been what it was without its iconic “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité". Europe underwent a profound intellectual transformation during this period, known now as the "Era of Enlightenment." The Era of Enlightenment laid down the values that run the modern world. Freedom, ind...

  Senior year of high school isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Actually, my senior year has been very disorienting; with every breath and every hour that passes, there seems to be something to do, a deadline to meet, an essay to write, and new books to read.  So I’ve been waking up at 0100 hours (1:00 am for 12-hour system enjoyers) lately to work on all the things I have on my plate. At first, this was working wonders, I began my day early, when everyone else was sleeping, and I was able to do all of my tasks. I could do my college essays, my CAS reflections, prep for the SAT and even study for my exams. But now things seem to be changing. The sound of the alarm more irritating, my legs more sluggish and my body sore. I now wake up, read my notifications (emails included), lie on the couch, stare at the house's decaying ceiling, and wonder if it's all worth it. I think we’ve all reached a point where we ask ourselves if all our struggles are worthwhile. I’ve been asking myself...

  Whether we like it or not, a huge portion of our lives on earth is influenced by our genitals; something we do not have control of. I am talking about gender. All human cultures venerate gender and because of this gender moulds what is expected of people. Some people hate this aspect of gender, gender norms and roles can feel restrictive especially since one does not simply ask for his/her gender and the responsibilities that come with it, others believe gender is important, gender is deeply rooted in our biology and it sets the guidelines for a proper society. In this blog article, I don't want to focus on gender and the politics around it, but rather on one of the questions that has lingered in my mind: "What does it mean to be a man?". I’m not sure how often people who identify as men think about this question, but I frequently ask myself this. Some of you may interpret my asking myself this question as an indication that I was struggling to define my masculinity and...

  When I was like 14 years old, my two nerdy best friends and an even more nerdy me gained an interest in spiritual teachings and learning. We came to understand that while obtaining information was cool, gaining wisdom was even cooler. So we set out to find religious and spiritual teachings that resonated most with us. My friend Akio became a true Christian, his life became moulded by Christian scripture and nothing could change the way he thought and went about life except the bible. My friend Brian became a stoic, he embraced stoicism and became a completely different person. So you might ask yourself what route did I take? Being the point dexter I was, I chose to make my own cult of thought. A cult of thought like no other, “Graysonism” or something. I felt like I was going to be like the Buddha with my own belief system and way of life. I borrowed a lot of elements from Buddhism, nihilism and existentialism. My new way of life had one peculiar aspect, I knew it might be destru...

  I just turned 18 years old. In my nation, as in many others, turning 18 means becoming legally accepted as an adult. So, the Tanzanian legal system now considers me to be an adult, whoopy doo! But something doesn't feel right; it feels anticlimactic. Nothing appears to have changed, and I continue to feel the same. I just turned 18 years old, now what? Growing up was always something I looked up to when I was little. I thought growing up meant knowing everything about life; that nothing would be a mystery and that everything would make sense, but that does not appear to be the case. Things made more sense when I was younger when I was in a bubble when I depended solely on my faith and my parents to make sense of the world, but as I grew older and met people of different faiths, everything changed. The world was not so simple; it had nuance and was not black and white. There’s colour in this world, lots of it in fact. Younger versions of myself would be disappointed that I am more...

  I take IB Biology at a Higher level, it’s currently one of my favourite classes. I find IB biology pretty cool because of its concentration on the microscopic and molecular side of biology and life (I’m a bit biased because I want to take molecular biology as my college major) but in short, looking at life from a molecular standpoint really gives one a different angle to look at things. One thing that’s pretty interesting, you notice when you look at life from a microscopic point of view is how similar all humans are. Humans at the molecular level seem to do pretty much the same things, all humans translate genetic material to proteins, all humans burn food to produce energy, all humans have a nervous system that relays messages using electric pulses, and there are so many more examples I choose to leave out. All humans have almost the same machinery and our bodies mostly do the same things. We are all meaty, fleshy robots that pretty much do the same thing. So it’s pretty disapp...