Every November, the music streaming service Spotify gives each user a simple overview of their yearly listening habits called Spotify Wrapped. Using data from January 1 to October 31, Spotify pulls together a brightly-colored presentation of the person’s top artists, songs, and genres from the year, and makes it easy for every user to post their unique Wrapped on social media.

Just at Brown, there’s a lot of music diversity- both in everyone’s statistics and in their opinions. I talked to a few juniors to get their thoughts on their own 2022 Wrapped.

Juniors Peytience McMillen, Hayden Mathis, and Ava Musuraca told me their their top artists and songs for the year-  Ava’s top artist was Lil Wayne, and her top song was ‘3 Peat’, while Peytience’s was Mac Miller, and her top song was ‘All Falls Down’ by Kanye West. Hayden’s top artist was Frank Ocean.

Peytience was surprised that there was no classic rock on her Wrapped- “besides like, Weezer, which isn’t really classic rock” - and Ava, who thought that she could predict what her ‘Wrapped’  would look like, was surprised to see “that ‘Waves’, which is like, my favorite song, was fifth, and I thought it would be, like, second.”

Since Wrapped makes an effort to create unique displays for each user’s music stats, I also asked the girls what their favorite slide was. “I liked the little time-minutes thing, where it tells you how many minutes you’ve been listening,” said Peytience. Hayden agreed, adding that the personality slide, which told users their ‘Music Personality Type’, was also cute.

Junior Jamie Heberle (whose top artist and song were Tally Hall and ‘Amnesia Was Her Name’ by Lemon Demon, respectively) felt that hers was accurate, but had thought that trap music would make it into her top 5 genres for the year- “since I had a phase where I was kind of doing that stuff.” 

Self-proclaimed “music girlie” Janelle Pitmon’s top artist was Mitski, and her top song was ‘Sea, Swallow Me’ by the Cocteau Twins- “I’d say it’s accurate. I don’t listen to songs on repeat a lot, so I mean, I believe it. I do like that song a lot.” However, she wasn’t expecting Mitski to be her top artist, saying “Like, I don’t dislike her, but I don’t really listen to her a lot. I feel like I’ve listened to other artists. I've had four-hour periods of me listening to one artist, but Mitski won anyway, so that’s strange to me.”

Janelle was also surprised that Elliot Smith was in her Top 5 artists for the year, “since I started listening to him, like, in September or October''- which is interesting, since Spotify Wrapped tends to stop tracking on October 31. “I’m not mad about it, but it’s weird.” 

Brown’s tastes in music are eclectic - owing to how unique every student is - but there are some commonalities. Talking to your classmates about their music tastes can make you feel closer to them and to the school as a whole.

If you use Spotify and haven’t checked out your Wrapped yet, you can check it out here. For Apple Music users who want to look at their own years in music, Apple offers a ‘Replay’ feature similar to Wrapped- click here to see yours.

What makes a good teacher? What makes a bad teacher? There’s always that one teacher that everyone likes and everyone thinks is a great teacher. Brown is no exception. There are some teachers that everyone has had and whether that be a good thing or a bad thing, usually people like that teacher. Does a nice teacher make a good teacher?

Something that many people have realized is that there are some teachers that people only like if you aren’t in their class. Many people might dislike that teacher until they leave the class and realize that the teacher was really fun and they like that teacher.

Being a fun and laid back teacher doesn’t mean the teacher is a good teacher. Being too laid back might make it where students never do work or don’t learn enough. However, that doesn’t mean a teacher should be mean and strict. Having good teacher-student relationships is something that can make your experience better or worse in class. Being someone you can talk to can make a teacher a good teacher. You want to feel comfortable around your teachers. If a teacher makes you feel uncomfortable it usually means they aren’t a good teacher. You should always want your students to feel comfortable.

Not all teachers win the “good teacher” title from students. But some things that could win the students over are having fun activities, listening to students, putting effort into projects, and considering the student opinion.

Being a good teacher is easy to do, you just have to be a good person. Many say there is nothing but good teachers at Brown, and many can agree. Teachers at Brown know how to listen and care. 

The last few weeks of the fall semester can be some of the most overwhelming of the entire school year. Teachers assign more and more, making sure students are caught up on curriculum before winter break, and students can feel ill-equipped to handle it. With end-of-semester tests, projects and essays being loaded on top of homework, it can feel impossible to handle. 

There are a lot of different ways to handle the pressure, and everyone has a unique way of adapting to it. Here are a few methods your fellow Bears use to stay organized:

Notion- Notion is a digital platform designed for time management. You can embed calendars, links to Drive folders and docs, and tables, as well as making to-do lists that you can check off as you go (a favorite with student users). The added bonus is that Notion has a fun variety of highlighter and text colors and ways to embed images, so you can really make it your own. Notion is my organizational method of choice (you can see mine here), as well as the top pick for juniors Kaitlyn Tran and Janelle Pitmon. If you want to get started with Notion but aren’t sure how to, check out Kaitlyn's and Janelle's for reference.

Using Google tab folders- If you don’t need to write down all of your assignments, but like to make sure they stay open and organized, you can use the ‘Google groups’ feature, which allows you to add any tabs related to one class or assignment to a folder, which you can open and display or close- keeping you from having too many tabs open at once. Junior Sophia Hyde uses this method to keep track of her work. The only drawback: if you shut down your Chromebook, you could lose everything you have open!

Keeping a journal or diary- For those that prefer a more creative and analog method of timekeeping, I’d recommend keeping a bullet journal, with a section for the work you have to get done. Using a journal to write down your thoughts throughout the day, but also having sections or pages to write down or schedule the work you have to get done, can be really helpful to students who need a place to organize both their daily ideas and their to-do work. 

Using Google Classroom’s ‘To-Do’ tabs- A simple way to organize digitally is by using the ‘To-Do’ feature on Google Classroom. There’s a little button in the top left corner that, when clicked, basically gives you a mini planner where you can see all of your assignments organized by week, as well as a tab that shows you any missing assignments you may have. This is how senior Roxy Osborne stays organized- all she brings to school this year is her Chromebook!

Using a physical planner or agenda- I know we’ve all heard it before, but planners really can help if you want a premade place to write down whatever you have to get done! There are so many options out there- I prefer a planner that has a built-in daily to-do list, but there are some that are organized by week, or by month, and others that have massive weekly sections where you can make lists, notes, and the occasional doodle. 

This time of year is always intense, especially for seniors sending in their early-decision applications, and for the juniors and sophomores applying to the Governor’s Scholars summer programs, all while still trying to keep up with their work. As we plunge into these next two weeks, just know that the Bear Necessities staff is right there with you. Good luck- we’ll see you on the other side!