Alexa Langen

A local’s guide to Miami’s beaches

Alexa Langen - August 24, 2014

Whether it’s your first day ever or your first day back, one of the first things you’ll want to do now that you’ve made it to UM is check out the seashore. With so many miles of coastline, it can ...

Programming serves as a language

Alexa Langen - April 20, 2014

If that French class is full and Chinese doesn’t fit your schedule, you might want to flip through the computer science or engineering course catalog and pick up a class on programming instead. Pro...

SAT requires preparational changes

Alexa Langen - March 26, 2014

Diaphanous, ephemeral, hackneyed, ignominious – once known (and dreaded) as “SAT words,” these arcane adjectives are now just, well, words. Or so they will be when the College Board releases the re...

Excessive apologizing won’t win respect

Alexa Langen - February 23, 2014

By the time I had to tutor on the day after my oral surgery, I had not recovered quite as much as I’d hoped. I didn’t just look like a chipmunk – I looked like a whole colony of chipmunks had crawled ...

Start boycotting the word, literally

Alexa Langen - February 5, 2014

When I heard someone say, “He literally bit my head off,” I did a double take so fast that my skull nearly wrenched free of my vertebrae. Yet she stood there whole. Clearly, her head had not litera...

Take part in the evolution of English

Alexa Langen - January 15, 2014

While most New Year’s resolutions seem to entail caring more—about family, health or charitable causes—mine requires caring less, specifically about grammatical mistakes. That’s right. By 2015, my ...

Ringworm experience teaches valuable lessons

Alexa Langen - September 28, 2013

After returning to the familiarity of the school year, some students will look back on their summers and feel grateful for the future security conferred upon them by their new business contacts. Other...