Hi, I’m the Answer Wall! I’ve been perched in the O’Neill Library lobby at Boston College since February 2017, except for a year in 2020 when I went fully online. Ask me a question by posting a post-it on me in O’Neill Library. I’ll answer within a day on weekdays. I snooze on the weekends, because answering questions is hard work!
My roommate has been pretty down ever since he has “gotten over” his situationship. How can I make him feel better and bring life to his eyes again.
What are your thoughts on Lamine Yamal?
Hi answer wall. I feel lonely.

I’m sorry you’re feeling lonely. Here’s something to try: ask friends & family for care. You can ask directly (“I need a hug”) but that can be a challenging thing to do. Here’s a trick: offer a hug to someone, especially if they look a little down. That will help chip away at the separation. Or just offer a kind word: “you’re looking good today,” or “I was just remembering that time we…” If you find it too hard to try reaching out to people this way, I recommend talking to someone about it, for instance, BC’s counseling services: bit.ly/BC-counseling.
What’s the best food here?

I don’t get out to eat much, but I asked my library helpers for their input and here are their thoughts:
- Sandwiches from Hillside!
- The giant cookies at the Chocolate Bar
- Jumbo Cookies from The Chocolate Bar
- El Pelón (across Comm Ave)
- Hillside’s turkey sandwich with brie and honey mustard on cranberry bread
- The microforms
- Eagle’s Nest bowls
- Turkish Lazuri Cafe in Allston. Literally everything there is good.
- Jim’s Deli
- BC Dining soups, esp. lentil
- Chicken shawarma sandwich with hot sauce, from Boston Shawarma House of Kebab in Newton
- Old Friend Noodles from MDM Noodle on Washington St
- Faculty Dining Room OR Food at a BC catered event
- El Pelon!
Wall, have you read the BC Linden? What do you think?
Does being anonymous make you sad?
Where is the most whimsical, unserious place on campus?
A classmate of mine saw me on the way and looked away. When I asked another friend why that happened, he said its the BC look-away. What’s that?

It seems to be used to describe someone who knows you, who sees you, deciding not to say hi. I’m going to guess it’s a combination of social awkwardness and people being busy rather than anything more dire. Or maybe it’s like members of churches in the South who aren’t supposed to drink politely pretending not to notice each other at the liquor store. More thoughts in The Gavel: bit.ly/bc-lookaway
[Drawing of a cartoon rabbit]
What is life?

Since April is National Poetry Month, I’ll look to the poets for this one. For Shakespeare’s Jacques it was a player on the stage. For Pablo Neruda, it was a “borrowing of bones,” and it was “wild and precious” to Mary Oliver. To Maya Angelou, it “loves the liver of it.” As Walt Whitman summed up, “O me! O life!”
Jzazsh! How do you pronounce and what does it mean?
By any chance does BC have a subscription to the MIT Technology Review Magazine?

Yes, indeed! 1889-present. Follow this link: bit.ly/bcl-mit-tech and click “Link to Publisher Site.”
Give me a book rec for someone who hates reading but wants to enjoy it. Please [smiley face]
![Give me a book rec for someone who hates reading but wants to enjoy it. Please [smiley face]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AW032826.jpeg)
Try out a book that doesn’t have large walls of text to overcome! Novels-in-verse like Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down or María Dolores Águila’s A Sea of Lemon Trees (which was just on the Long List for the National Book Award) are phenomenal options. Graphic novels are great too — like K. O’Neill’s Tea Dragon Society or Harmony Becker’s Himawari House. Plus, you can find all of these and more over with my friends at the ERC!
Where is the best place to nap on campus?

Last I knew there were some relaxing loungers in the Gasson basement. O’Neill library is full of soft restaurant-booth-style benches (levels 1, 3, and 5), a few couches on level 5, and some comfy padded chairs in secluded corners if slouch-napping suits you. Borrow some headphones from O’Neill user services and be crooned to sleep by Lionel Richie or Nat King Cole at the Vinyl Listening Station, or borrow a MUSE headband to let brain biofeedback help you relax: bit.ly/bcl-muse.
How can I convince my roommate to let go of her?

One of the harder assignments as someone’s friend is watching them make a mistake and knowing that trying to talk them out of it is extremely unlikely to help. As long as they’re not hurting anyone, the thing to do is to sit with them and let them get to a place where they make that decision themself. Everybody grieves differently. A breakup is real grief. They may just not be on the same clock as you are about that. It’s all OK. But all sympathy from your friend, the Wall, on that situation.
Opinion on coke + OJ? (1:1) Trying to prove a point here.

I don’t do beverages myself (liquids make me nervous and mess up the Post-Its), but my sources are mixed on whether that’s a reasonable concept. The existence of the mimosa suggests that carbonation by itself isn’t a problem. Most of your knockoff Coke syrup recipes include a good bit of citrus zest. I dunno. Maybe 1:1 would be too much, but you could try it.






![[Drawing of a cartoon rabbit]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AW033026-3.jpeg)




