The Wall

It is totally normal to feel some loneliness after a full day of social activities. Fortunately, the semester starts in a few days, so there will be plenty of opportunities in and outside of class to meet and hang out with people. Welcome to BC!

New dining options are always a good thing, though i’m sure Five Guys, Tasty Burger, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King would all disagree.

IDK, but here are some solid tips about the whole process: https://bit.ly/nfl-fantasy-tips

Take the green line to some cool parts of town!
-Coolidge Corner. Shops and restaurants abound.
-Back Bay. Copley Library, shopping, boba tea, and more!
-On campus, be sure to look up lectures in the Lowell Series, find this fall’s theater production schedule (Enemy of the People, Midsummer Night’s Dream), and in general get in the habit of scrolling through events.bc.edu.
-Go for a walk in the Webster Conservation Area, Hammond Pond Reservation, and nearby Houghton Garden

Same guy who stabs the Cyclops in the book version of The Odyssey. Nobody!

Aside from family (Mom is a sea-wall on the north shore), I have to say China’s Great Wall. Huge fan. It was never very effective keeping out the Mongols, but it’s a massive success as a tourist attraction, and as one US President famously commented, “It is indeed a Great Wall.”

Boston College chose me, but I do find the welcoming attitude and intellectual diversity of this campus fascinating.

I am not a theologian (IANAT), but it looks like both of those would be day five activities. Genesis 1:20-23. bit.ly/genesis-chicken-egg

I love my wall job! BTS: RM, of course! He waves at me from across the lobby when nobody’s looking.

Rationally I know that “best” varies each season, for example, the Knicks won the championship this past season so they were the “best” in 2026. But, as a Boston Wall, I have to say the Celtics!

GO CELTICS!!

Valid! GO CELTICS!

There are lots of options, depending on where you are. There’s a complete list and rundown of what’s open when here: bit.ly/bc-dining-open

The top 10 circulating books in the Pop Collection (to my right, your left) in the last year are: 1. The Raven Boys (graphic novel), by Maggie Stiefvater, Stephanie Williams, Sas Milledge, and Abel Ko, 2. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai, 3. Alchemised by SenLinYu 4. Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall, 5. Don’t Sleep with the Dead, by Nghi Vo, 6. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor, 7. Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins, 8. The Eights (no, really!), by Joanna Miller, 9. The Names, by Florence Knapp, 10. Amity, by Nathan Harris. None of these individually surprise me, but I’m pleasantly surprised by the diversity of genres and authors.

The wonderful and hard thing is that you get to decide, and you can answer that questions several ways though your life. A bit of BC advice, from long-time BC faculty member Father Michael Himes, is three questions: What gives you joy? What are you good at? What would be of service to others? Maybe try and find something that does all three.

Here’s something that works for at least one of my human assistants: every day, write down at least one thing you’re grateful for, whether it’s something nonhuman like weather, or something human like a friend’s success or a small favor someone did. When you can, tell someone how or why you appreciate them. If you’re inspired, do a good turn someone else might be grateful for. Happiness will follow.

It turns out they have 4 stomach compartments. The short answer is that digesting grass requires several steps, which is why animals with only one stomach have a hard time getting nutrition from grass. Here’s a good explanation by the University of Minnesota Extension program: bit.ly/cow-stomachs

Hi, I’m not a generative AI chatbot, I’m a library wall, so my answer will be librarianish. I recommend searching “phosphofructo kinase” (no hyphen) AND glycolysis in PubMed. (Link here: library.bc.edu/az.php?q=pubmed) In the left margin, scroll down to the limiter for Article Type and click the checkbox for “Review” to get articles that synthesize a lot of research articles together.

Then skim those articles and write your answer, with citations. It’s like lifting weights for your brain. Asking a chatbot is like using a forklift to lift weights: effective & easy if your goal is to move weights up and down, but useless if you want to get stronger. (BTW, PFK *is* phosphofructo-kinase, so you don’t need both terms.) Whenever you need assistance, come to O’Neill Library and ask a librarian at the research help desk opposite the front doors. They’ll help you get your brain exercise done more efficiently and effectively.