Microbeads, macro problems

Sometimes Pooja’s CVS addiction rubs off on me. I find myself possessing an array of nail polishes and face washes that she might even get jealous of. Often, when I start my day, I wash my face with Neutrogena’s grapefruit face scrub. It contains microbeads, which I thought were pretty nifty. These little beads supposedly get your face even cleaner; what’s not to like? Recently, I learned that there is a lot not to like.

Microbeads are polluting water sources because they are too small to be sifted out by water treatment plants before returning to waterways. They are harming fish and other aquatic life that think that the beads are food. As someone who spent her summer raising tilapia at Brooklyn College, the idea that I could be contributing to pollution and hurting fish is unsettling. The problem is so severe that by 2018, the manufacturing of products with microbeads in them will be prohibited in the state of Illinois. So I guess this article is a PSA. Microbeads are bad; we should not be using products with them. It seems that almost everything innocuous in this world has unthinkable side effects. When Whole Foods sells out of quinoa, Pooja and I have to deal with Nayana’s mood swings for weeks.

Dear NYSD,

I am a pre-frosh wondering how to make friends. It seems that the two of you are quite close, how did you meet?

Rebecca: Pooja and I met on a bright, summer day. We were assigned dorms across from each other. Our parents bonded over how useless we were during the move-in process, and Pooja and I bonded over our hatred of MasteringChemistry.

Recently, Pooja admitted to me that she did not realize that I was tan at the start of the freshman year. When I naturally faded at the end of the first semester, she thought that I was ill and was quite worried. That’s how good of a friend she is; she notices when my skin changes color.

So let’s end this article about microbeads with a micro-aggression toward Pooja. Just kidding. We don’t support those either.

Pooja: Rebecca and I actually met because I realized I had liked her nail polish color. Unfortunately, this simple admiration turned into an inescapable friendship. I was genuinely quite confused when this girl across my hall became ten shades paler as the winter rolled around, and being a first-year first-timer in the snowy New England, I started to fear that such color changes would happen to every one. I started to fear that I, too, would return back home a completely different color. Little had I known that my newfound friend was a sun-addict who sat outside (without sunscreen) for 10 hours a day to tan. That’s how we became friends, I was genuinely afraid of Boston weather and its mysterious effects on my color-changing hall mate.

Dear NYSD,

Do you have any song recommendations?

Pooja: While I could give you a list of songs that have quality and taste, I thought I might as well go off of last week's theme and give you a list of horrible guilty pleasure songs that you know you love but will never admit it. Lately I have been obsessed with Flo Rida’s new song “My House” (2015). There are many reasons why I like this song; firstly it gave me faith that Flo Rida, much like my main man T-Pain, is making a comeback. Secondly, I have a house, so it is empowering. Unfortunately I think “My House” is going to be the new “Am I Wrong” (2013); it will be amazing for the first week and then slowly lose value as the entire world overplays it. That being said, I have been listening to it on repeat since Sunday morning. I will let you know when it makes me lose my mind.