Published Work
"Why I Couldn't Even Make It Through the First Commercial Break of The Bachelor Pre-Show"
The Princeton Buffer
Cara McCollum - January 2015
Buzzfeed listicle with puppies. Buzzfeed listicle with gifs. #PrinceFarming. Engagement. Engagement. Thoughtcatalog article on relationships. #PrinceFarming. Thoughtcatalog article on being in your twenties. Thoughtcatalog article on having the best twenties EVER. Thoughtcatalog article on not worrying if you suck at your twenties and eat ramen for every meal because it will get better. Bill Cosby article. New Baby. #PrinceFarming… The rest I had seen a million times, but who was this “Prince Farming” plaguing my newsfeed?
"True Blood's Demise: The Final Nail in the Coffin"
The Princeton Buffer
Cara McCollum - November 2014
My 7-year relationship with True Blood lasted longer than any relationship I’ve been in, and yet still managed to end the same – with a boot print on its butt and a firm “Good riddance!” on its way out the door. The title of the finale was “Thank You,” though I think an apology would have been more fitting.
"A Theory of Everything from Black Holes to Plot Holes"
The Princeton Buffer
Cara McCollum - December 2014
I was a little skeptical about a romance film based on the love life of Stephen Hawking. Not to be insensitive, but he’s just not exactly the guy I picture when I think of a heartthrob. Ryan Gosling maybe, or that Greek god Hemsworth who’s been seducing me from the cover of People in every checkout line magazine rack. But I digress. Everyone is entitled to a great love story, I suppose, so why not Stephen Hawking?
"Scene at Lawnparties a window into today's Princeton (or is it?)"
Princeton Alumni Weekly
Cara McCollum - October 2012
Prospect Avenue on a Sunday morning is a lot like the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend — the party is very obviously over. But if you had been walking down The Street on the Sunday morning of Sept. 16, you would have found students on eating-club lawns, sipping champagne from plastic flutes and wearing Derby hats, sundresses, Brooks Brothers outfits, and bow ties.
A re-enactment of F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17’s Princeton? No, it was the music festival known as Lawnparties, and students were dressed like stereotypical preps to be “ironic” — or were they?
"When club motto is Food=Love, chefs become part of the family"
Princeton Alumni Weekly
Cara McCollum - January 2013
It goes without saying that eating plays an important role at the eating clubs. But no club celebrates that more than Terrace, whose members sign their emails with the club motto FOOD=LOVE, Lots of FOOD, or simply, FOOD. “Food is the reason people come to Terrace,” said Andrew Werner ’14, on his favorite dinner day, “Mexican Friday.”
So when the Terrace graduate board suddenly dismissed head chef Olin Noren and sous-chef Ben Arfa just before the winter break, the news was difficult for club members to swallow.
"Thesis musical examines gender neutrality, identity issues"
Princeton Alumni Weekly
Cara McCollum - April 2013
Sandra Fong ’13 sat helplessly in the audience as she watched her creation come to life. “I hope I remember to breathe; I’m probably going to hold my breath ’til the end,” she excitedly whispered to a friend. By the end of Saturday night, she could breathe a sigh of relief after a run of three senior-thesis workshop performances went off without a hitch.
Twelve student performers sat in a semi-circle of chairs in the Marie and Edward Matthews ’53 Acting Studio, their music stands poised between them and the audience. They wore black and white, but the topic they sang about took on a decidedly gray tone.
"The Good Ole Girls Club"
US 1
Cara McCollum - October 2013
Ryckman grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey, in what she calls a “girl house,” meaning that she and her mother and younger sister outnumbered her father three to one. He was a corporate insurance executive, her mother a stay-at-home mom, and Ryckman borrowed aspects from both for her early career. She attended Princeton University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in comparative literature.
Now with three sons and a husband, Ryckman is very much living in a man’s world. So it comes as no surprise that today Ryckman finds herself a gatekeeper between Girl World and the business world — an underground phenomenon known as “The Stiletto Network.”
"Handling HR? Be a Detective"
US 1
Cara McCollum - November 2013
Debbie Muller is the modern-day Nancy Drew of the business world. When allegations are made between employees or between employee and company, it’s Muller who does the fact-finding. She has been conducting workplace investigations for almost 30 years and is the founder of her own third-party investigation firm called HR Acuity.
Muller was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the youngest of three siblings, and now resides in Summit, New Jersey, with her husband and three sons. She is no stranger to solving conflicts. By the time she graduated from high school, she had already worked at a Dunkin Donuts, hardware store, video store, and bakery. So she’s no stranger to getting her hands dirty either.
"Faith-Based Cause, Community Benefits"
US 1
Cara McCollum - November 2013
Tikkun Olam. It means “healing the world” in Hebrew. It’s been Linda Meisel’s goal since childhood, and it’s the lesson she works to impart on the Princeton community — Jewish or otherwise — as the executive director of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Greater Mercer County.
Meisel has made use of her mother’s administrative skills, her father’s eye for finance, her own love of history and tradition, her Jewish upbringing, and her concern for society to shape the nonprofit powerhouse that is Jewish Family Services. Social work allowed her to pursue her desire for social justice (an effect of going to school in the late 1960s, early ’70s, she says), which aligned with the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam. “You want to behave in a way that will help heal the world. Do good work, advocate, help individual people,” she says. It’s what members of her family had always been taught, and Meisel was no exception.
"When Presenting Your Brand, Be Prepared..."
US 1
Cara McCollum - December 2013
First impressions are formed within 30 seconds of meeting. Tamara Jacobs, founder and CEO of Tamara Jacobs Communications Inc., forms hers in the first six. “I’m checking you out. Do you look put together? Are you representing your brand?” Handshakes hold a lot of weight. Jacobs’s is cordial yet authoritative, lots of eye contact.
She looks exactly how you would imagine a personal image consultant should look. Her gold chain necklace coordinates with her gold chain bracelet; her taupe nails match a thread of the plaid in her jacket and scarf; she even has two matching Pekingese dogs — although Charlie, the puppy, is much larger than the full-grown Hoppy.