Many of you may be fellow fans of shows such as “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” and “This American Life,” but for me, this particular habit of mine remains a black mark on my record of entertainment. It’s because I’m a conservative. You know, the kind that makes you turn up your nose and snicker in disbelieving disgust that one could be so very ignorant.
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When my grandparents asked me to write a Christmas list this year, I couldn’t help feeling demanding and selfish as I tried to compose a list. I felt bad ordering gifts, and I began reflecting on the materialistic implications associated with the Xmas List.
It is nearly that time of year once again. The libraries will be full, coffee sales will skyrocket and students’ stress levels will be at their highest as the students study for finals. With all of the papers and exams monopolizing their focus, it is all too easy for students to forget to look after their health.
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For most of today, my roommate and I have been sitting side by side on our small blue sofa, each of us sheepishly reading a different installment of the “Twilight” series. You’ve heard of “Twilight,” right? That oh-so-tortured tale of a kindling love between a vampire and an awkward high school student? It’s a story that seems to tap into the not-so-deeply-rooted fantasies of an entire generation of preteens (as well as at least two very grown-up college students).
I just finished a course where, after taking the last exam, more than 75 percnt of the class walked out of the classroom without staying to watch the final DVD. I’m sure the extra stress of this final week of classes squashed right next to Thanksgiving had something to do with the mass exodus, but it was also a testament to the way most people felt about the lecture course—it was just another class to check off on the way to a degree.
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I was browsing through Student Life on Wednesday, looking for inspiration for this week’s column, and I discovered that the most commented-upon article of the week was Michael Morgan’s op-ed submission criticizing Chancellor Wrighton’s letter in response to the current financial difficulties [Nov.
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All the bad things that I have brought upon myself have happened because of my failure to rigorously adhere to the Greek’s ideal of balance. In trying to divide my life into portions that can be balanced, I’ve been able to create three areas: social, work and spiritual.
(A Registered Trademark of The OC)
Once upon a time I realized I wasn’t the most important person in the world. But that was way back. Way, way back. Like last week, maybe even two weeks ago, before I was attacked with the splendid celebration of Thanksgiving and the miracle that followed, known as Black Friday.
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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS with Caleb Posner
Much has been said about the horrors India saw late last week in Mumbai, where a series of coordinated terrorist attacks and hostage takings killed at least 188 and wounded nearly 300 others. Not enough of this discussion has been about the electoral implications.
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Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor, The article, “Printing Problems on Campus” (Student Life, Nov. 21) gives me the impression that printing on campus is near impossible. However, in my time at Wash. U., I’ve found printing to be only the occasional hassle.
In the midst of a failing economy, many universities have had to make budgeting decisions to reflect how they will deal with decreased endowment money. The situation is not permanent and not unique, and as the economy improves, Washington University’s budget will rebound.
For the adults who forgot what it’s like
I encountered a lot of people this Thanksgiving break who said that I was young, that I had the luxury of screwing around for a few years, that what I do for a job now doesn’t have to be the only thing I ever do. I told those people, “You have no idea.” Because they didn’t. They were adults.
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I like many others went home this past weekend for Thanksgiving break. I saw people I hadn’t seen in three months and generally spent a lot of time doing what I did during high school. I spent time with my family and friends and didn’t sleep nearly as much as I should have.
It should come as no surprise to anyone attending Wash. U. that the influx of conservative speakers on campus has been met with fierce reprove. Student protests abound, and it seems that the speakers simply waste the University’s funds. Intuitively, inviting so many conservatives would appear to be a terrible idea, considering the rampant and vocal opposition to such speakers.
I was watching the new episode of “South Park” the other night, and it dawned on me that those little modestly-animated, potty-mouthed fourth-graders are not so different from all of us. This particular episode involved a clash between the goth kids and the newly-increasing group of wannabe vampire kids.
With Thanksgiving approaching, the editorial board found it appropriate to take a moment to reflect on some of the things in our lives (big and small) that we’re thankful for.
Using a model based on the five military service academies, two Teach for America alumni want to establish the U.S. Public Service Academy (USPSA), a national university, as their vision of a symbolic and substantive training ground for civilian leaders.
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Hi. My name is Eve. I am a recovering Obamaholic. They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem, so at least I am on the road to recovery. Given the depth of my addiction, however, the rest will not be easy. As of last count, I have 23 different Obama-related posters, signs and pictures hanging on my dorm room wall.
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It seems only yesterday that I was getting ready to move into the dorms, excited to begin my college life. Today, I registered for my classes for the spring of 2009. Where has the semester gone? Very few people will disagree with me that time seems to fly by much faster than it did a few years ago.
Staff Editorial
Next semester the University will no longer sell bottled water on campus. This decision is part of a series of green initiatives set to be implemented by the University, but it is the first to have a direct impact on students. Many students are bristling at the idea of the University forcing them to go green or are anticipating the inconvenience and aggravation of a world (or campus) without water bottles.
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It’s trite but true: small pleasures are really what make life worth living. Sure, the big stuff is good too. We all want success and sex. We all need our soulmates and best friends and intellectual awakenings. But I think it’s when you learn to operate on the small-scale that you become the master of your own happiness.
Part 1 of 2 I don’t know why the letter from Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton about the impact of the economic crisis on Washington University makes me so angry, but it does. For starters, this line stands out: “But this Thanksgiving season will be difficult for many, and I am concerned about the hardships members of our community are facing, including our students and their families.
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Nothing’s official yet (at least not as I write this), but I’d like to take a moment to speculate about a recent headline concerning our President-elect and a certain defeated rival. Yes, the possibility of Hillary Clinton as Barack Obama’s Secretary of State is, well…that’s just it.
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On Wednesday morning, I woke up to an e-mail from Chancellor Wrighton detailing the effects of the economy’s downturn on Washington University. To be honest, I thought that this day would never come: I remember remarking, earlier in the year, that you would never know we were approaching a recession if you were just to walk around campus.
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I came across an ad in your recent issue for a tobacconist with a store on the Loop. It made me think, why would Student Life accept such an ad? I continued my query by searching smoking in your online edition and was surprised to see no recent articles or editorials concerned with the large amount of cigarette smoking that occurs on your campus.
Off-campus crime has become a hot topic at Washington University as several high-profile events grabbed students’ attention and left many of them feeling insecure. Several University students have recently been the victims of theft in areas surrounding the University campus with one high-profile instance involving a gun.
Me, four years ago—St. Xavier High School, Cincinnati, Ohio. A Friday night. Future state football champs playing their guts out on the field in front of me. Screaming, cheering, blue-clad St. X students all around me. Us cheering across to the visitors’ stands: “Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!” Me, one month ago—Washington University in St.
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For many gay people in America who fell asleep on November 4 thinking that their nation had finally taken a great leap forward, it must have seemed that their country had simultaneously taken several steps backward when they awoke to news of Proposition 8.
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Failed presidencies leave the most savory legacies. From Buchanan to Johnson to Harding to Hoover, there has always been something undeniably appealing in picking through the debris of truly disastrous leadership. It is equal parts an earnest scholarly investigation and simple national rubbernecking, but for better or for worse, we tend to use the personal failures of our chief executive to examine the conditions that allowed them to fall so hard.
I turn on the TV, and the usual, nonsensical advertisements seem to take over every channel. There’s something that annoys me during the start of the holiday season—advertising agencies flood the airwaves with repetitive, mindless, flashy commercials that brainwash people into unquestionably buying unnecessary products.
There are many student groups on campus that make valuable contributions to the University and St. Louis communities—far more than we have space to praise in a short editorial. Still, we would like to commend two groups in particular that have been extremely active in the past week, beneficial to the campus and which often go without recognition: Filmboard and the team responsible for organizing Homelessness Awareness Week (HAW).
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I recently saw a TV commercial that triggered a long-forgotten memory. While shopping with my parents, my mom saw a coat, on sale, that she wanted. It was a little pricey, and she didn’t have the money for it at the time. Instead of hoping that it would go on sale again sometime in the future, my mom brought the coat to the counter and put it on layaway.
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By senior year, most students at Washington University have been to four activities fairs and participated, however briefly, in more than 10 extracurricular activities. We are flooded by opportunities to get involved, find our passions and contribute to our communities.
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I’ve always enjoyed movie scenes in which a mob of sports fans, buzzing with jubilation, simultaneously rush the streets after their team wins a championship. I’m not sure whether this type of celebration actually ever happens in real life, but I’ve always hoped it does.
STAFF EDITORIAL
Although Wash. U. Dining Services has provided students with high-quality food, many have been frustrated by some of its practices. Many students feel that Dining Services’ prices are unreasonably exorbitant. Others have been upset to find that many of the foods they enjoy have been dropped from the menu in the Danforth University Center (DUC) throughout the year, without any prior warning or communication.
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This may be the product of a few sips too many at happy hour, but I’ve been sitting with my roommate for the last hour celebrating the end of a hell week and going through songs on her iPod. In that time, I’ve decided that there are a lot of good life lessons to be learned from song titles.
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While perusing CNN.com for a subject to write about this week in hopes that I could pass as, somehow, maybe, an intellectual, or at the very least, an informed member of the community, I found that I really didn’t know what to write about. I don’t really like to analyze current events and foist my still adolescent presumptions on how the world should work on everyone.
Recently, two English-speaking democracies held their presidential elections. In both, the candidate whose name was synonymous with change won. Each of these two men had compelling personal narratives, and were victorious in elections of immense historical significance.
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Community Connections
I wrote in my previous column regarding the Public Service Fair at the Danforth University Center that there was a plethora of mentoring organizations. I hadn’t experienced the real-world impact these groups can have. Now I know what happens when individuals choose not to serve as mentors.
This may be the product of a few sips too many at happy hour, but I’ve been sitting with my roommate for the last hour celebrating the end of a hell week and going through songs on her iPod. In that time, I’ve decided that there are a lot of good life lessons to be learned from song titles.
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One piece of news that really caught my interest was the recent decision of the University to stop selling bottled water on campus. I suppose I look at this as particularly good news. I really have to wonder, however, how lazy of a culture have we all subscribed to that we can’t drink water from the tap? The fact that bottled water is a success at all astonishes me, and it reflects poorly on our own culture of students, that we had to wait until a body of authority literally took away the availability of bottled water before we cut back on consumption.
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