Here We Go Again
Thursday night (or I should say Friday morning), I was on my way to the golf course to watch the meteor shower when I bumped into some friends.
Thursday night (or I should say Friday morning), I was on my way to the golf course to watch the meteor shower when I bumped into some friends.
Thursday night's reactions to Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity's and Delta Delta Delta sorority's plans for a "luau" party were entirely inappropriate. Whether or not the luau theme was actually offensive, the angry BlitzMail message sent to students and administrators accusing the Greek houses of being racist was unfair, considering that the houses had no conscious intention of being disrespectful and did not know their theme would offend anybody. Events such as the "ghetto" party last fall helped the College community take a positive step toward becoming more open to discussing sensitive issues.
Recently Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority wanted to have a party with a luau theme.
Upon graduating Dartmouth, and learning about all the sensitivities of every group represented at Dartmouth, I decided to throw a party.
Man, I'm glad the weather has cooled off these last couple of days. It's been pretty tough around here this summer without the air conditioning that you can find in any Denny's but, inscrutably, not in one of the finest colleges in the US. I am not sure who invented air conditioning, and if I were going to find out, I'd have to steer the mouse all over the place to open Netscape, so forget about that.
Last weekend, some friends from home came to visit me. As I introduced them, with the tag line, "my friends from home," something about that bothered me.
Off-campus housing is a peculiar residential institution at Dartmouth. It is really the only place where the rights of the individual takes precedence over the rights of the group, whether it be the Dartmouth collective as a whole or smaller organizations with in it.
I'm too young to be a curmudgeon, but lately my life has been consumed by linguistic matters (the penalty for taking literature and language classes in the same term). Over the course of these few weeks I've racked up a list of new linguistic gripes and general observations.
The decision of the College to purchase 15 off-campus under-graduate houses sparked suspicion and fear among students living in those apartments.
"Europe cannot live in true peace and prosperity if one of its parts is shaken by conflict and lawlessness," Bosnia's Muslim President, Alija Izetbegovic said. Within the very city that symbolized the dashed hopes of an entire region, Western leaders have gathered to discuss large-scale projects to rebuild the Balkans and insure its peace and stability.
It's really high time that someone get public credit for the generally outstanding food service that we get here at Dartmouth.
Although the Trustee steering committee has an open-door policy for students to present ideas and opinions, the door remains firmly closed on the disclosure of any of those proceedings.
For those of you who don't pay attention to the news (i.e. for all of you including me), on Friday the Senate passed a 10-year, $792 billion tax cut, the largest in history.
There's a funny hesitation coming over me as I write this column to you to offer advice and share my Dartmouth experience.
So you are a member of the Class of '03, eagerly awaiting your chance to be welcomed into the Emerald City, the Big Green, Dartmouth.
I'm in the uncomfortable position of giving you advice. I'm trying to find vague certainties that can connect with a large amount of people.
I've never been on the rope swing. I hate fraternity basements. I think I played part of a game of pong one time sophomore year.
At this time of the year, people tend to think of huge blockbuster movies when they think of entertainment.
"You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world." These words blared out of my Walkman at me while I was in the gym the other day.