how do you not include pictures?

that's Muskegon, WI; not Muskego.

jk muskegon's in michigan

what is the latitude and longitude

John — We've now included an image with the article.

One of the comments at http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2009/01/fiscal-therapy.html
suggests colleges are really charging what the market will bear:
"(1) The cost of attending college in 18 years for little Johnnie who was born on New Year's Day (based on an annual inflation rate of 8%) will be $63,500. That is for the first year only. (2) The annual increases in tuition/housing/etc that colleges claim is necessary is pure bunk. Every financial statement I've examined as a CPA shows surplus year after year by colleges. Case in point: Drew University in NJ had an excess of $4.6 million dollars for FY 6/2006. For fiscal year 2007, they raised tuition/housing/books 5%. The University of Delaware had a surplus of $6.3 million in 2005. For fiscal year 2006, they raised tuition/housing/books 5%. Why?
This is in addition to the collective trillions in endowment funds (and other tax exempt "slush" funds such as the ridiculous food plans where students end up having pizza parties for their entire dorm because the "purchase points" expire in less than 3 months).
Rutgers University - with 84 board members (we have no idea what they do or what their perks are) - has $2 billion in excess funds - $1 billion which is not in fixed assets.
(3) The gross and disgusting behavior of our supposed representative in education who allowed the loan companies to keep their illegal loan "fees" from colleges with nothing more than a slap on the hand. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars that could have gone to help students.
And last but not least (4) the menage a trois between the colleges, the loan industry - especially the private loans which are set up so that they are NEVER paid off - and the system we call capitalism. Which should probably be renamed "Held Captive".

hell yeah!

but i must say the new school kids could have done better if they didnt give in to the cops.

I'm glad you mentioned the situtation in Greece. Recently the Pres Sarkozy of France cited the uprising in Greece as a reason he didn't want to implement more 'reforms' (AKA attacks on working class gains). If we don't resist then they'll walk all over us, no matter who is president.

thought the article was cool
as a highly interested animal collective fan some notes:
"I don't MEAN to seem like I care about material things"
my girls = wife and daughter, not daughters
its actually not a didgeridoo on lion in a coma, according to avey tare

i have too much time on my hands, thought the article was cool

i dont think people care about "originality" when they listen to girl talk. i dont think theyre deciphering who influenced his music, or how mashups are sooo this decade. i think theyre just getting crunked and dancing.

its not exactly music for thought, and thats probably why you cant enjoy it. stop thinking about it.

Readin' Jon Booth is the only thing that keeps me sane
From Athens to Riga to Middletown!

A whole load of Zionist bull - the Israelis established their ``Jewish'' state by the mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in a purge of terror - they looted, murdered, raped and butchered hundreds of Palestinians and caused hundreds of thousands of them to flee their country. Their homes and lands were confiscated en mass to make way for Jewish emigres from Europe, the large majority of whom had never even SEEN Palestine, let alone lived in it.

The sheer barbarity of Israel's recent strikes against Gaza is a matter of record, it has happened right in front of the world's cameras and one need not necessarily dwell on it. One does, however, have to point out the recent barrage of Hamas rockets, irresponsible as it is, came AFTER the Israelis imposed a brutal economic seige of the Palestinian territories, strangulating an entire population for the sake of punishing them for voting in a government they did not like. What an irony - the nation that purports to be the only democracy in the Middle East starving an entire population for the sake of its own misguided sense of security.

The Israelis are their own worst enemy and it is not surprising they are arguably the world's most hated nation.

So, accept a two-state solution. A Palestinian state. What about the settlements? What about borders? What about sovereignty over airspace, electromagnetic sphere, borders? What about armed forces? Internal security? Guarantees against IDF incursions?
Calls for "accepting a two-state solution" are cheap. How would, in your opinion, a viable state which Palestinians could inhabit in pride, dignity and prosperity look like? No need to refer to future negotiations about this point. Assume you could settle it your way, and Israel would agree to all your suggestions. How would you tackle these points?

[...] I just read a news article on what I’m sure is a fascinating class for freshmen at Wesleyan University in Connecticut: a [...]

"It would consist of three bands no member of the crowd has ever heard of playing short sets with poor sound quality and lighting. The fans would spend this portion of the evening smoking cigarettes in the gender-neutral bathrooms and hitting on drunk members of the opposite sex wearing too much eyeliner."

lol

Nice, Firke

[I don't know if I honestly believe what I'm writing; I do believe that it has a minimal amount of logic. I would love to be /persuaded/ there are viewpoints more right or less wrong than this one.]

Sharing resources is a great thing, it's kind of why civilization is where it is today (and really, it is good; don't complain, unless you're in that 0.001% of the readership who still hunts game with a bow and digs roots.)
However, equal exchange is also a very good thing.

I find it difficult to propose an exchange of concrete campus resources for intangible enrichment and a sense of social well-being.

Using some /very/ rough figures, the city of Middletown has a budget of under $200 mil for around 40,000 people. Wesleyan collects over $100 mil just from "tuition and fees", which it uses for... 4,000 people, at the most? When one group has five times as much as another... guess who gets to decide what happens?

There is a disparity here. But, IF there is a responsibility to make amends for this disparity... is there a way to address it that doesn't ultimate put the burden on students? Funds and physical resources are limited (see; forced triples, lunch on the floor in Usdan). Providing broader access to University resources without influencing student experience of those same resources.

Hold it though, interaction with Middletown residents should /improve/ the student experience, right? Maybe yes, Maybe no. I don't know. We are adjacent to what I believe is a low-income housing development. I think there is a reasonable contingent of students who would prefer that campus libraries, galleries, and perhaps other spaces stay closed to toddlers and persons indistinguishable (be it from insensitivity or lack of differentiating characteristics) from those who have committed violent crimes, with Wesleyan Students as the victims, on and near campus.

At this point in time, the benefits of Middletown that I can name easily are 1) restaurants and food 2) banks 3) Rite-Aid and other stores. These are not unique resources to the City of Middletown.Yes. Yes, there are cultural opportunities, and other options for enrichment. Yes.

I probably fall at the lower end of the curve in my sense of social Justice, but here's my thesis, again: I find it difficult to propose an exchange of concrete campus resources for intangible enrichment and a sense of social well-being, especially when losing about a tenth of our endowment is considered outperforming the market.

its not a didgeridoo, its a jaw harp. It says it on the vinyl liner notes.

Incorrect grammar buddy. Should be titled "If Wesleyan Were in the Superbowl".

Jamal Ahmed,

You are the man.

Drew Black as well.

Makes me so happy to know what amazing loving people we have in our community. Thanks so much guys. You are two true heroes.

Interesting course, interesting content. I would be excited to take a museum studies course and put on an exhibit. Warmly, Jan

Mmhmm word to that. The revolution is alive!

After 9/11 his administration became fixated on homeland security and a foreign policy that was in many ways regrettable, but nonetheless understandable

oh come on. i think its a bit more than regrettable.

What a wonderful response -- I couldn't have said it better myself!

[...] Ever Popular “Potter” Series Draws Students to “Myth, Magic, and … Wesleyan Argus ,February 07, 2009 Such writings, however, were not merely the daydreams of a self-described “big fan of the ‘Harry Potter’ series.” Mellin is one of 18 freshmen in Professor … [...]

Down to the bones in cuts ? Have the salaries been reduced for those who make more than , say, 200k$ ? Has the headcount in admin been cut by 10% ?

[...] Announcement: Campus Auditions - Wesleyan ArgusSeeking actors to perform fight scenes in a variety of roles, using a variety of weapons. Prepare a one-to-two minute classical monologue and one-minute physical demonstration of combat or violence. Sign up for auditions at Theater Department Notice [...]

. And given that every one of their records has been better than the last, they’re probably the most exciting band in the world right now.

no.

Maybe Obama is an exception, but it seems the smarter the phone, the dumber the person. People should get back to exercising their brains rather than their fingers. What will all these students do when they can't find the answer on google.com?

Black and Ahmed are heroes. I was in the gym when the man collapsed and hit his head. It was a frightening scene to say the least. Does anyone know how he's doing?

John, you're a dumbass.

Mytheos takes no prisoners.

Booth, you're left of Mao!

I didn't want to listen to this band because quite frankly, their name made them sound like a bunch of fools. I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks.

I dont think im anywhere near mao.

and im not really right or left. i guess if anything im, in the words of subcomandante marcos, down and to the left.

and i think maos a dick.

Wondering if anyone in the band actually has synesthesia or if it's an emulation?

Thanks,
 M

Jamal Ahmed...i am really very very happy and proud to hear and than read about your achievment...you have proved exactly what your name means..."BEAUTIFUL AHMED"....and you know saving one life is like saving all the humanity...It is second name of our beloved prophet Hazrat MOHAMMAD may peace be upon him... Ameen

I heard he's stabilized in the ICU in New Haven, but no word past that.

Extremely well said. Agreed 100% Mr. Nestler. Thank you for combating the sheer insanity that seems to be gripping your school.

"the Ku Klux Klan, did not arise simply out of a desire to inflict pain but rather as a result of feeling powerless in the face of malevolent reconstructionists. The thing about extreme reactionary movements is that they have to react (or rather, overreact) against something which reasonable people could see as a legitimate grievance."

thank you mr dunning. those scalawags and carpetbaggers were really trying to give the negroes too much freedom, the good southern white man just had to fight back!

That was so very eloquent. I happen to disagree with you, but applaud you as a consistantly incredible writer and extremely brave member of Wes.You are perhaps the only person who gives me a bit of respect for conservatives.

[...] from California to Taiwan (albiet taken from the Philadelphia Inquirer), calling them the “Obama of Pop” to “Between Pop and Pretention”, all since the Bonnaroo’s announcement (search Google [...]

it's harry potter. jesus christ, people. the 'politics' of the wizarding world are so stupidly oversimplified that i doubt they lend themselves to any 'close reading' of this sort.

and the very concept of "polemical fanfiction" makes me want to vomit.

I totally agree with you, which is why I started pushing people in frustration upon hearing such obviously unoriginal style.

great response.!

WALE is so good. He's gonna blow up. glad wes got him first

having never bought anything at urban outfitters im just gonna say this is fucking ridiculous.

very funny entry. . i'll have to check out your other stuff.

Mr. Booth,
If you think deprivation of habeas corpus rights and voting rights isn't an "excess" then what the hell are you doing in Students for a DEMOCRATIC Society? There were excesses in the Reconstruction era that had NOTHING to do with slavery or black rights, though by all means, continue waving the bloody race flag, if it makes you feel better.

Upon reflection, there is one more thing I would say: I do not apologize for the Klan. I apologize for those few non-racial resentments which existed in the South at the time, but I do not apologize for the Klan itself. I am simply suggesting that we must try to understand the mind of those who join organizations like the Klan if we are to discuss how to avoid the creation of more groups like them. Please notice that the entire point of my article is a warning about how to avoid the creation of reactionary insurgencies.

Damn man, thanks for doing this. I've seen the commercials but didn't really know what it was about. Favorite line:

"We will not be saved by Jesus, Santa Claus, Exxon-Mobil or Barack Obama. " Indeed.

wonderful column. all this combined with the recent student victory at university of rochester, makes it seem like more and more people are indeed willing to stand up and act in a way that works.
and i don't know about the rest of the wesleyan student body, but i'm definitely ready to do the same.

Coal Is Some Wack Sheeet

I really dont see the problem with mountain top removal.

who cares who did it first? everything is derivative, like you mentioned.

the comment of “They could’ve just paid ten bucks for a Girl Talk CD and played that for us instead" is just ignorant. it's like someone who never listens to jazz going to see some avant-garde work and being like "my kid could play that." girl talk does everything live. every show has new and different selections. it's why his shows have gotten such rave reviews. it's been covered in the media many times how girl talk does it live. he's a critically acclaimed live electronic performer.

girl talk's sound is original. it's based on people before him (john oswald, z-trip, beastie boys, negativland), but he's taking it somewhere else. since you seem to interested in accolades, girl talk's past two albums have both been featured in rolling stone's, spin's, blender's, pitchfork's, and many other's top 40 albums of the year (2006 and 2008). no one else doing sample based work has ever done anything like this. he has been discussed in congress. he's featured in a new documentary movie about copyright. he's in lawerence lessig's new book on copyright. he sells out larger venues than any laptop artist EVER (other than possibly kraftwerk). his work has been praised in the new york times and npr. wayne coyne (of the flaming lips) and beck have both spoken about how they are big fans of his music.

even if you aren't a fan of his sound, you can't ignore his impact. in my opinion, i think he's truly trailblazing.

Neat article!

This is the way sports articles are meant to be. Good, honest quotes from living legends.

JOB WELL DONE

The American Heart Association just learned of this "save". On behalf of the AHA, I wish a fast recovery for Mr. Arnold. Coach Black and Jamal Ahmed should be proud of their fast thinking actions that saved Mr. Arnold's life. Also, Wesleyan's Administration should be acknowledged for having AEDs, the lifesaving device that saved Mr. Arnold. It is wonderful to know that Wesleyan places a high priority on the lives of its students, teachers and those that visit the campus. Placing AEDs at sport centers, cafeterias, classroom building, libraries and with campus security is a smart investment....an investment that more schools should consider.

Why don't we just say there is such a thing as the thing called "Clean Coal" and leave it at that.

I don't see what the problem is about mountain top removal either. It only destroys entire ecosystems and displaces whole communities in order to blow up a mountain or so at a time so we can suck the earth dry for all it's worth. Really, what's the big deal?

Nice. A bit of an over-simplification of this fucked up clean coal issue, but you got your point across.

Wow you're ridiculous.

sorry to be so crude, but low sulfur coal is not clean. it just has less sulfur in it. it still has lead, mercury and arsenic in it. as well as the main ingredient, carbon.

and you still have to mine it, which is an incredibly destructive process that is dangerous and bad for the environment.

additionally, one of my main points was that clean coal, which is being sold as having something to do with global warming is actually only related to acid rain, and it manages to be dirty as hell even with that. obviously low sulfur coal also has nothing to do with global warming

but lets just go burn western coal and accelerate climate change. great idea. lets devastate more areas of the country so that we can have more coal!

speaking of western coal... have you heard of the black mesa coal mine in arizona? its fucking terrible, they use up somewhere around half of the local regions water and remove indigenous people in arizona from their land. but yay! low sulfur coal! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa,_Arizona

also, as to my "reflexive liberalism," i hate liberals. i think its the one thing i agree with mytheos on. i am far from liberal.

also i think robert bird is a dick. but thats not the point.

so in conclusion you missed the point, and this article is ridiculous.

i had a 600 word limit.

werd.

Still confused? Try FactCheck.

Excellent piece. For anyone who doesn't see a problem with what they're doing to our land, I invite you to come live, eat, drink, and play in one of these many areas impacted by mining. Dare you to drink the water!

he should run for president id vote for him

Thanks for the summary - now let's reduce our power use and decentralize and subscribe to wind and geothermal and get the true costs of coal power out there! I bicycle a lot which has greatly reduced my fossilfootprint... it's fun!

[...] buddy (for a glimpse into the man behind the myth, before he even became a man, check out http://wesleyanargus.com/2004/12/10/weekly-wes-celeb-jesse-sommer-05/ ) I use to fraternized with, principally because we shared some common interests and our immediate [...]

Very cool. I'm actually a Wesleyan grad and am now doing PR for the country's leading cogeneration people -- Tom Casten and his son Sean, who run Recycled Energy Development. What's really amazing here is the magnitude of cogen as a solution to our energy crisis. Government estimates suggests that cogen and other forms of waste energy recovery could slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. That's as much as if we took every car off the road. Meanwhile, costs would fall due to increased efficiency -- as you point out in the article. The main reason more isn't being done is that regulations tend to favor monopoly electric utilities and make it hard for efficient, local power options to emerge. But it still is being done where possible, and I'm super-psyched to see Wes getting on board.

this was written good.

Dag nab those knee-jerk-ing-obfuscat-ing fucks. They're so obfuscated about where the energy to produce clean energy comes from.

I think this article gives out the message that it's okay to experiment with drugs, and it's not. The best way to not ruin your life is to stay away from it altogether. And I think that's the message you should be sending out.

Nickleback has had an absurd amount of success from one song.

Mumia t-shirt and flipped-over P-Safe car aside, I say "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" all the time. That said, being something of a metal fan, I do think getting Rage would be awesome if they weren't so far out of our price range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hayne
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum

Umm...no.

I'm a big guy. There are quite a few big guys at Wesleyan. Paying $5.99 for a sandwich is fine if that is going to be your whole meal. However, for bigger people, meals are going to end up costing $10.00+ consistantly. Unless financial aid wants to start handing out more money to people based on their caloric intake, taking away an all-you-can-eat option isn't fair.

Although, for the 90% of Wesleyan that weighs under 130 lbs and fits into skinny jeans, I'm sure this is a wonderful option.

This is so wizard.

A lifelong Republican thru Reagan (even while at Wes) the professor is totally correct. My frat brother from a different school is dumber than I am and I have no business being President. The man has no clue and now his clones in the House are suggesting tax cuts as a stimulus. Well, tax cuts only go to the wealthy. Warren Buffet has lambasted the entire process where he pays less than 10% of his income while his admin asst who makes $65-75K pays 25%. It is time to clear out the Congress and get first timers in there who have no obligations to anyone, and in the case of those leaning to the Republicans, have learned to think for themselves, something most of us at Wesleyan have learned, even though in my case it took longer. Is there really a person in the country that supports their party on 100% of the issues. For example, I believe in universal right to marriage, taking care of the poor and homeless, taxing the rich much more than we do,; but I also believe that unions have overbalanced their usefullness such as destroying the auto industry from a cost standpoint (the executives have done the same to sales from a lack of development and foresight). I do not believe in bonuses unless the company makes a profit in excess of the previous year's profit. That is not unique, but numerous CEOs and boards ignore that point. I believe stem cell research can save millions of lives and that the stem cells they obtain, they were going to obtain anyway. Latsly, I believe in the separation of church and state, especially when the church is trying to turn America into its own Taliban. I am not a great Christian, but I was taught that Jesus accepted EVERYONE, and that none of us should judge, that is GOD's responsibility.

Let's teach ethics in all of the business schools. Let's mandate that all politicians complete numerous ethics course, so they will hopefully think twie about being bought by a business or an individual. If I sound jaded, I am. I worked for a company the past seven years where ethics was discussed at our meetings and the practice thereof was expected.

Will Wesleyan mandate an ethics program? I hope so. Fortunately, I made few or no missteps in my early career, but I would never make one again.

Bruce Morningstar '67

But what if she wants the kind of thing that money just can't buy? Cuz she don't care a lot for money, and money can't buy her love...

............

Hello. And Bye.

lol at total lack of genuine talent.
She is a great dancer,in fact the best female dancer alive ,which is obviously a form of talent.Britney can write songs e.g My prerogative,piece of me,everytime etc.. She can choreograph e.g piece of me,gimme more etc..She is a producer.She has produced her self titled album "Britney Spears".She can design her own dresses,she has started a new fashion line.She may not be the best singer but she is way better than JLo,madonna etc..

The Flobots should be headlining.

That would be oh so awesome!

Britney's vocal range=3.5
madonna's vocal range=2
JLo=2 .
2 octaves is the range of untrained vocalists.If you can accept Madonna as a singer why should you be judgemental about Britney.I have seen Britney doing an incredible amount of dancing and unbelievably complex moves in her live shows. Beyonce and JLo can only shake their ass in their live shows. Britney can perform gymnastics and acrobatics on stage.Britney was an accomplished gymnast and a basketball player in her school days.She got the "most loved dancer" award in Mickey mouse club at the age of 10.There were elder kids in MMC but Britney could outshine everyone.

Her producers are making her sing in false voice.Just see her Mickey mouse club videos.She had a totally different voice and a different way of singing.They are pushing her mid-nasal voice to make it sound like pop. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hit a 3.5 note when you are singing in false voice.Britney could do that in "stronger" and in "cindrella".If you sing in false voice over a period of time your actual voice would be ruined.Instead of helping Britney improve her range,they have ruined her true voice.
But Britney still has the essence.she rocks.

C'mon Mytheos. You're just looking to pick an argument here. Your logic doesn't work for the already-existing SALD, WSA and named awards, which also reward leadership with money, so why would it work to prevent the creation of new leadership awards?

You know what, I have another idea that uses your logic! Let's get rid of college all together. Even though it educates thousands and thousands of well-meaning people, it also produces and rewards some mean ones, so we should just not have put the institution in place to begin with. Any imperfect institution should not be created, regardless of how well intentioned it may be, and regardless of much positive impact it could have.

And also, why is this a Right vs. Left argument? Can you see things through no other lens? Athough I appreciate your conservative column, please don't turn it into a joke. Pick your fights wisely. This was a dumb one to pick.

What a great team....and fortunate outcome.

For the record, the WSA's money comes entirely from the student activities fee that each student pays annually along with tuition, room, board, etc. It does not come out of Wesleyan's endowment.

The only "clean" coal is that which remains undisturbed and unburnt.

Support the "clean" coal movement by shutting down all coal mining operations.

No doubt.

so legit. i am a fan.

You're right. People shouldn't be judged based on what they wear or do outside academics. The only problem I have with your op is that you based it on ACB posts. I hope you don't see ACB posters as the majority of campus.

How do we submit a proposal? .....just look for posters around campus sometime in the next few weeks?

I am employed to see things through a Left and Right lens. My column is called "Mytheology: Wesleyan Viewed from the Right." Naturally, I can see things through other lenses, but with respect to this column, at least, it's not my job.

And no one is suggesting getting rid of anything. If I were suggesting that, you're right - my arguments wouldn't even remotely meet the burden of proof. But I'm not arguing for a rollback of something. I'm arguing against the active pursuit of something, and just because we do things that violate my logic in the status quo is not an argument for doing MORE things that violate my logic. I'm sorry you found the column to be an unwise allocation of resources. In my defense, this was a slow week.

I'm so proud of you Ahmed, so proud of you.

The Dead are so much better than Phish it's not even funny. Phish is terrible. Nickelback is better than Phish.

Also, the show at Wes was in 1970, not 1972.

weezy-f-baby

How about we stop bitching about our energy souces and start limiting our energy consumption? People love to talk about alternative energy but cringe at the idea that maybe we should use less electricity, avoid unneccessary driving, and stop wasting water.

LOLZ

look, i realize that Mytheos Holt has recently made it his job to go to absurd lengths to attack your column, but that's no excuse to suddenly become a reactionary.

distilled to its thesis, this post uses a half-truth (coal with less sulfur is CLEAN!!!) in order to bash organized labor and environmentalism. there's really little else of substance to be found in it.

next time, show some backbone, and don't get so butthurt when the token conservative picks a fight with you that you feel the need to find a scapegoat farther to the left.

Fact is, Trustees should probably be planning to cut the percentage they take from endowment below 5.5% In a time of declining market values, a 5.5% draw can deplete the endowment further in a quick hurry. Assume a further 5% decline in market value for each of the next five years, and add a 5.5% draw, and you will reduce the endowment by another 50% from current depressed levels.

Someone ought to start thinking about and preparing for the further downside risks. Wesleyan is still living in a dream world.

Interesting way to broaden the college education experience

Your argument is unfounded, nauseatingly elitist and frankly racist. It is painfully clear you understand nothing of the anarchist movement, not have you critically engaged with an of its ideals. Without this engagement your writing is meaningless. You embody the kind of blind american statism he is writing against. I'm deeply saddened you believe so unwaveringly in imperialist propaganda. Start by reading Mutual Aid by Kropotkin and then see if you can vomit out something that resembles an informed argument.

Actually, I have read Kropotkin, and I think he exhibits much the same naivete I accuse Mr. Booth of displaying, though his arguments are at least consistent, and can be used in favor of an anarcho-capitalist worldview just as easily as a Left-anarchist worldview. Also, I fail to see any racism here, or even a mention of race anywhere in the article. Anarchist collectives have existed in every culture, across racial lines, and most of them have been failures, without respect to race.

Also, I would suggest a dictionary definition of "ad hominem fallacy." It may help you the next time you try to lecture someone on "vomit[ing] out something that resembles an informed argument."

you commit "ad hominem fallacy" all the time.

oh shit. so did i.

tl;dr

for the record i am an anarchist. i dont want the mob to take over the state, which i guess is why im not a communist. i believe for many reasons, including environmental, that the centralized and capitalist world does not have a future and that we can and should build a better world on a more sustainable level made up of autonomous communities.

call it anarchism, communitarianism, whatever. I dont really care.

additionally i think its kind of funny that you accuse me of subscribing to "might makes right." because i really think that the nation state (and corporations of you expand might to include wealth and political power) is the ultimate example of an oppressive force which believes it is always right.

I know ACB posters aren't the majority, but the ACB is a great pool of quotes that aren't shaped by the social consequences of tagging a name to an opinion.

Mytheos, again your convoluted rhetoric and overdone exercises in esoterica fail to conceal how little you really understand about your subjects. I think JM Barrie would be really upset about having his good name associated with such a shoddy analogy in the context of a generally shoddy essay. Your comparison of anarchism and social Darwinism reveals how limited your understanding is of either topic. They are entirely incompatible and I think Herbert Spencer would have my back on that one.
Further, as Ms. Smith pointed out, your use of "tribe" in reference to the EZLN is not only semantically/anthropologically inappropriate, it is also a totally Eurocentric posture.
Finally, to suggest that states have existed for the totality of human history is absolutely ludicrous. Even Hobbes acknowledged that was not the case. Orthodox anthropology/archeology has established that any social construction resembling a state did not appear until the most recent 20th of human history, to be extremely charitable.
The desert anarchist and iconoclast Ed Abbey hit the nail on the head when he noted that "anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners."
Amen Ed Abbey. Amen Jon Booth.

Damnit, I don't care! You can mine all you want if it will just get me 20 more years of this sweet, sweet modernity.

Although I still disagree with your logic and with the position you take in this column, I apologize for being so snarky above.

Anonymous
February 14th, 2009
2:43 am

Why no girl bands?

HI MAYA, I WAS LUCKY TO SEE DANA AND JANET LAST WEEK AND AS ALWAYS FOUND THE EVENING A LOT OF FUN TO SAY THE LEAST AS I ALWAYS DO
9LIKE THE PHANTOM I WHICH I COULD LIVE THERE )LOL THE REASON I AM WRITING IS ONE TO ASK IF YOU HAVE A MAILING ADDRESS SO I COULD WRITE JANET TO LET HER KNOW HOW MUCH I ENJOYED THE FILM WITH A COUPLE POSSIBLE MARKETING IDEAS ALL POSITIVE. AWAYS I AM NOT A STUDENT WISH I WAS AND WONDERED WHAT THE WEBSITE WAS TO KEEP TRACK OF EVENTS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. HOPE YOU CAN HELP THANK YOU,TOM
PLEASE SEND INFO TO :
 crottyrider429@aol.com

Herbert Spencer would most certainly not "have your back" on that one. He wrote an essay entitled "The Man Versus the State" which is, if not a conventional Left-anarchist manifesto, at the very least an anti-State piece. Further, I did not compare anarchism to Social Darwinism - I compared ochlocracy to Social Darwinism, which is a statement which Oliver Wendell Holmes (the justice, not the professor) most certainly has my back on.

The totality of human history may have been imperfect phraseology, and I most certainly did not mean it in an anthropological sense, but rather colloquially as "the entirety of recorded history." I did not mean to suggest that States have existed since the dawn of Neanderthal man, or whenever the anthropological record begins. The same thing goes for my reference to the Zapatistas as a "tribe" - I suppose a "coterie" or "posse" or other phrase connoting a small group of people would have worked just as well. "Collective" works too.

But more importantly, where and when have I ever argued for the management of our lives by kings, priests, politicians, generals or county commissioners? Haven't you read my extended denunciations of the overweening State? My criticisms of Mr. Booth are not for being unrealistic, but for not being enough of an individualist, and for being inconsistent in his attitudes towards violence. My knowledge of anarchism, I assure you, is quite extensive, and if I don't read the ideas of Malatesta, Bakunin, Proudhon, Godwin, Rothbard, Bookchin, Stirner, Abbey et al quite the same way you do, that does not mean that I am not familiar with their ideas. I simply reject them. If you disagree, feel free, but you will get nowhere impugning my knowledge of the subject, or my writing style.

And as one final note, I will say that that is the last comment I will respond to on this article.

@Jessica French Smith

Hi. I would really appreciate it if you and others would stop engaging in ad hominem attacks on Mytheos. I would especially appreciate it if you would stop throwing words like "racist" around. There is no mention of race anywhere in the article. How, therefore, can Mytheos be racist?

Instead of engaging Mytheos on an intellectual level, you chose to attack him personally in a manner that I find needlessly vindictive and even gross.

Before I get labeled a reflexive Mytheos groupie I'm going to point one thing out: your post does not make any coherent argument other than "anarchism is the only solution for the world and all other forms of political organization are evil in every way". Let me revise that - almost every line of your post either a) relies on assumptions neither proven nor shared by the vast majority of the world's political scientists, or b) is subject to factual inaccuracies. Let me know if you want me to point point these out to you one by one.

Please, in future, do your part to elevate the level of debate at Wesleyan and don't write these kinds of moronic diatribes calling people "nauseating" when, in all fairness, that's a term which can more readily be applied to what you wrote. Mytheos took hours to write a well-considered article and you spent 1 minute dashing off a response that makes you look ignorant. For everyone's sake, including your own, please don't do it again.

@Pam:

What the hell is wrong with you? Hobbes didn't mean the State of nature literally! it was a metaphor for fuck's sake! And so what if States haven't existed for ALL OF HISTORY??? Mytheos still makes a good point that a lot of people think they're necessary.

Chill out, people. Yeah, Jon Booth is cool, but if you can't even take criticism from a conservative college student without getting pissed off, you're not gonna convince anybody. Also, dammit Mytheos, stop making me look up words.

Apology accepted. I'm glad we got the misunderstanding fixed.

The Problem of the attitude of the West is simple. Antisemitism has become Israel bashing.
The real problem is not the "occupation" but the brainwashing of the Palestinians by their Arab "brethren". Instead of integrating the refugees they imprisoned them in Arab style concentration camps

Hahaha, fantastic article, Mytheos. This anarchist can certainly appreciate it; then again, I'm a "nauseatingly elitist and frankly racist" anarchist... Up with authority! Down with the State!

Lil Mama 4 Spring Fling!

West Virginia has some of the lowest sulphur coal on the planet. There is no conspiracy to strong arm high sulfur coal onto power plants. If the 16 coal-producing states dont band together, they will die off seperately.

Here's kind of an odd thought. Build some geothermal where it can work. Build some wind farms where they can work. Put in some solar panels where they can work well. And build some nuclear power plants where none of that is sufficient.

Before you start bitching about the inherent dangers of nuclear power, do some research. Its really useful to learn things.

Anyhow, once we do that, I'm pretty sure we can easily have more than enough energy to do whatever we want, including getting clean drinking water in the African slums and such. It works great that way.

Well written indeed. I really can't respond to the plethora of ad hominem arguments made both in the article and its comments, but I do agree with Jesse. Well said.

Also, I would like to second, very strongly, the comment by Realism is cool. I spend half my time reading these articles in a dictionary. And finally, yes, do play nice when you debate.

Absolutely.

At Wesleyan we need to live up to our stereotype and celebrate ALL kinds of diversity. If we can't or simply don't want to, we run the risk of becoming just as homogeneous and close-minded as those "others" we are evidently so accustomed to looking down our noses at.

Word up, jesse

save political diversity at Wesleyan!

A question I hope you address in an article Jon, what is the alternative to coal from an economic perspective? Many of these states rely on this practice for their economies, and the disappearance of coal mines have often devastated towns. What other industries would be viable in those areas of the country?

I am not ultra-low frequency. Nor am I the ULF. In fact, I haven't even read the "manifesto" of which you speak, and I am grateful for that. I trust you that it's silly. Also, there's a limit to my ability to make ridiculous things up about my opponents.

Clay Aiken (The Gayken) might have more albums out than Hicks, but The Gayken's don't sell, except for the ones bought up by the Claymates who each buy several copies, to make it look like he has a following besides them. If The Gayken were to appear on "Fear Factor," HE would be one of the things that would scare the contestants half to death. That guy is scary!! He totally gives me the creeps!!

Is this article for real???

Taylor who???

Amusing satire for those who get it!

Anarchists blow. Seriously, maybe anarchy would work if the general population was intelligent. Sadly, the human race just isn't that smart. Do you think Americans would know what to do without the government telling them? Sheep don't herd themselves, you know.

"This March, Willis’ peers will celebrate her newest achievement, just one of many, as 2009’s “Outstanding Woman in Buddhism” in Bangkok, Thailand. She was selected for this award by the Outstanding Women in Buddhism Committee’s panel of distinguished Buddhist scholars and practitioners."

I am currently in Bangkok and would love to attend the ceremony, do you have any details as to exact date and location?

And congratulations to Professor Jan Willis!

Thank you,

Marcus

http://www.marcusjournal.blogspot.com

Interested reader: Concentrated solar power, wind energy, and geothermal are all viable alternatives on the Navajo Nation from an economic perspective.

"Megabytes" is not a measure of bandwidth. Bandwidth is measured in units of size per time. The most common units are megabits per second, which is probably what you meant. A megabit is 1/8 of a megabyte, so a rate of 100mb/s is equal to 12.5MB/s.

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Just do your dating game thing on Regis and Kelly and you will get some air time. Grease is the word.

Wonderful recipe--cannot wait to try it. And so refreshing to see an Argus article that is actually well written and clever!

mike listed some good ideas. but i think another very important point is that the coal mines are not as economically beneficial as they once were. theyre so highly mechanized now that they provide few jobs.

also, it doesnt really matter if they provide jobs now if they end up poisoning the environment and using up all the water. lets try to think at least a little bit long term here.

"perspective students"?!?! paragraph 15. are there any editors at The Argus these days?

my milkshake brought Jon Booth to the yard

where he proceeded to fertilize the soil and start a garden that grows with the power of his most abundant reflexively liberal propaganda

my family and I will be feasting for generations.

one of the problems with nuclear power (besides creating waste that lasts basically forever and that we have no idea how to get rid of) is very similar to the problem with the Black Mesa coal. The mining practices are terrible and often displace indigenous people.

Please don't forget to take a look at the three responses (thus far) to this wespeak:

http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/02/10/how-we-talk-about-arabs/

http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/02/10/second-response-to-matt-nestler/

http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/02/17/dispatch-from-palestine-response-to-nestler-on-gaza/

why can't mike levine crawl back under the rock he was hiding beneath for the last few months?

This article has a twisted sense of humour!

I really wonder waht Taylor Hicks is doing now? I know the Idol judges must berated themselves for having put through such a "talent" on the show.

Plus, after last night's Season 8's debut, uum, hhm...well, I wonder what the judges are thinking.

In addition to doubling the box office take at Grease Hicks has been busy making an album with many of Claptons band. They are saying great things about him. His producer was Simon Climie. He has his own record label now. What have you been doing this last year? In fact, who the hell are you?

LOL, this is funny. A Studdard sandwich? BWAH!!! I hope AI goes belly up, there are better shows on the air people. Wake up!!! and support some real talent.

Let's face it, as far as American Idol goes."Game Over, Idol Found!! Clay Aiken"

you're a feckin idiot.

Clay can sing !!! Sing is the Key Word!! What else he or any singer does is irelevent. Sing Clay, sing! We love you

whoa, obsess much stephanie? lol, dial it back, that much hatred will kill you. btw, i think he sold like 6 million copies so that would be a lot of claymates or a lot of $ anyway so he be doing alright anyway

strange article but kind of funny. relax people, check out the carrie underwood bit. obviously not serious

LOVE Clay Aiken!! And Taylor is doing just fine. :-)

Well, Annie, if you're really interested in what Taylor Hicks is doing now, try Google. In the meantime, you can check out his new music video from his new album: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00022113.html.

"Taylor who???" Really, Lynn... I'm surprised you have the technical competence to even be on-line. :)

"social justice" is an empty word when applied to political games.
Academia is a "political game".
Certainly, an adversary of Professor Simonetta spread these rumors about him not writing the book or was fabricated so to have a reason to get him out.
You guys are too young to understand this but LEARN from it.
If words are not followed by actions they are what they are words without a real meaning.
An intellectual exercise for our brain and to look good.

why can't responsible citizen repute an argument with an intelligent comment rather than an insult which is in fact not even that funny?

Good article. It's important to remind people that coal is not only dirty because of the health effects of burning and waste. In addition to devastating the ecosystems of Appalachia, Big Coal is continuing the tradition of GENOCIDE against native people at Four Corners and the mountain cultures of Appalachia!

This, again, is angry liberal propaganda. Liberals like this "Jonathan Booth" (if that's a real name) want to keep up ties with islamo-fascist terror regimes like Iran and Saudi Arabia, rather than allowing the United States to invest in it's own energy resources. If it weren't for organizations like Peabody Coal, "Jonathan Booth" wouldn't be able to write on his computer, in his ivory tower, condemning everything that makes America a great place to be.

I'm sure ALL of the AI winners are doing well. This article, satire or not, is just a cheap shot at a few people who took the initiative to follow their dream and made it happen.

1st of all that is his real name, he isn't hiding behind a fake name like you are "caboj."

2nd of all, using the term "islamo-fascist" is racist.

3rd of all, clearly Caboj doesn't care about Native Americans in the slightest or they would have addressed that point... so we may assume that he is a white racist.

go throw ur klan hood you chump

holla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not believe one word of this story.Taylor Hicks would not speak this way about other idols or contestants. sad one would resort to a place like this for a "story". Leslie , maybe you should shovel horse manure,you do have experience at that,obviously.

Davenport doesn't even know what the term "modest proposal" means. This is a proposal that is modest, not a modest proposal in the true sense of the term.

i think caboj was joking. :)

Don't believe this story ...... for one thing Taylor Hicks has too much class to ever dice his fellow man or woman. So you may think this is a funny story, but it is a piece of crap.

It's really lame writing. Yawn

No one should ever have to go down in a mine, much less work in one.
As the old red Cisco Houston tells us " It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew
Where the dangers are double and the pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines."

Solar panels require mining and are by no means a sustainable alternative. The same goes for wind. Let's all get ready to power-down. It won't be that bad, I promise, just ask your ancestors.

well said perlman. its foolish to think that some miraculous sustainable energy source is exists which will solve all of our environmental and economic woes. we have to accept the reality that our society cannot go on consuming at the rate that it currently does and still have a livable earth.

and jon- props as always

Taylor Hicks has more class than that, do you people have anything else to do but put a good man down.

Wow, Jon Booth, you really are the coolest. Before, I suspected that you were unbelievably cool, but now that I know that you have NEVER bought ANYTHING at Urban, I know that you are truly unique and countercultural and ingenious and you're gonna start a revolution.

I agree with Gia, it does sound like sour grapes to me! Why is he putting everybody down when he's no better? I was routing for Hicks his year on American Idol, but I'm really turned off by what he says. I've heard him saying other awkward things since he won AI. Fame went to his head!

If he had half the voice, charm and personality as Clay does, maybe he would sell more albums. He's too busy bad-mouthing everyone else that has been more successful than he is.

"Rep. Lesser, who has no plans to graduate from the University" ...ever?

obnoxious, namedropping articles predicated on shoving words into an opponent's mouth from Mytheos?

unfounded truisms from LeVine?

sounds like business as usual

Along with the obnoxious comments from anonymous posters? Yeah, it sure does.

It's articles like this that make me very, very glad that no matter how many controversial positions I take as a conservative columnist, I will never be part of pop culture.

While it's clear that Mytheos does not understand Anarchism at all, or the left in general, I think there is a larger issue at play here. Jon Booth is not the left at Wesleyan and he's certainly shouldn't be the face of Anarchism. I think this needs to be said because Jon Booth has made a concerted effort to position himself as the voice of the left on this campus and has made an effort to have his name on as many activist projects as possible. In my mind, this is a very clear form of domination and runs contrary to my personal vision of Anarchism.

I think it needs to be said very loudly that Jon Booth does not represent radical politics. Jon Booth represents self-absorbed, masturbatory, and generally counter-productive radical politics.

In all honesty, Jon Booth and Mytheos Holt are two sides of the same coin. Both are more interested in being purely oppositional figures, playing into the stereotypes surrounding their political ideology and are so wrapped up in their own ego mania that they care more about publicly spouting their ideology than actually doing any work and actually helping people. (Although I guess Mytheos is pretty open about not caring about helping people.)

I sincerely and whole-heartedly, and in the least confrontational way possible, ask Jon Booth to either take responsibility for his actions and come organize not as a vanity project but because he wants people's lives to be better, or to stop sullying the name of the left.

re·pute n (formal)
1. estimation or character according to what people in general think
2. good reputation or standing

why can't intelligent citizen reFUTE a comment with the right words?

It seems intelligent citizen's credentials are not in good repute.

friendly neighborhood anarchist. if you have a problem with me talk to me about it, posting anonymous comments on an article by mytheos holt is probably the least effective way i can imagine to get me to change my behavior in any way.

secondly, i was offered a column on the blargus, so i accepted.

thirdly, i am involved with organizations and projects that i care about and that generally have solid tangible goals.

fourthly, though i am involved in a number of groups i currently run none of them.

so if you got a problem with me, talk to me about it.

@Friednly neighborhood anarchist:

So because Jon Booth is enthusiastic about making his viewpoints known, he's a dominating person who doesn't care about people? Come on. You don't believe that. Why not have a spokesman like Booth get some exposure for your cause, especially since even Mytheos has to admit he respects him (look at the first paragraph)? Having someone who can negotiate with the enemy is useful, you know.

Caboj, if you are serious, I understand your frustration, but you are not being helpful. If you are joking, then I must reproach you for forgetting to mention the giant crypto-theocracy which I and my fellow conservatives are currently planning to instate, even with no power. If you're going to put in cliches about the Right, at least be comprehensive!

It's a free country, and everyone is entitled to a opinion: For however much or LITTLE it means. I guess you know your opinion falls on the miniscule end. Say what you like about Hicks, he could care less. He just laughs all the way to the bank!

Conservative revolution!

jk, jk,
conservatism is a bunch of racist garbage.
jon booth, right on. As always.
Come see me soon.

bacon and sugar, southern style! good stuff!

Just to help fuel your argument, western coal has no less sulfur than central appalachian coal. west virginia is characterized by a dividing line separating low sulfur coal in the south from high sulfur coal in the north. central appalachian coal is preferred because it is both low in sulfur and contains a 33% higher energy content than western coal. you have to burn 4 tons of western coal to get the same energy as you would from 3 tons of appalachian coal. also, the eastern part of the nation uses more coal than the western part, and plants dont like to have to pay for the long transport of coal from montana and wyoming. burning western coal therefore also contributes more to CO2 emissions per unit of energy produced, and produces more ash.

no matter where the coal comes from though, the USGS and National Academy of Sciences and the Energy Watch Group have all found that the energy content of the coal we are extracting and burning peaked in 1998, meaning that since then, we are having to burn more coal each year per unit of energy produced, and we are on a consistent decline in that regard (no ups and downs, just a straight decline in energy content). we are even now burning lignite for electricity!!! thats like a mix of coal and mud.

what this also means is that we are producing more ash and sulfur and mercury per unit of energy produced. we are blasting more mountains, drawing more water, polluting more water and air and destroying more communities per unit of energy produced.

it is time to get off of coal. period. its stupid, its costly, and its running out.

For anyone who thinks that Taylor Hicks EVER says a bad word about ANYONE, Idol or not, they don't have a clue what type of man Taylor Hicks is.

you left out a few things:

dams kill fish. a lot of fish.

and wind and solar both require a lot of mining and transportation of metals. which requires fossil fuels.

the only way that renewable energy can really work is if we drastically cut our energy consumption (no more aluminum smelting and such).

C'mon Irvin, no need to nitpick. The content is the important part.

I am not trying to say the current renewables are great, but I hope people reading this realize that oil/coal/natural gas are much worse options in terms of environmental concerns. For example, although I've never read a study on how many birds (and other organisms) are killed by the operation of, say, an oil- or coal-powered plant in a year, it is likely somewhat higher than 4000....

Our options are limited, and if we want to give future generations the ability to harness even a fraction of the energy we use (again, I'm not necessarily saying we should), it would be imperative to implement such technologies as wind power.

You don't need to convince me, but if you wanna be serious about how to convince a large group of people to get away from things that are bad for the environment, don't go picking on wind, as it's probably your best bet in terms of a replacement (you can pick on the others, even sun, which has a lot of mining issues as well. Also, solar energy is more of a photon thing, not so much harnessing actual heat, so that transition was a bit rough, but I liked the thought....).

Oh, and they've been called renewable because, well, they are. we're not going to use up the heat from the magma of the earth (no, not even by causing earthquakes), we're not going to use up the sun's light, and we're not going to use up the wind, even if we move it off course a bit. That's where the idea of "free" comes in. This "free doesn't fully take environmental costs into account, and it certainly doesn't take money into account (why should it?).

So basically, I think the decision is clear: we continue using the terrible energy sources or we try to convert at least some of our power to less terrible sources or energy. And/or we could try to use less energy (I'm not talking about turning off the water when shaving, more on the lines of stopping smelting and generally cutting back on an industrial scale).

But thanks for the article! It's always good to see things from as many sides of a situation as possible.

ok

K thx

stay out of politics plz.

different strokes

Leslie, what a sad commentary that you have to "attempt" humor at the expense of someone as classy and talented as Taylor. I say attempt because it wasn't humorous. Taylor has always treated his fans and colleagues with respect and kindness. He stands head and shoulders above any of the other Idol winners. Taylor is currently enjoying great success. After starring on Broadway, and in the Grease national tour. He has released his new single and video from his latest album.
BTW, while I'm not a Claymate, I have bought Clay's albums.

I think a lot of people went just to see what all the hype was about and to have a good time at a show that they knew a lot of other students would go to.

Hear, hear, Mr. Firke. And may I be the first to say that, whatever strictures I heap upon Jon Booth or his allies on the Left, I must confess to finding it impossible to hate them for being Leftists. I don't think that, when you spend enough time trying to dissect another intellectual tradition, you can come away from that without a little bit of respect for your adversaries.

Old Faithful is in Yellowstone, Wyoming, not California.

that's awesome

K thx

stay out of politics plz.?

George, maybe you should quit sabotaging the English language with text message short hand. No one worth listening to spells please with three letters and a z. Moron.

Actually, there is a geyser in Calistoga, California called "Old Faithful." Not quite one of the "bastions of Californian naturalism", though, when compared with other things, like the Sequoias.

this article is stupid as shit.

Mytheos, I'd hug you

@frosh: do you seriously think that 12.5MB/s is a logical number considering the number of students using Internet on campus? It IS 100MB/s, and they are using Megabytes to measure bandwidth. What you point out is as stupid as saying that "No, we don't use kilograms to measure weight. We use pounds."

This comment has been deleted due to profanity.

If I had turned something like this into my professors when I was in journalism school, I would have been thrown out of the program immediately.

Whether his mash-ups were good or not, that show in particular was horrible and that's a FACT.

I could not agree more.
Wesleyan, you've gone soft.
Seniors, let's keep Wesleyan weird; our predecessors fought so you wouldn't have to! It seems as though we now need to fight. Let's show our fellow underclassmen what Wesleyan is really all about.

been there done that.
Wesleyan WAKE THE Fuck up!!

This yet another remarkable story about a remarkable young man who strives to improve life for his fellow citizens.
Hopefully Kennedy will inspire those in industrialized countries to appreciate what they have and to share their "riches" and their skills with those who need to improve their conditions.

A great example of the weird Wesleyan of not too long ago is "I Am No Feeble Christ." Crass cover band wearing masks and blasting atonal punk rock in the most public places possible (Foss Hill, outside the Campus Center). People would be lying in the hill trying to suntan and suddenly they'd be subject to lyrics such "I vomit for you, Jesus. Shit forgive. Down from your cross. Down from your papal heights, from that churlish suicide petulant child." Obnoxious, yes, but absolutely hilarious at the same time.

I agree, as a freshman this place is totally not as cool as i was expecting.

i think that it has something to do with a concerted effort by the university to recruit and accept a more conservative student body. similar things are happening at a number of colleges, especially oberlin. they want a bigger endowment and less trouble from students.

lets make this place crazay.

Way to name drop Minor Threat, kiddo. Here's your street cred.

You admit that there is senior disenchantment but yet you don't admit to be a senior suffering from it. Classic Ishmael syndrome.

In a strange way, you are a reactionary. Do You expect people not to be different than one another. You expect people not to change. There is no way that this campus (or anything for that matter) to stay the same. It just doesn't work that way. Harvard isn't still a school for Puritan ministers, and Wesleyan isn't a school for crazy hippies or topless women. The word "mainstream" is simply a way of expressing one's disenchantment with a younger generation. Shit changes. At least this college has taught me how history works. Go back to Liberty U.

I could not agree more. Your comments are shared by so many who once attended this school. I agree a university must and will change, but, having been at said party where the floor collapsed, I cannot express how much this comment is appreciated. At the same time, it IS silly to be so nostalgic, especially if you're still a student; you should go to Fo Cit, get some PBR and then perhaps prepare for a world (real) where none of these frivolous issues are at all relevant . Kudos for striking a beautiful note, though. This post reads like a compilation of the greatest hits of my Wesleyan years.Hey, listen: everyone but the students wants us to become Amherst. You're a saint for articulating the opposite of that type of thinking.

It is not surprising that a contestant like Taylor Hicks ,who defined the anti-IDOL image would get this type of response from Argus readers. It's a shame that more competitons don't celebrate uniqueness.

It's good to see Steve still at work trying to bring the church up to date with what is going on around it. Some 15 years ago, Steve was involved in starting a Jazz Vespers service at First Lutheran Church in Glendale, CA. It is still going strong. I look forward to being able to see "Stand Up Mark".

I'm not sure if I'd really want most of the things you've listed. Although I couldn't complain about topless women on FOSS, more vegan options, or beer with dinner, many of your nostalgic moments seem worse.

The lines at Usdan are long enough. I don't need some dude correcting my grammar, especially since "can", in the context, is absolutely synonymous with "may".

"Grandma" worked at Summerfields last year (I haven't seen her recently, though). She was very nice, yes, but quite slow. The lines there are too long as it is.

Trays with the corners sliced off are SO much better than normal trays. They also fit fewer items, which encourages less waste.

Although I enjoy weed, there's a time and a place. And the place sure as hell isn't dining areas. Weed is quite pungent and a lot of taste is smell. I don't want the already subpar flavors of my politically-correct honey ginger chicken sandwich to be further diluted.

And drinking your own pee? That's just gross.

The think I love about Wesleyan is the ability to go from the mundane to the bizarre without having either forced upon you. Although, I guess I'm just one of those youngsters who doesn't remember the good ol' days.

With every incoming freshman class the upperclassmen will throw their hands up at the sight of the new "mainstream" classes and worry that Wes is losing its soul. Trust me '09, we were none-too-pleased when you guys showed up bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and Abercrombie-clad. And I'm sure that when the minivans full of my classmates pulled up in the fall of 2003 the upperclassmen were afraid of the effect we'd have on their beloved Wes, on that intangible "Wesleyanish" (to quote President Roth) quality we so cherish.

But you know what? Your class turned out just fine, as did mine. Things change, but Wes's soul can't be stamped out by superficial things. So stop worrying about some conspiracy by the administration to change Wes and just enjoy your senior spring, and really enjoy everything that makes Wes "what it used to be." Throw parties, organize campus-wide events, be passionate in your classes, bring back the tradition of announcements in the dining hall, revive older traditions, invent new ones, go streaking, spend time on Foss Hill (sledding, sunbathing, reading, lounging, watching the sunrise, on 4/20, Spring Fling, Wesfest...), support student performances, go to lectures, get deeply involved in your student groups... Look past their Ugg boots and you may find that those high-school over-achievers in their new comfortable red & black sweatshirts start doing the same.

Did you ask your RA's permission to put her picture up?

whats wrong with everyone you are weird

Hopefully, someday when you grow up, you will learn the difference between humor and mean-spirited ignorance. Taylor Hicks is a class act. He has never spoken unkindly about AI or any of the other idols, and it is unfair of you to treat him in this way. If this article is an example of the talent you possess as a journalist, I would suggest that you seriously consider another path in life.

"frosh" is right in this. There's no way in hell Wesleyan has a 100 megabyte per second pipe.

Look past their Ugg boots? I can't cause they won't go streaking with me.

So what should Wesleyan be if not weird? Wesleyan is preparation. Wesleyan is a bubble. Wesleyan is many things. But most importantly Wesleyan is practice. Practice getting out of your comfort zone. Practice breaking boundaries. Practice creating, trying, buying shoes that aren't Uggs. Practice not buying things at all! It's easier here because it is a bubble. Once you get out there in the "real world" it will be so much harder to create new life forms, new anything because without the protection of the bubble--psafe, the provided food and housing, the health care, the library--we must adhere to almost all norms just in order to eat/sleep/fuck whatever. So if you don't practice now, how will you ever create space for your mind and body to breath later?

Yes, there is specified place for everything. But who specifies, who determines this? "Weed is quite pungent and a lot of taste is smell." Hahahaha. Dude, you don't enjoy weed if you wrote this. Try again.

And if you can't appreciate someone who's paid 8 bucks an hour correcting your $50,000/yr grammar, you're either too invested in your words or not invested enough in the world around you.

I've gotten soft. We've all gotten soft. We're too scared to own up to our actions (who said "been there done that"?); we're too ashamed to own up to our own thoughts (see ACB). I agree with that androgynous anonymous post, though. Wake the fuck up Wes. Touch the world, taste it, breath it in, sing it out, dance on the top of Judd. And if Psafe shows up, they can't chase you. That won't be the case next year '09.

soph:

ITS' page also refers to megabits.

Your kilograms vs. pounds argument isn't quite the same since megabytes (and megabits) are both a measure of storage or information while bandwidth is a measure of the rate at which that information can be transferred.

The argument is also a little misguided in that it's like quoting someone as saying they want 100 kilograms when they really wanted 100 pounds. You can use either measurement, but you have to change the value as well.

kool i wanna WATCH THE MOVIE THOUGH
IT SOUNDS INTRESTIG

I have been out of Wes for almost a year now and find that most of what you say is true on a general scheme but I don't agree with the examples. Changing a menu label from "oriental" to something reasonable IS wesleyan, for example. And I think most of the examples go far beyond the dining experiences you discuss.

Even for me, I saw chalk on the campus grounds when I was visiting as a junior in high school and all the students were reading the New York Times in MoCon. These two things really appealed to me - chalk and NYTimes-reading. And I think those are two of the traits Wesleyan students (in theory) hold in my heart.

I agree with Estrella '07. I suggest that, while it's cool to express concern, rather than complain, you should do something you think is "Wes-worthy." Organize something you'd like to see more of and contribute to the campus atmosphere.

good for him!

A bird that is stupid enough to fly into a giant, moving blade deserves to be removed from the gene pool.

its a killa movie hahaha

Excellent post! These points/hypocrisies aren't raised enough.

let's fucking bring it back then.

everyone's mentioning not buying uggs......well, I know I was disapointed when I cam here and everyone was wearing their bands in their eyes, tight pants, little slip-on flats and leggings. True there are people of all types on this campus, but you must admit that we are more than saturated with hipsters. I thought when I came here I 'd see the insane diverse student population I was told about as a prefrosh.....but I didn't.....I still haven't. Where are the goths? Where are the rockers, Where are the hardcore punks, Where are the rappers, where are the hippies.....true there's one or two around.....but not bathing and smoking some weed does not a hippie make.
I came here expecting this mismatched pile of interest groups.... and yes, there is still that liberal overall feel to the student body, but for the most part, its pretty uniform. We are uniform in our vintage clothing and non mainstream music. things stop being unusual when 2000 other students are paying the same 80 bucks at urbanoutfitters for a pair of thick black framed glasses and a cotton potato sack that is too long to be a shirt but to short to be a dress.

bangs, not bands**** oops

Oriana,

While I would never be caught dead in Uggs, I feel that most people hate them because it's the cool thing to do. Seriously, in terms of style, they're pretty bad, but I've heard they're comfy. Judging people by their sense of fashion isn't cool. If there is a direct correlation between one's brand of boots and the probability of streaking, that's a legitimate complaint, I guess.

You said it... Wesleyan is "practice getting out of your comfort zone." The key word is practice. When you practice something, you generally take it in limited quantities. You expand your horizons at a healthy, comfortable rate. Wesleyan is supposed to be enjoyable, not an immersion experience into the bizarre.

Trust me, I've had plenty of real-world experience and in comparison, it's mostly a lot more tame. Not that I'd want Wesleyan to be like that -- I come here solely because of the community.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of the campus would feel similarly about having to smell excessive pot smoke while dining. As I said, there's a time and a place for weed. I really don't mind the smell when it's floating down the hall and I just get a whiff as I walk by, or if I'm actively smoking. However, I don't want it around me all the time.

About our grammar-correcting guy: I assert that the aforementioned example is grammatically acceptable in the context. In my opinion, there's no reason to correct someone's grammar during a conversation. It makes you look like a smart-ass to do so. If I corrected people every time they said, "where you at?" or "I have some place to go to" or whatnot, I'm pretty sure I'd have no friends.

If you're going to dance on Judd, I'm fully supportive of you. Just don't force me to dance. When I'm good and ready, I'll join ya up there.

That picture is so disgusting. Just objectifying women 100%. Great job.

DID YOU ASK YOUR RA'S PERMISSION TO POST A PICTURE OF HER SMOKING A JOINT??? THAT IS REALY UNACCEPTABLE.

1. It's "quizzical."

2. This is nothing new. I've seen this same article published time after time. Yes, things change and no, not always for the better. Why not take a look at why the school seems to be attracting all of these students "who are too busy buying their next pair of Ugg boots on their Blackberrys to care about the stuff that makes this institution so special"? You're saying the same old thing and I think that's what irritates me the most. Why was this even published?

3. Your arguments are obnoxious and offensive - why aren't commenters questioning your language in the fourth and eighth paragraphs instead of debating the popularity of Uggs on campus?

It isn't just that I disagree about what makes Wesleyan Wesleyan. And it isn't just that I find the writing juvenile and demeaning. I also don't understand the need for this article. If it's just a chance to reminisce, why the attacks on 2012 and 2011? I'm a little confused and I'd love some clarification.

I completely agree with everything the previous person stated. The idea of "weird" is a very privileged concept. What does it mean to actively TRY and be "weird"? It often means that one's social identities are constructed as normative and that one is USING one's privilege to do things like pee in a cup in a dining hall, smoke pot all over campus (which I saw happen just yesterday), run around the street drinking at 19, or attend Wesleyan in the first place.

I am sick of people trying to be weird. Many people are labelled "weird"/different because of their sexual orientation, race, gender identity/expression, class, etc. Instead of trying to be "weird" and use your privilege in unproductive ways, why don't we try and deconstruct what "weird" and "normal" are? I don't think they are a bunch of dudes drinking their own urine.

"I am sick of people trying to be weird. Many people are labelled “weird”/different because of their sexual orientation, race, gender identity/expression, class, etc. Instead of trying to be “weird” and use your privilege in unproductive ways, why don’t we try and deconstruct what “weird” and “normal” are? I don’t think they are a bunch of dudes drinking their own urine."

Sorry, i didn't know sitting in our ivory tower, masturbating about deconstructionism was a productive way of using our time.

No, but analyzing and deconstructing PRIVILEGE is a VERY productive way to spend your time.

Masturbation can be fun, too, although I don't own any ivory towers.

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

What a great write-up. Thank you.

yeah i don't want at all whatever vision of wesleyan this is not because i'm "conservative" but because most of the things listed (like about dining halls and people being naked) are totally irrelevant to the ways that this institution needs to change. i'm tired of people being upset about wesleyan not being the fetishized hippy paradise they thought it would be, and assuming that everyone shares this dissapointment.

id rather see this institution strengthen its effort to undermine the power dynamics that it relies upon, and that contribute to the inequality and violence imbued in our society. dropping cups at mocon or people wearing uggs doesn't matter at all.

I accidentally Mytheos

I think most points are valid; however, I think it was a success to ditch ARAMARK - the corporation, not necessarily the friendly workers.

Despite other options, ARAMARK knowingly chooses to use eggs from caged hens. Cages for egg-laying chickens are a cruel method of confinement that prevents hens from ever leading a natural life. With battery cages, each hen has less space than a standard sheet of paper. These birds will spend their life without ever seeing the sun or feeling solid ground beneath their feet, and will have their feathers torn off from constantly rubbing against the cage bars.

ARAMARK's competitors, such as Compass Group, already made the socially and environmentally responsible decision to switch to cage-free eggs. Over 350 colleges have also switched to cage-free eggs.

Eggs from caged hens is a barbaric practice that has no place in today's sustainable market.

A variation of this has appeared in the Argus every year for the last 20+ years (search the archives). I suspect similarly intellectually dishonest laments will appear in future decades.

This article is wrong. Fire Safety inspections are still happening this semester.

MY only comment towards this story would be its seeming aimlessness. I kept wondering where exactly all the hackneyes euphemisms and rhetoric were going, only to find myself left i nthe middle of a Coraline comparison and an uninformed, unsubstantiated opinion.

Your article reads like you could be an ok writer, with at least an adequate grasp of language and word usage, but a little less ego-centric editorializing (which, I understand, tends to be the modus operandi of the blogger) and a little more information (as it relates to supporting your opinion, or, any information at all, really) and you'd probably find yourself in a better, or at least less adolescent, place professionally.

Terry,
Your critiques are noted, however, I wish to inform you that the Argus is not my professional home. I already write professionally for at least two other blogs, and this particular entry for the Argus was written under less-than-ideal circumstances. If it is not up to my usual standard, I do apologize. My subsequent pieces will, I assure you, be much more focused.

You cheapen your columns when you go all Jonah Goldberg on us. Saying that Mussolini is a progressive is a distortion of facts, to say the least.

The guilt by association trick you try to pull is also pretty disgusting. To lump Margaret Sanger with Mussolini (and ergo family planning with fascism) is the resort of those who prefer to provocative rather than rigorous. And, as a final note, if you're going to simply describe Sanger as having generally bad intentions because of her involvement in the eugenics movement, please remember that Winston Churchill was pro-eugenics too, and can even be fairly described as a leader in the eugenics movement prior to World War I. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/racism-history.shtml).

In the third paragraph, should it not be Tambora rather than Pinatubo that erupted in 1815?

Mr. Blumstein,
With respect to Mussolini, I refer you to the French historian of fascism Zeev Sternhell's book "The Birth of Fascist Ideology," Ivone Kirkpatrick's book "Mussolini" and John Patrick Diggins's "Mussolini and Fascism." And please, if you are going to lecture me on guilt by association, do try and do it in a different place from where you accuse me of going "Jonah Goldberg on us."

Speaking of the "guilt by association trick" you accuse me of playing, I really am sorry, but I can only defend arguments which are actually in the article. I have not said that Mussolini or Sanger are equivalent - merely that they both were progressives in their time (true, according to their contemporaries and according to historians), and that they both had bad intentions (also true). There is no comment on Winston Churchill for the simple reason that he was not a progressive. I imagine he did have very negative views on eugenics - I don't defend him for that. Being a consequentialist, I think the consequences of his actions in World War II outweigh whatever negative intentions he had with respect to eugenics. I suppose one could say the same for Sanger, if one supported what you call "family planning," but I frankly don't care how progressives sleep at night.

And as a final note, you do not refute arguments by attacking isolated examples. And please, given the last exchange we had in this paper, do cease lecturing people on being "provocative rather than rigorous."

Apologies. I should have placed my name in the above. At any rate, I think I will cease responding here, as all the possible misunderstandings seem to have been cleared up.

Today's weird will inevitably be tomorrow's mainstream. Look at ripped jeans, big sunglasses, converse sneakers, wayfarers, leggings...these were all things that started out as hip, weird and progressive, and then became mainstream. Our mainstream culture doesn't fall far from our parents' generation's liberal culture; it's not that Wesleyan is becoming more normal, it's that normal is becoming more like Wesleyan.

Although most people will be given a half point increase, second semester juniors will be given a full point bump.

Does that mean if we're returning for 2nd semester we get a whole point?

“Rep. Lesser, who has no plans to graduate from the University”

this is incorrect, when i interviewed him he said it is a possibility that he will graduate from the university

I only leave those brief comments because I don't have time at the moment to respond fully and your examples and rhetorical tricks are in my mind noxious enough to be pointed out. A fuller response will be coming eventually though.

Also, word to the wise, declaring that you're closing argument before it's begun (something you do on nearly every column you write) is not only immature (shades of Bill O'Reilly, Mr. Holt), but is also another device of those who choose to belittle rather than reason.

Dear Mytheos,
Before you go, would you please define what you yourself would call "family planning"?

im not a reliable organ of the left. im not really on the left.

and radicals hate liberals for the same reasons they hate moderates. MLK summed it up well:

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I'll loan my pizza stone and peel to anyone on campus who wants to make this.

efoxepstein@wes

You don't actually need a pizza stone though, Eli. It create better crust but you can make good pizza without one.

You'll find many examples of carbon projects sustaining the vitality of indigenous communities by providing alternative incomes and payments for ecosystem services.

Clearly the idea that forests decompose and emit carbon shows that the author doesn't understand overall net sequestration - sure the forest system reaches maturity whereby growth is equal to decay but this is hundreds of tonnes per hectare over the original non-forest land use.

Simply this would have been a 'relevant' piece for an undergraduate in about 1998 but these arguements have been covered many times over now and the consensus opinion is that we require all forms of mitigation, adaptation, sequestration PLUS newly developed low emissions technologies - we cannot afford to be pedantic about which method is A+ or B- ; we need them all.

YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! I'm the pizza king!
 -Jerry

Nobec,
Certainly, since you ask so politely. I think that what Mr. Blumstein calls "family planning" refers to the enterprise of birth control and "planning" ahead for certain parental events. I think the term is not a useful euphemism, and use the term more expansively. I think most families plan a lot more than just when to have children, such as how to raise said children, or which neighborhoods to live in, or what retirement strategy to use, or similar contingency plans. This is a wholly apolitical definition of the term, but I more or less assumed, given Mr. Blumstein's association of the word "family planning" with Margaret Sanger, that he meant birth control. This is one controversial element, but by no means the whole package.

Mendellshould be admired not only for his playing ability but for his team first perspective. A credit to himself, his team and his family.he should be rookie of the year

Two minutes of my life I will never get back. What happened to the global freeze that was supposedly taking place some 30 years ago? The earth's temp also varies with volcanic activity which has been dormant for some time. Typical tree hugger banging on Bush yet you fail to note that the "carbon sinks" located in North America typically absorb as much carbon as North America releases. Please provide all the facts before you continue to rant.

Ironic and eye-catching. But, not edifying. This one bounces off the smokestack then careens down the main deck like a plastic bottle.

Yum!! Sounds delicious! Great writing and a great recipe.

Carbon Trading = Colonialism

http://ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/article.opinion.php?component_id=6522&component_version_id=9766&language_id=12

While it's not required, and the za tastes delicious regardless of whether or not it's cooked on a stone, the stone does have a noticeable, positive effect.

I am very proud of the commitment and dedication that is shown from the students of Wesleyan. Way to go AhDream and the other students!!!!!!!

Well put Jon! Anytime Lieberman supports something you know it's got to be bad.

Dermont continues by targeting WesWings choice to change the “oriental chicken sandwich” to “honey ginger chicken sandwich.” The term “oriental” (which, Dermont will be happy to know, I still see describing plenty of food items on campus) derives from an exotified, racist conception of Asian peoples. The change made by WesWings reflects one of the few positive changes in recent years.

way to seriously miss sarcasm. everyone here at wes knows what 'oriental' actually signifies (or should), and i don't think he was truly denouncing that change.

Well done, Mr. Inkles...well done. You've made an old radio dog proud.

I'm proud of you Ahdream, that you are assuming a position of leadership. I know if the school won't appreciate your efforts then certainly God will. Keep up the good work!

This is awesome.

Great video! I' m loving the new Argus!

I had no idea WesPep existed! GO WES! You guys are fantastic!

Your arguments are usually reasonable, but I'm disappointed with the partisan polarization.

"But unlike the Left, who would doubtlessly try to get this proposal passed with strict ideological barriers to entry"

Really? You're better than that. "Wesleyan Viewed from the Right" does not necessarily mean a lens of inflammatory prejudices and immature insults. Unless, of course, you want to say that these things are an essential part of the political Right, which would make a lot of people on this campus happy. But I don't think you believe that and neither do I--so let's hear the view from the right in a tone that invites consideration, instead of alienates and polarizes.

O'Reilly-talk only accomplishes two things. (1) it turns off people who might have listened to you and (2) it gets off people who are just into politics for the bashing and drama. What it does not do, is contribute anything to anybody's understanding.

There are people who share many of my views who make statements about the Right at least as obnoxious. I apologize for their closed-mindedness and hope that you won't stoop to their level out of defensiveness.

It's really unbelievable that they claimed the Argus incorrectly reported the facts after the email. Pathetic.

I understand what you're saying about some things, but come on: Ugg boots do not provide a reliable basis for conjecture about the university's character. I beg you not to indulge in such a basic stereotype.

"Colossally overrated"? No, the show was not overrated at all. Nearly everyone I talked to who was there thought it sucked. No one is saying particularly good things about it.

Hah. I'm a Taylor fan, but I thought this was funny for also taking a dig at Carrie Underwood. Come on, lighten up.

If that was sarcasm, it wasn't used very effectively.

To anonymous, these life-saving "carbon sinks" that you describe can not absorb carbon as quickly as it's being released into the air. Also, these sinks - oceans, vegetation, and soil - can not hold onto carbon for very long before releasing it back into the atmosphere.

What's your problem with tree-hugging?

As if the endowment isn't in enough trouble...

You're a real jerk-off for throwing up that pic, just to add some thrills to stupid article about (re)creating a self-serving idea of 'weirdness.' The fact that you urge us to make a collective effort to 'be weird' gives you away. If we spent less time so desperately trying 'to be' something, then all of our wasted pretension might actually morph into an image which is both innovative and genuinely ours!

I don't think any of the librarians talk too loud, I think they're perfect the way they are.

Wasn't the Giant Wheel of Cheese Jefferson's, not Jackson's? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire_Mammoth_Cheese

Hey Jon, according to that radical rag the NYT only 40% of energy produced by power plants actually reaches consumers. The rest is wasted in transfer. Think about what that means for the viability of mass "green" energy. Just not happening...

What measures is the president of the university taking to increase security on campus on a permanent basis?

You, Trent, are a fucking moron. End of story.

why can't we just go to school to learn things?

To clarify, in case that was a bit obtuse. You completely miss the point, and betray your lack of ability to do anything other than attempt to further your own "hyper-sensitive" agenda when you bring race and gender issues into a harmless piece expressing nostalgia for the past. It's a shame that someone can't refer to a person as a "sweet old black woman" without being criticized as being a proponent of slavery. This is a woman who works at a job, makes money, and presumably enjoys herself, while being respected and loved by many of the people she serves. I'm a bit confused as to where self-sacrifice enters the equation. By the end of your Wespeak, you completely undermine any legitimate point you could have made, by making it clear what you really want: more students who fit the mold of what YOU determine to be ideal: students "passionate about anti-racism, queer issues, universal healthcare, anti-classism, anti-ableism, anti-elitism, homelessness, genocide, and all other forms of oppression rampant in our society and on our campus."

What about students passionate about music, art, science, passion, love, kindness, community service, and tolerance? What about students who don't take every opportunity possible to tell other people how they should live their lives?
Dermont recalls many aspects of Wesleyan that he wishes he saw more of on campus today. All you have to say is what you don't want to see; what you're against. The only positive change you support is changing the name of a WesWings sandwich. Instead of shitting on everything, get a life.

Nice. I totally agree. Keep the religion out of sports for chris-sakes. Next time I pull a 20+ second kegstand, I'm giving a shoutout to my boy JC.

asfcdrfgfthftgb

You must be a deist, In definition Picture the world as a Big Clock,God wound the clock and just let it run. In reality God cares about the number of hairs on your head, and cares about the sparrow. The Athletes that thank God usually know Him.(The GOD of the Bible) Who else would they thank? Jim Brown was a Great Football Player but hardly a Theologian.
THANK GOD

Can I just ask one question?

Why tell them to keep God out of the football game. I mean if the guys want to praise him...why down them or push the whole "keep religion out of sports". Football players can dance in the endzone...why not keep dancing out of football. Because thats that players way of celebrating that he did something good. Well the ones who thank God for winning would just like to invite him to their mini-celebration. I am not saying this isn't a good or bad point. I just want to know why it's becoming such a problem.

Most athletes praise God for giving them the ability and talent to play professional football. So they aren't saying God directly affected the outcome of the game. They are thanking God for giving them the ability to play at a high level that helps their team win the game. They believe God blessed them with a powerful and accurate throwing arm, speed, strength, and/or the mental toughness to make it through a game. So it does seem relevant to praise God for a win, if you believe God gave you the raw talent and ability needed to win the game.

You don't want God in sports, really?? But you DO want Him there in a tragedy and THEN begin to pray right?? Or for the job you really want or that raise perhaps...interesting. If you were truly a Christian you would understand that God is a part of life, including sports. It's not about God supporting a winner and not the loser. God is there for us whether it's a win or a defeat. Athletes like Tim Tebow (UF), James Laurinaitis (Ohio State) and Orion Martin (VA Tech) ARE role models not only because of what they do athletically on the field but off the field. And why, yes, because of their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Why does that make people, even those who call themselves Christians, uncomfortable. These athletes are great examples of excellent character because of their faith. They are highlighted because they are an athlete and what they accomplish as a team. Their faith IS part of it too. You don't want that type of role model for your child, any child?? You do, but when you see it on the tv screen during a game that bothers you some how. People crave for good examples in life, especially in sports. But then when they see it or hear about it, you criticize it. If a person is a good example due to their faith then why not highlight that as well?? Appreciate those like Tebow, Laurinaitis, and Martin and others you can find on http://www.beyondtheultimate.com

I agree with you. What I want to know is why athletes don't praise God when they lose? I'd love to hear something akin to this just once:

"I'd like to thank God for our humiliating loss today. We stunk up the joint and it's all to praise him. I don't always understand his ways, but he must have had a purpose in helping us look like we didn't know what we were doing. Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus!"

they're not thanking God for the win, but for everything that helped their team win. athleticism, strength, endurance, etc.

win or lose God still loves you.

u taking the piss ! look just drop a nuclear bomb on usa and give us all a rest

Often the simplest solutions are the best ones. How about simply taxing all carbon emissions? Use a rate that's lower because the cap no longer applies, but with no loop holes or options for tax avoidance (by creating hydro damns and so forth) there will always be an incentive to reduce the carbon footprint. The money collected should go into an environmental fund devoted to sustainability R&D, or agricultural/reforestation projects designed to remove carbon from the environment.

Also - "sustainability" should replace the jargon of renewability because the idea of sustainability is more holistic with respect to the environment, where renewability is often defined within a more limited scope; i.e biofuels appear "renewable" at first glance. But they're not as they rely upon petrochemical fertilizers... On the other hand applying the notion of sustainability seems to force consideration of the longer timeframe - what happens when oil runs out and there's no petro based fertilizers?

<>

That was really hateful and unecessary. Whether or not you agree with Trent's politics, I believe hir underlying point is valid: Who cares what people wear on their feet? The "weirdness" that is (or was)supposedly so characteristic of Wesleyan should be manifested most in how we think and how we choose to live our lives, not in how we decorate ourselves. Pushing political boundaries is more meaningful than pushing fashion boundaries.

Good point Rob. The Coen bros just took on the hoax of clean coal: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Famed_brothers_Coen_take_on_clean_0226.html

"Clean coal is supported by the coal industry, the most trusted name in coal"

PRAISE ALLAH FOR THIS WONDERFUL FOOTBALL GAME. ALLAH PUT ME ON EARTH TO RUN A 3.42213 COMBINE. PRAISE ALLAH FOR THIS WIN!

8:28 said it a lot better than I can. Abaye, I think it's possible to make a point without name-calling - we aren't in second grade anymore.

I don't know what on-campus parties you go to (aside from parties in your own room) that would play most of these songs. I have never heard Barbie Girl on campus, and LCD Soundsystem is definitely a staple of your room. Oh, and don't you love rocking out to B.O.B. in the Mountaineer? And why hate on Radiohead? 15 Step, I think, is a pretty decent tune, and not beneath Metallica.

In short, I don't understand why you wrote this and how you picked songs that don't seem to be the main party tunes at the frat parties.

Sic Transit Gloria

dude, i was drunk
give me a break

the cover band was awesome though, i hope they'll do it again

ok im down with no more Kids or Paper Planes...

but where the hell have you been that plays Barbie Girl ironically?

For irony, see Eddy Murphy and/or Hulk Hogan. kthxbai.

This article is a mobius strip of pretension.

Ha, I like most of these songs, and would be pretty happy if they came on at a party (other than Stronger, not a big fan of that one).

As for Last Nite, while I like the song (even though it's one of the weaker songs on Is This It?), I'd be much happier if the party hosts were to play Reptilia.

There should be a charming note informing all readers that dear blogger Firke is a freshman.

Perhaps freshman nostalgia for late 90's top 40 music is getting to Mr. Firke.

Go to better parties Firke.

you're such a fucking music snob. why don't you just stay away from parties.

you could avoid hearing the songs you hate to much and we could avoid partying anywhere near you

it's a win win buddy
think about it

wow...you're kind of a douche...step off your high-horse and drunkenly step to some shitty pop music and LOVE IT

Why would you write this article? The internet space isn't limited, but gtfo anyway.

Funny, but blatantly contrarianism for its own sake.

I have never been more proud of you Colin.

PS I hope the use of the word "twang" wa sa nod at the Twangly Two.

I want wesleyan to be weird. Thats why I came here. But I also thought that in coming here people wouldn't judge me on what I wear. I'm mainstream. I like wearing my uggs. I'm sorry if I'm ruining your school. But just because I wear the normal clothes I have left over from high school doesn't mean I'm not crazy on the inside...

Humf -- but your premise is flawed -- look it up: Neanderthals DID have opposable thumbs. Nice try, but Palin is still dumber than a cave-man ...

FYI, the album is available streaming for free at NPR's website until 3/3:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100826714

Wow, what a ridiculous list. You know whats funny about lists like this? We don't get to hear what you like. It's so easy to tear down things, beliefs, music, people, etc, etc, but it is much harder to stick out your own neck and defend something. To say everything sucks is easy, saying something is good takes guts and real talent.

when did cut copy become techno?

all those songs blow, good fucking list. compared to all the other bullshit that comes out of the "blargus" this actually gets some emotion out of people, which really does make a good fucking article.

all you firke haters, i'm going to litter and cut down a tree in your name.

blow me firke, in a good way.

Good article.

Haters are just mad that their shitty music tastes are being attacked. I'm surprised no one has cried "Racist!" yet.

this is basically a rewrite of a better, more succinct article on fivethirtyeight.

Anonymous,

Thanks for making me aware of that article. I hadn't seen it before I wrote this, but it does make the same point very well. I'll put a link in to the post to try to direct people to that article as well. For anyone who wants to read it, go here: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/02/two-progressivisms.html

Since when were anarchists the voice of the left?

Is this a joke? Did she even read Trent's article? This is the dumbest shit I've ever seen.

Dear Abaye,

Nice to meet you. My name is Trent and accord to you I am a "fucking moron." We have never met, I have no idea who you are, and now I don't really want to meet you. So thanks for being so nasty!

If you think it's about being "hyper-sensitive" I would guess you have never confronted the many ways oppression works in our society. Considering your meanness, I honestly do not feel the need to respond to any of your points, but I very much appreciated the last two comments.

Dialogue is certainly important, but nastiness and name calling is useless.

Oops! Typo! Second line should be "according to you"

the wall of backups cuz confrontings to confounding

i feel like using the language "sweet old..." is kinda patronizing, and a lot of ppl on campus talk that way, so clearly it's a bigger problem.

we shouldn't be so scared and defensive. talking about racism, heterosexism, classism, ableism... the list goes on... is really important to creating a more fair and just society.

Wangs.

Hannah is right. The first commentor is wrong (and may actually be trent).

Well, Trent, me calling you a "fucking moron" may have been mean, but it was also the only opinion I could reasonably form of you after reading your ridiculous Wespeak. You expressed your opinion, I expressed mine. To be quite honest, I have no qualms publicly expressing that opinion after reading your Wespeak which expressed not only ignorance, but close-mindedness as well--and completely missed the point.
Like you said, you have never met me, and therefore have no idea what I do and do not know about oppression. What I do know is that I find your Wespeak to be offensive and stupid. Just as you are offended that I, a perfect stranger, have dubbed you a "fucking moron", I am offended at how quickly and self-righteously you pass judgment on others; that you so readily call others racists and bigots. You are quick to judge others for being racist; it is that same thoughtless passing of judgment that spawns racism and bigotry in the first place.
If my comments demonstrated too much "meanness" for you to respond to them, well, that's all good. I didn't feel that your Wespeak was really opening doors to dialogue anyway; it was more of an extreme critique of Dermont for not being sufficiently politically correct in his piece, and that's exactly what I'm criticizing you for. It's just not necessary.

didn't mean to post that as "anonymous"

No the first commenter was me, Dan, Trent's twin.

Agree with Abaye and, earlier, Hannah.

"If you think it’s about being “hyper-sensitive” I would guess you have never confronted the many ways oppression works in our society."

Many of us have, and many of us reached different conclusions about it than you. Oppression sucks; no one denies that, and no one (at least at Wesleyan) is going to just accept it without a struggle. However, what you've described - the 'Aunt Jemima' thing and the "Oriental" label - simply do not strike me as instances of oppression. I'm half-Asian and spent part of my childhood in China; I was walking down the street late at night last week and some drunken teenagers in a minivan yelled "HE'S CHINESE!!!!1!1" and threw a bottle of soda at me. That right there is an example of oppression. The instances you mentioned are not.

My point is this: don't throw words like "racism" and "oppression" around casually and constantly. Save them for when you have to fight the real battles, otherwise you'll lose your credibility.

You're just an asswhole. Who clearly can't get over yourself! And the purpose of the picture is?

I hope you learned your lesson Firke... Never insult hipsters, they're extra tight pants make them especially whiney.

Wesleyan always turns into a wacker version to the people attending it. It's all fun and games freshman year and then everyone gets bitter as seniors cuz they have to go out into the real world, write a thesis, and deal with the new class of eager beaver frosh who only seem more mainstream. The fact is they are just as immature as you once were and they are going to find themselves at the end of 4 years just as bitter as you are now, but hopefully more mature. It's called growing up! Just be happy that Wesleyan lets you get away with the shit they let you get away with. Be weird on your own damn time, and stop petitioning others to join in.

hey, whatisityoucantface, you're right; it's hard to "stick out your own neck and defend something," so that's why you went by your own name, right? (apparently you're parents hated you)

aqua is danish-norwegian, not swedish
GET IT RIGHT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_(band)
p.s. ingmar bergman is my mom

I just love how much attention and how clearly contentious this issue is. Rock ON.

bring the whole Wu crew!!

i agree that last nite, paper planes, kids, and stronger need to die....especially last nite. can't say i've heard too much of the others.

yeah these songs grate on my nerves, but being drunk brings out the lame nostalgia in lots of us, (including me).

haters be mad cuz i got me some bathin ape

good show andrew!

Well done Andrew. I always had pride in how Wesleyan prevented us from being shocked by almost anything. Now, I'm certain that tolerance has eroded. There hasn't been anything jaw-droppingly surprising in a long long while and I'm not okay with that. There's no question this place is a bit more Wonder Bread than it was in 2005. I REALLY don't want to turn into Williams or Amherst and I think we could be well on our way.

The Sports Information Director is missing the true import of Newman's story. It is not how far he throws but that he has willed himself to throw at all. The challenges Newman has surmounted to be a quality varsity thrower are immense. I suggest a follow up story.

Paragraphs, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10 say absolutely nothing and should be cut outright. Everything remaining could be condensed into two paragraphs. You just used 13oo words to say "Progressives are well-intentioned but simpleminded and overzealous with an unsophisticated approach to public policy."

Nice piece. If it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger.

THESE STUDENTS ARE CLUELESS - 23 MILLION ILLEGAL (WHICH MEANS NOT LEGAL) INVADERS HAVE ENTERED OUR COUNTRY - THEIR GOAL IS TO TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY - ONE MILLION AMERICANS HAVE BEEN CRIME VICTIMS - HOME INVASIONS - KIDNAPPING - RAPE - RAPE OF CHILDREN - THEY DON'T WANT TO BE CITIZENS - THEY WANT TO GET BENEFITS FROM THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS AND SEND THE MONEY TO MEXICO

HAVE YOU STUDIED MEXICOS IMMIGRATION POLICY?

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACISM - THAT IS A COP OUT

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

GROW UP WESLEYAN - VISIT PHOENIX FOR STARTERS

wow

Wesleyan COLLEGE?

this is the lamest assortment of style shots i have seen. are we amherst?

While I agree that many of the listed songs were over played. B.O.B by Outkast is a classic and your a dumb ass to say otherwise.

no we are not amherst. it will get better- give him a break for this one

What does Amherst have to do with any of this?

Benjamin takes no prisoners. After 51 years he''s perfected his Wespeak form. Now that's a Little Engine That Could!

I generally find what you say to be interesting, sufficiently coherent and good for discourse on campus.

But (among other things in this article) calling the Warren court a "well-meaning gesture" is ludicrous and borderline racist. The rulings of the Warren Court were anything but trivial and symbolic and although you may not agree with Engel v. Vitale and other decisions, it is universally recognized that the Warren Court's rulings on school desegregation and free speech were monumental, historical and laid the foundation for modern American society.

Occasionally it my be a good move to bite your Wikipedia-ing and thesaurus-ing tongue for just a second and understand the implications of your statements.

With all due respect, the shoe is on the other foot where tongue-biting is concerned. The Warren Court might have produced rulings with socially desirable results, but it also provided an unprecedented level of unchecked power to future generations of judges (and now my side is learning to use it). One does not have to be a racist to disapprove of their decisions, or to question the methods used by certain nonracists anymore than one has to be a conservative to disagree with certain elements of a progressive's agenda. In fact, one of my oft-cited heroes, Barry Goldwater, was a member of the Arizona NAACP and he voted against the Civil Rights Act and opposed Brown v. Board because he thought that they gave too much power to the Federal Government and the Supreme Court. Please note - the power to do what you most wish for is also the power to do what you most hate.

And with all due respect, it was not then and it is not now "universally recognized" that anything the Warren Court did was Constitutionally or socially wise, especially not in the legal community. Richard Posner, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Richard Epstein, Keith Whittington and both of George W. Bush's appointees would all disagree with that statement for utterly nonracial reasons. Even our own Professor Finn does not approve of everything they did, and I know that because I spent last semester in a tutorial with him arguing about it. Wikipedia and Thesaurus were not involved - the Warren Court was well-meaning, but in my judgment, most of their decisions were unwarranted and dangerous in the long-term.

i still dont care.

"College Republicans" is the name of a nationwide organization. "Wesleyan University" is the name of the school. We preferred not to say "Wesleyan University College Republicans," which would have been the technically correct name, but horridly clumsy.

I would compare this favorably to Mytheos' attempt at wringing humor from the same subject a week ago. This was more substantive than humorous.

fuck uggs

GO HANNAH! This PC crap is so stupid.

I am an international student admitted by Trinity College. I am sure the academic will be really great, but I heard that the racial interactions are scarce. I really hope that Trinity could transform into a much more diverse and multi-cultural place. I think this event is really meaningful.

"My name is Zedekar Collonian," he said. "You are very lucky I was able to defeat those robbers, had it not been for my Golem," He motioned to the fiery figure standing beside him, "You would probably have been killed." Recovering myself, I thanked him weakly, then introduced myself as Varlaster Alstrick. "I have need of a companion," he said simply. "I am lonely, my artificial creations are no good to me except as protection, and they cannot carry baggage or have intelligent conversation." I was taken aback. "I'm not sure I can either," I said. "I'm not especially educated, and I can barely carry my own baggage."

I have literally no idea what you are talking about.

A great angel stood before me, his wings flashing daringly. "You have just spoken the language of Hell itself," he snapped. "I suppose you're pleased with yourself!"

"The language of Hell?" I asked.

"That book is no ordinary book, it is a weapon of evil designed to ensnare you with its power," he replied, then extracted a large red stone from the glowing ashes. "This.." he continued, "Is a fragment of Mephisto's compelling orb, It has the power to give you the ability to speak Hellish and will give you unnatural power."

Is this truly an appropriate time to quote Diablo II fan-fiction?

think you missed the point bro

you aren't going to like the wesleyan dermont sees coming any better than he does. more privileged, more insulated, more consumerist, less involved. a weirder wesleyan is going to be a more active one; you didn't have to frame this point as a pedantic take-down of someone on your side

Good blog. I liked what you said (especially the part about forming communities being a form of direct action) , though I have not read the errant manifesto.

I think your a little to self critical, i understand your clarification of it not being related to SDS. that wouldn't be far to the group.
however, so what? I think you touch on some of the important elements that you failed in, however the fact that your document caused some kind of controversy at all on your campus is a good thing. we cant get too caught up in the white privilege guilt trip. It certainly doesn't help liberate black and latino students on the campus. much less the white kids that want freedom too.

If writing made you feel embarrassed after the fact, it was probably because what you were calling for was uncomfortable. there are going to have to be a lot of uncomfortable conversations if folks are serious about wanting to have a revolution. in revolutions you have to step out into uncharted waters, uncertainly and mistakes are just part of the process. Dont beat yourself up about it.

it would have been better if u didnt mention that u knew who the dopple was so that others understand thats how u come incontact with ur dopple is Unannounced and not always a lookalike u feeel me???

sa

thanks for pointing this out, ian. i think the financial aid gauntlet (the more you earn, the more you pay!) is a reality for a lot of wes students, and yet you rarely hear anyone talk about it!

He took steroids, great, sure he's a cheat. Bottom Line, he's still going to break the all time home record even if you exclude the 100+ homers he had between 01' 03. It's kinda tight that you left out some important points, namely that he wasn't on steroids in '05, and '07 in which he had superhuman seasons receiving two mvp's. And as for his decline to a 43.7 homerun average being indicative of him using steroids...You can attribute the contrasting averages to the fact that arlington is one of the best hitters ball parks in the league and that Yankee stadium is notoriously crappy for right handed hitters. Not to mention that averaging 43 homers a year is freaking diesel. So in conclusion get your facts straight.
ps.
Ten bux says your a Red Sox fan. COugh Bias COugh

Yes, I rather think it is. Especially when it's fanfic that I wrote at 13. Why on earth were you people googling me?

Really? No mention whatsoever? I assume the author is not of legal drinking age and has not enjoyed the campus bands that play at Public.

This article about Alex Rodriguez’s steroid use is typical of the reactions that many people had when they heard that Alex Rodriguez had admitted using steroids from 2001 to 2003 with the Texas Rangers. It is also typical in its biased approach and lack of baseball sophistication.

First, everything in baseball can be measured. Second, every hitter’s career stats follow a natural parabola, with the highest production normally occurring near a hitter’s prime (26 to 28). So if a player were getting an unfair advantage by using steroids or through any other means, it would follow that it would appear in the stats, unexplained by the natural career path. We must now ask ourselves, is there anything in Alex Rodriguez’s career, such as a jump in homeruns, that cannot be explained in the larger context of Alex’s career numbers? The answer is no.

You are right in pointing out that his homerun production in Texas (avg. 52 per season) was greater than it was in the previous three years in Seattle (avg. 41.67 per season) and the three years afterwards in New York (avg. 43.7 per season). While many are quick to point to steroids as the reason, a look at the difference in parks and his production away from home while in Seattle, Texas, and New York shows that in away games, Alex Rodriguez was the same player with Texas that he was with Seattle and even with New York. Because Texas and Seattle are in the same division, and are playing the same teams on the road, an analysis of his road production is the perfect control in an experiment to see whether or not his increase in homeruns can be entirely attributed to a difference in home parks.

During away games, Rodriguez averaged 24.7 homeruns a season from 1998 to 2000. During the “steroid years,” Alex averaged 23.3 homeruns a season during away games, fewer than he did with Seattle. From 2004 to 2006, Alex averaged 18.7 homeruns a season during away games. If steroids were the reason for his increased homerun total then his road homerun total would have increased as well. It didn’t.

Alex’s increased home run total in Texas was clearly caused by nothing other than playing in a hitter’s park, as opposed to Seattle and New York, which are notorious pitcher’s parks. So perhaps Alex was right in saying he was “not sure what the benefit was.”

tight man i felt how u feel u should get sponserd in order to get free ones

A couple questions that I think you fail to address in your article:

Can localized food production sustain cities the size of LA, Chicago, or New York? If not, then people would have to emigrate to less populated areas using countless amounts of fuel for transportation (a scenario similar to the urbanization foreseen in China's future) , and reversing the centralization of talent and industry that cities have achieved in the last century.

Also, in case of natural disasters and unpredicted droughts or floods there will necessarily be food shortages in some affected regions. And, of course, people would have to give up some pleasures like tropical fruits.

So, what I picture as a result from dismantling industrial agriculture is a nation of people scattered all over the land in small clusters, most of whom spend their days farming and harvesting, with a small minority taking care of other necessities such as education. I guess clothing would be pricier and less comfortable too with the reduced amount of cotton. Reminds me of the civilizations I read about from several hundred years ago.

That, of course, is my 2 cent, generally uninformed conclusion. Is this an avoidable situation, and how can it be avoided?

"systemicity"

this word alone will eradicate prejudice.

Transportation and building energy use are responsible for the vast majority of US global warming emissions (and in CT are well over 80% of the problem).

The "structural" change we need will put mandatory limits on CO2 emissions and change how we live, how we use energy, and how we move around. What we can do is change the choices that people have today.

On the building side that can look like incentive programs for efficiency and renewable energy (like solar electricity and hot water), education on how to cut energy use (pull down shades, how to use a programmable thermostat), economic incentives (tiered pricing where the more energy you use, the higher the rate you pay), and regulations requiring increases in product efficiency, mandates that buildings be built or renovated to an efficient standard, and eventually even be required to incorporate renewable energy sources (as Hawaii is doing now for solar hot water heating).

Ultimately a combination of mandates and incentives will transform how we use and think about energy. If done right our children will wonder how we ever lived differently.

Cities are inherently unsustainable because they rely on imports. No place for them in a post-carbon world. Obviously this is bad news for the urban poor.
With all due respect Mr. Smith I think you really missed Jon's point. In 50 years it won't make any difference whether we recycled or not, pulled down our shades, drove a Hummer or bought organic. None of these lifestyle changes address the critical reality that our way of life--industrialism/mass society--is not sustainable. The earth cannot take it much longer.
This whole deal is going to stop working in our lifetimes, the only question is how difficult we want t0 make that inevitable transition.

this is so awesome i really loooove dolphina and now there is one in my fav. color pink!!!!!! this is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well said Jonathan, and Lemuria, I couldn't have said it better myself. Great piece!

albinos changing lives everyday

Sadly, the person in this picture is not Imam Mahdi Bray

BAAAAAWWW

For some reason, I feel an odd sort of kinship with this dolphin. Maybe it's because of my first name.

I'm pretty sure someone in my year wrote a Wespeak that said exactly the same thing. Probably someone in the Class of '96 did the same. And the Class of '86. Wesleyan is Wesleyan not because the kids coming in are Wesleyan-ish, but because Wes makes them Wesleyan-ish. So, freshmen are normal, and then they become weird by the time they are seniors. It just happens. That's the difference between 18-year olds and 22-year olds-- the 22-year olds are grown up. So relax. Drink. Party. Graduate. Get depressed.

Wait, you wrote that? Nice. I had absolutely no idea.
Do you still play? (I do occasionally. It still hasn't lost its luster.)

this is great

lmao.

Black is an identifying characteristic and American society is predominantly White (I'm not saying this is good, but it is).

For instance, should we not also call someone the "tall guy," if they were over 6-5, just because they are a minority? I'm sure if we were in Africa and there was a nice old White lady who worked at the corner store, you'd call her "the old white lady."

Therefore it makes sense to use someones race to identify someone else.

You try to address these critiques, "It is not that race cannot be a useful way to describe someone, but that white folks often describe people of color simply by their race, erasing their existences as people who are Black, Latina/o, Asian/Asian American, etc." So in this case, Dermot is actually using it to your satisfaction... He didn't write "the Black working at MoCon."

I don't think Dermot would ever write that, and furthermore think he understands the potential racial connotations.

As with a lot of your Wespeaks, you are reading way to far into a rather innocuous comment and presenting a circular argument.

Oh and as a Latino, I'm glad someone is labeling me exotic.

"The problem is not that Grandma was labeled “black” (although Dermont should have written Black) but why her race was mentioned. The races of the other workers Dermont speaks of were not mentioned."

Seriously? If I described someone as white, it'd be much to vague for anyone to differentiate who I was talking about, unless everyone else was black. Have you ever tried to describe a person as "white, average height, brown hair, brown eyes"? No one will have any idea who you are talking about, since that description fits a huge group of people. To identify someone physically, you need use characteristics that stand out. If you skin color is different than the skin color of everyone else in the room, it's pretty easy to figure out who the person described as "black" is. If you are watching a college basketball game, and a white player is doing very well, you can almost always identify him as "the white guy", because a majority of college basketball players are black. It goes both ways. Now, if the woman was described by a non-identifying characteristic, such as gay, then there would be a problem. That isn't the case here.

Really Trent, this is an unneccesary rant about nothing. Alot of my writing is unneccasary, unrealistic ranting, but this takes the cake.

These videos just keep getting better and better. Keep it up, kids.

I think it is completely ridiculous that you would label a dolphin as "pink." You really should be more racially sensitive in your assessments of labeling the "bottlenose Dolphin" population as being genetically insufficient.

The term "Dolphin" can be used to describe any one of a variety of marine cetacean mammals, of which you targeted a specific variety, and for what? A genetic abnormality! (I apologize for insinuating that there is normalcy in Dolphin populations). While I'm happy that you did not specially target a single species of the family Delphinidae, I still find it incredibly racist that you would think this an appropriate article to write. !!!

haha, jk

lmao

Whoever is commenting under my name, I do not appreciate it.

Soak your prayer mat in wine
Raze the Kabba to dust
Burn the Koran
yet do not injure another human heart
for God is said to live there.
"A dervish proverb" to counter Extremists
Many Muslims are successful
civilized business men
who don't carry machine guns or behead
people in the name of Allah.
Then again many Muslims are rotting
in prisons all over the world.

If we had only listened to Helen Nearing!
Helen Nearing, "Living the Good Life" 1954.
Chapter 6:
"..seven procedures which will maximize the stability and security of livelihood:
First, regulating the sources of livelihood in such a manner that all able bodied adults will render a service in exchange for income, thus eliminating the social divisions which develop when a part of the community lives on unearned income while the remainder exchanges labor power for its livelihood.
Sixth, practice economy, conserving resources, producing and consuming as little as necessary rather than as much as possible"

I teach special education in a public high school. Professor Plous is a great inspiration to me and I know my students benefit from all that he's taught me.

And yet Wesleyan continues to take 5.5% from endowment to fund current operations.

Assume that Wesleyan continues to take 5.5% per year for the next five years. Assume further that the rapid decline in asset values ends, but there is a more moderate decline of 4% per year for each of these years. (A 4% yearly decline for five years is well within the realm of possibility.) That translates to a 9.5% decline per year.

At the end of the five years, the endowment would be about $296,252,000.

All current students should kiss a trustee whenever possible. The trustees are endangering the financial future of the university in order to keep from changing too much while you are around.

On the other hand, if you care about the University's future . . . .

The person in the picture is Faraz Khan who gave lecture about Environmental Ethics in Islam. Can Argus change that please?

Yeah, I just heard her come speak at Texas A&M. I must say, I wasn't impressed. She mixed opinion in with fact, and while the presentation may have started out fairly unbiased and to the point, she rather quickly began leaving out details or presenting a lot of her own opinion.

Now I'm not exactly a big fan of Israel, but I can't stand it when people don't give all the facts or skew stuff. To be honest, I think there's enough facts against Israel anyways.

Gig'em!

Hey Jon,
Great work as usual. Stumbled across this delicious piece in the Times today. Good to know Ebay is doing their part! My favorite line is from the RAN guy "let’s not get carried away and say this (Ebay) is the greenest thing since recycled paper.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/business/media/04adco.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ebay&st=Search
Oh Jesus! Good old Earth Day...Have a splendid break.

thank you for specifying that you were jk it was p. subtle and i could not quite tell what you were going for haha jk hjk

>:O <------------my face is scrunched up and i am deeply annoyed this is what my emoticon is trying to represent

Nice article, although I disagree on a few things (or at least I've found that some of the things you say aren't necessarily true). I made a great pizza this summer and I used store-bought sauce (it was a pretty simple sauce) and only shredded mozzarella for the cheese. The sauce was delicious; the cheesy was plenty cheesy (and flavorful). Also what made it extra good was mixing some diced garlic and olive oil and brushing it onto the dough before putting on the sauce.

Hey Mytheos. Interesting post, more intellectually stimulating than anyone we saw at CPAC. So about this quote: "The progressive mind is admirable for its flexibility, versatility and capacity for reason, but one thing it cannot cope with is failure." I find this pretty amusing. Outside of space air traffic control, I've yet to see a single politically viable (by that I mean with any chance of support among pissed-off voters) alternative proposal to any of the domestic issues Obama faces from those that articulate this "conservative critique." Oh, other than permanent income tax cuts. Wow, innovative! Deficit exploding permanent tax cuts. To be financed in the future by appropriate spending cuts, I suppose--like those that Bush was so effective at passing when his party controlled Congress. That's all.

Whoever is posting as me, I have 3 things to say to you:

1. Identify theft is no joke, and posing as me is unacceptable.

2. I'm not hiding behind anonymity, why are you?

3. If you read my article, instead of spewing random attacks at me, you would see that I specifically said that racial labels are useful BUT not when they are not examined and only serve to perpetuate stereotypes and erase whiteness. I also specifically said that the label "racist" is not useful and implies that some people are "racist" while others do not have to work on deconstructing how they have absorbed racial prejudices. If you have constructive things to say, why not write a Wespeak of your own? Maybe because you can't articulate what makes you uncomfortable about acknowledging how YOU personally have absorbed racial stereotypes and prejudices rampant in our society?

"We salute the Board of Trustees decision to only increase tuition for next year by 3.8 percent as opposed to 5 percent. Given the harsh economic climate, both the board and the Administration have done the best that could be expected of them."

Actually, in terms of purchasing power, the 3.8% increase is more than the 5% increase for the previous year. Last year, overall incomes were rising and the inflation rate was about 2.5%. So the tuition increase was 2.5% over the rate of inflation.

This year, incomes are flat or declining, and price levels are declining in nearly all categories. Assuming that there is no inflation, this means that the real tuition increase of 3.8% is greater than last year. Since prices and incomes are declining, the real increase is even greater.

Wesleyan and nearly all colleges have been increasing student costs at nearly double the rate of inflation for two decades. This increase is no more sustainable than the increase of house prices above the rate of inflation was sustainable.

Wesleyan also apparently plans to continue to remove 5.5% of endowment each year for expenses. If endowment investment values decline only 4% per year over a five year period, this rate of withdrawal will cut endowment nearly in half.

The cuts being proposed by the administration are not severe. Wesleyan continues to spend beyond its means. But unless the school gets very lucky, severe cuts are just around the corner. Likely these cuts would include elimination of whole departments, faculty reductions, decreases in student aid, cutbacks in athletic programs and a halt to any new facilities whatsoever.

Then you will have to decide whether "the Wesleyan you believe in" is really dependent on lavish facilities and expensive programs. Or can it be sustained by something simpler?

The gold plated era of Wesleyan education may be coming to an end. Soon.

this boy is so fucking fine

"Paul Blasenheim ’12, who is currently on leave from the University, explained their rationale.

“We . . . will never accept torture, extraordinary rendition and useless war that cost almost as much in money as they do in lives,” he said."

Paul should come back to school and share his secret. Apparently he has learned to weigh the relative value of money and human life. This is indeed a breakthrough.

My hat is off to Ms. Eaton for this fantastic recipe. I just tried it, and will probably never be able to eat ordinary bacon again.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I think Paul's pretty innocent of weighing money over human lives compared to many corporations and politicians...

Hi Kach -Drop me a line - it's been a long time.

Peter

As someone who recently graduated from Wesleyan, I'd have to say that two main aspects of the school prevented me from enjoying my time there: First, the whiny, stupid, liberal hippies. Secondly, the racist, gay-hating, bomb-the-world, destroy-the-environment, gun-toting, Rush Limbaugh-loving, Republican scumbags. In retrospect I'd have to say that the second category ended up pissing me off even more than the first. I see I got out of here at just the right time. In fact, I wonder why I even still bother reading this newspaper from a school full of idiotic extremists from both sides whose brains are so small that the only thing they know how to do is pick a side and support it beyond all logic. Fuck you, hippies. And fuck you even more, Republican assholes. The power of moderation is the power of the majority, so you losers will never effect the change you desire. Well I suppose this will be my last reading of this newspaper. Anti-Extremist, signing off.

Great shots Andrew!

Love the new argus videos -- really great work guys.

I am a baseball fan, not a statistician. I am a red sox fan, the yankees and their fans are all money grubbing bitches. Beyond that, you don't have to be a fan of baseball to see that the fascination with steroid use has become a bigger problem than it is worth. Baseball is a past time. With all things traditional there are sentiments that the game has changed and become a completely different animal. Baseball lost a lot of its purity with the infusion of funds and free agency; therefore, its no longer the same past time. Players have to compete to be the best and very few become icons for certain teams because there are few career players (I would be devastated to see Jeter in anything but pinstripes). Why should players feel obligated to follow the purist approach when hitting a few homeruns means more millions to the best of the best. Arod was never going to be the center of any team because he is too talented. When Arod peaked he did so at the top of the game, from there its one way. No talented person would willingly slip away into greatness when legendary status is achievable. So why did Arod do steroids, to help him hit more homers. His comment about athletic maturity is bull, hindsight allows him to claim uncertainty when the choice was clear to him then. But now his enhancement seems not to have altered his career at all and the use of steriods has to mean something more to him, possible a good book (coloring book)deal after he retires. In summation the truth doesn't fit into baseball because baseball is more about the intangible. Baseball heros are the stuff of legend and to be legendary in this era means doing whatever it takes. Arod doesn't know the benefit because he doesnt know if he is a legend. Also he just might be fooling us all and trying to undermine damon role as the leadoff hitter with his controversy laden comments and this could all just be one be plan to undermine the entire yankees organization... in other words, the yankees need to pick up Ramirez next year and this steroid stuff will be child's play

Learn to take a joke for once in your life, Trent.

I feel like the new Yankee Stadium is going to be the same way... it's a damn shame.

Lemuria - I would challenge your position on cities. What do you envision as an alternative? Though they do rely on imports, they also concentrate large numbers of people in a single place, which is preferable to unending suburban sprawl. Also, in cities people are generally more interested in having public transportation - in some ways, cities are the best place to begin thinking about these structural changes.

[...] told the audience that students have always been the leaders of progress and change, according to an article in the school’s newspaper. “Students really have to be vigilant about Afghanistan and they should start now,” Bray said. [...]

I couldn't agree more. I went to the Nets-Knicks game today in Jersey. We lost.

jokes are not funny. jokes are exactly the kind of casual and willful ignorance that got us into the state of apathy that consumes us today. you're just as bad as trent. this conversation is everything that's wrong with america. i'm joining the israeli army just so i don't have to deal with you fucking morons anymore. someone punch me in the face, please!

If you think the Garden is a dump now, you should have seen in years ago. People used to bring nails and a hammer. They'd drive the nails into the wall to hang up their coats!

yeah black friday rocked. go sam o!

wait...you mean transexuals, magic mushrooms, and dance performances about the evolution of lite aren't weird? i KNEW i should've gone to Wheaton!

I love these Outside In posts. Definitely an interesting guy, too.

hi im neveen i have a very similiar story when i was young in the first grade my parents were going through a tough devorce and i missed alot of schoo and fell behind so they flukd me im in my sophmore year at henry ford ealy college and cant help but feel like im really behind i have recently talkd to my conceler and had askd if its possible to gratuate next year and know all i can do is wait for a answer and hope that i can do something -but yes i like this story i just read and one of my family members is going threw the same thing so i do very much kno how u feel thank you

unforgettable...unforgettable...

nat king cole rulezzzzzz

why bats????

“You want to avoid tumor formation and make sure that your cells can integrate and function,” Grabel said.

That would be my biggest concern.

Please give my greetings and kudos to Newman for keeping on it and throwing a very respectable 43'--fantastic. We have started a club in Westchester--great coaching here if he wants to continue throwing after graduation. http://www.usatelitetrack.org

how old do you have to be to use a mushroom as a drug?

how old do you have to be to use a mushroom as drug?

I always thought that the best thing about conservatives was that they understood the value of moderation and precision. It is not clear to me whether the writer is actually seeeking to persuade his audience, or simply wants to offend them. In any case, comparing a piece of legislation you don't like to the Holocaust is needlessly antagonistic, offensive and intellectually lazy. If this is to be the content of Wesleyan's new magazine it is a shame. The conservative movement needs reflective intellectuals more than it needs the hyperbole that has become associated with the radical right.

I graduated from Wesleyan not that long ago, but it seems to have been another era. When I was at Wesleyan, the shrill, thoughtless, attention-seeking behavior that distracted from thoughtful discourse came only from the left. Now, it appears, it is coming from both sides. It is dizzying.

I think the beauty of a modern liberal arts education -- and Wesleyan in particular -- is that it's a place to test out new ideas, new identities, new everything. So, while I can't agree with any of Mr. Holts sentiments (and let's be clear -- they're feelings, not arguments or ideas, in this example at least), I see no harm in him and his cohorts trying them on for size. I would suggest, however, that actually grappling with the ideas of conservative thinkers would be more interesting -- thrillingly educational, even -- than parroting the talking points of opiate-addicted gasbags. But then, it seems Holt et al. are more interested in playing in a political sandbox not of their own making (hence the affiliation with a political party) rather than really striking out on their own (another example of rugged individualism?), so I expect there's only a small chance for anything more than silly rhetoric -- though do please prove me wrong.

DN is indeed right that one of the most special things about Wesleyan and other institutions like it is the opportunity to explore, to, as DN puts it, try things on for size. Yet, those of us lucky enough to go to Wesleyan only get one shot at it. Once you toss your cap towards the sky above Andrus field, that's it. I just think it's a shame that Holt -- if he keeps on the trajectory he's set out for himself -- will have devoted that opportunity to being, for lack of a better phrase, a fucking idiot.

HAHAHAH love this

Congratulations Black Friday ensemble.

I applaud your series on things that are bad for the Earth. But without practical ways to fix these disasters, these blog posts just depress me.

at some point when i have more time (not on spring break) i'll put forward something about my philosophy about fixing all these terrible things. but for now dont lose hope, and check out risingtidenorthamerica.org

My old school (Stockport Grammar School founded in 1487) uses this motto.

nice

what is so sad about the reality of this story is that these rich corporations get rich of the blood of the lands while my people live in abject poverty and at times in third world conditions while the owners of such corporations live in mansions and have privet jets and limos they destroy our peoples way of live this is a living planet we are on here and she is crying out in agony for what they are doing this all must stop before she gets really mad and before my people die off of cancers and poverty the fish in these areas are born with two mouths the deer are born with five legs the rains rain down acid the waters are slowly being poisoned soon they will be death of us all.
There is a Cree prophecy
Only when the last tree has fallen
only when the last river has been poisoned
Only when the fish has been caught then man will find that money cannot be eaten.
God bless

You are totally hilarious

Did anyone else find Black Friday's libretto to be an offensive, vapid, and amateurish take on a subject it would seem no one involved in the production had any understanding of (Christianity) apart from maybe having seen one or two televangelist programs? Did anyone else think Black Friday perpetuated every single trend it blithely attempted to "comment" on (gratuitous sexuality, superficiality, thoughtlessness, etc.)?

I should have quit reading after I got into the first paragraph where you described the oil as "inside rocks, which are mixed up with a lot of non-oil rocks". I think this clearly defines your level of knowledge or understanding of Oil Sands or the projects. Yes, there are environmental concerns, but for a balanced, informative article I suggest reading the recent write-up in National Geographic.

I take no responsibility for the writing of my Republican peers. I edit it for grammar and spelling, and that's basically it. I summed up their pieces as best I could, but I suggest reading the journal's actual physical form before you make any sort of judgment. Speaking for myself, I am more than familiar with Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Edmund Burke, Milton Friedman and other conservative thinkers, but it is possible to write convincing conservative arguments without the awareness of said figures. That is all.

Excellent site wesleyanargus.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. It's taken me literally 1 hours and 27 minutes of searching the web to find you (just kidding!) so I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor :)

JD - something tells me the accuracy of the description of the extraction process is not the major concern of this article.

why didn't this run on 4/1?

Dear Anonymous 11:29:

I am confused as to what your problem is. What is the libretto's "take" on Christianity? I am a Christian, and I found the show theologically thoughtful and thought-provoking. From your reference to televangelism, I wonder if you are suggesting that the consumerist Sibbarites (sp?) are intended simply to "represent" Christians. I don't think the libretto makes that claim. The Sibbarite rituals have clear links to certain modern-day Christian institutional practices, which is where the whole "satire" part comes in; if you found the satire uninteresting, that's understandable. But just about EVERYONE in the show, not just the Sibbarites, is claiming to stand for God, from the disgruntled security guard to the love-crazed unpopular girl. The representative of real piety seems to be the meek, humble beggar-woman who tries to help the hopeless pervert- and whaddaya know, she ends up pretty much inheriting the shopping mall. And as far as "perpetuating superficiality" goes, I strongly disagree. While the gaudy sexuality of consumer culture is treated with memorable grotesquerie, the most conspicuous "sinners" are generally seen with compassion, rather than judgment (most poignantly, I think, in the case of the super-popular It-girl). An appropriate balance is struck between identification and criticism. The show is no bible study, but in its outlandish, cartoon way, it is absolutely spiritually sincere. God works in mysterious ways- saving the self-hating pervert while the poor unlucky-in-love girl is dragged down screaming for her pride- but He seems quite clearly to be working in Black Friday.

my point with the description was to say, in very basic terms, that the oil isnt bubbling out of the ground, and to get to it, the machines must go through lots of elements that are not oil.

I like her work with the New Pornographers more, but this certainly is a good album.

On the note of new albums by girl singers, how about Fever Ray? or Bats for Lashes?

is this the same as hip hop dancing?

Heads up: "This Tornado Loves You" is sung from the perspective of a male tornado pursuing a lady.

how presumptuous of christians to try and "cleanse" and inform non- believers of this man- made idea called god. to honor one figure, who's existence is mystified at best, is not only selfish and conceited, but also servile; servitude is the one word that can accurately describe religious sects. athletes like tim tebow and the very overrated james laurenitis aspire to fit this religious image because they want to appeal to society, and not just avid athletic followers; for all you know debra, tim tebows heisman acceptance speech could have been written for him. is james laurenitis "better" than anyone else because he feels it necessary to thank an idea? did tim tebow not win back to back heismans because he didn't pray enough? if he thanked Big Foot, or Nessy, would it have the same effect? he was definitely not "better" than anyone this past season on the field. the fact is, whenever religion poses itself in the world of athletics, and someone as brave as this author inks his opinions, and ultimately facts (because religion is MAN MADE), a religious nut inevitably takes offense as if the nut and god are close pals. christianity, as well as numerous other religious sects (do they even end?) require a praising of the "lord" whoever that may be, and live their lives based on "sacred texts" in a very servile fashion.

give kellen a chance

I graduated from Wesleyan a few years ago. When I arrived at Wesleyan I was a liberal. I had just finished working at the DNC in 2000. By the time I left Wesleyan I was a conservative.

My years at Wesleyan were the worst of my life. I did not fit in with the liberal extremists. I also did not fit in with my fraternity brothers. There was no middle ground. You either were a liberal hippy or a de-facto rapist.

I commend Mytheos for working to inject some balance into the discourse at Wesleyan. Conservatives need an intelligent voice.

LRH,
Be assured, our group has been doing our best to reach out to people like you, especially when they are frosh. Times have changed - for the better, in my opinion.

Keith Drosin was my younger brother, he was a wellspring of creative energy proficient in all the arts from silk screening, bringing innovation and expanding the limits of the art, to sculpture, whimsical as he was, and to his true love, photography where he spent most of his life capturing movement in a dazzling display that celebrated life. Keith was also an adept in the mystical arts of the Kabbalah and the Tarot. Keith passed away a number of years ago, surrounded by people who loved and admired him for his deep love of life. Keith was more than a friend to Alexander, he was his father...

what about vick. Cutler for washington in three team trade. mcnabb or leinhart colud be involved in that trade.

Don't over react-they're trying to make a point.

Calling The Greatest Man that Ever Lived racist is perhaps the funniest thing that I have read all day, because

1. You are equating making fun of a style of music to making fun of a race, when music transcends race (ex.: Eminem is white, and considered to be one of the best rappers ever). When people make fun of country music, is it racist against white people? How about making fun of the foibles of a Mariachi band? Are you racist against Hispanics? Absolutely not. Every form of music has cliches that can be mocked, and it has nothing to do with race.

2. Cuomo continues the "bravado" through 5 or 6 other types of music throughout the song, not just the rap section. The WHOLE song is a joke, not that section.

No offense, but if this is what passes for racism today, I think we've lost sight of the meaning of the word....

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Unless and until Palestinians can accept the continuing existence of the State of Israel, there can be nothing to discuss. There are sufficient extraordinarily wealthy Arabs and Islamists in the Middle East who could in one day provide improvements in living conditions, education (not anti-Israeli propaganda), development of an infrastructure, etc. . There is no reason for Palestinians or other Arabs or Islamists to look elsewhere for assistance. When sheiks decide that Arab and/or Islamist lives have some worth greater than the fastest camels for camel racing, or most excellent golf courses, then and only then can Arabs or Islamists complain about the wrongs they claim they suffer at the hands of the Israelis. Stop spending on weapons to gratuitously attack Israeli non-combatants at whim and whimsy and then perhaps we can talk.

"Joe Strummer may have meant the line “Black people got problems, but they don’t mind throwin’ a brick” as a compliment. He may have spent too much time around punks."

Of course Strummer meant it as a compliment. He was commenting on the apathy of white youth in the UK. I've always thought the song was pretty straight-forward about that.

Agree on Minor Threat, though. The lyrics imply that discrimination against black people is a thing of the past, criticizes affirmative action and was simply a wrong move.
Sure, Mackaye's personal frustration with being abused by his peers because of his race and being expected by some to feel guilty because of the actions of others of his race is understandable. But his comments on the song (especially early ones) betray his real intentions and thoughts writing the song.

Just want to sign my comment, accidentally posted it as anonymous.

Luce

After the havoc that I'm gonna reap
No more words will critics have to speak

"Makes you feel a bit guilty, doesn’t it?"

Actually, no. No it doesn't.

"It’s supposed to be called CHRISTmas."

is this post a joke that I'm missing?

please stop posting, this is really terrible.

Oops, Girl Talk is getting popular time to dock Gregg of his Indie cred!

so i'm going to wes next year. as i intend to write for the argus, i thought i'd get on the website and check it out. much to my dismay, i stumbled across this.

abaye, you are an arrogant jerk. even if you do think you are smarter than someone, that shouldn't entitle you to call that person a fucking moron. any decent human being knows that.

after looking further, it seems this kind of rhetoric is commonplace on this institution called "wespeak." now i am seriously worried about coming to wesleyan this upcoming fall. i applied to wesleyan ED because i thought it was a community of open-minded and accepting individuals. after browsing the wespeaks, it appears that this is a community of arrogant cowards who treat each other like crap over the internet.

thanks, but i'm going to listen to the 99% of scientists who believe in climate change over the 1%

no girls i know actually have pictures of britney spears on their walls. but anyway good review, i'm a big fan of neko's new album too.

what is the exact probability that we can come in that particular time when we take for time travel

where i mean which direction u will go to see future

the theory will have any demerits i am student form andhrapradesh in india i hav infinite thirst in time machine i kindly request u for response my id marlanagaraju43@yahoo.com and nagarajumarla43@gmail.com
thanking u sir when i see ur theory behind it
i am seeing dreams in day time that u r breaking natural laws (think positively)
i had another doubt that by this we an be eternal it is right or not

He didn't tell me he was skipping Bio class!

i cans right good two!

Umm, some "interesting" Strummer/Clash lyrics from the days before "Rock Against Racism" when it wasn't completely clear wear early UK punks stood politcally, even The Clash.

From 'Hate & War':

Hate and war - I hate all the english
Hate and war - theyre just as bad as wops
Hate and war - I hate all the politeness
Hate and war - I hate all the cops

I wanna walk down any street
Looking like a creep
I dont care if I get beat up
By any kebab greek

From what I understand, Strummer was about as far from being a racist as any white guy could be, but people forget today that early UK punk toyed casually with Nazi/racist imagery.

And like any sophisticated songwriter, he is not necessarily singing in the voice of the lyrial, first-person "I"--ie, he's assuming another's voice.

Also, the somewhat more ambiguous "Safe European Home":

"I went to the place where every white face is an invitation to robbery
An’ sitting here in my safe European home
Don’t wanna go back there again"

how about we hold an all-campus rager at eclectic and charge people at the door? it worked in PCU.

she owns

hey argus. protip, if you want pieces like this to make any sense to anyone who doesn't read and remember the byline of every wespeak, maybe you could add.... links..... on the internet.......

i appreciate that related stories allows me to view tangentially related pieces from several years ago but i'm afraid it just is not getting the job done

Who is this coal jackhole?

Well said Trent. Way to be self and socially-aware

I am thinking about becoming a part of Class '13, and I have to say, I am somewhat disturbed by LRH's comment on the absence of a middle ground.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I really like the way the Argus is online. Some other university publications' websites are way too complicated.

prefrosh: I sympathize.

As for being "original," there is nothing more ironic than a person who bemoans conformist culture and then proposes the alternative, conforming to being "original."

Safe European Home was written about when the Clash went to Jamaica to record with Lee Perry and were almost killed/robbed in the studio and were tricked out of possessions and almost mugged on the streets. however, the "safe european home" part is ironic, as their neighborhood in london was no safer. the song ends with a "rudy can't fail" chant and ska chords. the song is really a sort of "hey, remember the crazy time we had in Jamaica" song rather than "boy is England more safe than the West Indies." they're actually parodying their own whiteness.

as for the other allegations, the Clash's continual reggae/funk/rap experiments and collaborations with black artists is enough to disprove this racism stuff. (the real skinheads were the Sex Pistols, who wore swastikas and had songs about death camps, albeit only for shock value.) they wrote "White Riot" based on an incident where Joe and Paul Simonon joined in on the Notting Hill Carnival race riot with a group of Caribbean immigrants, and afterwords wondered why the working white poor of England did not protest their own problems. It was a song about not wanting to "borrow" a riot––if anything, it was a compliment towards the Caribbean immigrants. however, they realized the song was taken out of context and deliberately headlined the Rock Against Racism shows to prove it.

check out the excellent documentary film "Westway to the World" for more on this (which, btw, was directed by Don Letts, a friend of the band and a British resident of west indian origin)

whoa, i wrote a lot more than i thought...

I was thrilled when watching a cable program here in California one week ago to discover that the fascinating program on the conspiracy to kill the Medici brothers was based on work by Professor Simonetta. Then I find and read this article. What happened to the Wesleyan I knew? My pride in Wesleyan one week ago has now turned to embarrassment and shame.

senior cocktails is not a staple of campus life.

82 grand of student tuition for less than a quarter of the campus? this is offensive. pathetic.

but i guess to be expected from psi u cronies who would think that blowing money on girl talk would be a good idea.

Hi, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Sandra from Beverly Hills, CA.

I'm kind of shy so I don't have too much to say right now. Hopefully I'll meet new friends here
in this forum soon.

Bye for now, I'm off to do some shopping. lol

Here's where I get 85% of my stuff for free, that's why I love to shop.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

<3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjnS_RTj_o

Disgusting. He needs to take an english writing class. He must be a candidate to work on Wall Street.

M,

LRH's comment was well-taken a few years ago. The middle ground is thriving now - you will find it very easy to find other moderates on this campus. In fact, I would venture a guess that a large percentage of the campus are centrists or center-leftists.

The Altruists is a COMEDY! Get over yourself and have some fun!

this sucks. get robert and ivy back!

who is mike jones?

What is this kid saying, I hope that Zac Carman does not attend Wesleyan or hope on passing the third grade anytime soon. This is the most convoluted, loosely connected stream of ideas that has ever been written or typed.

who?

I'm Mike Jonessss

OMG

http://whomikejones.com/

"after browsing the wespeaks, it appears that this is a community of arrogant cowards who treat each other like crap over the internet."

Contrary to their name, the "Wespeaks" do not actually speak for Wes.

i like this but it dosn't scare me at all cause i love scary stories and they are not spooky

that was kiki who just wrote that

lol

you guys suck

Who is John Galt?

"(ex.: Eminem is white, and considered to be one of the best rappers ever)."

wtf?

and ian mckay was like 17 when he wrote that song.

Who is John Galt?

Photo and biography of Mahdi Bray can be found here:
 http://www.masfreedom.org/departments/main.html

Heartbreaking horrible.

i'm with you, prefrosh #1. your post has reassured me of the awesomeness of the people i will be in school with next year though, so thank you. and know you're not alone. you and i and the rest of 2013 will just have to make sure that wes remains/becomes the supportive, open place we expected it to be :)
see you there!

Your jealous. loser. You probably didn't get into Williams. Get over it. Everybody knows Williams and Amherst offers superior education than Wesleyan.

More information on Mahdi Bray can be found here:

http://www.investigativeproject.org/1013/mahdi-brays-secret-checkered-past

You might like to know, the motto "Vincit Qui Patitur" is prominently displayed at the Berkshire "Cottage" Ventfort Hall. The hall was built by Sarah Morgan, sister of J.P. Morgan . She adopted the motto for her personal coat of arms,which is displayed in stained glass above the front door of the building.

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Ruth

Gogo more tips!
I remember I almost killed myself eating my food last time...
but we're all getting better :)

Fat and sugar. You can't really go wrong. I second Mytheos and don't think I will ever make regular, dull bacon again.

I just want to make sure that everyone knows that Grassroots Campaigns IS NOT a Non-Profit it is a INCORPORATED COMPANY. Hence the acronym GCI. The full name is Grassroots Campaigns Incorporated and there are many class action lawsuits against the fund and GCI for labor malpractice. They have not allowed laboreres to unionize. I personally was expected to work 14 hour days which when you broke down my salary it was less then MA minimum wage per hour.

listen, we all love ian mackaye... and goddamn if it isn't a catchy song. but it's still kinda racist.

Are you sure the family's last name is Oates..not Oakes?

A small explanation: a part of the "Ordet" description where I rhapsodized about the uncommonly tender performance of Birgitte Federspiel as Inger, a farmer's wife, was cut to reduce length. That is what the references to Federspiel and Inger in the "Ordet" and "Gertrud" descriptions are about.

also thanks to the film series staff!

this is so stupid

As a graduate of Wesleyan, a member of Slow Food, and a working professional in the restaurant business I am extremely disappointed in both your title and your second point. Firstly, the idea that your well intentioned tops are "pretentious" is absurd. Rather, your first and third points are simply basic tenants of cooking. Use fresh ingredients and season appropriately. Great idea. Your second point however is simply obnoxious. Temperature control is the mark of a great cook. Searing, frying and roasting are all great methods of high heat cooking, but braising, marinating in acid (ceviche) and sous vide cooking are all low heat, but wonderful ways of cooking. Braising in particular benefits from first applying high heat, causing the maillard reaction from which you get the brown, delicous crispy bits, and then immersing in liquid for long slow cooking. Sous Vide can turn a normal carrot, which is then cooked in a vaccum sealed bag for 10 hours at a specific temperature in to a piece of delicious natural candy. Please, open you mind and your mouth to the ENTIRE lexicon of culinary traditions.

http://wesleyanargus.com/2008/09/30/mytheology-the-wages-of-immaturity/

This entire article is an exercise in conservative projection. What was Election 2008 if not a summary rejection of the failures of conservatism and de-regulation(or un-regulation)? And what is the Republican party flailing about if not a sign that conservatives, not progressives, have failed and cannot deal with failing?

This last sentence is particularly gob-smacking:

'But until progressives climb off their high horses and start entering the battle of ideas in earnest, rather than throwing platitudes at problems, this battle will continue, and as Nikita Kruschev said, “like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.”'

The latest conservative 'solution' for the crisis we're in is to cut spending and lower taxes. This is insane. You cannot sit there and do nothing while the nucleus of our economy breaks apart on your watch.We've seen that in real times of crisis a conservative(as Bush professed to be) is forced to move away from free market thought and take steps to intervene in private institutions.

I'm also left to ask: why are conservatives so comfortable proposing solutions that they know will not work, and that they know will not be implemented - because they will not work? I think it's because, since they don't have an ounce of actual responsibility - that they take seriously, I mean - they aren't capable of 'enter[ing] the battle of ideas in earnest.' I suspect this is also in part because they know their ideas have failed spectacularly.

Re: Above comment - I think he is trying to talk to the average person who cooks for him/herself. I don't think Wesleyan students want to hear about Sous Vide, and I think he is talking about braising in the second point anyway.

Mike, you're an honors student. Write ill-informed WeSpeaks like one!

This was written before break, just so you know.

what happened to Anna Quindlen's oldest son, Quinn?

This is pretty sloppy. You don't mention credit default swaps or the liquidity lending crisis at all. Blaiming the lenders is like blaming politicians for accepting soft money. They both operate in completely understandble ways in reaction to an infrastructure that creates a set of perverse incentives. The problem was the incentive structure within the market, not the lenders themselves.

You completely left out the role the government played in bringing about this crisis by forcing banks to make more loans to lower-income groups (see the Community Reinvestment Act as well as Clinton's Justice Department policy towards banks that failed to lend enough to low-income minorities.) Its highly debatable whether this crisis represents a failure of the free market or yet another failure of big government. Your article didn't even consider an alternate perspective.

Honors students like yourself should know the value of proofreading! Two demerits!

I am John Galt

no, i agree with the poster two above. slow cooking at a low heat is the best way to turn even bad cuts of meat into something completely delicious. obnoxious tone, also-- made more annoying by how clearly unwarranted it is with this lapse.

It always takes two to tango. We can acknowledge everyone should be keeping their hands off everyone else without going so far as to talk about "fault." Men and women constantly involve themselves in abusive relationships. Both men and women return to physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive significant others only to be abused again. It's easy to say no man should hit a woman and Rihanna is not at "fault" for getting pulverized. But isn't returning to an abusive lover like walking into traffic when you've already been hit by a car? Let's not forget Rihanna, unlike a lot of other abused women, is financially independent and doesn't need to be stepping back into the tiger's cage. Her decision to do so is exactly the type of crap motivating teenagers to think it's OK when their boyfriend or girlfriend beats them up.

Rihanna's behavior is right in line with that of other women who have been a victim of intimate partner violence. There's data that it takes, on average, 8 times for an abused partner to leave. It's not just as easy as walking way, even if you do have money.

Well-written article. Thanks. And Peter Goselin, our most helpful lawyer, is awesome! Shouts out to him and the Nat'l Lawyers Guild!

Yes I entirely agree ! Gandhi who derived his philosophy from the Indian Dharmic tradition was a firm believer that non violence or ahimsa was amore pwerful or potent than violence as he believed that means can never justify ends. It was also proved by him in his Satyagrah Movement against the British with tremendous success. We have to understand that mankind has to find its own destiny based on truth and dharma.
This is what Swami Vivekananda said more than a century back : To cite “We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate.
The wind is blowing; those vessels
whose sails are unfurled
catch it, and go forward on their way,
but those which have
their sails furled do not catch the wind.
Is that the fault of the wind?.......
We make our own destiny.”

completely agreed with tim. there is a looot to be said for slow cooking at low heat.

I don't care about the above comments (besides Mike). Other schools really do have larger parties every weekend where it is well-known that they happen and everyone is likely to show up.

That exists here in the few big houses we have. Mike is totally right.

May I quote some of that back to you kiddies:

"Underclassmen used to smoke weed in the dining hall and no one cared. Upperclassmen enjoyed their dinner with beer or a fine Chablis. Once I saw a hockey player piss in a glass and drink it in front of a group of recruits. Our trays didn’t have the corners cut off so everyone could sit comfortably at the table. We had to make do.If you wanted kosher you had to go to the Kosher Kitchen in the basement of the Butts and eat in a faux-wood paneled room beneath buzzing fluorescent lights.Where did all the strange occurrences (and people responsible for them) go? I once saw a kid drive what looked like a Toyota Camry across Andrus Field and do donuts in the WestCo courtyard in broad daylight."

If Wesleyan lost it's soul, it did so long before it admitted you - (and precisely so it could admit you), whining about ... what, your new dining options?! Get back to work on your senior thesis and be thankful you're there at all.

People who try to save animals at the exspence of sacrificing clean energy are just as bad as a coal burning factory. You probably work for them.

my brother died from epilepsy and the nurologist said that stem cell research could greatley have helped him if not save his life, i want to further step cell research in people with epilepsy

Just because Rihanna is rich and in the public spotlight doesn't mean that she is somehow magically able to do what countless women are unable to do in private every day. She's 19 year old, and she's probably overwhelmed, frightened, confused and deeply hurting. Abusive relationships don't just happen overnight- if everything in a relationship was perfect and then suddenly one partner beat the other to a pulp, things would be easy to recognize and walk away from. Relationships take time to get to that point. They start subtly and quietly, with ever-escalating emotional manipulation/abuse and a slow buildup of physical harm. Often by the time things are easy to recognize as "serious" by outsiders, the victim is so beaten down, tired, and manipulated that their perceptions of love and right/wrong are too skewed for outsiders to understand. Yes, of course I wish Rihanna could have been able to leave and find a healthy relationship. Yes, of course I wish that she could have used this as an opportunity to show girls around the country a strong example of the way to act. But she's a hurting 19 year old girl. Just because she's a celebrity doesn't mean she's stronger or smarter than anyone else.

I find the whole moleskin thing kind of ridiculous. Behind the marketing is this assumption that if you are willing to shell 15 dollars or whatever for a notebook, then you clearly belong to this elite class of artistes: Hemingway et al. I'll take my perfectly sturdy 2.99 notebooks any day. The glamor of carrying around a stylishly-marketed intellectual status symbol does nothing for me.

lolhipsters

Alas, I'm not a hipster--and I have the ill-fitting bootcut pants and lack of disposable income to prove it.

"Once I saw a hockey player piss in a glass and drink it in front of a group of recruits. "

Ah yes! Sign me up!

I already saw this on "Stuff White People Like," which apparently hipsters like.

Prof. Scott Plous uses the word "niggle" and "nigglers" in class sometimes. I thought racism makes people who drink soy milk break out in hives? Huh, guess I was wrong.

How about someone who wants a hardcover, no frills notebook with an elastic strap to hold it closed. That comes in several versions: ruled, nonruled, sketch, reporter style. That fits in a pocket. Or comes in bigger sizes. And isnt a hipster?
Hmmmmmmmm kiddos

I'm coming to WesFest this year. Show me what you mean, seniors.

presumably the lyrics in 'hate and war' are not meant to be taken at face value. and i'm pretty sure ian mackaye has more or less disavowed 'guilty of being white'

This piece is an embarrassment. If you knew, or even considered, how much the Usdan family loves Wes, you'd feel pretty stupid for writing this piece. Whiny Wes students complaining about resources most college students will never have. After the insult to the Usdan family, the worst part about this is it's just no funny. No edge, no irony, not funny at all.

from all the way across the Atlantic, I still know that every Wednesday night Gatekeepers is packed and fun and Public is, well, empty...

I have been a judge at trials starting in 1972. The group contains some of the most talented individuals that exist in our society. There are men there that were heating their houses by wood (hot water) by constuction their own steel boiler/furnaces and improved the efficiency each year before being green was in. Individuality is the watchword since no two are alike. We once had a Doctor (phd) that worked for Perkin Elmer that rode trials and was at least 65 when he did it. Very talented mebers in the MMC.

This article and these comments are incredibly interesting. Not only for their content, but for what they say about the way we at Wesleyan discuss oppression. There seems to be a push and pull between those rebelling against the (sortof) leftist, academic terms of discussing oppression and those who want to analyze issues of privilege. I think both of these sides have legitimate point. Sometimes in our hyper-critical world we can over-analyze situations or word choice to the point of absurdity. In many ways, this is counterproductive, even if the intentions are good. This analysis opens up less over-the-top analysis to criticism. Conversely, it is insane to cut off all critical thinking and introspection about privilege.

This the a beautiful example of Wesleyan tripping on itself.

This was on Stuff White People Like... essentially the same post but that one was written with some self-awareness.

I remember the day when I associated Moleskin with that sticky-padded stuff you put on your skin to protect the ever-so-adventurous hiker from receiving blisters on the sides of his or her feet.

Alas, my childhood days of wandering have been replaced with a brilliant marketing plan that tells me that I can be brilliant too if I write on the same type of paper as Hemingway. Does it come with a warranty? What is my time frame for hitting said greatness?

Alas, shut the fuck up. Jesus.

I have been relatively impressed by the level of interest displayed in these food blogs since I have started reading the Argus again. I graduated in 2005 and the restaurant reviews back in the early "oughts" were horrendous. The only comment I have about this recipe, is that most non-stick pans are not oven safe above 350 degrees and one should always make sure the handle is not plastic (clearly not oven safe). Calphalon pans are oven safe to 450 degrees. Also, any time you mentione making Polenta, make sure to remind people to contantly stir it to avoid lumps, and to add even more butter. How long does the sauce simmer for? Should it reduce by half? A quarter? Great job on the recipe, but we need more specifics...

A-fucking-greed, Mytheos.

Hey, just to clarify real quick, the opener was changed to Bastille (aka Michael Ullman) and tickets will be sold for $7 at a table in Usdan, not through the box office. Thanks!

Wah-Wah? Hell no!!!

where can I find it?

?

whoops. my bad on the ticket info. thanks amanda!

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IN WHICH UNIVERSITY AND IN WHICH STATE THIS CHAPLAINCY VACANCY IS MENTIONED. I AM A CERTIFIED CHAPLAIN BY NACC AND I RESIDE IN TX. IN AM INTERESTED IN IT IF THERE IS VACANCY. THANKS,
FR. LUKE KALARICKAL

I SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED MY EMAIL ID. IT IS fatherlukek@hotmail.com. And my name is Fr. Luke Kalarickal

Who am I?

Why the fuck couldn't the Argus get a higher resolution picture of that front cover? Why does something think a picture that looks that shitty is fit to print both on paper and online?

who am i?

Will it be online?

The Witness will eventually go online, once we have established a regular publishing schedule and have an established coterie of writers, as well as found any potential web designers. As it stands, I will send a copy of the PDF version of the first issue to anyone who emails me with a request.

There isn't really much to understand about anarchism, except that anarchism inevitably leads to a state. Under stateless conditions, there would still be competition for resources, and people would fear for their lives. Individuals would eventually band together into mutual protection associations to enforce their rights to life, liberty, and property against outside aggressors. The result would look something like the night-watchmen state of classical liberalism. Mutual aid as an evolutionary social process is necessarily important since it is certainly easier to agree not to harm one another and focus your resources on your own damn business rather than perpetual deterrence of aggression by other people. However, in a fight between cooperation and competition for, I don't know, basic resources, there reaches a point where no sense of community or obligation or duty will prevent people from screwing their neighbors to get by, ESPECIALLY when the chips are down. Anarchy necessitates states; mutual aid will only take you so far.

Look, we can get all hot and bothered about sexy principles like no mutual aggression, "loving thy neighbor," and all other sorts of self-congratulating shit about how special humans are, but when it gets down to the practical process of LIVING OUR LIVES, no about of collective knowledge of wine or Spanish cuisine or postmodern economics is going to change the fact that HUMAN BEINGS ARE ANIMALS TOO WITH ANIMAL NEEDS.

I support stationary bandits and nothing else. Anarcho-capitalism FOR THE LOSS.

reCaptcha: LOOK HOW FUCKING SMART I AM

I'm a moderate liberal... and I think Reagan was fine. He had the luck of the draw, mostly, but he was also intelligent and made good decisions.

haha. moleskins are far past their prime

"Your style's played out just like a Osh-Kosh jumpsuit."
-Big L

Hahaha even I knew that

well said, 1:28

There will be a website up soon. The deadline will be the end of April. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Thanks for your interest!

1001078

Who is John Galt?

Who is John Galt?

Who is Ayn Rand?

I give good Fountainhead

Who is John Galt?

Who is Ayn Rand?

mm.. attractive..

"The bodega in show was inspired by the deli’s community atmosphere"
Do you really think that is true?

Hi !!! ^_^
I am Piter Kokoniz. Just want to tell, that your posts are really interesting
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
Sorry for my bad english:)
Tnx!
 Piter.

That SKull and serpent building needs to be opened to the public its a shame that everyone who has ever looked at wesleyan for what it is knows that there is a hidden building under the facade of a little room on Wyllis ...

A damn shame that something could be so obvious and no one has the balls to call it out.

Who am I?

I've been asking myself the same question

"And yeah, we’re the richest country on earth, but only because of slavery"

what?

Not the first to point it out but -- http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/02/24/122-moleskine-notebooks/

for real? Either this is second degree self aware, in that it assumes the level of self-awareness of stuffwhitepeoplelike and is opting in to the cliche in an ill-advised attempt at dead-pan critique, with the humor lying in the fact that some people may take it seriously (Read: self-aware hipster cliche trolling), or it is really pretty sad.

"The UsDAN campus center, seemingly transported from a state school in the Deep South, pretty much sucks. "

Great analogy because, you know, Wesleyan is so much better than state schools, especially if they are in the south.

As the previous comment said, "No edge, no irony, not funny at all." He left out the part about your piece being snobbish and bigoted.

... "unfounded truisms"

Truisms are things that are blatantly and obviously true... they are by definition not unfounded, as you assert.
If you are an honor student, prove it with your diction.

why did it take them nearly an hour to respond to a seemingly dangerous and emergency-like situation? that's pretty messed up.

that is so scary.

Gavriel presents an OUTSTANDING artistic interpretation and thought in her works. A third dimension evolves when one views the exhibit from photos of it, which then allows for the two elements (the painting and it's objects) to be woven together as one.

This is one young and upcoming artist that we are sure to see a lot more of in the future.

KUDOS to you, Miss Gavriel!

Who is John Galt?

Mr. Benjamin:

I enjoy your Wespeaks. However, "apartheid, Thy name is diversity"? Malcolm X House may be more racially focused than, say, German Haus or Russian House, but the aim to foster community based on shared ethnic/cultural experiences seems comparable. I haven't had much experience there, but it seems like Malcolm X House tolerates people of many races under its roof; it's just particularly dedicated to the needs of students of color. I think there is a difference between providing a space where some black people can choose to live together and engage with their heritage and forcing black people as a whole to stay out of the way of white people (or vice versa). Maybe "engaging with your heritage" is just liberal arts hooey to you, but all the same, acknowledging race is not necessarily the same as racism. Right?

However, there are some great sentences in this one. I particularly enjoyed "I fear reviewer Tung would have pounced, her lips adrip with scorn."

The first time I heard My Girls on the radio I was teary mess by the end of it. It just really, really moved me...maybe it was the hormones of pregnancy,but also reminded me how lucky I am to have the caring partner I have. I had also been reading a book about domestic violene and what some women suffer.
Anyway it's just such a beautiful, beautiful joyous song and still gets me all soppy!

"The state has promiseD to provide..."

small typo in the last paragraph.

This was very interesting and informative. Something I never heard of nor read about. Thanks for the good read.

Also,what steps are being made to raise awareness/take action in Prenter? From what you have written, there seems to be a more than coincidental rate of high illness.

I want to thank you for getting the word out on this life and health-threatrening issue on behalf of the precious people in Prenter Hollow.

Coal is not clean...coal kills.

It should not be forced on the communities being targeted by the coal industry who have no resources to scientifically and legally prove the route that the poisons being injected into the earth around them is what's oozing into their drinking water supply and out their water faucets!

It should be illegal to inject them there in the first place.

The article above is not an exaggeration. I went with community organizers to help gather heavy metal hair sample analysis in support of getting a human health study. It left me speechless when a mother in one of the homes, which smelled strongly of chemicals, shared with us that if they capped off their water well for 24 hours it would burn.

You heard me right, the water will ignite.

Why should this matter to us? Because their lives matter!! People in the coalfields are not expendable coal-collateral damage.

I also happen to live in a community in SE Ohio that is getting hit hard by the coal industry: http://vimeo.com/2229549

Industry has promised to intensively mine our community for the next 40 years to supply concentration of existing and proposed power plants around us (9 within an approximate 10-mile radius total). When we expressed objections to their only being less than a foot from the top of the earthen dam of their proposed sludge impoundment (dirt is certainly prone to erosion) holding it back from our community, their chief engineer informed us that we "didn't need to worry about that" because after the first 5 years they intend to inject the toxins into abandoned mines as they go!!

Yes, into a mine that overlaps with the drinking water supply.

Is that supposed to be a comfort that we won't get sludged by a dam break, but we will most likely have our children and grandchildren DRINK it??

American Electric Power bought and depopulated the majority of one of the villages closest to us where emissions blow across us on a regular basis as the result of "clean coal" gone bad. The people who have lived on the same land that has sustained their families in Appalachia for generations are simply in the way of the increasing demand for a diminishing, toxic, energy supply. This insanity has to stop.

The only way I see that happening is by raising awareness that there actually is a problem going on and changing the way we generate our power.

For people who are making that difference, please visit: http://www.coalriverwind.org/

Elisa Young
Meigs Citizens Action Now!
 http://www.meigscan.org

I understand this

shit...I didn't know its this dangerous! I'm going to be totally careful when I matriculate in Fall!

The biggest problem at Wesleyan is that everyone tends to believe the worst about things despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. The right isn't oppressed, the left doesn't have a monopoly on political discourse. Everyone finds a niche, unless you're a fascist or a vocal, outright bigot. In fact, even one vocal, outright bigot that graduated recently still had friends.

Anyone who has seen PCU understands that this same sort of shit has been going on for decades, yet most people are able to give up their differences when a good party is involved.

To any prospective students, particularly M., there is plenty of thoughtful, restrained, contemplative political debate on campus, it's just not as obvious if all you read is the Argus. And no, this isn't just a problem with "the left." Yes, there is a lot of angry, shouted, radical political and social discourse that to an outsider might be alienating, especially if you're someone that doesn't attempt to look beyond the vehicle of conveyance to explore the message, opinions, and feelings behind the shouting. Yes, Wesleyan is overall left-leaning. But if you can't handle either of that, go to a different school. If you can't handle angry people shouting about politics, both on the left AND the right, you might want to consider a college with no student newspaper or student political groups. The vast majority of students have thoughtful and heartfelt political discussions in their everyday lives and find their niche at Wesleyan.

Also, conservatives are not the oppressed minority that they often claim to be. Typically in the past they just have not taken advantage of the methods of information dissemination that the left uses which leaves them less visible.

Mytheos Holt may grandstand but don't believe his self-victimization. He's one of many over the years that have taken up the same mantle. Once he graduates and his writings continue to haunt him whenever future Google searches by potential employers lay bare his self-aggrandized posturing, someone else will fill in the self-absorbed void he leaves. To all of those who think that Conservatives ARE actually an oppressed minority, ask yourself why the hell did they come to a school with a left-leaning reputation like Wes? Why do they continue to stay there if things are SO bad? Why not transfer to a MUCH cheaper state institution where they won't have to live with the ugly stain of having a degree from that hated ultra-radical free-love hippie paradise of a school.

Oh, and LRH, everyone knows the frats on campus are not exactly known for fostering centrist or thoughtful political discussion, hence your not "fitting in." I don't think you're a de-facto rapist, but everyone knows that the frats don't have the most stellar of reputations and tend to breed a sort of siege mentality. Maybe that's your problem in not finding this elusive middle ground. Why would you become a Conservative simply because of the lack of middle ground or anger at the loud and rowdy left? Why compromise those "liberal" views you supposedly held at the oh-so-politically and socially mature age of 18?

Well-written and incredibly informative! Thanks for putting this together, Jon.

I like that you pointed out that some of the most pristine waters in Appalachia bubble through coal seams (which act as carbon filters), but once we disturb the carbon matrix and mix things up, it becomes poison.

I think the water issue is the biggest argument against coal burning and extraction. We're literally sacrificing the most basic resource (for generations to come) for seemingly cheap energy. We gotta make this stop.

It would be good to have a followup on the work being done to stop these injections and sludge ponds. Perhaps highlight the efforts of grassroots groups working to raise awareness and apply pressure, including the Sludge Safety Project and OVEC.

Thanks again Jon! Keep up the good work.

Congratulations Aliza! As a 01' graduate of Wes and a 2002 Watson fellow, I can tell you from experience to get ready for the best year of your life. I remember being scared of being alone, but don't worry....after a week or two, you begin to cherish the sheer unadulterated feeling of freedom and independence. Remember, you will an international ambassador for your college and country so represent us well.

Word up Cam.

hey, what the FUCK

This kind of thing does not happen regularly, Anon 3:57. That's why it was news-worthy enough to be in the Argus.

Don't freak out, you'll be safe here.

Very nice

I'm glad you printed this transcript. I think it's one of the best examples of unfocused insanity I've seen in any format in a long time. Everyone is against us, nameless foes ("them"), and it's very scary, and there's no solution. Just get worked up over nothing, and perhaps become dangerously paranoid. Shoot someone, like the gunman did a few days ago, in part because 'Obama was going to take his guns'. Buy ammo. Stockpile. Goaded further buy Sean Hannity, consider violent overthrow of the government. Just because. Just after 9/11, Glenn Beck forgets, many people were scared, paranoid, unthinking, and vengeful. I know this is the kind of America that Glenn Beck yearns for - he seeks to incite those blind and violent urges in us everyday. But it's not my America, and it shouldn't be yours.

Jon,
I would actually apply all of these critiques to George W. Bush, as he is basically a progressive with socially conservative views. His economic policies (Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind) are in no meaningful way different from Barack Obama's, nor are his foreign policies.

When you have something besides Democratic Party talking points, do come back.

Everyone who loves to hate Glenn Beck should watch The Young Turks (liberal political commentary from Air America) on YouTube. The host of the show has recently developed a love for laughing at Beck and there's about one Glenn-bashing video a day that's posted, these days. All of his videos are really wonderful, brilliant, witty stuff that I think many Argus readers would like -- this isn't a plug.

i want vick!

Protest is one form of activism. Another more difficult path for activism is regular action in helping others.

Action is difficult because it requires a sustained commitment of time, a tolerance for frustration and failure and an acceptance of ambiguity in the merit of action for a purpose. I am totally unimpressed with the "activism" of protesting undergraduates. It's most just moral vanity.

Mr. Jacobs says he is concerned for the homeless. What actions has he taken to help homeless people over the past year? The article cites none. Maybe this is just an omission by the writer. If so, bad journalism. If not, lousy activism.

Why would the university build a homeless shelter instead of resources for the students who...pay to study here?

Shhhhh! Don't tell him about us.

p.s. Very nicely written.

...it's spelled with an 'e' on the end. Moleskine.

oh, and I didn't realize they were a style. I'm just more likely to take care of a $15 notebook than a $3 one.

(I don't mean to suggest that the "lips adrip with scorn" sentence is an accurate assessment of Liz Tung, whose article about Benjamin seemed pretty accurate and respectful to me, especially considering that much of her audience finds him enraging and/or laughable. I just like the way it sounds.)

Here here David Lott '65

Who is John Galt?

Who is Martin Benjamin?

We watch from every corner of the Globe.

God dag! Kan jag ladda ner en bild fran din blogg. Av sak med hanvisning till din webbplats!

wow, like everyone didn't already know about moleskins. terrible blog post.

David: lousy activism, it's lousy activism.

who the fuck cares?

@4:49

^ this is why i love wes

generic low budget youth drama not worth price of ticket.

okay 1) duh 2) redeeming deposits for beer cans is not worth the opportunity cost of begging someone to drive you to the store and/or the gas money and 3) you should probably leave the cans for the bums who need it.
its weird to think that you found this blogworthy...

I'm sorry I'm going to miss this show, the subject matter is fascinating and powerful, and the two dancers are excellent performers each in their own right; together they will be a force to be reckoned with and the stage will shine!

Who is John Galt?

Who is Ganesan Ravishanker?

[...] old hat factories!  YIKES! I wouldn’t have a picnic there!  (To read more about Varekamp go here or [...]

I agree that the harm to Prenter's residents needs to stop, but the side effect of halting coal mining would be wide-spread unemployment, which is also not good for the town.

Good job Cam

Realistic dramedy with a lot of soul, and a fantastic soundtrack that will be of absolutely no interest to mouth-breathers, and of great interest to people who are passionate about anything beyond their cars and pocketbooks. Highly recommended.

claire staples/matt patt/josh k return their bottles and cans.

the amount of coal miners in west virginia has dropped from 150,000 to less than 15,000 in the last 20 years.

Спасибо за информацию. Всего хорошего Вам!

bottles + recycling = cash, sounds like a good equation to me. beer + ice cream = delicious. who said math isn't fun? I like it, a lot.

[...] schedule is Zonker Harris, or any kind of WestCo event at all.  But rest assured, the “Ze Who Must Not Be Named” festival is still [...]

[...] if they’re trying to distance themselves from WestCo’s “stupid hippie/druggie image” or whatever they call it, I guess this is the best way to let students have our fun while [...]

I have to agree that the "marketing strategy" of excellence is becoming pervasive, and that may not be a good thing. Specifically it reminded me of this article: http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantages-of-an-elite-education/
After all, we don't really want to end up taking the liberal out of our liberal arts.

thanks for spreading the word about prenter, jon!

another grassroots group to check out is the Prenter Water Fund, http://www.prenterwaterfund.org

jennifer - an undeniable trend in the transition from deep mining to strip mining to mountaintop removal has been the mechanization of the work, which leads to unemployment.
massey energy and it's CEO don blankenship are notorious for breaking up unions, and for employing one person in a family or neighborhood and using the need for that one job to keep everyone else silent. there have even been places that coal companies have written up depopulation plans for entire towns. they don't care about the people or land, they just want the feeling of power and the cold hard cash.
there are other things people could do, if the coal company wasn't intentionally keeping out meaningful, truly sustainable work.

Uh...sorry but Karen and I are not husband and wife.

Does Wesleyan have a course "Remedial Writing for Activists?"

Adam--you get points for honesty. Take that remedial writing course, stop talking and then go do something.

Argus staff: Nice proofreading on the headline.

"Your bed is unavailable?"

I don't think so.

Kick their horny asses out and reclaim your room, pussy.

They can go to a motel.

A foundation grant is needed to figure this out?

Great move by Wesleyan administration! I definitely approve

Over the years, the Wesleyan Press has helped hundreds of writers, and brought their work to thousands of readers. If these authors and readers truly value the Press, they should be able to come up with the $150,000 to keep it going. Why isn't the Wesleyan Press going to its subscriber and author base to keep afloat in these times?

If the writers and readers who have directly benefited from the Wesleyan Press are not willing to make up the deficit, why should Wesleyan's alumni and other donors do so?

Times have changed. Suzanna Tamminen should recognize this and look for other funding.

The college conservatives couldn't get this issue up on the internet? My preteen grandchildren can build a website in a couple of hours.

Embarrassing.

I've been hitting this up for years. Best well-kept secret and gem.

nice use of eggs.

but this is poetic though, it's stream of consciousness!

brother ali put on an amazing performance. great job to everyone who performed, I had a blast.

What is the University's reasoning for disallowing a points system at Klekolo? Seems like doing this will enhance the relationship between Wesleyan and Middletown even further-- a worthy intention in my opinion.

^^ The Truth ^^

when my brother was a student (not at wes) he set out his own recycling containers for people to put their returnables in---he made quite a nice profit, but just had to make room for huge garbage bags filled with empties. aren't there any young enterprising students at wes? plenty of students seem to have cars.

Way to go Holly!

I believe the English professor mentioned in the beginning of the piece was Richard Wilbur, not Bilber.

Richard Wilbur, Richard Bilber. What's the difference? This is the New Wesleyan with really high SAT scores and really, really concerned students. Who cares about literary history and proofreading. They are useless artifacts of a less enlightened age.

It's a stream of something alright.

hm... funny )

They may be still hiring, but they are considering huge department cuts all around, which includes cutting teachers with tenure.

Since when is Harvard one of our peer institutions? lol

Mr. Lott,
Our reasons for not putting the publication on the web were not for lack of knowledge about how to do it, but rather to give people incentives to read the actual physical form. Subsequent Witness articles will be featured at the Wesleyan College Republican blog:

http://republicans.stugroup.wesleyan.edu/

Once the next issue comes out, you should expect the articles to be posted there.

[...] the wesleyan argus, Zonker Harris Day in peril Blunt refusal: ResLife says no to funding Zonker Harris Day After Zonker Harris controversy, ResLife examines WestCo’s image Zonker Harris Day a memorable [...]

[...] argus, Zonker Harris Day in peril Blunt refusal: ResLife says no to funding Zonker Harris Day After Zonker Harris controversy, ResLife examines WestCo’s image Zonker Harris Day a memorable tradition WestCo community planning “best Honker Zarris day to [...]

[...] no to funding Zonker Harris Day After Zonker Harris controversy, ResLife examines WestCo’s image Zonker Harris Day a memorable tradition WestCo community planning “best Honker Zarris day to date” Administration Caves, Reauthorizes [...]

[...] fact, it might never be again, according to the last year’s “Blunt Refusal” Argus article: In general, Koerting said, Admissions actually is planning a new direction [...]

So you wanted ITS to tell the entire student body that they could access anyone's email they'd like without a password? You wanted this to be announced before they fixed the problem?

groovy

I LOVE THIS GUY

ATTENTION ARGUS:
A CAPPELLA.
TWO P'S.
TWO L'S.
I feel embarrassed for our musical community when we get it wrong. It's not hard.

Falun Gong does not prey on peoples weaknesses. WE help them understand the nature of this persecution against Falun Dafa by knowing the truth about the history of the communism in China for the last 60 years.

Lets face it the Ccp started this grisly persecution which impacts on all of humanity now. And they wont own up to it, they hide behind their policies of dont interfer in our internal afairs yet they go around all teh Gov'ts medai andbig business and offer then incentives to not mention Falun Gong or critisise the Ccp in public or in the media.

Since they wont admit to their crimes we have to peacefully expose the ccp true nature.

Communists commits genocide upon others, and mostly to date its own countrymen.

Chinese Communism seems to be torturing and killing some group of people every decade.

1949 - Chinese Communism came to power in China. During World War II, they hung around villages, recruited members & ate for free. The communist only fought 2 battles; the rest of the fights were left to the Kuomintang. As a result, the number of Kuomintang soldiers decreased. When World War II ended, the communist came out in droves & chased the Kuomintang away.

1950s - The persecution of Tibetans began.

1966 - Cultural Revolution. All the good traditions and believes of ancient China were destroyed and trampled upon.

1989 - Tiananmen Massacre. Students were shot and rolled over by tanks for protesting. The communist regime have still not been accountable for this massacre and today deny to its youth that it ever happened.

1999 - Persecution of Falun Gong. Soon after, the communists began to make money from harvesting organs of Falun Gong disciples who would not give up their faith in Truth compassion and Forbearance.

2008 – Attack Tibetan Monks and civilians and impose a media black out so the world cannot see anode Tiananmen Square massacre.

I remembered the old "seem to be strong" communist Russia crumbled overnight, and it all began with the people losing faith in communism. That is exactly what is happening in China today.

Communist China is imploding.

1 more fact - 60 years of communism in China killed a minimum of 80 million Chinese people...and that's in China alone. The rest of the figures of unnatural deaths under communist rule (ex & current communist-controlled countries) can all be found in the "Black Book of Communism".
80 million, that's more than the total death rates of World War 1 & 2.

Read the 9 commentaries at
 http://ninecommentaries.com/

Over 50million have quit the Ccp and all its affiliated organizations.

Boone County, I have fond memories.And then there were the blasts. I lost my first family home. The blasting little by little shaking the foundation , The entire structure. 10 years old burnt to the ground!!!!I still own this propery, pay taxes, cant use it. The mine is closed,full of water, seeps out of solid rock.
The driest days its still wet. It runs out of my mountian.I PAY TAXES ON IT STILL.
GLAD I DIDNT HAVE TO DRINK FROM A WELL.But my father lives in Prenter.
SO I CARE!

...this is a joke, right?

You mean, "An amendment to Senate Bill 218 may allow INDIANA to share surplus cadavers with other states"
Not India....

This is the most accurate portrayal of Wesleyan I've read.

[...] their profits into funding education through scholarships and summer academic programs. Similarly, Wesleyan University is the beneficiary of an endowment fund set up and established originally by AIG’s founder, [...]

Mmm as a prospective student with a chronic PC allergy, this was an invaluable warning. Thanks.

+1 above

It is not 'Anti-Chinese' as you say. It is anti the 'autocratic/atheist' regime just as they say. If the CCP wasn't torturing them, there would be nothing to say.

How can it not be GOOD to expose those responsible for torture?

In this case, the CCP. Not Chinese people in general.

I do applaud your quest to sift though the truth. Maybe you should look at the UN and US human rights reports as well as the independent Kilgour/Matas Canadian MP report. Amnesty Intl. etc. etc. ALL independent.

Well done, Mytheos, I can't wait for the musical.

This song is a bit more extreme than Mytheos's very measured and optimistic thoughts on the political climate at Wes. See: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/wesleyan-university/672411-ask-anything-about-student-life-wesleyan-about-wesleyan-general-4.html

he sounds like an all-around awesome person!

It would be awesome to have live-in faculty members for these courses!

Who the f**k is Randy?!

Who wants to know?

amazing

my last name is carmichael!!

As one of the organizers of the Ponytail show, I have to correct this article. The show, unfortunately is not free. The cost of the bands has led us to sell tickets for $3 each. I apologize for the confusion. Tickets will be sold every lunch/dinner in Usdan.

Are they going to install electric hand dryers at least? Lots of visitors use the hall bathrooms and wouldn't be able to dry their hands after washing. Huh.

hilarious

Didn't someone suggest having a contest for a student-created header? I agree with the sentiment that the current one does not represent Wesleyan (and also that it is visually not appealing and does not match the rest of the site).

I know it's not said explicitly, but ambivalence is not the same thing as apathy.

My son had stem cell treatment inAug 08 but continues to have seizures, does that mean we need more of the same treatment or if it was going to work, would it have by now?

bomb ass crunchy nugs fersher

I first learned the term "pre-game," when 17 girls engaged in it, before coming to the " dry toga party," my wife and I hosted for Cam and his fellow high school graduates!

Mr. Stern:

Someone is going have to pay these costs.

If the students are further subsidized, then the subsidy money must come from government or charities. Wesleyan is struggling financially, as are federal and state governments. Governments will have to borrow to pay these costs. For the present Wesleyan can't afford it.

If you want to call for this benefit, you can't act as if it is free. You make no attempt to justify why government should further subsidize private education when it has difficulty paying for the public schools. In short, if you wanted a cheaper education, you could have gone to a public university. There are lots of good ones.

You also betray considerable ignorance when you say that education costs less in other countries, even at "elite private schools." There are virtually no private universities, "elite" or otherwise, outside the United States. The high cost, high prestige private university is an American phenomenon.

Life is full of choices. Wesleyan and similar institutions have chosen to use their market power to raise costs at double the rate of inflation for decades. Students chose to go to these schools knowing what the cost is, and that they may have to borrow.

Maybe Wesleyan would do its graduates a favor by trying to remove the stars from their eyes as part of their education.

By the way, President Obama famously did not mention military service as an opportunity for public service when he was at Wesleyan. You can serve in the military and be paid reasonably well. If you play your cards even halfway right, they will pay for a good part of your education. A lot of students in less "elite" public universities understand this opportunity and use it to lower the cost of their education to n ear zero.

Sad but extremely foolish. Why they would not diversify the portfolio is hard to understand.

Not exactly a hard-to-find recording:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-03.aud.goldman-sirmick.20852.sbeok.shnf

The Dead file is great - especially the recorded conversations you can hear between songs. I found this in the NY Times:

April 10, 2009 9:40 pm

Link
I am not a Deadhead nor have I ever claimed to be one. But circumstances were such in the Spring of 1970 that a classmate at Wesleyan and myself soon became caught up in one of the momentous moments in the school's history.

The recent incursion into Cambodia and then Kent St massacre soon after galvanized students across the country. All that and more culminated in The Strike In May, The Dead were playing in the East and, as noted by readers who attended, the Binghampton gig was one of their best.

I was Chairman of Student Events Committee. A classmate told me he was close to The Dead's manager or someone in the band. They were very tuned into what was happening and wanted to do something special. Wesleyan was the right place.

"How much will that cost?", I asked, knowing full well our budget had already been blown. "Nothing... They'll place for free!"

I thought, why not? This would be a perfect way to go out. We had a dusk-to-dawn concert planned at the foot of Foss Hill and had lined up some great talent. Plus, our own funky and famous Gamelan players would be playing forever, sort of a sedative, when the high-pitched bands stepped down and in contrast, Wesleyan's world class Indian sitarist-in-residence and his cohorts would be going bonkers on tablas and pakhawaji. This was going to be our own Woodstock

Word about the concert and The Dead coming to Wes never got out until a day or so before the concert. If it had, Wesleyan would have looked like Yasgar's farm. The Dead came and they played and the place was really excited and turned on. The concert became a paradigm for most of us. Certainly, all the anger, frustration and anxiety over Vietnam had pre-occupied our lives for years seemed to come to a head that May. The tension that had built up in all of us was vented both on stage and in the audience. More mellow than crazy. It was real '60's.

1970 must have been monumental for The Dead and their fans. Deadheads may claim to have been at or heard the best of The Dead but unless they were at Wesleyan that night on Foss Hill in May, 1970, they haven't been There. And, it didn't cost a dime!

Great Idea if students submitted their ideas - from all classes and groups maybe you can catch the feel of wesleyan better by looking at a lot of difeerent ideas and making 1 of many!

It's been on Archive for some time.

http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-03.aud.goldman-sirmick.20852.sbeok.shnf

You said: "the very existence of controversy surrounding Falun Gong suggests that that is not the whole story."
Than according to that logic judaism would be the most "controversial" religion, wouldn't it?

whoohoo can't wait to try this! thanks argus

FINALLY! everyone has wash cloths or towels. this is the best idea ever. previous commentor - no, why in the hell would they do that? use a WASH CLOTH! This is not a restaurant.

Groupie,
The only reason this is "more extreme" is becuase it's easier to make silly left-postmodernist terms rhyme than the more moderate stuff I would say in prose.

Falun Gong is a cult according to Rich Ross Institute:

http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c421faae1c401201ae8f74003cd_Is_the_Falun_Gong_an_evil__anti_gay_cult_.do.html

And by the way, the 1st commentor, Jana Shearer, is a spokesperson and cyber-operative, of Falun Gong. She has accused me of being a Chinese spy without a shred of proof - only that I've choosen to exercise my right to voice my opinion.

JUST TELL ME WHAT EXAMPLES OF PROEIN ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!

People need to chill out. The blog is for college students who need an alternative to Top Ramen and Cheerios. Absolute culinary excellence is not required.

I'm the only one in this world. Can please someone join me in this life? Or maybe death...

Look at Kellens college stats dammit. He is GOLD. Surgery is heeled and he now has all 1st roound picks as his offsive line. Haaaaaaa. WAIT AND SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fo' sho!

Ed, Thanks for the input! Do have a link for the Times story?

Tim, Thanks for reading. You definitely have to stir polenta to get those lumps out and your point about non-stick pans is apt. Bake your duck, not your teflon!

Who is John Galt?

Who isn't?

not me!

I am glad there is an increased awareness of the truth behind the weight and food. Hopefully, our society will stop looking at eating disorders as something glamorous and see how hurtful it really is.

such as Director of Insititutional Reasearch

FUCK THIS STORY, it sucks balls bitch!!!!

i was just kidding, its pretty interesting.........................................
.....................................
....................................
.................NOT!! ! haha you fucking cunt!!!

i know who shot tupac

WOMEN SHOULD ALWAYS GET THEIR BIKINIS WAXED... But men should not, because they have to shave their face. But women should, if they dont, they are cunts.

brilliant.

What a waste of money. Could have used open source freeware such as Joomla or Drupal.

Funny how state schools dont have to save money by cutting back on paper towels.

yes, i love iguanas ranas! but really only go if you like tacos. the tacos are amazing. and the soda!

They're not cutting back on paper towels to save money; they're doing it for the environment. Did you even read the article?

And I don't even understand what point you're trying to make -- Wesleyan is pretending it's poorer than it is, and is being too stingy? I thought not being wasteful was a good thing.

The NYTimes link is: http://community.nytimes.com/external/comments/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/10/arts/music/20090410-dead-shows-vote/dead_shows_other.html?permid=32#comment32

Who is Grateful Dead?

bacon revolution!!! take to the streets. sugary bacon forever!

Cool, but isn't a sukkah supposed to have "three walls, a door, a roof"?

Seniority, a concept that embodies experience, length of service, responsibility, charge. The world turns on its axis. Another day begins. Thank you Camo.

No Charles i am not a cyber operative just a genuine Falun Gong practitioner who wishes to excersise my right to expose the communist regimes persecution of the Falun Gong .
BTW Charles Lui alias Bobby Fletcher has been defaming FG and me and others for years because we all want this persecution to stop. end of story....

Domestic violence was not being portrayed in the Honeymooners. "To the moon, Alice" was a joke. Part of the Joke was that Ralph Cramden was a blusterer who never, ever lived up to his talk. Alice, who was tougher and smarter than Ralph, would not have put up with an iota violence from her husband.

1950's television was not accepting of domestic violence in comedic form. People were, however, more tolerant of parody and far less sensitive to politically incorect words than we are in the current time.

One thing has not changed though. The comedic theme that men are fools still sells.

Wow congrats

No - you have never participated in a sukkah

Yes, annually.

http://www.torah.org/advanced/shulchan-aruch/classes/orachchayim/chapter44.html#

It is practiced freely and legally in almost every country in the world, even Taiwan. The only group harming anyone is the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).

To support that kind of heinous crimes against people including imprisonment, torture, murder etc. can only make one guess that you are an agent or mouthpiece with that CCP. At the very least, you are exposed for what you are.

If the CCP stops killing, torturing, and imprisoning its own citizens for their beliefs (they do this to Christians too), then the prostests against the CCP will end for sure.

Phrenology was vogue in the middle ages. Read some books on "modern" psychology.

quit boring

here it comes! lol brace yourselves

Presume everything Mr. Liu (and his hyperlink) says is true. Does this excuse what the Chinese Government does to Falun Gong practitioners? In fact, let's make a hypothetical out of it - presume that the United States Government were ruthlessly torturing and killing Scientologists (which seems to be something of an equivalent for Mr. Liu's description). Scientologists are bloody annoying, yes, but does this justify torture or execution? And are we comfortable giving a Government the tools to decide that particular religious sects which we find to be annoying deserve such punishments? I think the answer to all these questions is "no."

Let us not mince words - the only reason the Chinese Government is going after this group is because their religion is mutually exclusive with Marxist-Leninist-Maoism, China's official ideology. I severely question their judgment. If this group is truly an insane cult, then the Government only looks petty for going after a harmless bunch of crazies. If the group is a massive movement, on the other hand, then the Government is insanely stupid to think that its actions will not arouse outrage elsewhere, damaging its relations with other countries.

In this latter case, I think the Falun Gong's plight is especially historically resonant. After all, would we ban Alexander Solzhenitsyn from Wesleyan during the Cold War? Or an exhibit on the victims of the Gulags? Or, supposing an exhibit came to Wesleyan about the excesses of the Pinochet regime while Pinochet was still in power? Would Mr. Berman have the same concern for damaging our relations with a foreign power? Would anyone defend him, if he did?

If we are to speak in the language of human rights and anti-tyranny, we must apply it even where Li Hongzhi and Lord Xenu are concerned. The Chinese Government can take care of itself, especially against Wesleyan students. Besides, the paintings are very well done and stand on their own as art.

[...] controversy, ResLife examines WestCo’s image article Zonker Harris Day a memorable tradition WestCo community planning “best Honker Zarris day to date” Administration Caves, Reauthorizes Zonker Harris Day (with [...]

Mytheos, you are a genius.

I'm inspired by WFA members, they are great and deserve to be recognized. Thanks Steve Koch and Argus Team.

The Architecture II class and the selection committee researched interpretations of the halakhic rules regarding Sukkot, consulted various books and rabbis, and developed a design that was innovative yet still within the framework established by those rules.

Succoth is my favority holiday.

It is very sweet, brings back early childhood memories of being part of a community

One more thing: Of the Sirk melodramas I've seen, the best is his final feature, "Imitation of Life" (one of my favorite movies ever). Much more than these two, which are pretty blunt, it applies Sirk's lurching manic-depressive aesthetics to a complex social vision which blurs race identity with sexuality, family ties, and gender dynamics. It wakes you up while it makes you cry. And Mahalia Jackson shows up at the end!

The Wes library website claims that SciLi has a DVD of "Imitation" which is "in transit." I don't know what that means. Maybe it will be there sometime? I hope so.

Re Ben:
Cool, I'm sure that's true. It looks really nice and I can't wait for Wes to have its own beautiful, Wes-ified sukkah!!

This is kind of brilliant.

I find your attempt to personalize this argument a bit disturbing. My call was actually not for myself, as I am lucky enough to have very little debt. My call was more a consequence of noticing the steep drop in the quality of American education for most students.

Do you really think there are no elite private institutions in other countries? In my current home, France, I can name several. They are not universities, per se, as the educational system here is different. U.S. universities do not educate the entire world, and it is pretty surprising to see a Wesleyan graduate who would think so. The ignorance on this issue is yours, my friend. Just because they cost less does not make them public.

How to pay for it? Simple. Eliminate agricultural subsidies and replace them with educational spending. Eliminate government support for "private" lenders and offer a combination of grants and more attractive loans to students who need them. Currently, we subsidize plenty of things that are not worth it. Why don't we spend the money instead on education?

Since you can name several private French "universities," please do so. I don't think you know what you are talking about. The government in France pays for higher education.

Now, as to your idea of eliminating "unnecessary" debt burden of student loans by eliminating agricultural subsidies: You have been in France too long. The chance of ending agricultural subsidies in this country is absolutely zero. Your suggesting is completely impractical.

Your idea of eliminating government support for private lenders and substituting grants and "more attractive loans" achieves nothing. Grants have to be funded. Loans are still loans whether they are "more attractive" or not. If you think that "more attractive" means they need not be paid back, they cease to be loans, and you have to find funding for the cost.

The notion of substituting public for private grants and loans also is not a plan for payment of the costs you want to incur. The cost is the same regardless of whether the payment for it is public or private. You are just shifting the source of payment, not finding a way to fund the cost.

You also evade my basic point. If people in this country want an "elite" school, they should be willing to pay for it, either out of pocket, over time by borrowing or scholarships (which are really a form of earned but nontaxable income to the recipient.) But why should the government and the taxpayer be further subsidizing the inflated costs of Harvard, Williams, Wesleyan and the like when public institutions provide good education and need more funding? This is an issue of morality and fairness that you completely ignore.

I never even hinted that U.S. Universities educate the entire world. You made that up, apparently because you find it easier to refute a foolish statement that was never made than to come up with an ethical justification or practical financial solution for your idea.

Mr. Stern: Here is a 2006 New York Times article on the French university system. One reporter's view to be sure, but it's not an uncommon view:

May 12, 2006
Higher Learning in France Clings to Its Old Ways

By ELAINE SCIOLINO
NANTERRE, France — There are 32,000 students at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris, but no student center, no bookstore, no student-run newspaper, no freshman orientation, no corporate recruiting system.

The 480,000-volume central library is open only 10 hours a day, closed on Sundays and holidays. Only 30 of the library's 100 computers have Internet access.

The campus cafeterias close after lunch. Professors often do not have office hours; many have no office. Some classrooms are so overcrowded that at exam time many students have to find seats elsewhere. By late afternoon every day the campus is largely empty.

Sandwiched between a prison and an unemployment office just outside Paris, the university here is neither the best nor the worst place to study in this fairly wealthy country. Rather, it reflects the crisis of France's archaic state-owned university system: overcrowded, underfinanced, disorganized and resistant to the changes demanded by the outside world.

"In the United States, your university system is one of the drivers of American prosperity," said Claude Allègre, a former education minister who tried without success to reform French universities. "But here, we simply don't invest enough. Universities are poor. They're not a priority either for the state or the private sector. If we don't reverse this trend, we will kill the new generation."

It was student discontent on campuses across France that fired up the recent protests against a law that would have made it easier for employers to dismiss young workers. College students were driven by fear that their education was worth little and that after graduation they would not find jobs.

The protests closed or disrupted a majority of France's universities for weeks, labor unions declared solidarity and eventually the government was forced to withdraw the law.

"Universities are factories," said Christine le Forestier, 24, a 2005 graduate of Nanterre with a master's degree who has not found a stable job. "They are machines to turn out thousands and thousands of students who have learned all about theory but nothing practical. A diploma is worth nothing in the real world."

The problems stem in part from the student revolts of May 1968, which grew out of an unexceptional event at Nanterre the year before. One March evening, male students protesting the sexual segregation of the dormitories occupied the women's dormitory and were evicted by the police.

A year later, Nanterre students protesting the war in Vietnam occupied the administration building, the first such action by students at a French university. The student revolt spread, turning into a mass movement aimed at transforming the authoritarian, elitist French system of governance. Ultimately 10 million workers left their jobs in a strike that came close to forcing de Gaulle from power.

One result was that the country's university system guaranteed a free — or almost free — college education to every high school graduate who passed the baccalauréat exam. University enrollment soared. The value of a bachelor's degree plummeted.

But the state failed to invest much in buildings, facilities and professors' salaries to make the system work. Today the French government allocates about $8,500 a year to each university student, about 40 percent less than what it invests in each high school student.

Most students are required to attend the universities closest to their high schools. Although certain universities excel in specific fields of study, the course offerings in, say, history or literature are generally the same throughout the country.

Compounding the problem, France is caught between its official promotion of the republican notion of equality and its commitment to the nurturing of an elite cadre of future leaders and entrepreneurs.

Only 4 percent of French students make it into the most competitive French universities — the public "grandes écoles." But the grandes écoles, along with a swath of semiprivate preparatory schools, absorb 30 percent of the public budget.

They are well-organized, well-equipped, overwhelmingly white and upper middle class, and infused with the certainty that their graduates will take the best jobs in government and the private sector. Students are even paid to attend.

The practice in the United States of private endowments providing a large chunk of college budgets is seen as strange in France. Tuition is about $250 a year, hardly a sufficient source of income for colleges.

But asking the French to pay more of their way in college seems out of the question. When the government proposed a reform in 2003 to streamline curriculums and budgets by allowing each university more flexibility and independence, students and professors rebelled.

They saw the initiative as a step toward privatization of higher education that they feared would lead to higher fees and threaten the universal right of high school graduates to a college education. The government backed down.

At Nanterre, Alexandre Frydlender, 19, a second-year student in law and history, complained about the lack of courses in English for students of international law. But asked whether he would be willing to pay a higher fee for better services, he replied: "The university is a public service. The state must pay."

A poster that hangs throughout the campus halls echoed that sentiment: "To study is a right, not a privilege."

Professors lack the standing and the salaries of the private sector. A starting instructor can earn less than $20,000 a year; the most senior professor in France earns about $75,000 a year. Research among the faculty is not a priority.

Because students generally are required to attend the university closest to home, most do not live on campus.

At Nanterre, for example, there are only 1,050 dormitory rooms and a long waiting list. The amenities are few. Twenty-two students share three toilets, three showers and a small kitchen furnished with only a sink and a few electric burners.

"There's no place where students can hang out, no place to play cards or to watch a movie," said Jean Giraud, 20, a second-year law student who lives in one of the dorms. "People come for class and then go home."

While students are ready to protest against something they dislike, there is little sense of belonging or pride in one's surroundings. During the recent protests over the contested labor law, that attitude of alienation contributed to the destruction of property, even computers and books, at some universities.

The protests also were the latest warning to the French government and private corporations that the university system needs fixing. Officials, entrepreneurs, professors and students alike agree that too many students are stuck in majors like sociology or psychology that make it difficult to move into a different career in a stratified society like France, given the country's troubled economy.

The fear of joblessness has led many young people in different directions. Students who have the money are increasingly turning to foreign universities or private specialized schools in France, especially for graduate school. And more young people are seeking a security-for-life job with a government agency.

In a speech at the Sorbonne in late April after the labor law was rescinded, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin pledged "a new pact between the university and the French people."

Mr. de Villepin, a graduate of the École Nationale d'Administration, the grandest of the grandes écoles, promised more money and more flexibility, saying that as in the United States, a student with a master's degree in philosophy should be able to become a financial analyst.

When a student asked him to explain how he proposed to do that, Mr. de Villepin had no concrete answer. Instead he talked about the "happiness of the dog that leaves its kennel."

But flexibility is not at all the tradition in France, where students are put on fixed career tracks at an early age.

"We are caught in a world of limits where there's no such thing as the self-made man," said Claire de la Vigne, a graduate of Nanterre who is now doing graduate work at the much more prestigious Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. "We are never taught the idea of the American dream, where everything is possible. Our guide is fear."

[...] to Blargus writer and Food Not Bombs member Jonathon Booth ’12, the group has taken steps to comply with local health regulations and plans to continue their 12-year tradition of serving food at the [...]

Hellz yes Jon

I guess the question in Middletown's eye would be, how would you/Middletown be held responsible if, say, your food was tainted with salmonella or e-coli?

[...] Argus clarified what this actually means: It appears, however, that the policy will not be strictly [...]

this entire article is based on an absurd strawman. nobody at wesleyan wears che guevara t-shirts.

Can there be more "classic" movies next year? I love the edgy, foreign films (especially the Israeli ones, just on personal taste), but would love to see more "An American in Paris", "Casablanca", "The Sound of Music" etc. -type-stuff.

"Besides, the paintings are very well done and stand on their own as art."

Are the paintings not posters or, at best, reproductions? Moreover, many of their iconographies derive from paradigmatic early modern paintings. Perhaps the paintings are crippled yet deceptively strong in mind.

I agree with Whitten--ultimately, Usdan has hung the aesthetic equivalent of a Thomas Kinkade show, which is embarrassing in its own right. But that is not why I wrote this Wespeak.

"After all, would we ban Alexander Solzhenitsyn from Wesleyan during the Cold War?"

First of all, we are not in a cold war with China. Relations were normalized 30 years ago and are always improving. I believe anyone would agree that this anniversary is something worth celebrating, not desecrating.

Also, FLG not like Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn was an artist who criticized the Soviet regime. On the other hand, the CCP sees FLG as a world-wide organization whose ultimate agenda is to overthrow the Chinese Government. The reason they feel so threatened is historically situated: in 1999 ten thousand FLG practitioners encircled the CCP Zhongnanhai compound (at Tiananmen square west) to protest the beatings and arrests of practitioners in Tianjin. Given what happened on that square ten years before, is already FAR MORE historically relevant to the Chinese perspective than anything that happened in the USSR. Furthermore, the CCP has a sore spot for religious sects simply because the appearance of treasonous religious sects is a well-known theme in Chinese history (see the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Wudoumidao Rebellion, White Lotus Rebellion, and the Taiping rebellion). The combination of these two historically grounded fears gives better context to the situation than any surface comparison to the USSR. The issue is more complex than FLG would have you see.

Whether or not they are justified, the CCP feels that FLG is a direct threat to stability in China--not to their regime, not to their consolidation of power, but to the stability and progress of the nation.

If Solzhenitsyn had that kind of power and motive, his speaking at Wesleyan would certainly never even be considered. Moreover, he would have been killed for treason.

You can think what you want to think, I am simply trying to present the side of the story that is not told by the exhibition. Hopefully it can help people to expand their view beyond what they receive from FLG.

It should be treated as though it happened at a picnic, block party or potluck. Regrettable, avoidable, yet always a possibility. Neither Middletown nor any individual ought be responsible.

My goodness! Big numbers -- 80 million dead at CCP's hands in China -- Fact! 1200 Falun Gong practitioners executed by CCP -- Fact! Five people self-immolating on Tiananmen -- not Falungong believers--Fact! Li Hongzhi's statement that homosexuality "is not natural" not a fact!
Less smoke, more data. This is not a black and white world, and when people paint it that way they are trying to work you. Fact.

What Steps have been taken to comply with the Health Department?

Wow are we serious about these comments? In a world where calling me a cunt usually connotes hatred and violence and where in some places if I showed any hair I would also be treated with hatred and violence, I feel physically and mentally abused by these comments. I truly cannot believe that you would post these remarks, especially those of you who did not sign your names. Even the most sexist and violent hicks from my hometown are not cowards. If you feel like writing something so awful, you should at least claim it as your own so we can all judge you appropriately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/world/asia/28china.html?ref=world

Is this an April Fools' joke?

The paintings are personal stories of what happened to Falun Gong practitioners who were persecuted in China. The artwork being shown at Wesleyan are reproductions as the original artwork is only shown at the museum level. This work needs to be shown as the persecution is a reality happening in China today. A voice needs to be given to those who have been repressed. This persecution of innocent people must stop!

"Woman is the Nigger of the World, Think About It"

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

FUCK THEM BOTH

yeah I said it.

Yeah

Great read, thank you.

Basically what is expected of a restaurant. Not only is this infeasible for a group with no budget but is discriminatory application of the health code. We ought be regulated no more than a picnic or bake sale.

Good work, Wes students!

Good work guys!

Well said, Dan.

When I was a student, my housemates and I let the empties pile up in our kitchen until we had enough to get a 6-pack for free. We only really drank imports, so we'd basically wait for 200 bottles and cans to pile up before it'd be worth it to lug them all to the grocery store, which took long enough for mold to grow on and around the cans. good times.

The Dead links are up, but where are the Phish shows? I seem to remember from Pharmer's Almanac, Phish never playing Wesleyan.....Did they really play here?

Seriously James? Do you really feel like your representation is at stake here? Is it really too hard to accept a slight inconvenience for the betterment of the planet, even if you didn't vote for it? And would you really elect to use trays, given how much waste it produces? James, take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror. Grow up.

Ms. Nichols,

Associating the Wesleyan name with the FLG exhibition without consultation from the Freemen Center puts Wesleyan's relationship with China at risk. China's East professors, students from China and students looking to work or studying in China are now associated with a school which has taken a firm stance against the CCP. Any individual that has studied Chinese history will note that any political changes of great note come from within China(May 4th movement, Tiananmen Square in 1989, the over throw of the KMT by the CCP in 1949, 1979 Truth Criterion Controversy etc.), not from international bodies pressuring China. The presence of such an exhibition jeopardizes individuals interested in China from Wesleyan to have the ability to positively influence China with the west's best insider weapon for reform and forcing the CCP to be more politically/socially/economically accountable, Western education. This exhibition puts this goal of making realistic steps to creating a government in China which is more accountable to it's people at risk.

An example of what could happen as a result of being associated with an anti-CCP movement:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/17student.html

Yes, the CCP has committed many atrocities during it's history and made many Chinese people suffer, but should the FLG movement help add to this list? I would hope the answer would be no. Putting up the exhibition without considering the cultural connotations and putting Wesleyan's EAST community at risk seems at the very least insensitive and selfish. While I acknowledge the right of FLG to have their voices heard, I would hope that the FLG's activism does not draw in people who did not chose to be associated with the movement.
I do not condone what the CCP has done to torture FLG practitioners and many other things to make Chinese people suffer, however, activism must be expressed with responsibility and with consciousness for the context it is practiced in. With freedom to say what you want in this country comes responsibility. I would suggest that future exhibitions by the FLG be shown in a different, more public location in Middletown or New Haven/Hartford like a museum or showroom which could be advertised at Wesleyan. These urban spaces are far more accessible to the public than spaces at Wesleyan and would not automatically entangle Wesleyan into the ideological feud between the CCP and FLG.

Ah. I stand corrected. Phish did play Wesleyan in 1990. Pretty sick set too. A Sloth, Mikes > Hydrogen > Weekapaug and a Tube all make the set look particularly crunchy....

If they played Wes now days, there would be needles, glowsticks, tortillas, water jugs, and empty beer bottles all over the lawn.....Not a purty sight....

this is shameful. i can't believe someone could be so hateful and destructive to the positive dialogue that is needed in todays world.

i think amkur raises some important points. even though he is/was a fan of 'friends' we should put aside these issues and focus on the bigger picture.

i think he's trying to say that the SOC, while perhaps unintentional, manages to further separate students of color from the white population, which is a rational concern.

Hey if ankur wants to hang his balls out there, let him, damn.

To whoever made the first comment, if we proclaim ourselves liberal/progressive, it is extremely sad that we cannot show any tolerance towards people who just want to voice their concerns. It is “shameful” indeed that we feel it out duty to shut people up only because they have a view that is different than ours. Are we only liberals for liberals? After all, the point of the dialogue was to…well, have dialogue so we really need to read this article with an open mind.

Secondly, I think what he is pointing out is extremely pertinent, especially if we want to value people, and be valued for the entirety of what we represent, and not just our skin color. It is “shameful” that we have come so far in our struggle to create a society founded on the principles of equality and justice, and yet, people are reduced to the color of their skin. Is it fair to label someone based on their height, weight, gender, sexuality, hair color etc? I am a woman, I am brown, I am Indian, I am a feminist, I am a vegetarian, I am a liberal, I’m a daughter, a sister, a friend, and sometimes only a shoulder to cry on. The list is actually much much longer, but should you feel the need to reduce me to any one category, please use my name instead.

I don't see how this article is hateful, in anyway. It simply urges you to think if our idea about categorizing people on the basis of their color is really just skin deep. Sure, a lot of people don't give it a second thought- either party -- the term's just a word to them; but there would always be this other group that thinks otherwise, and the prejudices remain.
It's plain experience speaking. Please receive this in the right spirit.

I do practice Falun Gong, I also am retired from 20 years of active miitary duty for the United States. First and foremost this country, unlike communist countries, has free speech..which is why you can say what you did and Falun Gong can have their art exhibit without being arrested and tortured.

In China, many people not just Falun Gong but free Christians, Muslims, human rights lawyers and activists, Chinese people who petition for their rights to their own government are arrested and literally disappear daily in droves. This is factual information. It is supported by any number of
reports from many goverments documentaries and editorials.

Organ harvesting by the communist government has been research throughly too, by David Kilgour a former Canadian MP and David Matas. a well known human rights lawyer. Look that up on the internet and read it if you are looking for facts.

Let us realize that the Chinese people are not the problem, communism is. Historically, it is the most brutal form of governing...even Nazi Germany as horrible as it was only lasted a few years. Communism has been killing, torturing, and violating human rights for around 100 years give or take a few from the time of the Paris Commune. The locations change, the brutality doesn't, read the history books, the first hand stories of people who have escaped communism anywhere in the world, you'll find common threads of horror and fear.

As far as a cult, definitions can be made to fit any model, Falun Gong has no enrollment, no dues, you either come or don't. I would not be part of this cultivation practice that calms the heart and mind if it was a cult.

You can research what the respose was too, globally, when Hitler came out in Germany. There was disbelief, apathy, and voices that were self serving denying it was happening for quite awhile before any action was taken.

The question really is how little is understood about comminism here, it's history of lies. To be perfectly honest in reading the "model" for cult behavior communism by it's very structure fits that better then Falun Dafa. Those who do the meditation don't kill those who have different opinions or religious beliefs. Please be careful not to confuse speaking out a horrible truth with propaganda. The communists are masters of propaganda, history supports this too. I have met many people who have been inprisoned, tortured and fortunately gotten away from China.. at great personal cost.

Why would a display of an art exhibit be "entangling" your university? Art has spoken out for centuries in a clear and often lone voice for injustices? If you worry about the deferring statements between Falun Gong and the CCP you better do what the CCP did...clear your school library of any books other than the ones supporting what you want to read and no dissenting or other opinions allowed.

Thank you Wesleyan for this forum, even this is another "luxury" you wouldn't find in China.
They try to censor with their Golden Shield to better control what their citizens listen too.

lol

I deeply appreciate the exhibit which told us the other side of China. I am fond of Chinese culture, but not that of communistic regime. We also need to draw a distinct line between China and the Communistic Party, which is a illegitimate based on Western standard. It is not a surprise to me at all that the communistic regime persecuted Falun Gong, taking account of the facts that it has been persecuting Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, and numerous other benign groups.

"Biased" exhibit ? I will agree that if USA and China are running the same political system at least.

If we moved all these comments including this article into China, this web page would be immediately shut down. No true voice in China today = biased.

I like facts. The art exhibit: Truth-Compassion-Tolerance, is telling the truth that is missing in China. USA is a great nation who can correct the biased.

Last night, I watched President Obama's news conference. He strongly stands for ANTI-TORTURE. This exhibit is ANTI-TORTURE, not anti-China, nor anti-Chinese (I am a Chinese). Wesleyan U. is a great school. I think Wesleyan should stand on the same side as this great nation. Great nation with great values (honesty, kind, considerate and tolerable). US-China relation should be based on these great values.

Many Chinese have lost their conscience. I hope this event in Wesleyan can wake up more Chinese who have been brain-washed in China and those who are still trying to brain-wash the western world with the biased news from China.

"Why would a display of an art exhibit be "entangling" your university? Art has spoken out for centuries in a clear and often lone voice for injustices? If you worry about the deferring statements between Falun Gong and the CCP you better do what the CCP did...clear your school library of any books other than the ones supporting what you want to read and no dissenting or other opinions allowed."

You completely misunderstand what I said, I am not asking everyone to defer to the CCP. I merely made some comments suggesting that the individuals organizing FLG exhibition act more responsibly and think more consciously of the space that they are exhibiting artwork in. I even made a practical suggestion for locations of future showings of the exhibition which may even grant better exposure to the movement and doesn't censor the movement at all. I am not suggesting that the movement has no freedom to express where and what it wants to say, but I do ask that its practitioners respect the other people that also use and are associated with Wesleyan's space. There are a fair number of students from China here at Wesleyan, and other students who are interested in studying in China, and the exhibition's presence here jeopardizes these people's who must interact with the CCP's system of government. Activism on an international level has far reaching effects that extends far beyond those that affect members of the movement. See Grace Wang (link in my previous post), the polarization of the CCP vs the Free-Tibet movement resulted in violence against her and her family. Activism is not simple a method of expression which allows for a minority to speak up, it has the ability to kill and ruin lives if it is not channeled responsibly. It is irresponsible to draw these students into the FLG and CCP's battle without also considering the consequences for them. I would hope the FLG's aim is not to make more people suffer over the stupidity of the CCP's decision to persecute FLG, accomplishing this goal requires historical and cultural sensitivity for the environment the FLG movement operates in. The FLG movement is politically sensitive, I would hope its Western practitioners would also understand this context of the movement and not simplistically reduce the exhibition into a crude channel for a minority group to voice it's suffering.

As a student who has a deep interest in East Asian history and culture, I would like to reiterate that I hope the FLG's quest to raise awareness continues in a peaceful manner. However, peaceful methods also require taking responsibility as much as possible even for the unintended consequences of these methods. The FLG has an interesting history which also deserves to be heard beyond the polarizing forces of activism. I would hope that the FLG uses its voice in a more conscientious manner in the future. If the organizers of the exhibition want to bring back the exhibition in the future, it could at the very least consult the EAST faculty at the Freeman center.

From what I can see, the reasons that some people against this exhibit are as the following:
1. do not distinguish CCP from China or the Chinese people, therefore consider anything against CCP and its wrong doings are against China itself.
(I wonder if someday CCP collapsed like what happened in Germany and Rusia, these people would still say something like that)
2. fearing that the CCP (although they like to say China instead of CCP) would get upset and they would not be able to gain some benefit from it, i.e. traveling to China or having fun there or doing business there

Excuse me, is there something wrong here? What about the basic principle the Americans are holding? When you see possible crime against humanity are happening, you are not willing to investigate and offer help if need, instead, you want blame the whistleblower for disturbing your peace?

Regardless what Falun Gong is, the practitioners are the victim of the on-going persecution in China according to reports and witness testimonies all over the world. Of cause you may choose to close your eyes and still say that you have not seen these for "personal reasons".

It is a shame that there are still crime against humanity happening in this world. It is a shame that people do not care.

Solute to Wesleyan who lets the exhibit to be held! However, Wesleyan is not the only one who "brave" enough to allow the exhibit. MIT, Washington University, University of Cambridge, just to name a few in northeast, all have done it. Should we be surprised? After all, this is America.

Hi, interesting post. I have been pondering this issue,so thanks for sharing. I'll certainly be coming back to your posts.

Actually, there might be one more reason for "Anonymous student from East Asia Study" to get angry about this exhibit, that is, how dare the organizer or the university not to consult " the EAST faculty at the Freeman center" before setting up the exhibit.

I guess the unspoken words would be: "had we China experts known it, you might not be here."

In any case, I think that the best way to easy the anger of the "Anonymous", is for the Falun Gong practitioners to appologize to the Freeman center for not consulting them first.

Every place has a rule, and the rule in Wesleyan is, or at least in "Anonymous"'s mind, asking the Freeman center's permission 1st for anything related to China.

For the record, the Freeman center has been hosting Chinese arts exhibit, i.e. the Tibetian art exhit, that manifactured or promoted by the Chinese government.

Way to go, "Anonymous"

Those songs are not racist. Stop being stupid.

And the Anonymous, April 28th, 2009
12:11 pm is really stupid. Go kill yourself.

Let him speak at graduation! The class president should be the one speaking at graduation besides the valedictorian.

Senior C/O 2009, ROCKS!