The Friday night Goo Goo Dolls concert was the first rock concert for a nameless (for her own protection) friend of mine as well as for me.
Since Oct. 11, when the Undergraduate U-Council called upon President Tilghman and the University community in an open letter to engage in a "dialogue" over ways to improve the intellectual life among undergraduates, our "organization kids" have, in fact, apparently found time in their packed schedules to discuss the issue, even if that has often taken the form of complaints that there is no time to have a robust intellectual life.
Last Friday night, I was presented with an interesting phenomenon. I'd never seen anything like it before, though I knew it existed through hearing about it from others.
"We all know that in all matters of mere opinion that [every] man is insane ? just as insane as we are . . . we know exactly where to put our finger upon his insanity: It is where his opinion differs from ours . . . All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it.
They say Southern Belles don't keep well in this New Jersey rain and climate. True, my pea coat and knee high leather boots serve me well as the Northern temperatures plummet but to be honest, they only gather dust on my long-forgotten hat and glove Christmas sets in my Alabama closet.
The best place to watch the election returns coming in Tuesday night was on Comedy Central. With insta-pundits mouthing pointless platitudes on all the other stations, the only wisdom to be had that evening came from the sage analysis of Daily Show anchor, and Mercer County local, Jon Stewart."Well," he said, wrapping up the night's coverage, "it looks like the Republicans have taken control of everything.
Just as our discussion of the intellectual climate on campus was speeding up to the tempo of a saraband or perhaps the pace of a gun-carriage at a royal funeral, we had to down tools for Fall Break.
In its attempts to be humorous, the Princeton Tiger magazine often crosses the line of decency and good taste.
For the U-Council, a test of convictionTaking a cue from David Brooks's critique of the Stephens-Center-toned, Street-frequenting, Econ-trained, McKinsey-bound, but, alas, discourse-shy Princeton undergrad, the U-Council recently published an open letter which lamented the dearth of deep conversation among undergraduates."Students," the Councilors wrote, "complain that dinner conversations rarely shift to intellectual topics." The Council took this predilection for banal chitchat, coupled with unused office hours, undergrad-free public lectures, hesitance to challenge authority, and ? worse still ? a workload that leaves undergrads without the time even to read a newspaper, as symptoms of chronic intellectual atrophy.Such a public proclamation is both unprecedented and quite necessary.
The Bush administration's response to Sept. 11 and the corporate scandals will define its legacy.
As we go to the polls today we should be concerned not only about a candidate's position on the issues (if, by some miracle he has one) but also about the effects of his or her election on the electoral process.
Not 'Anti-Intellectualism'From the great diversity and volume of responses to our letter on undergraduate intellectual life, it is clear that we have struck a nerve with the student body and the University at large.
Would you consider yourself reckless? Do you drink coffee? If you are reckless and you drink coffee you might be in a lot of danger.
Often students express concern about being trapped in the "Princeton bubble." They talk a lot about concerns over whether they're completely missing out on the real world.
Last week before returning to Princeton, I logged onto the Amtrak website to see what train was best for going from Washington D.C.
Although tomorrow is election day, the moment when the American people wake from their slumber and remake the government in Washington, you could be forgiven for feeling pretty bleak about democracy right now.
At 4:30 a.m. last Monday morning, one of my roommates answered the phone. "Hi. No, don't worry.
Fostering dialogue without sensational claimsNo doubt that most Princetonians who take time to read The Tory have already set aside this month's issue in disbelieving disgust.
After a week of midterms, intellectualism may be a sore subject. We've spent the past five days reading pages of texts, struggling through practice problems, and completing exams.
This semester I have, without fail, missed the last 30 seconds of every lecture in every class. No, I have not been sneaking out early.
