Author Archives: Nathan Serota

University Press Club is the only organization on campus to offer you the chance to work for real newspapers and magazines, to get paid for your writing, and to make connections with the “who’s who” of the journalism world.

This week, we’re kicking off our annual Candidates Period, a three-month application process to join the club. During Candidates Period, we’ll teach you the basics of writing, reporting, and journalism ethics, and you’ll work one-on-one with our members to develop your writing skills.

To learn more about the Press Club and the Candidates Period, come to one of our two Open Houses in Frist 205:

Tuesday, Oct. 2 — 4:30 pm

Thursday, Oct. 4 — 4:30 pm

In addition, on Tuesday, Oct. 2, right after our first open house at 5:30 pm, Mike Allen of Politico will speak about Politics in the Age of New Media. The event is located in McCormick 101.

If you have any questions or are interested in applying for the Press Club but cannot attend an information session, please e-mail us at pressclb@.

Candidates Period is open to freshmen and sophomores. No prior journalism experience is required! We’ll teach you everything you need to know over the course of the Candidates Period.

 

 

 

Sep 30, 2012

JOIN THE UNIVERSITY PRESS CLUB

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How will the changing landscape of journalism affect this year’s election coverage? How do you stay one step ahead November’s non-stop political news cycle? Mike Allen, chief political reporter for Politico, author of the daily “Playbook,” and “The Man the White House Wakes Up To” will be coming to campus to discuss political reporting in the age of new media in light of the upcoming election. Come discuss politics, journalism, and the daily e-mail that runs Washington D.C. This event is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the University Press Club as part of the annual Louis Rukeyser ’54 Memorial Lecture Series.

Dates and times:
Rukeyser lecture: 10/2 at 5:30 in McCormick 101
Open houses: 10/2 and 10/4 at 4:30 in Frist 205
The Louis R. Rukeyser ’54 Memorial Lecture Series seeks to promote interest in the pursuit of journalism and to raise awareness of the role of the media in society.
Sep 24, 2012

Politics in the Age of New Media

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[Prefrosh, do this.]

Crystal Stilts, a somewhat established surfy NY garage band, bring their “zoned dream pop a la 1986” to Terrace this evening. For those ballsy previewers looking to get scrapey on a moped out dancefloor, tonight’s the night. I can personally assure you the Stilts will top most any Preview activity on the official docket (although the prefrosh may have some trouble getting in…)

The Guardian had these remarks about the band:

If you like the idea of an American singer whose barely-there vocals makes him sound as though he’s auditioning for a part in Thames Valley: The Movie, if you like splashy drums that make Moe Tucker sound like John Bonham, bashy tambourines, tinny, surfy 60s organ, wheezy harmonica, echoey spectral guitars and la-la-lee melodies that sound like nursery rhymes played by an extra-miserable Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (because they’ve just been dropped, possibly) at 18rpm, the whole thing coated in lo-fi gloom, then grab your stripey blue and white T-shirt, squeeze into your black drainpipes, and we’ll see you down Syndrome on Oxford Street to celebrate. What, it’s closed? Now we’re really depressed.

Apr 19, 2012

Crystal Stilts Play Pop at Terrace Tonight

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Last night was vegetarian night at Forbes College and smiling faces abounded. I sort of felt like a Brown student, which is a rare feeling to have on this campus. I saw a couple of pairs of Birkenstocks and plenty of OA shirts, and light poured in from the golf course on a sun-kissed hummus bar. I talked to a couple of bros who were like “bro, I never knew about this. You go to this often? Let’s go next time,” also to one member of an unnamed co-op on campus who said something of the form “bro, this sucks, are you kidding…” An astute bypasser  noted the large gender disparity in the room and per capita attractiveness of the primarily female population (full disclosure: said friend was more a crunchy-granola type himself).

Apr 12, 2012

Forbes Vegetarian Night: Meet Hot Chicks

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Pi Phi Tank 1Pi Phi Tank 2

[WARNING: THIS IS NOT A DOCTORED IMAGE] This is a picture of this year’s surprisingly dope Pi Phi tank, but with a sizeable, screen-printed emblem of baby Jesus on the back, perhaps an egregious printer error, perhaps a sign from the Big Man Upstairs…

Hold up, wait, what? Take another look. Nearly 200 Pi Phi sisters ordered upwards of 200 of these guys. The first size-small tank picked out of the box, the only christened one of the bunch – baby Jesus.

Delve into this right quick: it looks like there’s a real Jesus chilling at the bottom of the circle being pampered by a couple of biblical-looking people, which also might be statues, and a shining baby Jesus placed front and center occupying the attention of the rest of the people-statues. Additionally, you can see a tall unidentifiable object on the right hand side, which, by my educated guess, resembles a really tall parakeet, also some hovering angels and a gargoyle. I doubt that this printing mistake was deliberate. I also wonder who would ever order a tank top (or really any article of clothing) with something like this on it, i.e., why (a) this particular screen print even exists and (b) it would ever come near a black tank top, specifically one within a custom t-shirt facility capable of producing the design on the front side.

I’m not going to dig very deep in to this mystery since I think this is one of those things that is better left unexamined, especially considering the religious persuasion often associated with the group (Pi Phi realigning itself with phamily values?). But just to be clear, the rest of the gear had no extraneous religious artwork, no printing error, no baby Jesus scene – a description which I promise understates the peculiarity of the item. This tank, which is currently (and forever) in my possession, may be the most meaningful piece of sorority-related gear to grace this campus. I’m talking ‘Virgin Mary grilled cheese’ status.

Pi Phi Tank 3

Mar 30, 2012

Pi Phi X Baby Jesus Tank Top 2012

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Awkward and selective censorship

Awkward and selective censorship

[NOTE TO READER: THIS POST MAKES FREQUENT USE OF EXPLETIVES.]

This shit was going to happen eventually. Add it to the list of national trends trickling on to this campus (see Occupy Wall Street). On January 17th, BodyHype unleashed its own spin on “Shit girls say,” a YouTube phenomenon where in dudes in drag make videos saying, well, shit girls would say. Most would agree that “Shit Princeton Kids Say!” – a slightly less gendered adaptation of the original – does a pretty good job, hitting all the major tenets of campus life. At the moment of this post, it’s closing in on 15,000 views.

Depending on how closely we look at it, it can tell us a lot about ourselves, namely that no matter what social boundaries divide Princeton students, at the end of the day we can all bond over our common future careers in finance. Have a look at the video and a thoughtful analysis after the jump.

Continue reading…

Dancers Talking Sh#t

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Party with MegMeg Whitman, residential college matriarch and former CEO of eBay, was named Chief Executive of Hewlett-Packard last Thursday. Like most Whitman news, the decision appears fairly controversial. She’s been tapped to resuscitate the tech giant from its currently lagging state. H.P. recently revamped their general sales strategy and is (finally) reevaluating the state of its PC business. Meg previously sat on the Board of Trustees of H.P., which she calls an “American Icon,” leading some to question the company’s search process.

About Meg — she just can’t seem to do anything without pissing others off in the process. Maybe its the backlash of having pumped more than 150 million dollars into her own gubernatorial campaign, or maybe its just her general demeanor, rumored to be not so great. But some of us in Whitman College can’t help but be a little happy for her. After all, if Meg Whitman has some overblown pride, it is certainly reflected in the residential college named after her. Party with Meg.

Sep 24, 2011

Whitman to Save H.P.

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krueger1Another Princetonian is likely to join the Obama administration this Fall. Earlier this week, the President nominated Princeton economics professor Alan Krueger to head the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA). In addition to teaching labor economics, Krueger has contributed an impressive quantity of novel research to the study of labor markets. His work includes, among other things, a study with economist David Card that downplays the negative impact of raising the minimum wage. Krueger has met criticism on both sides of the political spectrum. Republicans predictably dislike his emphasis on job creation rather than deficit reduction. Some Democrats feel the professor may be too specialized for large-scale macroeconomic decision-making. Regardless, Krueger’s nomination will likely be approved by the Senate due to his recent stint as assistant secretary and chief economist at the Treasury Department. Score one more Princeton faculty members.

Former White House Budget Director Peter Orszag was Krueger’s student at Princeton. In an August 29th New York Times article regarding Krueger’s nomination, Mr. Orszag wrote (in an email), “He was one of my best professors…He taught labor economics and was very clear in explaining the field. He was also very engaged with the class, and used thrilling real-world examples to illustrate his points – very empirical. He also had the whole class over to his house for a cookout.”

Sep 3, 2011

Krueger Appointed To Head Obama’s CEA

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The “summer jam” is certainly a cliché — the type of hymn or tune that can only come out of your tattered Jeep Wrangler or FJ Cruiser (for the modern, upper-middle class bohemian). But the “summer jam” — “summer song”, “sound of the summer,” whatever incarnation you please — is one of those weighty clichés that actually means something. At least in the case of the noteworthy professors so many of us students neglect throughout the year due to schedule and (more likely) due to fear, one’s choice of summer jam gives some gritty emotional information that normally takes serious office hours to uncover.

We asked some of Princeton’s most revered intellectuals for their summer jams. Though it took almost an entire summer to compile — you weren’t the only ones doing nothing — they are finally listed below. Think of this almost-mixtape as an ode to the last hurrah that is Princeton’s awkwardly pushed back start date.

ProfessorialMixtapePic (Version 2)

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Beachcombing: A Professorial Mixtape

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JeffNunokawaApproaching the deep patriotic recesses of summer 2011, Princeton newsmakers seem to have taken a bit of time to focus on their tastes. From the discriminating pages of The New Yorker to an Ivy League pop-up shop, if anything ties this past Week in Review together, it is of the lighter nature.

The July 4th edition of the New Yorker features English literature Professor Jeff Nunokowa’s ongoing production of daily Facebook notes. Nunokowa has written upwards of 3000 notes to date, usually beginning with a literary quote and peppering in some insight and confessional.

“They are brief essays. That is to say, what Hume was getting at in the essay on essay writing: rendering the sphere of scholarship sociable,” Nunokowa told The New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead while dining at Rockefeller College.

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Week In Review: Connoisseurs In Debt Edition (June 19 – June 25)

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Reunions 2002: Keg Bed

Reunions 2002: Keg Bed

Like an atom bomb or the end of the world or the Macy’s Day Parade. Whether or not you knew it, Reunions (i.e. “the perennial Ivy League blowout kegger” referred to in a GQ exposé last year) are coming. Can’t you hear it — the pitter-patter of hundreds of alumni footsteps, canes and wheelchairs, the slurping from special edition beer cans, the loudness of Reunions’ token wardrobe?

Maybe not. Or, at least not yet, with Houseparties a few days away and all. But rest assured, the countdown has begun at www.countdowntoreunions.com, which gives an up-to-the-second reminder of the time between now and when the May-hem begins.

This screen shot will become increasingly less relevant over time.

This screenshot will become increasingly less relevant over time.

Personally, the design of the site seems all too familiar.  That font and the angular, borderless orange rectangle schema are symbols of official University webpage underdesign. I’m talking about those sites only seen momentarily in the deepest stages of room draw. Also, how did we get the web address? Not that it’s the most desireable web address (certainly not as desireable as www.pancakes.com, the homepage of PJ’s Pancake House), but the page doesn’t even mention the University.

Anyhow, Reunions are all about bold moves and in the Orange Bubble, no other reunions (lowercase) exist.  Just ask the folks over at www.princetonreunions.com, who call it “an experiment focused on age and agelessness, immaturity and maturation.”

Apr 25, 2011

Reminding You That Reunions Are Ever-Approaching

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Spinnin dat ill KP

Spinnin' dat ill K-pop

Generally, academia downplays its commentary on popular culture and music. Among advertised lectures and academic events at Princeton, those relating to [bio]ethics, politics and African-American studies certainly reign supreme (though recently one might make a case for Irish Studies). However, this weekend, discourse on contemporary music literally gets in the mix.

Enter K-Pop.

On March 25th and 26th Princeton hosts its own Asian Popular Music Conference, In The Mix: Asian Pop Music. This is like the March Madness of the East Asian Studies Department, the Lawnparties of ethnomusicology. The conference will feature panel discussions, research presentations, live performances and film screenings. Content will span genres ranging from indie rock and industrial noise music to hiphop, K-pop, J-pop, and the like.

Seriously though, professors and musicians are coming in from all around the world for this — some from the Orient itself, others from institutions like the London School of Economics and the Berklee School of Music.

We’ve begun digging through the jam-packed schedule and have picked some highlights in anticipation.

Continue reading…

From K-Pop & J-Pop to Princeton

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