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This is how I like to imagine all of Princeton's religious scholars...

This is how I like to imagine all of Princeton's religious scholars...

When I saw an article saying that Princeton’s acclaimed religious scholar Elaine Pagels was preparing to give a speech in Transylvania, I got excited.

When I saw that the first sentence of this article was, “Elaine Pagels was in a dark period of her life when she began researching Satan,” I could hardly contain myself.

But when I realized that I could read said article (i.e., that this article was not written in Romanian), I got suspicious.

When I noticed that I was on the Lexington Herald-Leader’s website, I was only upset for about a fraction of a second.

Because this means that America has within her broad lands an institute of higher learning called Transylvania University. I kid you not.

This sweatshirt was the result of a 1988 Halloween marketing ploy by Hallmark Cards...needless to say, an awkward apology was quickly issued. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

This sweatshirt was the result of a 1988 Halloween marketing ploy by Hallmark Cards...needless to say, an awkward apology was quickly issued. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

Transylvania University, which those in the know refer to fondly as “Transy”, is a Kentucky institution with a rich history that includes surprisingly few references to Dracula. Arguably its most famous graduate was Jefferson Davis, the president of the short-lived Confederate States of America.

So, he was kind of like Vlad the Impaler, right? Nowadays Transy tries to downplay any association with the undead. This is probably the right thing to do from a PR standpoint.

But if I were Elaine Pagels, I would still take along some garlic with me on this trip, just to be safe…

image source: huffingtonpost.com

image source: huffingtonpost.com

The Huffington Post recently created a list entitled “If Rappers Were Colleges: Analogies You WON’T Find on the SAT,” which pairs universities with famous rappers. Comparing Princeton to Eminem, the rankings say that he (or we) are “The whitest of the truly elite.”

Our friends at PrincetonFML are ambivalent about the comparison.

One student writes, “If rappers were colleges, Eminem would be Princeton. OLAG?” Another says that “Jay-Z should be Princeton.” Unfortunately, the year Princeton loses its #1 spot on the U.S. News & World Report rankings is also the year that the HuffPo gives Jay-Z to Harvard.

But we think the analogy is apt beyond our pigment challenges. In 1896 our school changed its name from the College of New Jersey to Princeton University. Born Marshall Mathers, Eminem similarly assumed his rap name because it sounds cooler (M and M are his initials. Get it?). The first five Presidents of Princeton had untimely health issues and died within 20 years of one another. Eminem was abandoned by his father when he was 18 months old. Despite these tragic beginnings of contested nominal identities, both Princeton and Eminem have stood up as the real Slim Shadys.

So here’s some advice from our rapper/school (Princeton even has its research hands in #3).

Judging your constitutions (via nytimes.com)

Judging your constitutions (via nytimes.com)

The Senate just voted 63 to 37 to confirm Elena Kagan ’81 as the 67th Supreme Court Justice. The confirmation makes her the third consecutive Princetonian to be elected to the Supreme Court, along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor ’76 and Samuel Alito ’72. That also makes Princeton the most represented college on the Supreme Court.

For the full story, here’s the Times on the subject. Rigorous analysis and intrepid reportage forthcoming.

For our existing coverage on the Kagan nomination, confirmation battles, and her time at Princeton, check out our Elena Kagan tag.

3045549519_a3dba04a38Even with the outcome potentially spoiled, CDY on the Amazing Race is just so fascinating to me.

In my pre-Princeton life I followed The Amazing Race as fanatically as some people follow football or baseball or the Academy Awards. I would flip out at the announcement of a new destination (“We’ve never been to Ethiopia before!” I’d exclaim, as if I were actually along for the ride instead of bouncing on a beanbag chair in my basement), bawl at the elimination of my favorite teams, and spend hours poring over game analysis on Reality TV message boards.

It was weird, I know. But when you’re a high schooler looking to use pop culture as the means of escape from your so-called teenage life, you really have to commit to your obsessions. Polite interest in a show or team or band doesn’t really get you anywhere – and me, I wanted to go everywhere, skip out of Delaware and cross the whole world three times over, preferably with a CBS camera crew in tow.

What I’m saying is, given this past obsession, the prospect of any old Princeton student on the show would be compelling to me.  But what makes CDY on the Amazing Race­ especially compelling – like I said, out-and-out fascinating – is that CDY wasn’t just any old student during his time at Princeton. He was one of our private college’s public figures – politically, at least, our big man on campus.

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Campus in a nutshell: Refuse, and tents

Campus in a nutshell: Copious refuse, numerous vehicles, and tents

If you’re wondering where that vague scent of trash is coming from, or why there are so many large people carrying heavy things around campus, you might want to snap out of your post-exam stupor and pack your stuff up: it’s move-out day. Everyone’s leaving!

(Unless you have Reunions housing, in which case Angela Hodgeman bestows you another 24 hours in your room before you have to move across the hall.)

And those big empty white tents and rows of wooden fences mean it’s officially Dead Week now, that calm before the Reunions storm. Everybody take a deep breath, catch up on your sleep, and maybe detox a little.

That’s our cue to peace for the summer. It’s been a pleasure writing for y’all, and be sure to check in again in the fall for news, musings, and everything you could possibly want and not want to know about our beloved Princestitution.

(But check back after Dead Week — we’ll be covering Reunions and commencement intermittently, as often as time and alumni partying will allow. And we’ll be covering the summer with our Weekly Updates and, of course, let you know if anything breaking happens.)

Love,

UPC

We know that there’s still a week of finals, but since the year is almost over, we thought we’d share a silent video of Princeton commencement ca. 1928. Some of it you’ll recognize — like the hand motions to Old Nassau or the P-rade. But apparently there are some traditions we’ve lost in the past 80 years — like riding around on people dressed as horses? That part starts around 3:50 but there are plenty of other quirky traditions throughout the clip.

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And waited, waited, waited for two hours yesterday to have my chance in front of the producers of this prospective show (if you remember from my previous post, the team is shooting a pilot first).  I brought work, though, so it was fine.

I waited in an upstairs lounge at the Nassau Inn.  While sitting around, I also filled out an application form that included all sorts of nosy prompts.

Describe yourself. “Pet peeves include oily hair.”
Did your parents go to Princeton? “No.”
Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? “Yes.  Of the pillow variety.  Her name is Dianne.”
Why do you want to be on this show? “I WANNA BE FAMOUS!!!  No, not really.  But maybe a little?”

People got called up one by one for interviews.  Everyone remaining made small talk (“You were curious about this too?”  ”Yup.”  ”How are they gonna film this?  They’ll NEVER get into Eating Clubs.”)  A tall, broad-shouldered, chiseled-jaw type’s interview lasted almost half an hour.  (“They must’ve really liked him.”)

Then it was my turn to go into the conference room and submit to an on-camera interview.

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The fourth Google Image result for "dean's date"; from footballnews.com.au

You know the question. You might even fear the question. But, sooner or later, you have to face the question.

“How’s your Dean’s Date?”

Yes, at the end of every semester, these four words are tossed around – as a conversation starter, as an awkward silence filler, but generally just as an awful reminder – and the responses can be pretty telling. You know the ones.

There’s the asshole: “Oh, it’s fine. I timed it all pretty well, so I managed to write 50 pages over reading period.” (This is usually accompanied by a self-satisfied, smug smirk. Thanks, bro.)

Then there’s the engineer: “I don’t really have anything due on Dean’s Date.” What! “But I have 6 finals and a problem set and I have to split a molecule that week.” (Then you realize your life sucks less in the grand scheme of things.)

There’s also the chronic procrastinator: “Well I have like 60 pages to write, but I just can’t get started… I dunno. I’ll just pull some all-nighters and crank it through.” (Which doesn’t sound, you know, healthy.)

And, of course, the regular, run-of-the-mill, everyday Princeton student: “I’m fucked.”

Enjoy your weekend, I guess.

UPDATE: After some discussion, we decided that our judgments were rather more unsophisticated and flippantly worded than we think desirable.  For example: We should probably make it clear that IvyGate doesn’t hate Princeton.  And we don’t hate IvyGate.  And BLOG WARS!!! are, like, totally lame.

I used to really like IvyGate.

Now, I won’t go so far as a lot of people who say “it sucks now.” I mean, I still read it, but it’s just not what it used to be. You might remember their coverage of Aleksey Vayner (still one of the more hilarious things to happen at an Ivy in recent history), or their coverage of pre-frosh Facebook groups. Just, lately, it seems it’s lost that spark, or that particular cheeky wit that used to really pull me in.

Or it could just be that the whole thing reads like a Yale playbook.

Alex Klein, a Yale sophomore who’s one of the site’s current editors, reports on even the most minute of Yalie news. It’s understandable we’re going to get in-depth coverage from a school an editor attends, but the fact remains that not everyone’s down to read the Yale elections’ nitty-gritty. (Also: Something about gnomes, half of which I don’t understand.)

So I kind of miss the good ol’ days of the Gate, because the Princeton coverage has been, let’s face it, a little disappointing lately. Like, after the Lawnparties acts’ announcement, IvyGate threw up this short post:

The Undergraduate Student Whatever over at Princeton just announced that none other than Jimmy Fallon’s backing band will be performing, next Sunday, at an event called… “Lawnparties.” At a club called… “Quadrangle.”

I’m not sure what this “means” but something “tells” me it’s being “sarcastic” without any indication “why.” Does IvyGate hate Princeton? I think IvyGate hates Princeton.

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http://www.facebook.com

http://www.facebook.com

Since learning in March that the Dinky may be replaced by a bus, University students and Borough residents have expressed both support and opposition. The latest from the nay-sayers is a “Save the Princeton Dinky” Facebook page. In only 9 days, 825 people have already joined, including students, community members, and even pre-frosh (“Class of 2014 for the Dinky!!!”).

So what are the protesters complaining about?

For some, it’s practical. They say that switching from rail to bus would be expensive or inefficient and that a bus would get stuck in traffic. They worry that a bus would be too small to accommodate rush hour hoards or to fit students with suitcases during breaks. They point out that trains are more environmentally friendly and that wooded areas would need to be cut down to make room for two buses to pass each other on the Dinky route.

But for others, it’s about nostalgia and the mystique of Princeton:

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via princeton.edu

via princeton.edu

While earthquakes have been rattling cities across the Western hemisphere in the past few months, the most devastating to date remains the Haitian quake of January 5. Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph came to speak to students and faculty in Dodds Auditorium this past Tuesday, and there he emphasized plans for a “new Haiti.”

His outline includes a decentralization of the country’s administrative and economic structure, attracting foreign investment, and rebuilding a tourist industry.

The lecture capped the Ambassador’s day at Princeton, which included a meeting with the engineering and architecture students and faculty to discuss sustainable reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

Read the full story at the Princeton website.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73784413@N00/3350166689/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73784413@N00/3350166689/

Starting May 1, Princeton students may be using a little more cash when they head into the city for the weekend or take the train home on breaks.

Having campaigned on a promise of tax cuts, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has announced funding cuts to New Jersey Transit in order to balance the state budget. The NJ Transit board of directors will vote on a proposal to reduce costs April 14.

How will this affect Princeton students, if the proposal is approved?

  • A ticket to New York will now cost $16.50 instead of $13.25
  • Off-peak round trip tickets will no longer exist
  • 5 fewer weekday trains will run between Trenton and New York