It’s that time of year again! Seniors are growing meaner, and sadder, by the minute, as thesis deadlines loom. As always, Triangle Copy Center is ready to bind the product of your year of toiling away on the Firestone C-floor! (If you can get it in, that is.)
Take a look:
Oh wait, what’s that?
One of these things is not like the others.
So it’s Thursday night and for those of us spending all night with our papers/problem sets instead of going out, demand for study spaces is high. You know the deal. We can all share Firestone, but only until 11:45. Then there’s Frist or Lewis, but only until 2:00. There are only so many places with comfy seats, good lighting and easy caffeine access. Our choices narrow. Wu and Whitman get crowded. Tensions rise and as Friday morning deadlines draw closer, we all get a little aggressive …
Example? Check out the territoriality at J-Street Library tonight:
Yeah. Back off.
Princeton kids are nice, we promise! I mean, sometimes you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.
To all those pulling all-nighters right now, GODSPEED. Remember there’s still coffee at Studio ’34 until 3:30 a.m., and then there’s always the Wa.
Now get back to work.
Thanks to Jeffrey Chen ’13 for the picture.
If you are anything like a certain Ink blogger who will remain unnamed, you spend your computing hours (known colloquially around campus as “lectures”) playing Dog Fight 2 and checking if your favorite web comics have updated yet today. In which case, we heard some very exciting news!
Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, will be giving a public lecture Monday, April 11, at 8 p.m. in New Frick (full details here). And to prove Mr. Munroe has some insight into the world of higher education and standardized tests, here are some classic xkcd comics:
The good old days, when admissions knew even Princeton kids couldn't think straight enough in that moment to understand anything other than YES!
D-Day is upon us. That would be Decision Day, when the fateful email arrives: in? or out?
You remember what it’s like to be there. I mean, this isn’t just any shot at acceptance, this determines the next four years of their lives – maybe the rest of their lives.
This year’s admission rate was a record low, with 2,282 class of 2015 hopefuls receiving offers of admission – that’s 8.39%, down from a previous low of 8.8% for the class of 2014. Right on schedule, College Confidential is blowing up, and seniors, for the next three hours you don’t have a monopoly on stress.
There’s a lot of the generic, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i can’t take it… i NEED to know NOW.” Some are stressing about the fact that their alumni interviewers sent a (stalkerish?) Facebook friend request – good news, or bad?
Others smugly ticked off the schools that have already deeded them worthy, sending those who weren’t so fortunate into a panic that a rejection from the University of Chicago has already sealed their fate.
And those minutes, or hours, of compulsively refreshing your inbox? One deemed Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” the only appropriate soundtrack, though another poster was slightly more optimistic: “I feel like I’m five again, waiting for Christmas … in a twisted kind of way.” Christmas morning, for better or worse, will never be the same again.
Orange Bubble Syndrome is something that many of us take for granted. We get stuck in a cycle of rotating between weekends at Prospect, weekdays at Firestone and occasional excursions for late meal at Frist. We micromanage our days in GCals of rainbow-colored sleep deprivation. We might stop once in a while to read something from the Prince UPC, complain about P-Safe’s lockout policy, scoff at Dean Malkiel’s dog or laugh at the bicker plans for Cannon Club.
Read the news? Uhhh. I'll pencil that in someday, okay?
But where is the globally aware citizenship that all the admission brochures advertised? Where are the scholars in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations (aside from sharpening their get-recruited-for-I-banking skills in Robertson or Tower, that is)? A Prince column earlier this week (okay, we do read them too) called for more campus dialogue on current events. The Middle East is erupting. Japan is in shambles. Basically, 2011 thus far has reached a point where I expect a new revolution or disaster every time I refresh the NYT homepage.
I know, I know. We’re busy. We’re tired. We work really hard. Sometimes it is easier to just sit in Whitman dining hall, discussing the merits of different types of fruit-cereal-froyo combinations (banana, Smart Start, vanilla. Win!) instead of debating the pros and cons of intervention in Libya.
In the last week or so, though, I’ve become increasingly convinced that it’s actually easier than you think to break out of the Orange Bubble. Meaningful campus dialogue can exist! Even when it’s not awkwardly facilitated by Sustained Dialogue! Here, I give you five reasons why we can and should think outside the bubble:
1.) IT’S SO EASY.
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.
A list of reasons why it’s good to be Princetonian right now:
1.) Midterms are over.
2.) Spring break is upon us.
3.) Our basketball men just beat Harvard 63-62 to win a bid to the NCAA Tournament!!
A snapshot of the Tiger blood gushing all over Facebook:
And a personal favorite:
Enough said.
UPDATE: A commenter correctly notes that this was just a playoff game for the NCAA bid — Princeton and Harvard still share the Ivy League title for this season.
Go to the Princeton University homepage, and check out the video feature. Pinch yourself, and look again. No, that’s not a midterms week sleep deprivation-induced hallucination – the eating clubs really are front and center on Princeton’s homepage.
The story accompanying the video says it’s meant to improve communication about the clubs and give prospective students a “virtual introduction,” one of the eating club task force’s goals. Based on College Confidential’s perpetual eating club fascination, they couldn’t have chosen a better way to attract the eager eyes of 27,115 high school seniors waiting for the counting down the days until their decision arrives.
So what does the University have to say about eating clubs? Well, if you were hoping for a hard-hitting exposé or scathing denunciation, you’ll be disappointed. They sound, well, a lot like the residential colleges, but with better food.
Spring Break 2011: Geeks Gone Wild
Calling all math nerds, Pi lovers and Einstein devotees! If you’re staying on campus for spring break (so near and yet so painfully far), don’t miss out on the second year of a recently birthed Princeton tradition: Pi Day.
Mimi Omicienski of the Princeton Tour Company dreamed up this celebration of all things geeky last year, when she realized that March 14th coincides with Albert Einstein’s birthday. Last year, Omicienski worked with the Princeton Public Library and Joy Chen from JOY Cards (on Chambers Street, close to Masala Grill, FYI. Check it out if you want a cute alternative to Paper Source) to create the first ever Pi Day. It included pie-eating contests, an Einstein look-alike competition, and an intense pi recitation showdown. The winner? Gareth Conway, son of our own superstar mathlete John Conway.
But this year, the Pi Day people are stepping up their game. March 14th has been extended to an entire “Geek Freak Weekend,” featuring Dinky and plane rides with Einstein (as in, Einstein re-enactors. Not his dead body. That would be morbid), presentations from our plasma physics lab, pi-themed sales, more pie eating, and a math competition with a $314.159 prize.
“Think Disney, and instead of Cinderella, you have Einstein,” Omicienski said.
Yeah. Get excited.
Together, the fourth floor of Hargadon Hall, Whitman College stands united. Once home to arguably the most foul one-person bathroom in all of Whitman, the residents of 4th floor Hargadon, have successfully ended what should only be known as one long “semester-of-smell.”
Sometime around Tuesday of the past week, the following civic-minded declaration was posted on the door of Hargadon’s oft-clogged, regularly-defamed bathroom.
" ... a horrifying tragedy of the commons."
A call to arms. An inward-turning civil war. “Our greatest enemy is only ourselves.” Many have signed the declaration and many more have upheld its premises.
Since Tuesday, neither remnant nor totality has been found disgracing wall, floor or roof. As we look to a fresh new semester, it’s time to declare this case closed, at least for now.
But there’s a bigger moral lesson to be learned here. Changes can be made on this campus silently and unanimously; all it takes is a mess that needs cleaning (literally) and the gumption to bang out a few bullet points of instructions.
If this poster isn't enough to get your heart pounding, read on. (image source: upandcomers.net)
For those of you who were dragged to Oscar-watching parties tonight, who are sitting in Frist, or your res college, or a friend’s room reading this on your phone and seriously contemplating either a.) the best way to make an inconspicuous escape or b.) how to prevent yourself from pulling out all of your hair, there may yet be a way to salvage the night.
While your friends are trying to second-guess what’s inside those award-announcing envelopes, show them how involved you can get by spicing up the Oscars with some of the following themed activities brought to you by Film.com.
Swan Search
At the beginning of the night, choose someone to “go Black Swan,” and have other viewers guess who the swan is as the night unfolds.
Test Your True Grit
Slap on an eye-patch and try such classics as “pin the tail on the outlaw” or “water pistol quick draw” (but beware of assassins among your ranks…).
Stuttering Ovation
Chug a few Red Bulls and compete to give King George VI’s war speech (see The King’s Speech for helpful hints). This one comes with the added benefit of making your post-Oscars night a lot more productive.
Trash-Talk Champ
Challenge a friend to a trash-talk-off, à la The Fighter.
So kick back, relax, and enjoy the show. And hey, you might even find yourself getting into it. Either way, make sure you stick it out to the end to find out which of these 10 statements the Academy wants to make.
There’s something about this bleak weather that makes the idea of shopping for Lawnparties outfits extremely appealing. That’s how I ended up at the brand-new Lilly Pulitzer store in Palmer Square, which opened its doors last week. I chatted with Ted, the manager, and got down to the nitty-gritty of paisley, parties, and Pulitzer.
What’s your story?
“I went to Lehigh quite some time ago, became an engineer, worked in water sports for fifteen years, and then joined the garment industry. This job lets me do what I love best—choosing the best pieces, running a store, and getting to know every local Lilly lover.”
What’s the story behind the Princeton location?
“Palm Place here in Princeton is something that I have dreamed of for over five years. For me, it was a matter of waiting for the perfect store space to become available in Palmer Square. We’re still unpacking and painting, but we’re open for business.”
