Nine journalists from around the world presented their impressions of the United States from their three months of cross-country travel on Oct. 21 in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall.
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Café Mac this week began implementing a new social responsibility program by placing ingredient lists beside vegan entrees. Bon Appétit is launching the program, called “Circle of Responsibility,” at its locations nationwide.
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Public debate continued to rage at a Student Housing Ordinances meeting at the University of St. Thomas on Oct. 16 and at the Oct. 22 City Council meeting.
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A high volume and changing areas of interest characterize this year’s applications for study abroad.
According to Study Abroad Coordinator Katherine Yngve, some applications were not approved because this year’s junior class is larger than usual (most students study abroad their Junior year) and the college cannot afford to have too many students leave campus.
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“There is no reason why more minority students from this area [Twin Cities] shouldn’t be coming to Macalester.”
-Terry Addison, Black coordinator of the Black component of the minority and special service program, Nov. 13, 1981, The Mac Weekly.
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A few weeks ago, I was flipping through The MacWeekly, and I happened to read the article “Tolerance, Discomfort, and Anonymity” as it was presented in the Queer Space by an anonymous author. This article encouraged me to reflect upon my own life, and I feel that it is important to address some of the comments made by the author of this article.
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You know the situation all too well. There you are, enjoying a meal at Café Mac, when one of our more diverse students walks up. Maybe he doesn’t look too different from you, but some insensitive soul feels the need to snickeringly comment on his clothing, food choice or speech.
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When I told one of my environmentalist friends that I wanted to write an op-ed scrutinizing the organic farming industry and its avid following, I was worried that I would come off as an anti-liberal who supports unregulated agri-business and wants to sell my soul to tobacco corporations. Fortunately, since my feelings on the topic have nothing to do with either of these values, she actually welcomed the discussion of a subject so adored in the Macalester-liberal community and didn’t brandish any “true liberals only eat organic” sword in my face.
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As the Environmental Studies (ES) program fights for its existence this fall, the department should examine why some people do not see it as an essential part of the liberal arts education. Its overly flexible curriculum weakens it academically, the major plan is not coherent enough and it fails to adequately challenge students.
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In the Oct. 17 issue of The Mac Weekly, Dhruva Jaishankar’s article “Is football necessary at Mac?” asked a question that has already been answered by a committee of students, faculty and alumni two years ago when the football program faced termination. That committee resoundingly decided to keep football at Macalester and furthermore pledged to find ways to improve the program. In light of the comments made in Jaishankar’s article, however, it appears necessary to reiterate why Macalester decided to keep football.
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What do you pray for? World peace? That your sports team wins the game? Maybe you’re a Macalester student, so you plead for a return to trade bilateralism and progressive state politics. Or maybe you’re someone much different, and you implore God to empower you in your quest for religious cleansing.
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I know the question on everyone’s mind is, “Where can you pretend that you are the billionaire owner of a sports franchise, gain bragging rights among your friends and have an excuse to engage in a geek-sport that you can still claim is not, in fact, a geek-sport?” Here is an unexpected answer that will fill that gaping hole that currently exists in your life: join a fantasy football league!
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A new and kreative dessert served up at Kafé Mac? Perhaps a 40-year old piece of male sports equipment dug out from the bowels of the Equipment Room’s lost and found?
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LEBRON JAMES will be the Rookie of the Year. There has been a lot of discussion about the weaknesses in King James’ game (namely, an iffy jumper) and speculation that Carmelo Anthony will be jumping into a better situation with the Nuggets than James has with the Cavs. Hogwash. While Melo may lead the Nugs in scoring and will certainly have an immediate impact on an anemic offensive team, LeBron has the size, speed and game to explode out of the gate in his first year in the NBA (NOTE: this prediction was made immediately after LeBron’s obscene debut in which he went for 25 points, six rebounds and nine assists).
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The men’s soccer team beat Carleton 4-3 in double overtime in Northfield on Wednesday, thanks to a goal by Robb Swick ’05. The Scots secured their third consecutive MIAC title and their sixth title in seven years. Winning the title earns them home field advantage in the MIAC playoffs, which determine the league’s NCAA Division III playoff berth. The Scots play their last conference game against Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday.
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You’ve seen him. You’ve definitely heard him. And he’s probably asked you for a cigarette or two. Oh yeah, and he’s the one with the really intelligent questions that the professor can’t always answer.
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Our world lacks mittens. As a little kid, all you ever had to wear on your hands was mittens. They were the perfect tool for packing snowballs—all you had to do was scoop up a big load of snow and start pushing your hands together. As we get older, we seem to think mittens are for children and suddenly, all we want to wear is gloves. Now equipped with independent finger movement, the snow has eight more ways to get out of your hands, creating smaller and smaller snowballs. I guess that’s why you don’t see many senior citizen snowball fights.
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I love food: fresh oysters, bacon cheeseburgers, foie gras, Taco Bell. And I like men: Robert Downey Jr., Kris Kristofferson, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mr. Darcy. In both arenas, my tastes vary widely, but I think it’s important to derive pleasure from all different kinds of tasty objects. When it gets right down to it, I’m a shameless epicurean. Would it be any fun for me to date someone who isn’t? Yeah, I know, Paula Abdul and a certain animated cat sang the praises of the attraction of opposites in a seminal pop song no one will soon forget, but what if your very value systems just don’t jive? What if the cornerstone on which you’ve built your social life—the pursuit of pleasure—isn’t shared by your mate?
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In preparation for my best goth friend’s wedding, I took a visit to Marshall Fields the Tuesday afore last.
“Say, have you any gifts requested for the Sorrows-McDarkness marriage?” I queried at the cashiers desk.
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Don’t hate me. I love the Yankees. They are truly the only interesting thing about baseball. I wouldn’t have gone near the World Series if there was no Derek Jeter as short stop every other inning. Because of Jeter, I watched every game. I don’t care if he dated Mariah Carey, he makes baseball sexy. At the end of game three, I got to thinking: How would I want Derek Jeter to round my bases?
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Dear Rock Hardy and Fleshy Fox,
The other day, when I was trying to brush my teeth in the Doty 5 bathroom, I heard some moaning coming from the shower. At first I was concerned that she might be hurt, until a male voice shouted out, “Oh, the Baunch!” I was so confused that I ran out of the bathroom without inquiring if they were okay. What is this baunch? Should I have stayed to help?
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On Oct. 17, Macalester faculty member Wang Ping and guest Andrei Codrescu read their poetry in the Weyerhauser Chapel. In this response, Sarah Brumble reflects on each poet and his/her work.
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Macalester students and artists from around the Twin Cities will come together on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Black Dog Café for the first annual ArtReach Cabaret for Kids. It will raise funds for the ArtReach Foundation that uses art therapy to help heal children from the former Yugoslavia.
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If the hypothetical situation occurred and I was asked to select just one movie to be preserved for all time, I would pick Andrei Tarkovsky’s second work, the 1966 biography film Andrei Roublev. Here is a film that achieves the highest goals of which movies are capable, yet, by the very limitations of their form, rarely do.
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I’ve always wanted to write a review of one of the most beautiful R.E.M. albums, like Out of Time, Automatic for the People or Lifes Rich Pageant, but I know that the band has changed and will probably never release something of such uplifting, life-changing, regal beauty again. Thank God for The Shins, a relatively unknown Oklahoma band which has made it possible for me to review an album very similar to those I mentioned. They have accepted the torch that R.E.M. passed when they released 1994’s glam-inspired Monster. After releasing a promising 1960s-inspired debut album Oh, Inverted World in 2001 (the obvious standout track was its only folk song, “New Slang”), the band is back in 2003 with Chutes Too Narrow, which is better with every listen and is surely one of the best albums of the year.
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Last Wednesday, the music world lost one of its true talents, a singer-songwriter known for his soft, fragile voice and his way with a sad song. Elliott Smith took his own life on October 22, 2003. He was 34.
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The Rapture, the hotter-than-hype retro group from New York just released Echoes, their second full-length album. It comes on the heels of the underground summer success of their single “House of Jealous Lovers.”
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Travis has always been called the “nice” British band. In an older issue of Spin magazine, when Coldplay was called “Radiohead but sincere” and David Gray was described as “Radiohead but for your mom,” Travis was deemed as “Radiohead but nice.” It’s a stretch, I think, to compare all bands to Radiohead (they really aren’t the center of the universe, believe it or not), but still this does not change the fact that Travis has always been viewed as the nice friendly lads from Scotland, completely unthreatening and singing pretty songs about love.
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Diversity Weekend
Macalester College will be hosting its fourth annual Diversity Weekend this week! It will run from October 31st through to November 2nd. A number of student organizations, such as ¡Adelante!, Afrika!, Amnesty International, Asian Student Alliance (ASA), Black Liberation Affairs Committee (BLAC), Bridges, and Proud Indigenous People for Education (PIPE), are responsible for putting this dynamic series of events together. Diversity Weekend hopes to shed light on an important issue affecting "minority" students, and ultimately to promote action from the student body on this issue. This year's theme will be addressing hate crimes here in the U.S. You do not necessarily have to look outside United States borders to find testimonies of hate and discrimination.
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The Mac Weekly is an entirely student-produced publication. The opinions expressed in this document are those of its authors and editors, not of Macalester College.
Diversity Weekend
