With a vote approaching on whether or not to keep the Russian Department, faculty and students are struggling to make decisions and to voice their opinions.
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The city of St. Paul removed the temporary median strip on Grand Avenue last week. The median was a part of an ongoing joint project between the city and Macalester aimed at improving pedestrian-auto interaction on the block of Grand bordered by Snelling and Macalester Avenues.
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Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) has just launched a new web site after two years of very limited maintenance on the organization’s former web site. Dev Oliver ’04 and MCSG president Simone King ’04 are creating the new site, which is still under construction.
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Macalester may soon introduce a “gender-blind” housing option that would allow male and female students to be roommates and suitemates in the residence halls.
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Andrew Riely’s Oct. 31 article [“The Environmental studies curriculum should be re-worked”] regarding the Environmental Studies curriculum raises important issues about the shortcomings of the department, but his criticisms stop short of a full analysis. Riely argues that the ES curriculum is “not coherent enough” and “fails to adequately challenge students” and offers his suggestions for important major requirements. However, Riely does not go on to analyze why these limitations exist. In focusing his recommendations exclusively on the ES department, Riely misses the fact that his grievances should rest more broadly with the college as a whole.
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It is a small marvel that none of the three figures has ever changed their facial expression since attending college. Donald Rumseld can already be seen machinating a bureaucratic coup. Recently departed Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is already brimming with the arrogance that he would later exude towards inquisitive reporters. And, well, CEO George W. Bush has simply proved more willing to button his shirt. During a recent Rose Garden press conference, a reporter commented to the president that “your policies on the Middle East seem so far to have produced pretty meager results.” President Bush quickly interrupted to clarify: “major or meager?” This might point to the kind of bubble the commander in chief lives in. What has our president been up to?
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Other Mac Weekly commentators have argued that the Macalester Democrat-voting audience should vote for Wesley Clark because he can get elected or Howard Dean because he has the best platform. Both of these arguments had their strong points, but I think that both missed an essential point: it doesn’t really matter who wins the primary. We politically-savvy Macalester students know that there are significant differences between Democrats and Republicans and that the Republican Party is controlled by a dogmatic ultra-conservative branch. We know that another four years of the Bush Administration will whittle the Bill of Rights down to the second amendment, destroy whatever shred of credibility we might have had in foreign countries and further concentrate power and money in the upper class while those of us who don’t have family connections search in vain to find a job.
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As much as I’m sure Macalester is infested with maniacal Star Wars nerds, I never cared much for light sabers and Ewoks. As an impressionable youth, my infatuation was captured instead by the great milestone of American cinema, the subtly entitled Masters of the Universe. In this rollicking epic, He-Man (portrayed by the preeminent thespian of our generation, the sublime Dolph Lundgren) battles his arch-nemesis Skeletor, the fate of the world hanging on our superhero’s veiny, muscled neck.
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Andrew Riely’s Oct. 31 article [“The Environmental studies curriculum should be re-worked”] regarding the Environmental Studies curriculum raises important issues about the shortcomings of the department, but his criticisms stop short of a full analysis. Riely argues that the ES curriculum is “not coherent enough” and “fails to adequately challenge students” and offers his suggestions for important major requirements. However, Riely does not go on to analyze why these limitations exist. In focusing his recommendations exclusively on the ES department, Riely misses the fact that his grievances should rest more broadly with the college as a whole.
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The women’s soccer team edged the St. Benedict Blazers on Saturday in penalty kicks only to be eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament by the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point on Wednesday.
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With the NFL season heading into the stretch, the separation between contenders and pretenders is almost complete. Several preseason favorites have struggled, while a few surprise teams suddenly find themselves with Super Bowl aspirations. Defending AFC Champion Oakland is stuck in a black hole and both New York teams find themselves in giant predicaments. Meanwhile, Dallas and Carolina have emerged as favorites in a surprisingly weak NFC. What follows is a rundown of each team and wild estimates at their odds of winning the Super Bowl.
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The Macalester football season ended last Saturday with a 45-13 loss to Carleton, giving the team a final record of 1-8. Quarterback Adam Denny ’04 led the team, going 18-for-34 for 144 yards, completing six passes each to Jared Hillman ’06 and Adam Heathcote ’04. Macalester’s defensive leaders, Tim Burns ’06, Heathcote and Jakub Koziol ’07, each had nine tackles.
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I’ve never met Nell before. When we meet at the Grillé, she is pulling a single yellow Post-It and a pen out of her coat pocket. “I just keep remembering things I have to do,” she explains. The Post-It is nearly covered in writing. I like her already.
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I was intrigued when last week I saw an interview of Abhishek Kaicker in The Mac Weekly. Abhishek and I have had our various “run-ins” over the years and I felt like I had an accurate handle on his personality. Little did I know he’s actually a lying, conniving little piece of shit.
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Although Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was one of the most prolific British playwrights of her generation, it is unlikely that many people have heard of her. Beginning this weekend, the Macalester community can become reacquainted with this forgotten writer as the Theater and Dance Department opens her play The Rover.
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Clint Eastwood’s new film Mystic River is currently enjoying positive national press and a wide release (including a run down the street at the Grandview). It tells the story of three childhood friends––Dave, Jimmy and Sean––whose lives are forever changed when Dave is abducted by child molesters at age 11. As adults, they find themselves reunited when Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter is murdered.
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This weekend, the Macalester Festival Chorale joins with the Carleton College Community Choir and the St. Paul Civic Symphony in a concert entitled “Glorious Glorias II.”
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Some artists are prolific and some are efficient; but then some are the Wrens. The prolific tend to run into trouble with the overall consistency of their music: some is excellent, some just all right and the rest leaves the listener only to shudder. The efficient release an album every two to three years like clockwork. The Wrens, however, are in a category all by themselves.
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