Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
This article is dedicated to those who think there is nothing to do at Brandeis because this semesters undergraduate theater scene offers so much varietyfrom light, amusing comedies to politically-charged dramas and from Renaissance classics to the freshest offerings of Broadway. This really is a season that offers something for every theatrical taste.
Fall semester: Seems like only yesterday. Fear. Dysentery. Midterms. And none of us will ever forget the events of 12/11, the day that changed Brandeis forever
Thus began a quest by some brave students, with the help of my faithful dog, Qimmeq, to solve the Mystery of the Cafeteria Caper.
In the 1996 film The Great White Hype, the faux boxing world in the Hollywood tale was thrown into a whirlwind of popular public interest in the sport due to one promoters ideal to pit the world-boxing champion against an unknown, white boxer. Among a number of the themes the film built upon, it is the pure exploitation of the unknown boxers race that builds up the hype needed to promote interest in a sport thats losing its accessibility to the public. It is the films smart observation of the ever-present presence of hype in sports, and life, that makes the rather weighty comedy redeemable;
the ability for hype to create, popularize, and even kill entire careers, movies, and (in the case of the movie) boxers is an incredibly important aspect of modern society. It is the aspect of hype that plays such a strong role in the world of music;
it creates some bands' entire careers while diminishing other groups careers into nothing. At the very core of it, hype is something that keeps the modern publics interest afloat;
with that in mind, here are a number of bands that hopefully will be in the good graces of hype in the coming year.
To the Editor:
As I write this, I have just been booted out of my fencing practice due to the fact that the campus is on terror lockdown, and when my fencing is disturbed, for lack of a better term, I GET PISSED. Therefore, I decided to write this diatribe. It is truly unfortunate that during what is supposed to be a happy, peaceful time for the students of Brandeis, a currently unknown sociopath has to call in a bomb threat, disrupting the good feelings and excitement that go hand in hand with returning to school after a long break.
Let me start out by saying that this is not a standard Hoot article. It is on the Opinions page, but this article is about Chemistry. Not so fast. Dont turn the page just yet. Im not writing a textbook here, people. Nothing too boring or formal, I hope. I love Chemistry, and from the number of Chemistry majors here (20-30 declared majors at any one time at Brandeis), I know that a lot of people arent exactly as excited as I am. Sure, I am happy that 40 Brandeis undergrads have joined my Chemistry Enthusiasts group on Facebook;
however, Facebook groups dont really do or mean much of anything. Furthermore, I think Chemistry should be delivered to the masses, not only to Chemistry and Biochemistry students.
Get your Jew ass outta here you fuckin kike!
As the only Jewish kid in my school in Austin, TX who wore a yarmulke (skullcap), I was often targeted with anti-Semitic remarks such as this one. I felt hurt. Then I felt mad. Then I got self-righteous and then I realized I was letting his bigotry get the better of me, wearing it on my sleeve like an entitlement to religious persecution. Needless to say, that attitude didnt make me happy. I respect and admire Kevin Montgomerys courage and his caring about the Brandeis community by writing his Memoirs of a Goy at Brandeis, even while I noticed a tinge of self-righteousness.
Perhaps because of my close encounter with religious bigotry, I was not really shocked by the comments and incidents described by Kevin Montgomery in his article. Still, I was upset. I would like to think that this was motivated by an ability to feel the emotional hurt and pain of Kevin Montgomery rather than feelings of anxiety over these remarks because they were made by Jewish people (like me), and therefore Jews would lose points with the non-Jews. But I think the nature of my reaction was somewhere in between. I do not think that my motives could realistically be detached from my Jewish identity. Indeed, I believe that Judaism commands me to speak out against and heal the wounds of injustice wherever it exists, especially when it is in my own backyard.
Brandeis University was once a hotbed of meaningful political activity. But since the takeover of Ford Hall and the era of Eleanor Roosevelt, Brandeis has now been poisoned by ravenous self-promotion and overall political hackery. Brandeis today is a campus of divisive political tactics and increasingly trivial, or even harmful, platforms and manifestos. We now live in a community where our political champions work ceaselessly to put their names in articles, to further their own agendas and to bolster their future careers by padding their resums.
Since students have returned to campus several aspects of life at Brandeis have improved, including new shuttles and new dining hall hours. Although the changes are most definitely beneficial, they have not been quite as thorough as they could have been.
To the Editor:
I would like to say a few words about the oppression and discrimination here at Brandeis that Mr. Montgomery talks about. Let me share with you all just how right he is. The first day I got here and openly said that I was a Christian, I was verbally berated. I learned that I was responsible for all manner of atrocity ranging from the Holocaust to the Crusades. If that wasn't enough, it didnt end there. I frequently wake up to see stars of David burned into the grass outside. As I try to sleep, people shout graphic descriptions of the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple outside my doorall the while screaming, you did it! Welcome to my life, the life of one of those crazy Jesus people at Brandeis.
To the Editor:
I keep hearing cries from Brandeis goys that the Jews here are racist against them. One article of the Hoot complains that there is a Jew-Gentile divide and the writer is appalled that he over-heard a Jewish man say on a cell phone, talking about his girlfriend, that he didnt know about her anymore because shed been talking to a lot of Christians. This poor writer has to carry around the weighty label goy with shame, unable to date the frum Jews since they would never have him.
