Brandeis University's Community Newspaper — Waltham, Mass.
The Student Union Executive Board, which had a few weeks of transition in last April before breaking for the summer, will have its first meeting Sunday, approaching this years term with a new three-pronged focus of priorities.
Hold on to your snacks
A man in Des Moines, Iowa, made an official complaint to police that his son assaulted him, leading to his sons arrest on the charge of domestic assault. An investigation revealed the dirty details: his son, angry at him during an argument, had chucked a bag of Cheetos in his direction. The bag hit his glasses, causing them to bump up against his nose and cut him. Other damage included Cheetos dust all over his shirt. A new warning label will henceforth be placed on all Frito Lay products warning against use as a weapon.
The Posse Foundation is currently in the process of recruiting public high school student leaders to enter Brandeis in Fall 2008 under the Posse program.
When I first learned about the position of Senator for Racial Minority Students it was the middle of second semester, last year. Someone I was sitting with said Hmm, I dont know any of the people running for Senator for Racial Minorities. I was rather confused, since I had just finished voting and didnt see the position listed. A little investigative journalism on my part revealed I was sitting with someone who was Asian, whereas I was white. Hence, no vote!
I like Pistachio Ice Cream.
My favorite TV shows are Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage.
Phew. Im so relieved that Im finally able to unabashedly reveal my true opinion to my audience: Brandeis community members.
A snowflake is a marvel to the desert man. It seems to be that reality is well, all relative. I think that most people have one fixed view of what they deem to be reality. Our experiences, which shape our reality, are intrinsically limited to our immediate environment. You must be thinking, Well, thats pretty obvious., but just think of it. The kid that grows up in the suburbs and has access to a great education may know, in theory, about some genocidal massacre in some far away land, but can he really fathom always having to look behind his shoulder or clutching a blade whenever a stranger crosses by? Can that person really know what it feels like to have such a big knot slowly tightening in their chest? On the other hand, what drives a young person, who seemingly has everything, to suicide? What constant suffocation that person must have felt to seek such a drastic conclusion. What weight on their shoulders was so heavy that they simply couldnt keep going? Seems to me that our personal reality determines the way we choose and the way we lead our lives.
Its 8 a.m. and youre on your way to work, school, you fill in the blank. Youre cruising along, trying to wake yourself up with some background music, and then it happens. What is it, you ask? It is construction. It is a detour. Let me just tell you, detour is possibly my least favorite six-letter word. Detour means that those of us who werent born with a GPS system implanted in our brains have to trust the fine detour planners to get us to our destinationand on time, too!
This Saturday was the first real weekend night for numerous Brandeis students, and to celebrate this occasion, Dartmouth Street, Charles Street, and many other off-campus locations were abuzz with activity. I headed to one of these occasions, fully expecting what to see. As I heard the loud music, I was lured to the area like a sailor to a sirens song. Once I got inside the party, I was confronted with loud music, obnoxious drunk people, and an environment that made my glasses fog over. The place was crowded and people couldnt even move ten feet without making it a major expedition. Many were shouting to understand each other over the music, others were dancing in place, and still more tried in vain to play a congested game of Beer Pong. As I stood and gazed at the scene I thought to myself: why do I do it? Parties are really horrible affairs, which any reasonable person would avoid. There are so many factors about parties that make me wonder why I come back to them week after week.
About a year ago, on a particularly hot day in the small Louisiana town of Jena, a student named Justin Purvis asked if he could sit in the shade of a tree in the schoolyard at Jena High School. This modest request was not merely another example of the Byzantine politics of high school cliques, because this particular tree was universally referred to as the white tree and it was an unwritten rule of Jenas racial politics that people who look like Purvis are not welcome.
Security has been an incredibly important issue here at Brandeis University over the past couple of years. This university has experienced many strange incidents, including a bomb scare, one student getting beaten in her room by an unknown man, the tennis court masturbator, and most recently a disturbance in Massell Quad that resulted in violent actions. These incidents, along with the incidents last year at Virginia Tech, have created a need to increase the security on this campus and at other universities.
