Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Observer: Issue 3

There's a new issue of The Observer out! I'm highly entertained for a number of reasons. Anyway, it's great! Here are some pieces to check out:

This is a fascinating piece about the way in which people choose to devote their time. If you engage in extracuricular activities, do you choose those activities which are on-campus (such as the YU Medical Ethics Society, ha) or those that are off-campus (such as NCSY?) Why do you do this? What's your motivation?

Then there's another fun piece about public school students on campus. Their perspectives are a breath of fresh air, I love them and who could not adore people who refer to themselves as the "Mechinah babes?" Aside from which, my friend The Vindictive Little Pixie falls into that category.

There is a beautiful editorial about the mandatory attendance policy. Oh, how I agree! I am currently enrolled in a class which is so intensely and utterly stupid and only wastes my time. There's no question that I could do perfectly well if I never attended that class, and I wouldn't, except that the attendance policy forces me to do so. Be it on their heads when I can't do the thousand other things that would be far more beneficial to people at this school because I'm stuck there...

This opinions piece about "Real Freshman" entertains me because I've written about it before. Amusing to see one's sentiments in print. I'm proud to have been a real freshman...though sadly I am not a Mechinah Babe.

Perel's "Battle of the Bands" piece is so well-written that it has to be mentioned. It's also hilarious. Brown's observations are incorporated in some places, which makes everything that much better.

I am sad The Observer did not actually use the headline "Guys are Dumb" off of President Joel's Town Meeting session (which, incidentally, was nothing short of admirable. I love watching him play the crowd. I have a Gush friend who agrees and is entertained by people who look up at him, enthralled, and take it all seriously. I admire the art, you see, as does he. Not to say that President Joel doesn't care. Far from it. Only that he knows how to play the game and he does it so well.)

All right, read and comment away!

2 comments:

Suri said...

About the freshman issue --
People tell me that this year there are a lot of 'freshmen freshmen'. Which is nice, and probably also helps the 'oh' become a 'oh that's so cool, so which high school are you from' (still a box to put people into).

The attendance policy isn't good for nothing; in certain classes you have to be forced to do your own will and go to class. :)

That Frum Guy said...

Not to mention an interesting opinion piece on instant messenger and whether it is a waste of time or not. I disagree with the premise of the piece. I think that if the same amount of time spent chatting was spent face to face with that person, those conversations would come up. And they would have a bigger imprint on your memory. I've spent hours chatting with people who I don't feel much closer to than I did when I met them. I happen to love AIM and use it every day. However, I think that you become much closer to people through the experiences and conversations you have together, not through instant messenger chats. And that requires leaving your room and spending time with them. That said, for people whom you don't see very frequently and face to face communication is not possible, I think IM is a great way to keep in touch. If you disagree, feel free to IM me and we'll talk about it. :-)