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Follow this category via RSSMexico: Civil Society, on the brink …
A promotion of (and handy container for) discussion of the situation in Mexico, started in “Purple Noise” and continued elsewhere.
Photo ID, #102
It’s Monday again, so it’s time for our second Photo ID of the new era. For those of you who are new to the game, here’s how it works: I post a mystery photo taken somewhere at Williams. You post comments guessing where the photo was taken and what is pictured in it, and also post memories and reminiscences about the place or object. Sound like fun? Here we go again:
Photo from Flickr user Dread Pirate Ruth; original photo here (warning: may contain puzzle answer).
From what vantage point was this photo taken, and what campus area is pictured?
Mexico, Child Labour, Birth Control and those Catholics…drugs
Conversation between Ken & John Drew; moved here from Purple Noise (sorry we don’t have a “discussion” section yet).
When there were dogs on campus …
Certainly, these two champion ‘Best of Show”’s would not have been among them.
The scotty terrier is Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot (aka: “Sadie”), a five year old bitch from Macinack Island, MI and the dog world’s first Triple Crown winner. She won Westminster in February, 2010, the National Dog Show in November and the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in December. Westminster in the second oldest US sporting event dating to 1887. The Kentucky Derby is the oldest, with the first meet in 1875. Careful readers will note that the Williams-Amherst first intercollegiate baseball game was 1859.
Yogi is an Hungarian Viszla and won ‘Best of Show today. the first of the breed to win ‘Best of Show’ at Crufts, the Worlds Largest Dog Show dating to 1886. Yogi, more formally known as Champion Hungargunn Bear It’n Mind is a seven year old bitch from Carlisle, Cumbria, gateway to the Lake District.
The shows are sponsored by the Kennel Clubs of the United States and Great Britain, respectively.
Where have the campus dogs of yesteryear gone? And, more importantly, why?
Addendum:
Diamonds, dogs, and doodoo -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8567398.stm
Williams Track Book Signing
There will be a book signing for “Williams Track” in conjunction with Water St. Books on Saturday, April 17 at Weston Field in conjunction with the Little Three track meet.
Numming on the Net: If Saturday is just dragging along …
Already clean the garage? Sort your sock drawer (I do mine alphabetically, starting with Argyles)? Finish the NYT xword with the aid today of a lot of Googling the net?
Well (segue), speaking of the net, I was amazed that EphBlog was not included on the Nielsen Top 100 sites for January. But delighted to find an interactive map to play around with and match my bookmarks against those of the hoi-palloi. If you want to check out who’s hot by dragging your mouse over a map, here is the place:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8562801.stm
Now if you want to see who is making the big bucks from your incessant desire to buy spark plugs on line, here is an interactive list of those guys with the vision to anticipate the spread of cyber culture into areas in which you had hoped no one would ever pry. That Eph favorite S. Case is at the bottom, but still hanging on.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8562379.stm
These should keep you going ’til cocktail time!
Roomies
I have been thinking about doing this post for quite a while. Initially, it seemed like a natural follow-up to Dorm Living, and then I was reminded of it when Tiny Dancer posted her lovely tribute to her JA partner, and most recently, Swart’s coming-to-the-rescue of his lovelorn pal and college roommate, Rechtal, finally got me to here.
My original intention was to post something fairly fleshed out. After all, if you google the subject of “Roommates”, a veritable cornucopia of sites, books, rants and blogs appear. But, since I don’t have the time and/or ability to focus on a detailed post, I offer this simple musing instead.
As evidenced by my Google search, the whole roommate topic is a rich one. One of the funniest things that came up was a recent book titled I Lick My Cheese. We’ve all heard the horror stories about the roomies from hell. The ones who steal your food, or help themselves to your closet. I once had a flatmate who borrowed a blouse and decided to cut a few inches off the bottom of it so it would better suit her, I kid you not. That same gal borrowed my favorite earrings (without asking) and lost one. And then seemed so flabbergasted that I was peeved with her . Definitely put a damper on the relationship.
But, then, there are the good stories, the lifelong friendships that can result from a random pairing. Swart and Rechtal, for example. And my husband’s very best friend was one of his college roomies. And, I am certain my son will remain friends with the roommates he has had at Williams.
So, really, this post is a chance to hear your stories. From roommates to entry mates, to flat mates, feel free to share, or maybe even confess. Did you “lick your cheese”, or padlock the refrigerator? Or instead, were you the lucky recipient of a pairing that led to a real bond?
I have also heard that playing practical jokes on one’s roomie is a popular pastime, so feel free to share those remembrances as well. You may end up inspiring current students.
And, if there is anyone who has inside information on how the freshman room and entry mate decisions are made at the college, please share it. I have always wondered about that process.
(The personal correspondence continues) RTJr non plussed …
Some have written asking if RTJr, my old roomate, was aware that his letters to a lost love had been answered. I assure you he is aware. Aware … but perplexed in how to answer. He has said to me that the response is beyond his wildest hopes and the promise of ardour, overwhelming.
Rechtal is an imposing figure on the firm ground of Philately. Yet, (and I know him so well), he is apprehensive, hesitant, unsure. The world of romance has been terra incognita to him since his meeting the beautiful L at a modern dance symposium at Bennington his senior year.
Given my own limited experience, I wonder if other more worldly readers might have suggestions I may relay to him. In strictest confidence, of course …
the letter continues … Read more
I’d like a than’ (ptuu) th’ Aca’emy …
Yes, the Hood River Division of the Academy is pleased to accept your thanks, given across this obviously stolen photo from google.
And, why the toothbrush, cavity-conscious readers are asking themselves?
Because this years’ winners will receive a new and unused Hood River toothbrush, containing a scene of windsurfing in the handle!
Well, enough of the mind-boggling prizes. On to the winners.
2010, the third run for the glory that is EphBlog, featured 11 entrants (12, but I’ll get to that);
Yes!
A two-way tie for first place, each with all seven categories selected correctly – Young Alum and Chris
In second place with 6 out of 7 correct selections – Jimmy.
And in third place with 5 out of 7 correct selections – JG.
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to ebaek, Ronit, Jeffz, Jr Mom, Whitney, Brandi, and Andy for their valiant but misguided contributions.
But wait, there is Read more
From his table at Spago …
the phone in one hand and a fork toying with the Roasted French Sea Bass Loup de Mer in the other, Irving Lazar has called to say that the voting for the Oscars has now been concluded.
Mr Lazar knows when things are over, including your career.
NB
I am unable to provide a credit for the wonderful photo of this most famous agent.
Any reader know?
Rough-shod: What Grandpa wore on Spring Street in the ’50’s …
The ’50’s were the years when shoe stigmata by social types became popular: white, brown, and black. And “He’s a real shoe guy”, with as much lockjaw in your accent as you could muster.
http://www.word-detective.com/2009/08/24/white-shoe-firm/
Some thoughts from my memory bank: Weejuns could have a square of white adhesive tape on the top of the back to indicate well-worn, white bucks (red soles) were worn dirty, but you did not buy them dirty, cordovans were bulbous-toed, Purcells could be white, blue, or black (very daring), Top Siders were best if well-worn with salt stains, saddles could be either brown or black (avant).
Remember, in the 50’s, only men’s shoes were kicking up the dust of Spring Street. In truth, though, most of the styles were also walking the streets of Northampton and South Hadley.
Certainly your school years’ had equally fascinating footwear. Your comments are solicited!
Dennis won!
Results of the online voting are here:
http://www.takeamericatocollege.com/vote-for-a-finalist/online-vote-winner-dennis-medina/
Thanks to all for your support!
Oscar Gump sez Vote for those Sunday Awards!
Wasn’t this guy in Sage B with you? You remember – his Momma- her continuous quotes- “Box of Chocklits … never know what you’re going to blahblahblah”?
Anyways, To help you know what you’re going to get, the NYT has come up with this graphic that is almost as good as the one for the Mass race (doesn’t that seem like a million years ago?).
Here to help you select are the previous results for a zillion years and the prognostications for 2010 of the Big 5 beside Oscar: The Golden Globes, The National Board of Review, The Screen Actors Guild. The Producers Guild,and The Directors Guild.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/05/movies/awards-history-graphic.html?ref=global-home
And here to help you remember just who is up for what, the post announcing Ephblog’s 3rd Annual Oscars Contest!
http://www.ephblog.com/2010/02/04/you-should-not-be-here-the-oscars-2010/
Be sure to get your votes in before the show starts on Sunday. You could win something really swell!
MAR 4 BACKUP complete
A little longer than I’d hoped :( .
The private correspondence of RTJr …
The above page and pages below received by bicycle messenger boy late last evening. It appears Rechtal Turgidley Jr, my old roommate, has had encouragement to approach a woman from his past. His first missive:
http://www.ephblog.com/2010/02/14/29000/
The Camera as Image: Miyatake and Metonymy …
As a follow-up to the post on the photos of Manzanar, http://www.ephblog.com/2010/02/20/a-look-inside-manzanar/ this interesting paper on the importance of the camera Toyo Miyatake, an interned professional photographer, built from parts he smuggled into the camp. He took pictures for nine months. He was allowed to retrieve his stored cameras and continued documenting life inside the camp.
Jasmine Alinder
The Right to Representation: Toyo Miyatake’s Camera as a Symbol of Japanese American Resistance to Incarceration
“This paper will examine how Miyatake’s Manzanar camera has come to symbolize a kind of protest against the politics of incarceration that rests in the power to represent the self.”
Beneath are excerpts, the reference, and an observation. Read more
Passive Apathy?
Mariah Clegg writes in the Record:
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
I look around me and I see a campus haunted by apathy. I see 2100 young men and women of promise, with sturdy heads on their shoulders and reserves of determination waiting to be unleashed … later.
This characterization is immediately familiar to me from twenty years ago– and more recently. It was not by accident that Amy Butler drew the College, encased in the bubble of a Christmas decoration, on the cover of the ‘92 FaceBook– nor without irony.
To what extent is the College’s isolation an advantage– and to what extent a disadvantage– and what are the issues, on the ground, of today? To what extent is apathy or lack of engagement, a failing?
College Takes Ownership of Williams Club Building
From Vicarious ‘83 in Speak Up… the College has announced thanking ownership and evident wish to sell the building.
What does this mean? I do not wish to engage in unsubstantiated speculation, but does this imply closing the Club? This seems an excellent moment to discuss the place and function of the Club, and if there are any ideas / models to sustain it or activities like it.
Other authors– please feel to improve the head. More under fold.
The Oscar Buzz is Building …
And Home for Purim may not be the hot contender. But, be sure to vote here for your favorites in the 3rd Annual EphBlog Awards!
http://www.ephblog.com/2010/02/04/you-should-not-be-here-the-oscars-2010/
New Club on the Block
Even with the economic troubles of the college and the beginning of another semester, Williams students are as busy as ever in their extracurricular activities. An idea has been proposed to create the Williams College Commons Club (WCCC) which will target the lack of variety of social activities that students often complain about on campus. Interestingly enough, two of the four candidates for my year’s Class Representative in the current CC election are involved in the start of this new club.
Chris Hikel ‘13 described the Commons Club on WSO.
“The WCCC was formed in response to what we viewed as a general discomfort towards meaningful interpersonal engagement among students on the Williams College campus. In our view, this discomfort is not exclusive to social engagement, it also envelopes intellectual and political engagement. What does this mean, and how do we intend to address it?
Gorgias– on Speech and Force
Their persuasions [addressed to Helen] by means of fictions are innumerable; for if everyone had recollection of the past, knowledge of the present, and foreknowledge of the future, the power of speech would not be so great. But as it is, when men can neither remember the past nor observe the present nor prophesy the future, deception is easy; so that most men offer opinion as advice to the soul. But opinion, being unreliable, involves those who accept it in equally uncertain fortunes.
Thus, persuasion by speech is equivalent to abduction by force, as she was compelled to agree to what was said, and consent to what was done. It was therefore the persuader, not Helen, who did wrong and should be blamed.
That persuasion, when added to speech, can also make any impression it wishes on the soul, can be shown, firstly, from the arguments of the soothsayers, who by removing one opinion and implanting another, cause what is incredible and invisible to appear before the eyes of the mind; secondly, from legal contests, in which a speech can sway and persuade a crowd, by the skill of its composition, not by the truth of its statements; thirdly, from the philosophical debates, in which quickness of thought is shown easily altering opinion.
The power of speech over the constitution of the soul can be compared with the effect of drugs on the state of the body: just as drugs by driving out different humors from the body can put an end either to the disease or to life, so with speech: different words can induce grief, pleasure or fear; or again, by means of a harmful kind of persuasion, words can drug and bewitch the soul.
– (remaining fragment)
An open letter to David Kane …
Dave,
Like many, I was surprised at your decision!
You are the Father Founder of EphBlog, the most successful independent blog dedicated to one collegiate entity. This is one heck of an accomplishment. Thank you from all of us for giving so many a chance to chime in under the banner of Williams.
You have taken a well-earned vacation before, February, 2009, as a matter of fact. And those of us lazy and occasional scribblers suddenly knew what you had been doing from the inception of the blog: filling a month (thank goodness it was Leap Year) with interesting material.
My hope is that you will not desert these pages entirely. but will from time-to-time add an insight and create awareness of a particular situation that might go unnoticed.
The board knows of your desire to have EphBlog be a broader forum including more students, faculty, and members of the administration, in addition to the alumni and parents and other members of the Williams family at large.
We see this step on your part as a challenge to make this happen. And make it happen under our own steam.
Thank you, David, for giving us this strong base from which to expand to that greater audience you have envisioned.
Dick Swart 1956
President
EphBlog
BREAKING: Mexico announces Latin American block, excluding US/Canada
This is a potentially major alteration in diplomatic posture between the US and Mexico– a slap in the face, so to speak. More as I know it.
—————–
A preliminary reaction– is this a major step, towards a sort of Schengen Area for the Latin Americas; and what does that mean for the US? Or is it– an entirely opposite move (and what does that mean…?)
UPDATE: this was of course “a long time coming–” but it’s the precise timing and the characterization in the English-speaking Press that grabs my attention. Latin Am (Spanish) press does not seem to be echoing that phrasing.
Maintenance–
For those of you awake and/or in other time zones– we are going down for backup, just about NOW. Should take about 23 minutes.
-93kwt qua Admin
A look inside Manzanar …
The actuality of Manzanar as recorded by four photographers, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Clem Albers; has been published as Elusive Truth by Gerald H Robinson with an introduction by Archie Miyatake, Published by Carl Mautz Publishing, 2002, rev 2008.
Continuing the discussions in the inserts in the comments to the post Executive Order 9066, the views of reality are what the photographer chooses to see.
See some for yourself in the listing of 91 photos here (scroll down to the section) http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/manz/hrst.htm and read more about the book here http://www.boredfeet.com/singles2/elusivetruth.php
ATTN: Post temporarily suppressed
Please see http://www.ephblog.com/2010/02/19/co-op-room-draw-conflict-temporily-suppressed/.
Per a request from a current student, this is a 24-hour removal pending further thought and discussion between the parties affected.
Co-op Room Draw Conflict (temporarily suppressed)
I am about to temporarily remove the post with this title due to a request from a current student. This is a TEMPORARY move so all can consider the issues. All parties– please consider the issues raised and feel free to post questions and considerations in this thread. However, no flame wars and no poor arguments– I will keep a tight reign here.
And as always, “more later.” –Ken
Maintenance period over.
STATUS: BACKUP COMPLETE
We are back online and a backup should be complete (shortly). Er. Four hours later.
Come fill your glasses up to Shackleton …(posted at cocktail time)
Sir Ernest Shackleton’s whiskey freed from South Pole ice after 100 years!
The whiskey was abandoned when the expedition had to stop the mission.
Read more about Shackleton of The Endurance while you curse the weather in Washington and other points heading North.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/global-green/100207/whisky-recovery-shackleton
http://gerrymaxeyworkshop.com/blogging/?tag=the-hunter-valley-distillery-limited-allandale-austral
and about the distillery who may be able to recover a disappeared brand and taste.
http://www.whyteandmackay.co.uk/
No Williams connection at all, as noted in the escher furniture post comment of a few days ago. Purely cocktail chatter. While a great many of the directly Williams-related posts are extremely interesting and produce many comments, I find a steady diet too content-rich for my aged digestive system. I try to throw in a piece of candy, the occasional cookie. or even, God help us, a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine blahblah.
Were we from Penn, the head would have been “Drink a Highball at Nightfall”.
More Maintenance!
UPDATE: Maintenance and backup finished. We seem to be normal. Normalcy has returned..
Due to the issues today, we expect to be down for under 20 minutes sometime in the next ninety minutes (before 12:30a EST/9:30p PST). This is for backup purposes.
Currently browsing posts filed under "1"
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Williams Record- Campbell enjoys athletic and academic success
- Light humor makes Black Comedy a success
- Kain scores 1000th as men’s hoops wins two
- Walk on the wild side at Winter Carnival
- Women’s swim, dive improves to 6-0
- Men’s swim, dive dominates MIT field, routs Middlebury
- Women’s basketball falls just shy of upset bid at No. 3 Bowdoin
- Will it ever fade?
- Students a sight for sore eyes
- Women’s ice hockey looks strong
- College News Releases
- Final Lecture in Annual Series: "Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair," by Mathematician ...
- Maria Elena Cepeda's New Book Examines the "Boom" of Latina/O Music
- Geologist's Personal Revelations of "Heroic Engagement with the Earth" Published ...
- Williams College Nurses Travel to Haiti to Provide Relief to Earthquake Survivors
- Williams College Names Philosophy Professor William Dudley as Next Gaudino Scholar
- Athletics
- Eph Men aim for top 15 finish at NCAA Swim/Dive Championships
- 2010 Men's Golf Spring Season Outlook
- Eph Women seek top 5 finish at NCAA Swim/Dive Championships
- Final Four Tickets on Sale at Williams Tuesday & Wednesday
- Ephs Earn All-American Honors in Distance Medley Relay, Triple Jump
- Ephs claim Regional title over Brandeis, 71-57, advance to Salem for Final Four
- Ephs Earn All-American Honors in Five Events at NCAA Championship