Televisions across the country were tuned into news programs last Thursday as the biggest story of the week unfurled.
I see you walking around Grounds all the time, off in your own little world, oblivious to the dominant social norms and conventional definitions of the word "normal." Good for you!
Before I launch into this week's diatribe, I must apologize to the good people at Fiji Water. In my last column I incorrectly stated that the company's product contains two to six milligrams of arsenic per liter.
Thomas Jefferson's architectural drawings, William Faulkner's manuscripts, one of the very first printings of the Declaration of Independence (of which only 25 known copies exist) -- these are just some of the over 300,000 rare books, 12 million manuscripts, 4,000 maps, University archives, photographs and other materials housed in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. With over 12 miles of shelving, this 58,000-square-foot building is home not only to valuable and significant collections, but also to the security and behind-the-scenes work that come with such prominent materials. One major feature of all this work is the library staff of 18 people. Library Director Christian Dupont said it was the material itself that drew him to his current position. "The real attraction was that it is a premier library for the study of American history, literature and culture, now housed in a new state-of-the-art building, and U.Va.
Physics is often applied to real-life scenarios, such as the maximum distance a football can be thrown, the velocity of rockets and the torque of a merry-go-round.
Hiya, sports fans. In case you haven't been keeping score, I'm on Semester at Sea and ran into some friction last week for things I wrote in this very column.
It finally happened. I got hit by a car riding my bike to class. Maybe it was karma, for all those times I rode without a helmet.
As the end of the semester approaches, time is running short for fourth-year students to get a job and second-year students to declare a major. "People ask all the time and I'm just like, 'I have no idea,'" second-year College student Erin Golden said.
While sifting through 268 e-mail offers of sex, drugs and online university degrees, I recently came across this overlooked, rather official-looking message in my "uva-potential-spam" mailbox: "This message is directed to all second-year students in the College of Arts & Sciences who have not yet declared a major.
Students for Environmental Action hosted Energy Unplugged last weekend, a conference featuring local experts who discussed local and global environmental issues.
I've had a glimpse of the real world, and boy is it scary. To our MTV generation, "real world" is taken to mean one of two things: 1) that scary undeterminable expanse that confronts us after graduation, or 2) the supposed-reality show that airs every Wednesday night.
The University community is really an academic bubble: We're all so engrossed in our own studies, activities and little clusters of friends that we rarely consider what is going on outside in the "real world." At our age, we tend to think that we are the centers of the universe, so if things begin to go awry, it literally feels like the Earth has stopped revolving around the sun.
Japan's Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa joined the ranks of an elite political club Jan. 26, one dominated by Virginia politicians.
It's spring semester now, meaning that every undergrad at the University has been given at least a few months to put on the "freshman 15." This is also known as the "freshman 50" to the overweight and/or hard-of-hearing population and the "first-year 15" to U.Va.
Blood. Love. Lust. Murder. Revenge. Such is the cheery tagline of "Her Infidel," a mafia miniseries produced by the self-described eccentrics of MiniSeries Productions. Second-year Engineering student Susanna Wong is the director of "Her Infidel" -- but not long ago, she said she had resolved to give up film completely. "I actually didn't intend to do any film," Wong said, noting the Engineering School's hefty workload.
I'd like to begin with a brief message to a childhood friend, Ricky Guenette. Ricky, the following refers to an argument we had April 27, 1993.
Discussions about differences in backgrounds and customs are common among the students at the International Residential College. "There are many representative cultures, and people can learn about many perspectives," said fifth-year Engineering student Lydia Abebe. Meeting and forming relationships with students from other parts of the globe is an experience a student can expect when living in an environment suited both to students from abroad and those simply interested in learning about other nations. First-year College student Bitania Ephrem, an international student from Ethiopia, commented on the welcoming and respectful environment she found living there. Third-year College student Mai El Gasim, a student of Sudanese heritage, said individuals at the IRC are "especially open to differences to things that are not of the American culture, like me wearing a hijab, [a traditional Muslim head-scarf]." Such perceptions help to make the IRC a comfortable environment. Abebe described the community as being engaging and interactive.
Every day I seem to lose some of them. I don't know where they go; they just slip through the cracks, never to be seen again, and I'm a little poorer for it.
The school paper is often a popular extracurricular activity for students of varying academic interests --- the cognitive science major who snaps photos at a basketball game, the pre-law student who also happens to be a columnist or the foreign affairs major who comes in once a week to do layout and design.
I like technology. My friends know this, but they still insist I'm living in the past, as if I were some sort of unattractive Neanderthal.
