IT'S NOT the New Year yet, but the next column I write will be in the year 2000. The year 2000 may be the time of apocalyptic predictions, of suggestions of computer failure or terrorist attacks.
I'VE NEVER seen "It's a Wonderful Life." Sad, I know. But from what I've heard, it's a timeless, seasonless film.
IT'S getting to be that time of year again -- the season when snowflakes begin to dust the bare branches of trees, sparkling lights decorate houses and shopping centers, and everyone is overtaken by the spirit of giving -- and buying.
WEDNESDAY'S Washington Post proved that America does have a culture. The story "Protests Delay WTO Opening" had many memorable images, but this was one of its best: "While the streets swirled, many businesses remained open; people sipped cappuccino behind the glass of gourmet coffee shops." The story referred to Monday's scene in Seattle, site of the World Trade Organization's 1999 conference.
LAST YEAR, I witnessed a crime being committed. It wasn't your typical crime, nor did it happen in your typical criminal setting.
AS THE 20th century draws to a close, there are a few things we know -- I mean really know. For example, you would have to be living on another planet not to know that technology is changing the way we live. The Internet is opening up opportunities that are as profound as those created after the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
TOO MANY professors view teaching as an unwanted distraction. Instead, professors would rather spend their time with pet graduate students and esoteric research.
WE ARE whimpering our way into a new millennium, and we'll be lucky if anyone hears. After the flurry of historic events of the last 1,000 years, we're going out not with a bang, but with a soft whisper. History records the loud events, the great epic occurrences that define a particular time.
IF YOU'RE not going to stay in school, I don't want to fund your college education -- not on my tax dollar, that is.
POLITICAL pundits should have Texas Gov. George W. Bush's campaign committee trembling if they're right about their prognostications.
A FEW MORNINGS ago, I was wolfing down a bowl of cereal when the truth suddenly hit me. It's the millennium and we're all gonna die.
WALLACE Stegner called it the "angle of repose." He was referring to the angle of an incline at which an object comes to rest without continuing to roll down.
I'M A CLOSET Clemons geek. I'll admit it. I'm also a first-floor addict. In Clemons, there are a few different breeds, all of which are easily identifiable.
THIS THANKSGIVING, I spent some time with my friend Emily, who is a freshman at Harvard. Looking through Emily's pictures of new college friends, they seemed to be regular kids.
GET READY for the column of the millennium! That's right: Sparky Clarkson, longtime columnist for The Cavalier Daily, has assembled one last masterpiece to send out this dusty old millennium with a bang!
I AM GOING to take this opportunity to defend the currently unfashionable view that core courses, consisting of definite lists of required texts, should be mandatory for all University undergraduates.
A VALIANT knight stands at a fork in the trail. He's been on his current path a short time, but now there are two new trails veering off in opposite directions.
We at the University have many blessings in life, things that we often take for granted. This Thanksgiving, The Cavalier Daily asked University students, faculty and administrators to write about the things for which they are thankful: I am grateful for the continued existence of books.
THERE comes a time in every young life when a man must clear his throat, glance casually over his shoulder to confirm that no one is looking, and admit that his mother was right. After many years, I have confirmed that my mother was right about several things, chief among them the issue of thank-you notes.
TO ANYONE who has compared Engineering School women to Rottweilers with graphing calculators: Watch out.
