Schmitz’s real purpose is to marginalize 185 Nassau and a group of people who create. And how better to do this than to reduce all their striving to a simple exercise in what Edward Said terms “refinement”—the long, steady, reactionary march toward sameness, marked by a constant re-reading and emulating of a constricted Western canon. Anyone can write a villanelle in a vacuum, but the teaching of creativity, the encouragement of a fresh perspective—these demand an understanding of the physical world and of the writer’s particular circumstances.

Jed Peterson ’06 has created an epic version of the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet – so creative and grand that his remains the best Shakespeare performed at Princeton in the past few years and the best play thus far of Princeton’s 2005-2006 theatrical season.
The success of ...

How did this poor excuse of a pulp fiction spy novel, bereft of the quirky detail, realistic complexity, genuine human interaction, and factual statement that make a true memoir interesting rise to ninth on the NYT bestseller list? The answer lies in his narrative form of analysis of US foreign affairs, and in the nature of his target audience.

As I plopped down my pasta-covered plate between three matzo-munching members of my eating club on Sunday, I braced myself for public humiliation.
“Someone broke early!” one of them announced, pointing to my oozing manicotti.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, lightly trying to shake off my shame for breaking the rules ...

It is strange how a Bangladeshi child can have a disproportionately large effect on the electoral fate of a Republican presidential primary. Yet in 2000, let’s just say it was Bangladesh: 1, McCain: 0. Yes, few people recall that it was John and Cindy McCain’s adopted baby, the ...

Our position is based on a prejudice in favor of personal freedom: it is most in keeping with human dignity that all things be permissible unless a compelling argument can be made to forbid them. We believe that the burden of proof lies not with us, but with those who wish to keep drugs illegal; it is their job to explain why drug prohibition should be continued. By derailing some of the most common justifications for present drug policy, I hope to illustrate that the Drug War is destructive and wholly unjustified.

Looking back at my week out of the country, I realize that, of all the uppers and downers that passed through my body, the most effective drug I took during my spring break was the Snake’s Nest itself, a place unlike any other on the planet, or at least ...