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The Burning of Las Fallas
We met at a nightclub called Doblón on March 11, fewer than 12 hours after an international terrorist organization bombed four train stations in Madrid. That afternoon we had each joined thousands of Spanish protestors in the plazas with white-painted palms raising their hands in uproar and then silence, chanting and then falling to their…
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Passing Over Passover, Again
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 of the Jewish diet for…
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Discovering My Duende
As I sit here with a dirty flamenco dress I haven’t worn since April 2004, I subscribe to the city’s motto “NoDo.” The acronym stands for “Sevilla no me ha dejado,” meaning “Sevilla has not left me.” I don’t know when I will physically go back to Sevilla, but the splotches on my skirt tell…
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Family Affairs
The incest taboo is something anthropologists have grappled with for ages. Besides the negative biological consequences of mating with your close relative, there seems to be a need for a differentiation of social roles of familial relations and lovers. Getting carnal with a sibling is just not cool. There is something inherently repugnant about the…
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The Reappearance of Simple Words
La Rambla of Barcelona is like a mile-long circus. Thousands of people speaking 20 different languages come and go on the promenade at all hours of the day, stopping to admire street performers dressed as mermaids, Roman statues, and harlequins who smile and blow kisses in exchange for 20 cents. One man, painted and dressed…
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Buff Men of the Ivory Tower
It’s Thursday at noon in Dillon Gym, and the Stephens Fitness Center sweats with the heat of Princeton’s faculty and staff. Let’s sit down with some of them and see how they stay in such good shape.
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Passing Over Passover
“Passover is passé,” my father said from the passenger seat of my mother’s car. “People don’t have Seders anymore.” “Passover must come from the same word as passé,” my mother concurred. In the backseat, I wasn’t sure about the word’s origins. I was having enough trouble trying to reconcile my own origins. There were my…
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The Not So Rinky Dinky
With a mere 2.7 miles of track, the Dinky is the shortest regularly scheduled passenger route in the USA. The two-car train has 117 seats and carries some 1860 riders a day.
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Untying the Knots
Everyone seems to at least know of John Mangual, especially former residents of Mathey College and current members of Terrace. He has a way of striking up unique conversations, pointing out unusual details of situations, and smiling with a friendly glow.
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What’s Your Professor Listening To?
In their own words, straight from their CD players to your ears, here are some Princeton professors’ current favorite artists and albums: SEAN WILENTZ, Grammy-nominee, Bob Dylan’s butt-buddy, AMS & HIS Departments The rough mix to Shannon McNalley’s new album, Geronimo, due in the ?spring. “Dark, cracked, a voice to die for.” Natalie Merchant, The…
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Quaker Motes
“That child is getting a synagogue confirmation as sure as I’m standing here,” Joe told his wife.
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Sex in all Shapes and Sizes
Is masturbation sinful? Do women have different kinds of orgasms, depending on whether the clitoris or the vagina is stimulated?