A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world

October 19, 2006

FIJI Water

The myriad of bottled water options currently flooding the market – spring, mineral, purified, distilled, carbonated, oxygenated, caffeinated, vitamin-enriched, flavored – leave many a savvy beverage consumer mystified by their relative merits and flaws. As if bottled water weren’t decadent … Read More

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Hey Hey, Ho Ho: Polarization’s Gotta Go

Polarization pays. For every DailyKos, there’s an O’Reilly Factor; for every Michael Moore, an Ann Coulter; for every Russ Feingold – a liberal populist Senator eyeing the Presidency – there’s a Sam Brownback, an evangelical conservative Senator hoping for the … Read More

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Of Turks and Laurels in Stockholm

Perhaps to the slight disappointment of the Princetonians hoping to make the University home to a second Nobel Laureate in literature, this year’s Nobel Prize in literature went to Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey’s most critically acclaimed novelists. The Swedish … Read More

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Target Practice

I’ll shoot straight with all y’all: I was born and bred in Georgia, a state whose famous red clay mirrors its perennial color on the political map. But I’m from Atlanta, that one blight of blue in a sea of perfect scarlet. While I can slip into the languid drawl of a southern belle at the drop of a camo-and-fishhook baseball hat, I normally maintain the accent of many an Atlantan – that is to say, none at all.

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Dispatches from the Delta

For the last six months, people have been warning me about October. A few weeks after I received my acceptance e-mail from Teach for America, a man from the staff called me to discuss the school where I would teach in the fall.

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NBC Scores a Touchdown

“Friday Night Lights” is remarkable, and my subsequent praise will not even begin to do it justice. It is quite simply not only the best thing I’ve laid eyes on in years, but maybe the best thing I’ve laid eyes … Read More

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The Princeton Towpath

In training to run a marathon, I found myself facing the prospect of an 18-mile run. Being a freshman, I had no clue of where to go for long runs around Princeton. Upperclassmen informed me that the Princeton Towpath was … Read More

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Guinness, Galway and Gaelic

Noticed a sudden hankering for Guinness? Find yourself prone to a spontaneous jig? It’s not surprising – you can’t seem to escape the influence of the Irish on campus these days. It’s all thanks to Leonard Milberg ’53, who donated … Read More

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A. O. Scott

Despite grossing nearly $26 million at the box office in its opening weekend, Michael Mann’s most recent film, Miami Vice, a remake of the 1980s television series, turned out to be neither a commercial nor critical success. Box-office returns fell … Read More

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Verbatim

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Overheard in Edwards Cluster

Girl on cell phone: Dude, it's an opportunity cost. You're drinking more, but you're not getting better, like, drunk. You have to think about the diminishing
returns.

Overheard in fortune cookie from Ivy Garden

Keep your plans secret, for now

Overheard as Pride Alliance hands out t-shirts

Slutty Asian Girl #1 (to SAG #2): Ooh, get that one. It’s so Disiac.

Overheard in McCosh 10

Junior Frat Boy: I love cocaine, man. I love doing it. I love talking about it. Cocaine is the BOMB.

Overheard at Nass Layout

Editor-in-Chief: Until I put two and two together and realized how many emails from Jay Williamson I had in my inbox, I'd forgotten who our USG President was.
Publisher: Don't you mean Alex Lenahan?

Overheard in the Prince

Rutgers Alum/Wacko: 'If you actually hang out with a lot of the members, especially the members now, you’ll hear them use the phrase n—ger and jig—boo all the time, shouting out of cars at black people on the street and stuff like that,' Joseph said, noting that he wasn’t 'a racist or anything like
that,' but that he too used both words from time to time.