34th Street Magazine's "Toast" is a semi-weekly newsletter with the latest on Penn's campus culture and arts scene. Delivered Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
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Are you frustrated by the lack of silverware in 1920 Commons? Think Hill needs air conditioning? This might sound like the beginning of a freshman's campaign speech for student government, but don't worry, it's not. The UA has (yet another) survey out, and this time, they want to know .
When it comes down to it, we respect and follow the leaders we feel we personally know best. So really, that's rarely Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Tiger Woods.
Instead, the leaders we tend to emulate are those we directly interact with. One of those leaders is Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist who travels all over the world to report on the world's most heinous crimes against humanity.
There are many valid reasons for students to climb the stairs in the high rises: It's often quicker if they live on the first three floors; enough trips up could replace 10 minutes on the Stair Stepper; it's proper etiquette so those living on the 24th floor can get home a minute or two faster.
I'll get it out there: I'm a hypocrite. I'm against income taxes but pay them. I'm in favor of the death penalty but wouldn't want to get it myself. I'm a proponent of freedom of speech but occasionally censor my Facebook wall. And I'm pro-guns despite never firing or even holding one.
If you're a junior or senior currently scrambling for a job, you might as well pack up your bags right now and see what the economy looks like on Mars. But if you're an inmate in the Philadelphia Prison System scheduled for release in the next few months, you may actually be in luck.
Can't think of what to get that special lady-friend of yours this Valentine's Day? Try a Planned Parenthood gift certificate!
Last November, Planned Parenthood of Indiana began offering gift certificates in $25 increments to their customers. The certificates can be used for all the services the 35 Planned Parenthood of Indiana clinics provide, including checkups, contraceptives - and abortions.
It's the time of year when Penn students, decked out in their best professional wear, race across campus to catch OCR presentations. But this year is a little different because many of the fixtures of recruiting have scaled back their hiring or disappeared altogether.
There is no doubt that the College Houses are 11 distinct houses with different personalities. But there is no reason we should accept that some are characterized by a strong sense of community while others are condemned to be impersonal.
Ever since being admitted, I've been told that students looking for strong and close living experiences should choose low rises or the Quadrangle, instead of the high rises.
It was a week of endings - Izzy and Zoe's, Ruckus and Juicy Campus all said their quiet goodbyes, slipping off the college scene without too much commotion. That can't be said for the end of Michael Phelps' era as the All-American poster boy. The Olympic champ's national image took a big hit (ha! Get it?) after a British newspaper published a photo of him smoking marijuana from a bong at the University of South Carolina.
Feb Club, like Hey Day and Spring Fling, is a Penn tradition that, while not clean fun, is a good, genuine way of bringing classes together.
The premise is sweet and simple - build a sense of camaraderie and some old-fashioned school spirit toward Penn with friends as well as the students you've never met through a one-social-activity-per-night schedule in February.
Philadelphia is strapped with a massive fiscal deficit. Budget cuts are looming over its vast infrastructure, threatening city jobs and services. The city's "savior" is a fresh-faced mayor facing a laundry list of problems who will likely make more enemies than friends by year's end.
In response to the forced home invasion and sexual assaults of two Penn students in December, Penn's Division of Public Safety has begun to promote neighborhood and building safety via heightened landlord awareness and communication.
This program, currently called "Vertical Town Watch," has the potential to be an effective tool.
Yale University Chief Investment Officer David Swensen and financial analyst Michael Schmidt wrote an op-ed in The New York Times late last month that caused quite a stir. No, their piece wasn't about university endowments or the state of the economy. They reached outside of their immediate comfort zone and made a case for dramatically changing the newspaper industry's business model.
It was Joni Mitchell and later Coldplay who sang, "You don't know what you have till it's gone."
That couldn't be truer now as we enter the season of state-budget addresses. This year, in these economic times, a lot of people are understandably upset as jobs are lost and programs are cut.