The Occidental Weekly

We're doomed.

If you hadn't heard the news, the world's biggest particle collider is set to launch as early as this summer, potentially answering several of science's pressing questions and destroying the entire earth in the meantime.

A tumbling, breathy growl, slick quick-witted address or plain drawl-it doesn't matter. Our generation does not have a voice. We have text-message conversations and internet chat clients and away messages for the avatars at our everyday workplaces.

In a year that has seen blockbuster trades, the rise and fall of traditional powers and a conference that has all eight of its playoff teams winning at least 50 games, it is fitting that the debate about who should be the MVP of the NBA is just as spirited. Depending on who you ask, there seem to be five or six candidates that have reared their heads at one point or another during the season.

Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have urged President Bush to skip the 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies amidst international outcry over China's crackdown on protestors in Tibet.

I, for one, think that skipping the opening ceremonies would be a bad decision on the President's part. It's not that I agree with how China has handled the pro-Tibet protests so much as that I believe that skipping the ceremonies would be an empty and impractical gesture.

Q: How do you get HIV? Can you get it from kissing?

It is surprising to me, sitting in my DWA classes, to hear my classmates refer to the U.S. as "they" when talking about our foreign policy. "When they invaded Iraq…" is not an uncommon beginning to a comment in class, and I have to say, I have a problem with this.

Considering the fact that our state is in the middle of a drought I was quite pleased that Occidental decided to turn off the water in our fountain. Although it made birthday celebrations considerably less enjoyable, we did our part to conserve water and preserve our planet as long as we can. Can we turn the water back off? Surely a fountain with running water is not this school's finest selling point . . . right?

While I find myself in recent weeks singing the praises of Oxy to the hordes of prospective students roaming about the campus, I am still conflicted to present such a positive outlook on our community when I find my peers abused and mistreated by other members of the campus.

The following is my response to Henry McMillan's letter last week:

Dear Henry: We have our own convention, thank you very much. We respectfully ask that you kindly not impose your ideas of natural or unnatural folicular pigmentation in respect to organizational power upon those of us that self-identify as "gingers," yet have achieved this hair color through less than natural means. We want your acceptance into the ginger community; do not underestimate us, however. We are here, we are organized, we are daywalkers. And according to the latest issue of Marie Claire, our numbers are growing: stylists are reporting an all-time high in requests for red dye jobs.