Update: Goofed up on the whole Alex Bargmann being a woman and a writer for The Claremont Portside thing. My apologies.
I'm sorry if this wasn't clear. The school isn't covering it, but some alumni are. I still think it is a silly use of money and would rather than spend the money on something a bit more worthwhile.
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None of these really warrant a blog post in and of themselves and I don't want to tread over already covered ground, so I'll just leave you with the bullet points.
- Our friends at The Claremont Insider have done more sleuthing on the Petropoulos affair.
- Josh Siegel over at the Forum talks about how Ryal Poppa has given us more money for more computers and a new lab and it couldn't have come at a better time!
- The college is moving towards mandatory W.O.A., according to Alex Bargmann. He writes that C.M.C. will offer free W.O.A. in coming years. I hate to break it to him, but there's no such thing as a free lunch and even if the school were able to make it mandatory, that's money that won't go to somewhere else. Something about a whole bunch of freshmen messing about in the wilderness at school expense seems more than a bit silly to me.
7 comments:
Firstly, Alex Bargmann is a guy. He plays lacrosse and lives on the first floor of Fawcett. ;)
And regarding WOA, CMC is planning on subsidizing it in full and making it mandatory, but it's really not a bunch of freshman mesing around in the wilderness. Firstly it's not wilderness... barely... and secondly (more importantly) it is a really great way to get freshman acquainted and with good groups of friends until people adjust and find their own chi. Unfortunately my WOA trip went horribly wrong in this respect, but it is really healthy, and I think realizing that the world is hugely, exponentially bigger than the buildings we live in is pretty important--even if you aren't an environmentalist, not having that realization would make you pretty ignorant yeah?
Plus it's flippin' awesome. And doing things that are flippin' awesome is, well, awesome!
For someone that just ripped apart the Student Life for not researching their stories, you look like a huge hypocrite...way to go champ.
I'm a he, not a she. It wouldn't have even been that hard to figure it out, I assume a sleuth like you still has his look book.
I also have no affiliation with the portside.
Find their own chi? Are you kidding me?
As for "realizing the world is hugely, exponentially bigger," do it on your own time. If one hasn't haven't figured that out by college, one has bigger issues to take care of.
Right, but things that are "flipping" awesome are often costly. I'd rather see the 200 bucks per student go elsewhere.
As for me being a hypocrit for not researching a story, my apologies. Unlike The Student Life, I don't get paid to write and I'm not the News Editor. But thanks for the harsh words. I deserve them, to be sure.
Find their own chi, find their own social groups, find their own niche. Please don't tell me you think groups of friends formed immediately upon day one of classes. Fine, I used the word chi, sue me.
And it IS on the students own time. Before classes, in the summer. So what if it's "mandatory"? Firstly that's probably bendable for someone too stuck behind their computer/etc to go outside. And secondly, I think it'd be hard to find an activity which so closely binds people, allows them to get close to upperclassmans that can serve as mentors, and (again) introduce them or reaffirm their existence on EARTH!
upperclassmen.
It isn't the business of the college to create social groups. The natural inclination of people is to join groups. We call them "friends." Should the college subsidize our formation of friends? Couldn't we do a much better job ourselves?
If things are mandatory, it presumes a "I know what's better for you than you do" mentality. I don't hold to that.
I know what's better for me than someone who wants to centrally plan my relations with my fellow classmates.
If you want to spend your money (or someone else's who has agreed to it) that's your prerogative. Leave me be. I'll make my own friends.
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