Day: April 29, 2010

Friedland and Kalman were perfectly viable and beautiful buildings that I love. It is very environmentally intensive to build a building. I don’t know why we did not keep them. So much could have been put into them. They were beautiful and sturdy buildings, and they were destroyed without anyone’s consent. Talk about a Rose Art Museum. Who’s with me?

We could have put so many things in there that are worth while. Now there is nothing, a costly demolition that wastes time. Let’s put in a zine library, and a gender center, and a music venue. STOP THE DEMOLITION NOW. Do you see, all caps.

Editor’s Note: Please give a warm welcome to Jake, our newest contributor.

When I took a look at the elections results from the past week, I was struck by some of the write-ins.  Students, Brandeis professors, religious figures and totalitarian dictators were tabulated along with the declared candidates for each race. I am the first to admit that some of the ballots cast are amusing; the idea that Hitler, Big Bird, and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka all tied for Associate Justice of the Student Judiciary shows a certain degree of creativity on the part of three individual voters. However, not all of the votes were as innocent or childish. In one race, while a student – let’s call him Joe Bloggs – was elected to another term on the Union, three voters wrote in “Not Joe A. Bloggs,” “Not Joe ever,” and “Too Much Joe,” respectively.

In addition to the fact that this sort of joke would be hurtful to anyone, this brings about questions of purpose and overall value to the campus’ political dialogue: why take the time to come up with a write-in which you might find funny? First, voter turnout is incredibly low.  With the exception of the Senator for the Class of 2013 election, which yielded a 47.8 percent turnout of freshmen, all of the elections from the most recent cycle ranked in between 21 and 34 percent. This means that roughly one fourth of the students eligible to vote in each election care enough to log onto the union website and take three minutes out of their day.

Because of this, and because the official voting data is not widely released, the portion of the student body who takes the time to notice the outrageous write-ins is even smaller.  Combined with the fact that all votes are anonymous, it seems pointless to make a joke which very few people will read, find amusing, and credit you with a good joke. If nothing else, why not abstain in any election where there is no standout candidate or candidates?  In some cases, the Abstain category can win an election over an unopposed candidate. This makes an actual statement about disapproval of the Brandeis candidates and the overall electoral process without the sarcasm of a fake write-in.

Must it be the place? It must be. And it is called Brandeis. Gosh I love everyone around me right now.  This place is Brandeis.  It appeals to me, but I am thinking most people do. This same thing would happen if I had gone to my dream school UMass-Lowell. You see all people everywhere are pretty chill/cool. It is not because I go to Brandeis or UMass-Lowell, or to a school in New Jersey or the Congo. People on the whole are pretty nice. Sometimes they are on drugs and stuff, but they are still really nice.

So like I guess that begs the question who is doing all the rape, war genocide, etc? IDK my bff Jill. We are all kind, we are all nice, and we do bad things sometimes, but it is because we are passionate.

However I think that society’s greatest trial is turning that passion to good, not bad.  This is entirely general and therefor not true.  But what is wrong with typing things?  What is the deal with censoring yourself just because it is not interesting?  You are stifling your inner spirit to please others.  It is good to navigate into what is good socially for other people, but always remember your inner spirit.

Editor’s Note: We’re clearing out the Innermost Parts vaults, posting several articles that were completed a while ago but got overlooked and were never published.  Here’s the first, from Amy Bea, written in early February in the wake of Howard Zinn’s death.

As I sat at the recovery table after donating blood the other day, I decided to open the most recent issue of The Nation. Inside I discovered an article about Obama’s first presidential year. Many contributors wrote short reflections on his presidency thus far, including the late Howard Zinn.

He states, “I think people are dazzled by Obama’s rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president–which means, in our time, a dangerous president–unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.”

Not only does that call for action apply to our nation, but to Brandeis as well. As students, we must unite if we want to push Brandeis in a positive direction. Go to Jehuda’s office hours. Email Andy Hogan and tell him what you think. Come to the potluck in the Castle Commons this Sunday, 5-8, to discuss what students can do about budget cuts. Attend the Constitutional Review town hall meetings. Buy a megaphone and yell out a window. Protest. Talk with people.

DO SOMETHING. But for Brandeis’ sake, don’t just sit there and watch this institution go down the drain.

So tomorrow, from 12-1, in front of the library, I hear there may be noise.  And by noise, I mean chalk, meditation, high fives, and drum circles.  Possibly a reading of books and other participatory performances.  Do you like getting involved in experiencing and being art?  You should. In front of the library. From 12-1. It may or may not be a secret society meeting, in which you should bring your own drum and/or one of those bronze buckets.