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The Gadfly
02 The student newspaper of St. John’s College 60 College Avenue Annapolis, Maryland 21401 sjca.gadfly@gmail.com www.issuu.com/sjcgadfly www.facebook.com/sjcagadfly Founded in 1980, the Gadfly is the student newsmagazine distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus. Opinions expressed within are the sole responsibility of the author(s). The Gadfly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish a professional, informative, and thought-provoking newsmagazine. Following the storm, the Gadfly meets on Noah’s Ark. Bring a partner. Articles should be submitted by Friday at 11:59 PM to sjca.gadfly@gmail.com. Staff Nathan Goldman • Editor-in-Chief Ian Tuttle • Editor-in-Chief Hayden Pendergrass • Layout Editor Reza Djalal • Photographer Sasha Welm • Cartoonist Jonathan Barone • Staff Will Brown • Staff Jacob Glass • Staff Andrew Kriehn • Staff Robert Malka • Staff Sarah Meggison • Staff Kevin Morris • Staff Charles Zug • Staff Contributors Alvaro Duran Erik G. Neave
!"#$%&'()*%++,,)-#". Erik G. Neave
T
A’16
he Environmental Issues Club at St. and inconvenience. A few may, in John’s recently offered an incentive the process, develop a habit which for students to use reusable coffee will continue, but many will return to mugs at the Coffee Shop by offering whatever immediately costs them less, a discount in price: only 99 cents! ie. the more convenient option. “And Sounds like a well intentioned idea: to don’t they go on charmingly? For all save our hardworking, coffee-guzzling their treatment, they get nowhere, students money, while lowering the except, of course, to make their illnesses impact all those damned cups have more complicated and bigger, always on the earth. Both these things seem hoping that if someone would just good in themselves, but this sort of recommend a drug, they will be—thanks implementation does no true or lasting to it—healthy” (426a). good for either. In Plato’s Republic, For years I have hauled along Socrates says, through the words of reusable mugs for my coffee. Though Adeimantus, “It isn’t worthwhile to inconvenient, it’s worth it. I too am dictate to gentlemen. Most of these concerned by the enormous waste in our things that need legislation they will, consumer culture and I like to imagine no doubt, easily find for themselves” this makes some sort of difference. I (425e). I hold the assumption that we find pleasure in the consistency of using at St. John’s are, or are attempting to my own cup in a variety of places; it become, these types of just gentlemen. lends a kind of ritual to the act. I enjoy If so, why wouldn’t the club appeal to the sturdy feel of something real while the coffee drinker’s intellect, regardless I sip. Additionally, most establishments of the financial gain to be had? Are our recognize that they are also gaining resources truly worth something through preserving? Will a my action—they I find pleasure in the decrease in paper cups save money. People consistency of using and sleeves and plastic my own cup in a vari- running a business lids make a difference? appreciate that, and ety of places; it lends Are there other perks will often reward a kind of ritual to the of reuse? They must you on their own. act. believe these things, The choices and the but such convictions rewards are based on lose their force if in order to convince existing values in each of the persons they must appeal to our wallets, rather involved. It is rewarding to work out than our reason. these details on our own, and it fosters They are following a pattern that we a legitimate relationship between see throughout society: the appeal to base individuals using their capacity for desires to initiate noble principles. This judgement. does not promote lasting change. People For example, here at the campus use paper and styrofoam disposable Coffee Shop one of the ladies noticed cups because it is convenient. It is a that my cup was a bit smaller than the hassle to bring a mug. Those rightfully standard disposable ones that they use. concerned about the massive waste and She kindly offered to charge me for a consumption of resources implied in the small but allow me one refill. The shop desire for convenience start to think, “If benefitted because they saved a cup only we could bribe them to do what we (and lid and sleeve), and I benefitted think ought to be done, they will change.” because I got more broth for my buck. So they stretch out a fistful of quarters I enjoyed coming in and seeing her face and people start to bring reusable mugs and knowing we had created something to get “free” money so they can waste it special. It was a wordless intimacy on something else until that incentive based on mutual benefit. Everything disappears, and they are again left Continued On Pg. 03 with the choice between convenience
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The Gadfly Continued From
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was going along swimmingly until the day after the gift of the Environmental Club descended upon us. I walked up and set down my cup as usual, but my friend looked at me with sad eyes and said she couldn’t do it anymore. Huh? She fumbled through an explanation in that unique kind of confusion that surrounds bureaucratic micro-legislation. Something like, “Won’t work . . . 99 cents . . . 14 oz . . . has to have a lid . . . liability . . . . Sorry.” I felt betrayed, and I think she did too. I proceeded to ask if I could just pay full price and not get my usual refill when she got a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “Let me ask the manager.” She said it with feeling, like she knew that what we had was gone forever, but maybe, just maybe, I could still get some coffee in the new regime. The manager hustled out and took a glance at my pathetic little cup without a certified lid and shot forth more cryptic prophecies about “liability.” Luckily, she did give permission for me to pay full price and get my one fill of coffee. My cashier friend knew something in the world was wrong, and that this transaction was the last of an era. I am not sure if she was familiar with Plato, but I could have sworn I saw Socrates in those eyes saying, “I’m sorry Erik. This is not how it was meant to be.” When laws are made in an attempt to alter social behavior, our behavior becomes more intimately linked with the law than with the ideal behind it. However good the ideal is, this method of conviction always carries certain consequences. Some of these consequences are also good, eg. using fewer paper cups, but they often come at the expense of needless tensions and purposeless “illegalities.” Why should I, who have practiced the ideal before the law, be punished once the law comes into being? Maybe it is because I will continue to schlepp my cup around whether I pay a discounted price or not. It’s a tricky business. Anyways, in the highly edited words of Plato/Socrates: Use reusable cups! For yourself and for the earth! Whether men or gods or your 99 cents acknowledge what you are doing. !
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Sarah Meggison A’15
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n Saturday, October 20, and Sunday, October 21, the first play production of the semester was held in the Boathouse. Circle Mirror Transformation, a 2009 play written by Annie Baker, was directed by sophomore Nicole Havranek, and featured sophomores Slaya Nemoy and Madeline Kline, and freshmen Giancarlo Zingarelli, Christopher Hutter, and Audra Zook. Lighting duties were provided by sophomore Nicholas Loya. The story tells of a husband-wife team leading a fiveweek community acting class. The characters are mostly initially reserved and perhaps skeptical of their teachers’ methodology (“Ak mak.” “Goulash goulash, goulash,” etc.), but as the play goes on, they begin both to reveal and learn more about themselves, and to become close friends. They break down their walls to reveal some heavy subject matter, which, personally, really affected me—not in a disturbing way, but in that the actors performed with a certain subtlety that made the play’s raw humanity believable. Ms. Havranek remarked, “Circle Mirror Transformation is a very small, personal play that has meant so much to me for years. It meant the world to me to share it with the cast, and then with the St. John’s community. The show that we presented tried its hardest to be honest and open and present. The play really asked a lot of those involved, because it really required everyone to put themselves out there. Especially in the practices, when we would play the games, we all ended up revealing very personal aspects of ourselves. We chose to put ourselves out there just as much as the characters in Circle Mirror do, and it was very rewarding. The show turned out incredibly well. During the performances, it was nearly impossible at times to tell where the characters stopped and the actors started. The cast became their characters. During the show, we also asked a lot of the audience. The play is full of awkward pauses, strange games, and moments that ride the line between being extremely serious and outright silly. It’s not always obvious how one should react to what they’re seeing in Circle Mirror Transformation. Overall, we just tried to put on a play that felt real.” I went into this play not knowing anything about the story and was surprised at how much I liked it. I was also quite impressed at the warm, community-type atmosphere of the production. I also appreciated that freshmen were incorporated, and many parents and friends of the actors came to see it. “I was really happy about the audience’s openness to the play for what it was. It was refreshing to see that at St. John’s,” said Ms. Kline. It is always very lovely to see my fellow Johnnies take on a project they care about and succeed; it’s one of those things that makes me proud of St. John’s and the people around me. !
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The Gadfly
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Alumnus Tim Carney, author and senior political columnist for the Washington Examiner, gives insight into the ways his career path has been shaped by a St. John’s education and offers advice for the Polity’s future journalists.
Tim Carney, A’00, speaking at a Campaign for Liberty event at CPAC.
What is your current job? I am a senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner. I have also written two books.
give up the work experience I got in my early-to-mid 20s to have gone to J-School. In general, I felt perfectly adequate around my peers.
Did you attend other schools after St. John’s? I did not. Though my second job, working under Bob Novak, I count as grad school.
Can you describe a general track someone from St. John’s might take to get into a career in this field? Do a journalism internship. Get published. Use those clips and recommendations from your internship to land an entry-level reporting job, whether in a small town or a big city.
Did you know what you wanted to do while attending St. John’s? Not really. Journalism always seemed like a possibility, but I had no idea I would love it as much as I do. I distinctly remember day-dreaming in tutorial about being both a U.S. Senator and a St. John’s tutor. Did St. John’s help prepare you for work in the field? I became a better and faster reader at St. John’s, and that has helped. But most importantly, I think SJC helped give me skills and confidence to learn new subject matters. Being able to engage on the substance underlying political issues—and being able to do math—has given me an advantage. Classroom discussion made me better at thinking through ideas on my feet. When I do TV appearances, that’s very important. Also, I took academics seriously at SJC. I was typically in the library until midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That was where I finally developed a work ethic that I think has helped me in my career. What didn’t St. John’s prepare you for? St. John’s didn’t provide enough opportunity to work on writing. It wasn’t until I had to start writing professionally that I really got to start thinking about the creation of sentences and paragraphs as a craft to be honed. I’ve improved over 12 years, but I’m still a fairly pedestrian writer. Any specific disadvantages to a St. John’s background? Had I gone to a college with more specialization, I could have studied economics in some depth, which would help me professionally. How did you feel you compared, in graduate school or early jobs, to people from different educational backgrounds, particularly those with field-related degrees? First of all, folks who study journalism in undergrad don’t tend to go into journalism. Reporters with MAs from top J-Schools always impress me, and I often envy them —but I wouldn’t
Any general advice, especially for an upperclassman who is interested in this field but is not quite sure what to do? Write for the Gadfly. Maybe try to get published in your hometown paper. Consider a graduate degree in something that would be useful as a journalist: economics, physics, maybe Arabic or Chinese if you want to do interesting foreign reporting. Learn technological skills: video & video editing, graphic design, programming. How did you market yourself with a St. John’s degree? I explained that it gave me the confidence and the ability to learn new topics quickly and thoroughly. I found many employers already impressed by the school. How would you characterize your field as a whole? Is it accessible to newcomers or difficult to enter? Stable or fluid? Etc. It is very accessible to newcomers, I think. It’s pretty unstable (what isn’t?). The needed skills are changing rapidly. What was your senior essay topic? The ethics of lying, examining the teachings on this topic of Socrates, Kant, and Aristotle. What is your favorite book on the Program? Nicomachean Ethics. Do you find that you lead a philosophical life? Somewhat. Analytical reasoning, self-examination, discussion of The Good and the nature of human knowledge are part of my broader job, which could roughly be described as “having something to say about lots of things.” Having kids makes it hard to indulge in philosophy, but it forces you to do so, also. Finally, the thoughts, idea, questions with which I left the Program sent me down a path that led me into the Catholic Church. So my daily life is infused with Catholicism, whose teachings are grounded in philosophy. !
The Gadfly
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ing troops by 2014—in the words of the vice president, “come hell or high water.” It’s hard to find any figure in history as militarily aloof and incompetent as President Obama. He has made it clear to the Afghan people that he is not dedicated to Alvaro Duran GI their well-being beyond the next couple years, he has subverted the armed forces from the beginning of his presidency, Yesterday the belief in the absolute value of Greek; he has little interest in pursuing the war into the tribal areas The fall of the curtain upon the death of a hero; inaccessible to the nearest drone, and he acts as if ordering the Yesterday the prayer to the sunset, killing of Osama bin Laden has made him the greatest wartime And the adoration of madmen. But today the struggle. president since Lincoln. How do the Left and the isolationist Right respond? First is — W. H. Auden, “Spain 1937” the absolute revulsion toward expending any American lives hoever reads about Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old in the conflict—as if we didn’t bear any responsibility for the Pakistani activist shot by Taliban gunmen in early Oc- struggle. Afghanistan’s grave problem is the rampant illiteracy tober, must admit she possesses an inestimable bravery. Cour- that no amount of half-hearted “surges” can cure. Shelter and age of this caliber is fragile, rare, and—as we’ve seen these past trained instructors are required if the nation’s young are to weeks—all too easy to snuff out. It is heartening to see the pull themselves out of ignorance and serfdom. To preserve wave of disgust that has arisen in Pakistan at this brazen assas- this shelter, some amount of fighting will be required, and sination attempt, and there is the ever-present hope that ac- some lives will be lost. At the minimum, a country needs 15 to tual reform will come of it. But even were that to happen, the 20 years of security—assuming other factors—to raise a literchange required to truly liberate Pakistan would need to be ate and inquisitive generation. Is there anyone left in America revolutionary. The gruesome political figures that now haunt or Western Europe with the fortitude to make that committhe highest levels of their corrupted offices would have to be ment? The question is answered as soon as it’s asked. Another constant objection is the cry of “unclear victory put to the dock or put to the sword, and our secular, moderate brethren, full of that courage gunned down two weeks ago, conditions.” Presumably, as our forces began embarking to rout the Taliban 11 years ago, some fool imagined us sailing would need to rise to their responsibilities. But perhaps it’s unfair to expect the needed change to into the Afghan equivalent of Tokyo Bay, surrender docuhinge so much on a torn, fearful populace. Indeed, do we not ments in hand, ticker-tape parade to follow. For many, the killing of bin Laden substituted for that share some of the fault for these condimoment. But should we not forsake the tions? Since 2001, against the caution of But should we not forsake the importance of macro-historical events sounder minds, America threw $20 bilimportance of macro-histori- like these and shift our thinking to the lion in aid at Pakistan with no substancal events like these and shift struggles of the people and our troops? tial reforms or results. The tribal regions remain untrodden by the Pakistani Army. our thinking to the struggles When a girl finishes a book she’s never Figures in the Pakistani intelligence of the people and our troops? been able to read before, is that not a victory? When a village elder sacrifices agency, the ISI, openly attend anti-WestWhen a girl finishes a book his and his village’s safety by banking ern rallies and support the Islamist forcshe’s never been able to read the future on the West and turning away es that kill U.S. troops and Pakistani chilbefore—is that not a victory? the Taliban, is that not a victory? When dren. Saudi Wahhabis funnel oil money over a quarter of the Afghan parliament into the region to fuel radical madrassas and terrorist training camps. Taliban savages emerge, burning is female, is that not a victory? But so many in the U.S. are more preoccupied with what the faces of school-bound girls and shooting anyone who dethe bill will be at the end. This argument is probably the most sires that their society adopt Western values. In light of this, what are we seeing from our side? The presi- crude, sinister, and easy to wield. It was back in 2003 that Masdent, trying to placate a schizophrenic base and avoid the op- sachusetts senator John Kerry said, “We shouldn’t be opening position that grew during President Bush’s tenure, launched firehouses in Baghdad while closing them in Brooklyn.” Well, a “surge” into Afghanistan that he undercut from the begin- if our provincial political factions have their way, we will be on ning. First, the president ignored General Stanley McChrys- our way to closing schools in Afghanistan in order to, what? tal, speaking to him only once in the summer of 2009 after he reform them in Chicago? And what of the economy then? Is had taken control of the Afghan theater. The general, seeing anyone so credulous as to believe that, if the economy sudno sense of urgency from his commander-in-chief, leaked his denly roared back into gear and we stumbled on an influx of own war plan to spur the government into action and avoid a capital, the Democrats would launch an all-out offensive? As military disaster. Instead, the president spent that week per- long as demagogues can get by telling their stupid constituents sonally lobbying the International Olympic Committee to se- that their lives would be better if the people of Afghanistan lect Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Another three were miserable, we will never hear the end of this cheap talkmonths passed before he decided to send 10,000 fewer troops ing point. It is frustrating and disheartening to hear of money vanishthan McChrystal requested and announce a withdrawal date for the troops. The following summer, McChrystal was fired and the president announced a complete withdrawal of fightContinued On Pg. 08
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!"#$%#&'$()$*+",$%-#'... /$*)2'8%:@&'%"2+%&)'%#A3#'+2;#%#A@#$2#'(#%&'%3"#%@7*92'8%B#71-%+3*..#$%C&'*3"*'% D*$&'#%#A*,2'#+%3"#%>#'#B3+%*'1%1$*)>*(?+%&.%3"#%3#*,%12;2+2&'+%*'1%$2;*7$9%3"*3% *$#%*3%3"#%"#*$3%&.%3"#%E34%C&"'6+%2'3$*,:$*7%@$&8$*,4% Jonathan Barone
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A’13
ince arriving at St. John’s, you’ve probably heard the their team. phrase “rediscovering the joys of amateur athletics” used Soon, we begin to attribute characteristics to our own team. to describe our athletic program. Frankly, I think it’s an ap- Now, our team is the most fun or the most competitive. Sudpropriate phrase; our intramural sports program is designed denly, the philosophy we are sporting is the greatest; other in such a way that anyone who wants to participate is able to ideas may have merit, but ours are clearly the best. Not only do so. Every student, tutor, and staff member is either allocat- have we actively degraded the other teams, but we’ve also put ed or drafted to one of the five intramural teams. Though we our philosophy on a pedestal. In this way, we’ve created a do have an Athletic Director on staff, the program’s greatest barrier between us and everyone else. We can identify with strength is that most of it is completely susmembers of our own team, but now everytained by students. It’s the students who one else is judged first and foremost by the We are not able to respect color of their shirt. lead the teams, encourage participation, and create the atmosphere where anyone And this is where respect begins to a team name, as we can’t (read: the amateur) can pursue the love of die. And I’ve personally fought against it respect a name in and of athletics. for years, trying to prove to anyone who itself. We respect what Personally, I think what we have here would listen that the Greenwaves weren’t lies behind that name, is unique. I know I have certainly grown a bunch of jerks. I would point out that and a team is, always, a because of the opportunities this athletic nearly everyone on the team was sportscollection of individuals. program offered me. However, this system manlike, and they would respond, “Yeah, is not without its flaws. The division of the but the Greenwaves as a team are [ jerks].” community into teams, though necessary in order to create My friends, if we’re not willing to look past the stereotypes competition, is the very thing that I believe causes the most we hold about other teams, then I don’t see much of a point in problems in our athletic community. We do the most harm continuing to participate. to ourselves and to each other when we start to look at our Now, I’m not saying that we abolish team spirit. Far from respective teams as the ultimate family to which we belong. it. But if we ever see ourselves as Greenwaves, as Druids, HusSince the teams are captained by different individuals, the tlers, Spartans, or Guardians before we see ourselves as memcaptains’ philosophies on how to lead their respective intra- bers of the St. John’s intramural sports program, we’ve got a mural teams differ greatly. One captain may look only at win- problem. We are not able to respect a team name, as we can’t ning, and might encourage a competitive spirit above all else. respect a name in and of itself. We respect what lies behind Another team’s captains might believe that what’s important that name, and a team is, always, a collection of individuals. is not the score of the game, but rather the team’s spirit and If we don’t respect the team, we don’t respect the individuals. effort. I think this difference of philosophy is necessary (due And respect is truly where the heart of this program lies. If to the individuality of the captains) and healthy (as it leads to we don’t respect each other, if we don’t respect the sports we discussion of practical issues like leadership, communication, play, if we don’t respect the Temple, then there is no point in and respect). The differences in athletic philosophies create participating. But if we do respect these things, then we have discussion on the court—a thumatic dialogue with words of created an environment where people can truly learn to love sweat, muscle, and bone. It’s the beauty of manifest philoso- athletics and learn about themselves. We hold the power to phy. shift the atmosphere around us, to create legacies. Our phiBut this dialogue can break down. When we start estab- losophies may differ, but at the core, one thing holds true: we lishing our identities in our respective teams, we can start are all members of the St. John’s College Intramural Team. ! to lose sight of our opponents’ individuality and in turn, our own. As soon as we begin to attribute characteristics to other teams (and not to individuals), we have cultivated an attitude destructive to ourselves and to others. We begin to stereo! Jezebel St. John, A’16 type people based on the color of the shirt they wear, not on the character they display on the field. We arrive at games !"#$#%&'(#%)*+%*%,*'-%'*,#%&.%/&''#predicting an intense physical battle, and we’ve already giv!&%)"&,%0&1%*'1%,2+3$#++%)#$#%&'#4 en ourselves a pugnacious disposition. Before we’ve even let 5677%)*8#$-%+*21%+"#-%9&:%7&;#%<2,%,&$#%3"*'%,#someone’s actions speak for themselves, we’ve already spoken ='1%)&:71%$*3"#$%>#%.:(?2'8%*%':'4 for them—not by virtue of their individuality, but by virtue of
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The Gadfly
Ian Tuttle
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A’14
ast I checked, you had to be at least 35 years old to be Think again. America managed to elect a child-president. president. Someone should check President Obama’s liJournalists of all stripes have been calling for the presicense. dent to address the avalanche of questions raised by SepDuring the 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations between the tember’s terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which killed the White House and Congress, President Obama repeatedly American ambassador and three others. The president’s last tried to cast himself as “the adult in the room.” Apparently formal White House news conference? March 6. But not to he has given up on that strategy. Consider the campaign’s lat- worry—he’s been busy making the rounds with serious meest online ad featuring Lena Dunham, star/director of the hit dia: The Daily Show with John Stewart (10/18), Z107.9 Hip HBO sitcom Girls, offering advice to voting “virgins”: Hop Cleveland (10/18), The View (9/24)—and, of course, an “Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody. You want interview with Miami’s DJ Laz, aka “the Pimp with a Limp,” to do it with a great guy….My first time voting was amazing. It on the morning of September 11. An interview with Us Weekly was a line in the sand: before I was a girl, now I was a woman.” hit newsstands last Friday. The ad encouraging young women everywhere to give their The Obama campaign appears to be under the illusion “first time” to Obama has, needless to say, that the paradigmatic young American prompted a flurry of responses, particularvoter is a character on Gossip Girl. But by ly to hashtag #MyFirstTime: We have heard con- 2008 standards, a stalwart 83 percent of • Phil Kerpen (@kerpen), author and stant warnings over the the electorate is less-than-interested in economic policy analyst: “Unempast months that Re- watching their federal executive “slow ployment among women 18 to 24 is publicans are waging a jam” the news on Late Night with Jimmy 12.8%. Forget #MyFirstTime, what Fallon—or, as Fallon called him in April, “war on women”...But it’s about #MyFirstJob?” the “Preezy of the United Steezy”—and the president’s ad that • Steel Magnolia (@Southrngirl77): they are long past the point where swipmakes women seem like ing their V-card for one of “The 25 Cool“Don’t lose your job because of nothing more than vagi- est Brothers of All Time” (cf. Ebony magaan unwanted Presidency. Practice nas that vote. #ObamaAbstinence” zine, Collector’s Edition, August 2008) is • Andrea Chapman (@STL_Blonde): a seductive prospect. They think it’s im“You don’t want your first time to be with #Obama be- mature for the sitting president of the United States to call cause his stimulus package didn’t deliver as promised.” his opponent a “bullshitter” (as Obama did in his new cover We have heard constant warnings over the past months interview with Rolling Stone), and they are not swooning for that Republicans are waging a “war on women”: Mitt Rom- a president who calls himself “eye candy” (as Obama did on ney and his horde of Fright-Wing Extremists are planning to The View last month). repeal the 19th amendment and put women on never-ending Presumably the president thinks that all of this is effective sandwich duty. But it’s the president’s ad that makes women outreach to “the youth vote,” that squirrely cohort of 18-toseem like nothing more than vaginas that vote. 29-year-olds who preferred Obama to John McCain by 34 That’s not terribly surprising, though. This is the same percentage points in 2008. And maybe Dunham’s ad or apcampaign that last month posted on its official Tumblr—then pearances on Leno will sway a few young people deeply eninexplicably removed—an e-card encouraging women to amored with shiny things. “Vote like your lady parts depend on it.” As blogger Cameron But the combined effect of the pandering tactics is to reGray put it: for Obama, it’s “Labia, not Libya.” veal a person who is frighteningly unpresidential. Sometimes But while there will be much hand-wringing about the ad— he is a 16-year-old dude in the locker room, sometimes he’s a and don’t get me wrong, there’s much to wring hands about— tweenage girl with an Idol obsession, sometimes he’s avowwhat’s most revealing about the ad is, simply, how stupid it is. ing his love for Big Bird—but he never quite manages to apIt’s childish. It’s (almost literally) a political penis joke. pear post-pubescent, let alone the strong, responsible leader When did our president become 16 years old? required by our current domestic and international circumAgain, though, are we shocked? After the first presidential stances. debate in Denver, the Obama campaign determined that preThe Obama presidency has been a four-year joyride. Except serving federal funding for Sesame Street ought to be a fixture it’s only been fun for him. It’s time to hand over the keys to a of a strong domestic policy. Thought the child-king was dead? grown-up. !
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Continued From Pg. 05 -ing into the corrupt Karzai machine, being redirected by the ISI or apportioned for bribes to Islamists or warlords, or failing in general to alleviate the sufferings of the populace that now lives on Obama’s ticking clock. But all the while we have to hear raving politicians wail about Washington handicapping “our economy” by sending “our money” to brutal and unenlightened peoples. Our precious economy? As if we had nothing loftier to preserve! As if the pledge we’d made to our Afghan allies that we would not abandon them was dependent on our unemployment numbers. To allow a regression of the fragile advancements made until now would be a stain on our nation that would never wash out. And if that day ever comes when we see our allies standing alone while they are put to the sword by lunatic savagery, I imagine we will look at ourselves and say it was worth it because out of it we got … a tax cut. !
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! Taylor Jarrell, A’15 1
2 A congruence in courage Is what may be assumed, Upon looking at the two. Through affection over-nourished. At fault, the commonalities presumed. A two, no longer. A love’s adieu. 3 A saved man, in mid night, McDowell. A small congregation, two souls, two scowls. The service, sincere. In appreciation they scathed. A baptism from a soapbox, the two were so bathed Of a night never finished. When they misbehaved.