When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, causing the failure of New Orleans' levees, I had no appreciation for the severity of the crisis. What do terms like mandatory evacuation, flood zone, storm surge and levee breach mean? What would they look like in your hometown? Coming from a place where streets are blanketed in snow instead of flooded with water, I couldn't picture any of these things.

It looks like no one can stop Sara Coenen. After going undefeated in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke in league competition this season, Penn's star sophomore won both titles at the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. The Quakers (7-5, 4-3 Ivy) finished fifth overall, but they broke seven school records in the process.

In preparation for next month's Pennsylvania primary, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both set up Philadelphia campaign headquarters this weekend. Obama, an Illinois senator, opened his headquarters at 15th and Sansom streets on Saturday.

Penn's Police can now send you text messages. On Friday, The Division of Public Safety conducted a comprehensive test of its new emergency alert system. Taking a page from PhillyCarShare's ComprehensiveFieldGuideAboutHowToNameThings, UPennAlert decided in its message that putting spaces between words just takes too long.

Dental students had something to smile about last month when Penn's School of Dental Medicine opened its new periodontal clinic. The new clinic for periodontics - the branch of dentistry dealing with gums and the supporting structures for teeth - was long overdue.

For four years straight, the Quakers have blown out Yale at the Palestra, winning by an average of 22 points. But when they take on the Bulldogs at the John J. Lee Amphitheater - as they will tonight - nothing comes easy. In two of the last three seasons, the Quakers' lone Ivy League loss came in New Haven, Conn.

There's nothing like opening day in the springtime. Soon enough, the baseball team will be soaking up the rays on its annual trip to the Sunshine State to kick off the season. But before that happens, the Quakers will play their first game right here in Philadelphia, when West Chester makes the short trip to Meiklejohn Stadium.

Engineering junior Ryan Goldstein admitted in federal court Feb. 29 that he helped hack into a computer network, causing the School of Engineering and Applied Science's server to crash in February 2006. Goldstein pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer, a federal misdemeanor.

Adrian Williams won't be the second African-American quarterback to win the Super Bowl. The son of former Washington Redskins quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams, Adrian went down a different path. Or, at least, chose different sport - he's now Brown's backup point guard as a freshman.

There won't be any room for error in Chapel Hill, N.C. Saturday as Penn prepares to face off against North Carolina for the first time ever. The Quakers' No. 2 ranking last season earned them the right to compete against the top lacrosse squads in the country, and that includes perennial powerhouse UNC.

Penn women's basketball has beaten just one team since November. That team visits the Palestra tonight. The Quakers (4-20, 1-8 Ivy) lead only one team in the Ivy standings. That team comes to the Palestra tomorrow. With Yale (7-16, 5-5 Ivy) and Brown (2-22, 1-9 Ivy) visiting West Philly this weekend, the Quakers couldn't ask for a better chance at getting a pair of wins in their final home stand.

Whether you're looking to "jazz it up" or simply to dispel the winter blues, the Philadelphia Flower Show with this year's "Jazz It Up" New Orleans theme offers classical jazz music, the largest indoor garden exhibit of its kind and a worthy cause. From this Sunday, March 2 to March 9, the Philadelphia Convention Center will host the 179th -annual Philadelphia Flower Show.

For the past week Irvine Auditorium has boasted a number of notable political figures including Karl Rove, Bill Clinton and after last night, Penn alumnus and former Congressman Harold Ford Jr (D-Tenn.). For more than 600 visiting high-school students, Ford's visit marked the beginning of Penn Model Congress - a program that offers them a chance to jumpstart their political futures.

No surprise here - Penn students still love their booze. But despite sometimes costly bar tabs, students remain unfazed and uninhibited. Between financial assistance from parents, rationing of summer job money and school-year employment, students have found ways to keep their finances in check.

In Division-I softball, a coach usually doesn't need to worry about her outfielders catching fly balls. This is not the case, though, for coach Leslie King and the Penn softball team, as they prepare for their season-opening doubleheader on Sunday against Lafayette.

After a fourth-quarter collapse against Drexel last weekend, the Penn men's lacrosse team is looking to rebound this Saturday and "put a beating" on Villanova, according to co-captain Max Mauro. "It's a cross-town rival," the senior explained. "I'm sure a lot of [our] guys were recruited by Villanova, and they chose this school for a reason.

Things are about to get a little tougher for the men's tennis team. After cruising to easy victories in each of their last four contests, the Quakers will face Maryland and Louisville - two of their strongest opponents yet - when they travel to College Park, Md.