As the women's lacrosse season starts up, the Quakers will have one thing on their minds. But before they can return to the Final Four and vie for the national title, they'll have to take some baby steps. It starts this Sunday, when the team will venture a few blocks north to take on Drexel in its season-opener.

When I opened the center spread of last month's Punch Bowl's diversity issue, my world collapsed. For years I thought Asian Americans belonged at parties. The craziest shindigs I'd ever been to were hosted by Asian Americans. But even more horrifying was the realization that Asians did not belong at Crown Fried Chicken.

The Quakers won't have to wait long to get a shot at impressing the NCAA tournament committee. They can do that tomorrow in their season opener at home against Drexel. While the ACC and Ivy League -- conferences traditionally strong in lacrosse - comprise the majority of the top-10 national rankings, other schools not known for their athletic programs fill the spots from 10 to 20.

In 2006, 2.8 million college students gave almost 300 million hours of volunteer service worth more than $5.6 billion. Last week, Penn was among six colleges and universities nationwide to receive presidential recognition for its contributions. The University was one of three recipients of the 2007 Presidential Award for General Community Service in the second annual President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, along with Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Last night, about 15 protesters gathered outside of a Hillel-Steinhardt conference room that was hosting a dinner and discussion with the two former Israeli soldiers who have put on a controversial exhibition of photographs about the Israeli occupation. Mostly members of the Zionist Freedom Alliance, the protesters sang Jewish songs and refused to join the discussion going on inside, citing philosophical differences with the exhibit, called Breaking the Silence.

Instead of studying for exams and going out to parties, some Princeton freshmen could be spending their first year after high school overseas helping others. Earlier this week, Princeton University announced that it is working on a program to send about 100 students, or 10 percent of its entering class, abroad for a gap-year program before the students come to campus.

The 10th annual WILith Fair hosted by the Women in Leadership Series went off without a hitch last night. WILith Fair - a celebration of female leaders on campus - featured good food, quality entertainment and a long list of honorees, guests and students being recognized for their distinguished leadership and outstanding achievement.

What comes to mind when you think of blinking traffic lights? For B.J. Ellis , executive director of The N Crowd, a Philadelphia comedy troupe, they are a "clear attack of the epileptic liberation front". It takes about five seconds before the audience will find themselves laughing out loud.

How's this for a wacky end to a regular season? After a 1 p.m. home match against Lehigh on Sunday, the No. 25 Penn Wrestling team will turn around and prepare for a 6 p.m. tilt against Princeton - in New Jersey. "It is what it is," coach Zeke Jones said.

When Penn hosted Harvard earlier this season, Brian Grandieri rescued his team from defeat by scoring a clutch four points in the final minutes. But the lasting memory from Penn's 73-69 victory was not Grandieri's heroics. Instead, it was the first half tussle between Penn's Justin Reilly and Harvard's Evan Harris that led to Reilly's exit with a gash in his head.

Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Midway through the conference slate, Dartmouth is in a familiar spot. The Big Green sport a 1-7 record that puts them at the bottom of the barrel, a place they have seen more than their fair share of in recent years. But when Penn goes into Leede Arena tonight, it's well-aware that this isn't the same Dartmouth the Quakers have beaten 22 times in a row.

While most students were dozing through Friday morning recitations two weeks ago, College sophomore Cameron Clark and his classmates were exploring African and Native American Art artifacts. The excursion was a required field trip for his World History Class to the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Coming off their first win in 16 games, the Quakers finally have some confidence heading into a weekend series. "There are positive thoughts," coach Pat Knapp said. "That's where it all starts." They hope to build on that and reverse their fortunes from earlier this season when they host Dartmouth (8-14, 5-3 Ivy) and Harvard (13-9, 6-2).

Bum shoulders shouldn't slash the Quakers' trophy hopes this Sunday as the team heads to Columbia for the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championship tournament. Penn's men will have to overcome shoulder problems by Sunday if they hope to improve upon last year's third place team finish.

Not that clever To the Editor: I am amazed, frankly, that Penn undergrads can't be more creative than singing "you suck" at opposing teams. Way back when, we used to have clever buttons for large sports games, with sayings on them like, "The Tigers have mini-paws.

When the Penn women's tennis team faces off against the Terrapins, the Quakers will play a young team that is out to prove itself. Of the eight women on the Terps' roster, seven are underclassmen. That doesn't mean Maryland (1-4) doesn't have what it takes to win.