Last week, as I waited on the corner of N. 8th and Lehigh for the No. 47 SEPTA bus that would take me back to Center City, I was struck by the depressing, sporadic gaps of land every few houses. The entire street was pockmarked with vacant lots on which scrubby brown grass competed for space with broken glass, crushed beer cans and discarded candy wrappers.
Yesterday, 2,700 Africans died of malaria, 144 South African women were raped and 14,500 children under 15 were infected with AIDS. International development efforts need both more time and more money to help eliminate these tragedies. Thus the College Dean's Advisory Board announcement that it will be developing an international-development minor must be met with praise.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this year's Penn Reading Project is certainly the shortest work to date. Rather than reading (or, in most cases, not) a book, as entering freshman have done for the past 10 years, the class of 2013 will be asked to "read" The Gross Clinic - a painting by Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins.
By now, many of the facts are widely known: three students hospitalized for confirmed meningococcal infection in a period of days; numerous other students evaluated in the Student Health Service and the Emergency Room, some admitted to the hospital for observation and empiric treatment pending test results; upwards of 3,000 students dispensed preventative treatment; measles; ongoing communications and updates to students and the broader university community; one very tired Health Service director.
Coming off the likes of Paul Krugman, Nicholas Kristof and Maya Angelou, it's easy to become blase about the caliber of speakers that Penn attracts. And while all the highly publicized speakers visiting this semester have been engaging and interesting successes, the speakers gracing campus this week are particularly commendable.
For most Penn students, the homeless are accepted as a fact of life in West Philadelphia, one of the things seen but not quite registered on a daily basis. That's why it's gratifying to hear about Penn students' recent outreach efforts to homeless Philadelphia residents.
For most Penn students, the homeless are accepted as a fact of life in West Philadelphia, one of the things seen but not quite registered on a daily basis. That's why it's gratifying to hear about Penn students' recent outreach efforts to homeless Philadelphia residents.
Yesterday, 2,700 Africans died of malaria, 144 South African women were raped and 14,500 children under 15 were infected with AIDS. International development efforts need both more time and more money to help eliminate these tragedies. Thus the College Dean's Advisory Board announcement that it will be developing an international-development minor must be met with praise.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this year's Penn Reading Project is certainly the shortest work to date. Rather than reading (or, in most cases, not) a book, as entering freshman have done for the past 10 years, the class of 2013 will be asked to "read" The Gross Clinic - a painting by Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins.
Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com
Ilana Millner is an College junior from Washington Crossing, Pa. Her e-mail address is millner@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Say you're a DJ for Penn's student-run radio station, WQHS. Your show airs at 8:00 p.m. every Wednesday, which is a great time - most of your friends can listen as they do homework. But right now you're not worrying about listenership, it's getting to the Hollenbeck Center, a good 30-minute walk to the no man's land of Penn's campus.
This month marked the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth, and he has been getting considerable attention. My subject here is not his work on evolution. No, as director of Career Services, I am interested in the beginnings of his career. How does one become a Charles Darwin? A doctor's son, Darwin was sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine, but it did not sufficiently interest him.
Two days ago, Philadelphia Newspapers LLC - publisher of Philadelphia's two dailies, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, as well as the printer of The Daily Pennsylvanian - filed for bankruptcy protection preventatively. The announcement, unfortunately, was not unexpected.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of a famously controversial free speech incident involving Penn. No, I'm not speaking of how FBI agents observed club meetings during the 1970s or the theft of an entire run of The Daily Pennsylvanian in the early 1990s - it might be hard to imagine, but Penn was once a recurring backdrop for national debates about free speech.
For many freshmen, finishing (or starting) the Penn Reading Project's selected book is one of the least-enjoyable activities of New Student Orientation Week. But the Reading Project, for better or for worse, is a valuable way to connect on an intellectual level with the rest of the floor or parts of the House community, and it is frequently touted as an introduction to college-level reading and analysis.
Alicia Puglionesi is an College senior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.
I love Pink Floyd. I'll shamelessly spend hours in my car on summer days listening to the British rock band. Give me a surround-sound system and the album Dark Side of the Moon, and I'll never complain about anything ever again. It's very easy for me to make connections between their lyrics and a number of situations, including the one between the district attorney's race in Philadelphia and the song Welcome to the Machine.
Questions about 'Don't ask, don't tell' To the Editor: Clearly the matter of the continued military presence at Penn is an unsettling situation for nearly everyone, one which would be easily resolved if the federal government discontinues preventing LGBT people from serving openly in the military, something President Obama has pledged will happen.
As I walked to Fisher-Bennett last October, armed and ready to declare my major, I quickly mapped out my life. A B.A. from Penn, a semester abroad and a few extracurriculars should be enough for a decent start in life. But I slowed and thought to myself, "I can't just be an English major.
Daniel Schwartz is an College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is dschwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Forget the fine print. Anyone who's been paying attention to the latest Facebook "crisis" - in which the site's terms of service removed the users' right to their own content after deleting their accounts, and then reneged - must realize that no matter what the words say, Facebook will always have access to our content.
Last Thursday, when the University received confirmation of the first student case of meningitis, officials had several tough decisions to make, and they knew that they had to be made as quickly as possible. Penn, as all students know by now, made many of the right decisions.
Solutions by The State News
