Stephen Krewson

A pervasive idea in modern thought is that Western culture faces a pressing shortage of "leaders." Rare indeed is the organization which does not purport to "train up the leaders of tomorrow" or "equip people to lead." An entire industry has developed expressly for the manufacturing of leaders.

On Tuesday, President Amy Gutmann and her husband donated $100,000 to fund undergraduate research. Surely this is more than a gesture in these troubled times, when even Harvard president Drew Faust issues ominous warnings that her school may "absorb unprecedented endowment losses" (30 percent!).

Eight days ago, on a chilly night in South Philly, Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske and the Phillies won the World Series. All but the soundest sleepers heard the city's exhalation of relief and triumph. It came in waves of lusty yells and incessant honking.

A few weeks ago, a man named David Foster Wallace took his own life at the age of 46, ending a protracted battle with depression. This fall will surely be remembered as when the financial sector began its collapse - or, assuming the rosiest scenario, survived a convulsive restructuring.

Awareness. It's being raised all around you, all the time, and seldom with your consent. Studies have shown that even simple acts such as waking up in the morning or walking down Locust may increase your awareness to near-toxic levels. So it's with a sincere apology that I attempt to raise awareness about everyone's favorite substance that is processed using a combination of heat and water and is subsequently smoked.

If you're anything like me, you read Forbes for one reason and one reason only: the lists. And as anyone who knows anything will tell you, the best list ever compiled by the magazine is "World's Most Expensive Yachts." When at a loss for conversation with my more nautical peers, I have often saved face by holding forth on the relative merits of the Alysia ($116.

Around 9 p.m. on Saturday, I left the raging Carnival and impossibly long lines on College Green to make a quick pit stop at the 34th Street food court. Literally 30 seconds after I had joined my friends in line, someone informed us that Stephen Colbert and his wife were checking out at CVS.

With the coming of spring break began the part of my life you could call my life on the road. The afternoon of March 8, 2008 found two college sophomores in Penn T-shirts and bulging backpacks standing by the side of I-495 south of Washington D.C., their thumbs turned skyward in the sun-warmed air.

Walking into the Penn Bookstore yesterday, I smiled to see the Campus Bestseller display. A prominent stripe of Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) ran across it, three books wide and ten books in length. Below them, I spotted several copies of Susan Jacoby's just-released The Age of American Unreason.

Last Monday, Karl Rove addressed students at Connecticut preparatory school Choate Rosemary Hall, in a lecture setting. Rove had originally been penciled in as Choate's commencement speaker but accepted the less glamorous engagement after a swell of student and parental protest.