Books and their authors have defined my life from before I could even speak, though the cast of characters has rotated as I've grown. When I was five, my favorite authors were Robert McCloskey and Kevin Henkes; at 10, I preferred Madeleine L'Engle and Lois Lowry. At 15, however, it was Chinua Achebe ...
An encouraging new force has emerged in local politics. Last month, the Moderate Party of Rhode Island received official certification after turning in over 30,000 supporters' signatures, well beyond the required 23,500. The party's ambitious short-term goal is to put forward a candidate for the governorship ...
Next week, Brown students may observe an interesting phenomenon. Students will change lab sections. The deadlines for papers will be extended. Tests will be given at alternative times. And for one full day the dining halls might seem a little less crowded. Do not panic! This is not an outbreak of pandemic ...
The following is a fairly common narrative of the first day of class at Brown:Hordes of students, many of whom will neither take the class nor know remotely what the class is about, pile into a small room. The professor and teaching assistants pass out syllabi that, in most cases, have been sitting ...
The political firestorm surrounding the group known as ACORN came to a head last week when both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to cut off federal funding for the organization. ACORN (which stands for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now) faced ...
To the Editor:We are writing in response to Will Wray's '10 recent column ("Fair by whose rules?" Sept. 17). It contains a number of inaccuracies which need to be corrected. More broadly, though, we want to thank Wray for starting a conversation about Fair Trade. The concept has lost a little vitality ...
Just as the "birther" craze has begun to die down, President Obama must face yet another sensationalist rumor — one that his detractors have taken up as a rallying cry.
In a recent column ("The secret life of Catholics at Brown", Sept. 17), Herald columnist Kate Fritzsche '10 lamented the poor treatment of Catholic students and Christians in general by their atheist peers within the Brown community. As a closed-minded, disrespectful, Bible-burning atheist, I'd like ...
I doubt that many administrators here at Brown would think of me as some sort of student collaborateur, working to shore up support among the serfs for our benevolent overlords. I've been known to have more than my fair share of grievances, many aired publicly on this very page.Like everyone else, there ...
September 29th, 2009, will mark the first anniversary of the largest single-day drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The ensuing year has been tempestuous: the shuttering and fire-sale of companies that composed the backbone of the U.S. financial system, partial nationalizations of former icons ...
To the Editor:I write to the Brown Republicans in the hopes that they will more carefully consider how they represent themselves to the campus and greater community. Tableslips are one of the most direct ways to reach the student body. I was appalled this week when I saw a tableslip with a picture of ...
Banner's critics usually moan about its appearance and its restrictions on course signups. It's a tribute to Banner's effectiveness, or perhaps its unsightliness, that the most common complaints are aesthetic. These grievances are a little misdirected: Students have usually been able to find courses ...
As shopping period ends and books are cracked open, most new members of the Brown community make an acquaintance they didn't encounter during orientation. This meeting is a veritable rite of passage: an introduction to the strange academic jargon that reverberates off the walls of every department and ...
Tonight's speech by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is an opportunity. Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999 and held on to power until his resignation amidst impeachment threats in 2008, is one of the most significant and controversial figures in contemporary international politics. ...
Allow me to tell you about my friend Rob. Rob is an exemplary fellow: a recent graduate, he has found success in this time of economic tumult by securing a position with Bain and Company, one of the most successful management consulting firms in the country. He has spent the past few months ...
To the Editor:We were dismayed to see Mike Johnson '11 write on Friday that "the youth of this nation pat themselves on the back, sink back into the very apathy of which we're accused" ("The lost power of Barack Obama," Sept. 18). If he believes that youth activism is dead in the Age of Obama, he has ...
To the Editor:
In case we don't get enough administrative e-mails at the beginning of the school year, swine flu warnings have infiltrated Brown inboxes this fall. At first, I skipped reading the messages. After all, schools across the U.S. went through the same scare last year, and in response, Brown chose to display ...
Despite what your high school English teachers may have led you to believe, he's more than just "Things Fall Apart." He's a poet and an essayist, a national hero and a Man Booker Prize winner. More importantly, though, he's a teacher. In 1965, Chinua Achebe wrote an essay in which he outlines the relationship ...
Call me pugnacious, but I believe in argument for argument's sake. Sit me across from someone with a remotely interesting political opinion, and I will have to challenge it.National health care? "Necessary but not sufficient." Legalization of marijuana? "Not in our lifetime." Israeli-Palestinian ...
Solutions by The State News
