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Before Tuesday afternoon, we current Brown students felt little compassion for those suffering from any sort of reply-all fiasco. Only rising seniors—who were merely freshmen at the time—remember Brown’s own reply-all incident back in 2011, during which enraged students used every type of font and color to encourage those on the same ListServ to stop hitting reply all. Last fall, we laughed at poor NYU student Max Wiseltier as he, hoping to forward an email about paperless tuition to his mother, accidentally hit reply all to an e-mail that promptly went out to every single student at the university. These two instances seemed too far removed to ever infiltrate our Gmail inboxes, but it seems that the reply-all chaos has hit home yet again.

Here’s how it started: At 2:19 p.m. on Tuesday, the University Scheduling Office sent out an email explaining that the Resource 25 Scheduling request was back online. Cool. We didn’t even know the University had a Scheduling Office. But what did this email even mean?

We really didn’t have any idea, and it didn’t seem like anyone else did either. The Brown University Scheduling Office thanked us for our patience, but it definitely spoke too soon. [Read more →]

It’s that time of year again: The class of 2013 has made it through the other side of the Gates, and our once-distant summer plans are… well, pretty damn close. Whether you returned home or lived out the last few weeks of May at Camp Brown, we’ve been able to shelve our stress, reflect on the year, and look forward to what the next year has in store for us. In the meantime, while we business-casually slog through our summers, BlogDH may not be able to provide you with the same amount time-wasters as per usual to help you procrastinate at your summer job (we need to look good, too!). But don’t go too far—we will post periodically throughout the summer to satisfy all your cravings for life in Brunonia and Lil’ Rhody.

We offer heartfelt congratulations to all of the graduating seniors on our staff, and to our founder, editor-in-chief emeritus and “Chairman of the Board” Matt Klimerman ’13. Matt was instrumental in bringing the site from concept to launch in its early stages back in 2009 and has worked thanklessly over his years at Brown to invigorate BlogDH and elevate it to the level it’s currently at today. BlogDH’s characteristic creative energy is a product of his constant innovation in content, design (e.g. this picture of Dean Bova punching an exit sign), and strategy. While we’re sad to see the last members of our founding generation leave the Hill for more professional pursuits, we’ve got our succession plans in order and are ready to keep bringin’ it day in and day out. [Read more →]

Congratulations to the class of 2013! We will miss you all and can’t wait to see the amazing things you will accomplish. Here is one last graduation present for you all (grad students included!): we’ve got the photos of you walking out of the Van Wickle Gates that you know your mom is dying to see. As Brown graduates, you’ve got this figured out by now—like our page, tag your friends here, and enjoy! Congrats!

An AT&T New Media Fellow, Caroline Sagalchik ’13 spent this past winter and semester creating a documentary called “Of Sand and Fur” (above… and you should definitely check it out) about the Russian-Jewish immigrant community Brigthon Beach, Brooklyn. Brighton Beach is one of the largest Russian-speaking immigrant communities in the country. Through the fellowship, Caroline was able to interact with the community in Brighton Beach and reach her audience by engaging with the topic of assimilation.

The documentary was recently featured on the Watson Institute’s website.

The project was especially meaningful because she had grown up with exposure to Russian and American cultures. Here’s a bit on the experience in Caroline’s words, after the jump. [Read more →]

Then + Now

I have this notion that our actions fall in one of two categories: they’re either rooted in the actions of “love” or “work.”[1] Think of your daily routine: you study in the library to work; you relax with your friends because you love them. It seems pretty basic now, but over time it gets a little more complicated. Love and work may start to compete with each other: tribulations of long distance relationships or the decision to go on vacation or finish a business project occur because of the ongoing tension between love and work.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that Brown is a place where love and work can flourish in harmony. It took me a long time to realize this. [Read more →]

Ah, Cards Against Humanity. The epic drunk-and-bored game of the early 21st century.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, here are the rules:

• Most of the cards are white and are nouns.
• The others are black and are questions or fill-in-the-blank types.
• Each turn, one player pulls a random black card.
• Then the other players put down a white card they think is funniest when paired with the aforementioned black card.
• That original player (who pulled the black card) picks his or her favorite pairing.
• The person who played that white card gets a point.

It’s Apples to Apples, but horribly and hilariously offensive. I called alum and co-creator of CAH Ben Hantoot ’09 to get his blessing for a Brown University expansion pack. He said it was chill. He was on his Bluetooth, driving what was probably a really nice car, what with all the big money to be made in board games these days. We had a funny conversation about smoking weed on Governor Street and the difference between Canadians’ and Americans’ card preferences, which you can read in Post- Magazine HERE. (I’m not going to pull a Jonah Lehrer and write the same article for two publications, even though I am not Jonah Lehrer and no one would care if I did.) All I can say is that I’m proud to attend the same school [wipes away single tear] as this modern genius once did. After Binder, let’s give Hantoot an honorary degree.

So here it is: the Brown University Expansion Pack. We hope you’ll mix them in with the original game, which you can download free on the Cards Against Humanity website. The card “Controversial Herald opinion articles” deserves to play in the big leagues. I, for one, will be at the GCB with these bad boys if you wanna hang out. Take a look after the jump.

[Read more →]

As we come to the end of another glorious season of Brown Athletics, it’s important to take a second to sit back and think about all the wonderful moments we’ve spent watching Brown teams succeed on and off the field this year. Let’s dash through season recaps for every one of our 37 varsity sports:

Baseball: A 7-33 finish, including 3-17 in Ivy League play, marks a successful and unprecedented effort by the baseball team to win even fewer games than last year’s nine. They did push #2 LSU to the wire in a narrow 4-3 walk-off loss, though, so that’s something.

Basketball (Men’s): A 7-7 Ivy League record was a big improvement on last year and good for a tie for third. Memorable wins included a comeback over rival Providence and eliminating Princeton from league title contention with a beatdown in the season finale. Sean McGonagill ’14 was named first-team All-Ivy; Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 was name Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Show the fuck up to their games next year, please.

Basketball (Women’s): 3-11 Ivy and 9-19 overall records were nothing to write home about, but women’s basketball alum Lindsey Gottlieb ’99 coached Cal to the Women’s Final Four, which is pretty damn cool.

Crew (Men’s): Hard to figure out, since apparently men’s rowing isn’t an NCAA sport but is still varsity (?). I don’t know. Anyway, Brown has had another great season, losing only to No. 1 Washington and Ivy rival Harvard. (I think. Crew results are really hard to understand.) The year will conclude with Ivy and National championships in late May/early June.

Crew (Women’s): The NCAA sponsors women’s rowing, so this one is easier to figure out. Brown is ranked 12th and fresh off an Eastern Sprints victory heading into Ivy and National championships in late May/early June. Sounds promising.

Cross Country (Men’s): A bunch of Brown students ran distances that would kill you or me, but didn’t qualify for nationals after finishing 11th at Northeast Regionals.

Cross Country (Women’s): A bunch of Brown students ran distances that would kill you or me, and finished 8th at Northeast Regionals. Standout Margaret Connelly ’14 placed 7th to qualify for Nationals, where she finished 130th out of 253 runners.

Equestrian: The team placed third at Ivies and sent three riders to Nationals. Honestly, the results of this shit are totally indecipherable, but I can report with some certainty that no one from Brown won the national championship. Still, it sounds like they did pretty well.

[Read more →]

Then + Now

As seniors, we hear a lot about the “bucket list:” The SciLi challenge, 5 a.m. Louis, WaterFire, etc. Throughout this year, my friends and I kept putting various parts of the list off until later. But then, all of a sudden, it was May and I started to feel anxious about not having enough time to complete the list in my limited days left on the Hill.

At first, the realization caused an uneasy feeling—something reminiscent of the FOMO (fear of missing out) you feel during your first semester freshman year when you’re sick or busy and you miss a frat party that all your friends are talking about the next morning in the Ratty. I never went to Sex Power God. I never snuck onto the roof of any Brown buildings. I never took Mande. Does that mean I haven’t made the most of my college years? As an eager freshman, I told myself I would do all these random “must do before you graduate” things one day.

This quarter-life crisis caused me to wonder what it really means to make the most of your college experience. Obviously, this answer is going to be different for each person. But, I do know that it actually doesn’t have anything to do with an arbitrary list of activities. [Read more →]

Leaving college for the first time is weird.  There’s not a campus-wide End of the Year Assembly or a shared rejoicing in the hallways. You probably won’t run into your classmates in your neighborhood come June, either. Well, maybe you will, considering half of this campus is from “just outside of Boston,” New York City, or Southern California (51st thing I learned freshman year?).

As the rest of your due dates and exams begin to approach, you find it hard to keep track of the days and times when your friends are leaving, when their parents are taking you to brunch, and when you’ll see them next. It’s a weird feeling, especially after spending months hanging out, going out, and studying together. These are things we’ve all just gotten used to. [Read more →]

Sweet mother of all that is groovy and chill.

If you thought the naked donut runners were the panacea to all finals-related woes, wait until you hear Daft Punk’s new album which is NOW STREAMING FOR FREE. To access it, you have to open iTunes, go to Daft Punk’s artist page, and click the play button next to “Listen Now” on the left side (pictured above). Random Access Memories beautifully showcases Daft Punk’s inimitable synthy essence. Every song is funky as hell (and basically sex incarnate). While you shouldn’t really expect anything of the likes of “One More Time,” your fondest freshman dorm-party jam, you will be pleasantly surprised by how refreshingly sophisticated this album is as a whole. It is a shining star in today’s EDM scene. And don’t even get me started on the collabs. Julian Casablancas is featured in “Instant Crush” and boy, did it get hot in here quickly. Also, Pharrell Williams makes “Get Lucky” the perfect dance party jam for those lonely paper-writing nights in your dorm/SciLi stacks.

P.S. Wait until you hear the ending track. Screw Kabob and Curry in the Blue Room because this is what real happiness feels like.

P.P.S. Oh, and if you’re one of those who thinks Daft Punk is totes overrated and Skrillex is, like, definitely better… you better check yourself before you wreck yourself.

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