It was utterly impossible to get a seat in AFRI1060P: “African Literature: Chinua Achebe” even five minutes before the class began. The small seminar classroom was filled to the brim with at least 40 students chatting and excited to find out exactly what they had signed up for.

Of course, not everyone was pre-registered — but luckily for them, Visiting Professor Ekwene Michael Thelwell decided that attendance at the first class is more important than being registered on Banner. He invited anybody who wanted to take the course after the first class to show up for the second lecture, implying that they had priority over those registered students who were absent.

Thelwell talked at length about the course, which is capped at 30, and did not hide his own excitement. “I envy you guys,” he said, “because we aren’t just going to read and analyze fiction.”

More after the jump. [Read more →]

Walk into the Ratty, the V-dub, or basically any other place where two or more Brown students are congregated tomorrow and you are sure to hear rumblings about Locke, Jack, Sawyer and the rest of Oceanic 815. In case you’ve been living in a hatch for the past five years and hadn’t heard, the final season of Lost premiers tonight and will be sure to dominate water cooler discussions (Ratty soda machine discussions?) for the next few months.

Lost premiers are usually epic affairs and rarely disappoint, but with the expectations this high, don’t be surprised if Lost fans experience just a bit of a let down.

Never mind, it’s going to be awesome.

—Max Godnick

For those who have never perused the illustrious pages of Providence’s very own beacon of journalistic awesomeness or just haven’t gotten their Projo news fix du jour, here’s your daily recap of the most recent, and most interesting, stories.

Good news for tofu-lovers, jello-abstainers, and Ratty vegetable melange enthusiasts alike.  Looks like Galaxy Nutritional Foods, “a national producer of vegan food products,” is moving its corporate headquarters to Lil’ Rhody.  Bring on the vegan tofu pups!

Stephen Beale, a Brown alum and president of the ironically named nonprofit Foundation for Intellectual Diversity, is fuming about Brown’s inviting a co-founder of ACORN to speak at next Tueday’s Brown Bag Series lecture.

Brown’s MSex and FemSex now have a local counterpart in Pawtucket’s new Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health.  The center will provide “sexual counseling to adults” and presumably, a titillating array of table slips.

Our Ratty prayers have been answered…in the form of new bowls for cereal. The old bowls made for unsatisfying, messy portions of cereal, but these new ones allow for big servings of cereal with plenty of milk, and you won’t lose a bit on your way back to your table. We say hell yeah.

— Thea Aguiar

Groundhog Day is one of the stranger holidays celebrated in the United States, but it also is one of the coolest. Every year on February 2nd, a groundhog will emerge from its burrow into the brisk winter morning.  If the groundhog sees its shadow, it will run back into it’s burrow, signifying another 6 weeks of winter.  If the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow, it will run along, signifying a shortened winter.  The most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil, who resides in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

So this morning, a crowd of nearly 40,000 gathered in Gobbler’s Knob as a group of old men in hats and tuxedos (also known as the “inner circle”) examined the rodent’s movements intently.  Unfortunately, Phil saw his shadow and ran back into his burrow, signifying a long winter.

…So don’t put those hats and gloves away just yet, Brunonia.  We must brace for the cold, for the groundhog has spoken.

— Matt Klimerman

Today really has the potential to be one of the best days of the year.  Not only is it groundhog’s day, and the day of the most anticipated TV moment possibly in our lifetimes, but The Academy just released their nominations for the biggest awards show in the world.  After the jump, lets see how they stacked up against our predictions: [Read more →]

Phoebe Neel / Herald

The title pretty much says it all. At noon today, protesters on the main green were holding signs reading, “Rainbows Not Bodies” and handing out pamphlets with pictures of the Olsen twins, a cow, and a character from The Lion King on the inside. On the inside were lyrics from Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” and on the back were lyrics from Gnarls Barkley’s “Going On.”

Um. Anyone have any clue what this is all about? MCM project? Performance art? Insights very welcomed in the comments.

— Thea Aguiar

UPDATE: Roughly thirteen avant-garde idealists took to the Main Green Tuesday afternoon to exercise their freedom of speech, expressing dissatisfaction and anger about inaction and ineptitude in the ongoing battle against a variety of vague and fantastical causes, ranging from apathy to monarchy. Who were these young visionaries with such excellent taste in glitter makeup? They kept mum, but the exceptional quality of their screenprinted electric pink literature, as well as the words of an anonymous tipster, exposed them as RISD students. Performance art piece? Or well-directed jab at our progressive love for protesting? We’ll never know, but looks like we’ve got competition for the most outspokent institution on College Hill.

— Phoebe Neel

At the Herald, we’re well known for dedication to our readers. An outstanding request for  a “convenient nickname” for J. Walter Wilson, submitted by Canary in a Letter to the Editor has finally been answered. Canary submitted his original request in September 2008, but it took the advent of a certain MTV reality show to provide the perfect term of endearment. Ladies and gentlemen, we present JWoww.

Agree? Disagree?

Let us know in the comments.

— Talia Kagan

Fuck Yeah Dioramas – For those moments when you wish every day was Science Fair Day.

Lunch: Ratty

There’s tomato on both menus, but we always eat linguini on Tuesdays. Duh.

Dinner: V-Dub

Because we’re intrigued by the “Steamed Vegetable Melange.” Brown Dining Services, can you get any more vague?