Posts from — February 2010

Pictured: Grad Center, the site of famous weed-and-fireworks parties. Kim Perley / Herald

The Corporation convening on College Hill this weekend is not, for better or for worse, the same as the “Corporation” with 400 customers which sold pot, hashish and acid on campus in the early 1970s.

Details of this Corporation’s operations were printed in a disdainful-quotation-mark-filled May 1971 Providence Journal article based on an interview with a student who identified himself as the group’s president. The prez told tales of wild “pot parties” with 400 people and fireworks on the Grad Center terrace, chemistry PhDs inspecting their supplies, and marijuana sold at $15 an ounce — yeah, right, and hamburgers for a nickel!

The unabashed leader of the University’s “highest” governing body told the Journal his merry band was dissolving after two years because they were all graduating. “I’ve even vacuumed my room several times,” he said. Still, he had no regrets about his enterprise or his middling profits due to giving away free samples: “We should have made more than $20,000, but it was more fun this way,” the anonymous dealer said.

Janus Lecture: Religion in Public Life

4:00-6:00 P.M., Salomon 101

The Janus Forum’s involvement pretty much guarantees an interesting and lively conversation. Mark Lilla from Columbia University and Jose Casanova of Georgetown University will be speaking. A bona fide Casanova speaking about the role of religion in public life? Sounds just intriguing enough to work.

SPECtaculaire Paris

8:00-10:00 P.M., Sayles Hall

A mysterious entry for tonight. What exactly is SPECtaculaire Paris? Who is hosting this cryptic event? What will happen there? I’m picturing a lot of black and white striped shirts, berets, and baguettes, but that’s pure speculation. Here are the facts: if you go to Sayles Hall tonight, there will be a chocolate fountain, cheese fondue, pastries & fresh crepes. They had me at chocolate fountain.

A Thousand Voices

8:00-11:55 P.M., Production Workshop Upspace

Brown’s Listening LabOratory invites you to “listen and wander through” tonight, the first of three performance events that “aim to transform the listeners into performers within the community of voices.” Sounds like the perfect thing for a rainy Providence night, but do yourself a favor and SafeRide it.

— Anne Speyer

That's her in the back. Sorry, it's the only photo we could find. Dean Rutz / MCT

We’ve already brought you news of Dow Travers ’12 representing the Cayman Islands in the giant slalom.

Becky Kellar ’97 is at the Olympics too, on the ice as a member of Canada’s gold medal hockey team. Kellar, who played hockey and softball as a Bear, will compete today for her third gold medal — against the Americans, as is usually the case. Feeling torn?

Tune back in to BlogDailyHerald after the 3:30 game for more.

Whether you sensed a disturbance in the force, have had it marked on your calendar for weeks or are just wondering where all these old people came from and when they’ll leave, you may be aware that this weekend is Corporation weekend. If you have no idea what the corporation does and don’t have a ladder ready to find out, don’t worry, we’re on the case.

For now, just know: it’s not these guys. Oops.

projo.com

Supt. Frances Gallo’s plan to fire all teachers at a Central Falls high school has aroused ire from teachers and nation-wide publicity. Or, as the Projo headline now reads, it has “thurst (Central Falls) into school reform forefront.”

A Brown poll found that likely voters favor General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio over Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch in the Democratic primary race for governor.  Patrick Lynch’s brother, state Democratic Chairman Bill Lynch is running for Patrick Kennedy’s House seat.  Lincoln Chafee — an independent and potential spoiler for the Democrats in the gubernatorial race — is “the man to beat,” according to the article.

Rain is in the forecast for the next few days, and to top it all off, we may be getting snow on Friday morning.  Also in effect: a flood warning for Cranston’s Pawtuxet River and a coastal flood watch.  Happy puddle-jumping!

Name: Steven Lavallee

Age: 54

Occupation: Head, Friedman Study Center

What’s your job description, in one sentence? I partner and coordinate with an array of people, groups and university offices to ensure that both the Friedman Study Center and the Sciences Library’s services are continuously renewing and adapting to serve the ever-evolving needs of our busy, hard-working clientele.

After the jump, Lavallee reveals his culinary preferences. Hint: Kabob & Curry. [Read more →]

Greetings from lovely Barcelona, currently home to an unfinished church, a rather good soccer team, and at least ten Brown students.

I’m one of them, and I’ll be blogging here occasionally to share anecdotes and observations about life and school abroad. I’ll try not to gloat about the weather too often and focus on some things Barcelona and Brown have in common. Topic one: volunteerism.

Apparently there’s some economic trouble here, and the public schools can’t afford to pay language assistants anymore. Instead, they’ve been training native English speaking students to help with small group conversation. I started today, working with groups of five 16-year-olds who had been instructed to ask me questions about my exotic American life. Aside from “Do you speak Catalan or Spanish?” (I do, but I’m supposed to pretend I don’t) the most common question was, “Where are you from?”

Not counting one H.P. Lovecraft fan, “Providence” drew blank stares, as did “Rhode Island.” Finally I went with, “It’s forty-five minutes south of Boston by train.” That sentence may have included too many prepositions, because afterwards the students just wanted to hear about Manhattan.

Eventually, though, I hit a breakthrough. As it turns out, sixteen-year-old girls in Spain really like Gossip Girl, and Gossip Girl’s beautiful blonde heartbreaker, Serena van der Woodsen, almost went to Brown. “That’s where I go to school,” I said. And their responses?

“Ooooh.”

“¡Que guay!”

“Wait, how do you say guay in English?”

“…cool?”

— Emma Berry

Commissar Markov has long been a loyal party member, but I fear his growing influence in state policy. Perhaps it is time to cash in a favor from my friends at the Kremlin.

LOLcats for the Russian Lit student. In fact, probably a Russian Lit final project.

Lunch: V-Dub. The Ratty has much of the same today, so stop by the V-Dub for an enchilada bar and grilled Montreal chicken.

Dinner: V-Dub. The V-Dub is hosting the Cape Verdean Dinner Special, and that means a tasty BBQ chicken dinner with Pudim de Leite to top it all off. (That means flan for all of you non-Cape Verdeans.)

Central Falls has gone through with its promise to fire its 93 high school teachers, specialists and staff members. Many students and union members are outraged, while Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave his support to the education officials.

According to a poll conducted by Brown, General Treasurer Frank Caprio is currently beating Attorney General Patrick Lynch in the governor primary on the Democrats’ side, but independent candidate Lincoln Chafee is possibly proving that voters are fed up with the two major political parties: he fared the best when the poll asked about the general election.

Hey, weather? Think you could cut it out with all the advisories and weather watches and stuff? We know you didn’t really deliver on the whole “blizzard of the century” thing, but now that we’re under a flood watch until Friday and our socks are soaked through, we really don’t think you need to feel obligated to make it up to us.

But hey, since you’re not likely to be all that interested in the weather — and if you are, it’s probably because it’s driving you nuts — note instead that the State Health Department is moving forward with the medical marijuana compassion centers, even if that just means they’re looking at all their submissions on the issue and will decide what to do next week. Ah, compassion and cannabis—you can’t stay mad for long with that in mind.