Posts by Miriam Furst

What a warm, nutmeg-filled burden we bear

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With the 31st falling on a Wednesday this year, all of Brunonia is confused as to which set of days truly counts as Halloweekend. We’re already having our heads split in two by midterms, so the last thing we need to worry about is which Friday night will be the Friday night we break out our set of prosthetic feet and ears and become the first hobbit to do kegstands on top of the statue of Marcus Aurelius. Can’t decide on a weekend to live large?  Friends, we must resolve this issue. Before you let us know when you think Halloween should be, let’s open it up for discussion.

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If you haven’t noticed the masses of parents all over campus, you should know that today marks the beginning of Brown’s Annual Family Weekend. Whether your parents are flying across the country or just driving to College Hill, they’re very eager to see you. And, unlike when a friend visits on Spring Weekend, you need to actually plan what you’re going to do with your visitors for every second of these two days.

If your parents are driving here, don’t underestimate the speed at which they will arrive, like I did my freshman year. You don’t want to wake up to a “we’ll be outside your dorm in five minutes” text Saturday morning, unless of course one of your planned activities is having your family watch you swiffer your floor.

Instead of repeating my mistake, impress your family by having activities planned for the weekend. Check out some ways to maximize family time and keep your parents and siblings entertained during their visit to Brunonia after the jump.

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October is now upon us. You know what that means: it’s officially time to take advantage of the pumpkin-flavored beverages, food, and activities ubiquitous during the best month of the year. Make the pumpkin a staple in your daily routine this fall.

Start your morning off with a Starbucks pumpkin latte or a pumpkin spice chai at Tealuxe. On the topic of pumpkin beverages, Woodchuck makes pumpkin cider, and the Alehouse has pumpkin infused beers this month, for those over 21.

If you’re right on campus, try a pumpkin muffin at the Blue Room. Even if you’re off meal plan, they’re worth using real money for—they’re one of the reasons fall at Brown is awesome.

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From 12 – 4 p.m. tomorrow, CareerLab will host its annual Fall Career Fair with over 90 representatives from well-known organizations like Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook. As you eagerly enter Sayles Hall, remember to think of the dos and don’ts of career fair etiquette.

If you’re trying to land a job interview make a bad impression, consider doing the following…

1) Give all the employers pretentious business cards with your name and concentration. Handing a future employer a business card with the impressive  obvious title “Brown student” will probably give them a good laugh.

2) Employers love enthusiasm so use this occasion to sport your “Brown State” shirt to highlight your excitement for homecoming this weekend.

3) Speaking of clothing, the fair does happen to fall on Wednesday, which means you should wear to the fair whatever you plan on wearing to Whisko later. If someone asks why you’re dressed the way you are, just explain where you’re going after to emphasize that you have “social” and “people” skills.

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The transition from declining balance to Bear Bucks may at first seem just as confusing as Keeney becoming the nicest dorm on campus. In reality though, it’s really not that different the same thing.

Blog investigated and found out that you can use Bear Bucks anywhere on campus and for your laundry. The money left on your card rolls over from year to year and is refunded following graduation.

You can add money to your account at the cashier’s office, located on the second floor of the Brown Office Building above the bookstore, or at “Value Point” machines, located at the Rock, SciLi, CIT, Jo’s, the Bookstore, Emery-Woolley Hall, 22 Richmond Street, and the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center.

Bottom Line: If you hate change, you’re in luck. Bear Bucks is just declining balance with a catchier name.

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Over the years, the Brown student body has accumulated all types of labels and rankings: happiest, douchiest, trendiest. Now we can add entrepreneurial to the list: Forbes published a list of the most entrepreneurial colleges and used LinkedIn profiles to identify graduates who have founded companies with ten or more employees. Out of twenty schools, Brown came in at No. 13.

The inside caps of the Nantucket Nectars bottles feature facts about the founders Tom First '89 and Tom Scott '90.

This ranking is not at all surprising: From on-campus businesses like MunchCard to national brands such as Nantucket Nectars, Brunonians have always had a flair for startups. Classes like Professor Hazeltine’s Engn90: Managerial Decision Making require students to make business plans that start as class assignments but often become actual companies later. Entrepreneurship runs in Brunonians’ veins.

In other rankings news, Forbes also released their list of America’s top colleges on which Brown came in at No. 19. In The Daily Beast’s yearly crop of rankings, we ranked 23rd for most liberal (only 23rd? Really?) and in sixth for most stressful, a ranking that seems to be based on a combination of financial aid, acceptance rates, and crime. Needless to say, if Orgo were part of the criteria, we probably would have placed higher in this category. This aforementioned stress may have something to do with the fact that we’re now considered fourth happiest. Sure, this ranking is a bit lower than what we’re used to, but here’s to hoping that Princeton Review’s 2013 rankings will bring us better news in the happiness category.

The strangest ranking of all? Brown tied for 49th (with China’s Peking University) on Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings. Had Brunonia scored just a few points higher, we could’ve tied with the University of Minnesota. Yes, you read that right.

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Pinkberry, the frozen yogurt franchise from Los Angeles, is opening this summer at the Providence Place Mall. For those of you whose first exposure to froyo was on Thayer Street, Pinkberry first opened in 2005 and, following its success and spread to the East Coast, competitors responded to the froyo sensation by opening other froyo chains and independent Pinkberry knock-offs… hence, Juniper on Thayer (once again: Sorry, Juniper).

The store hopes to open by July 12, according to Brian Galvin, who handles Pinkberry’s public relations. He also asked in an email to BlogDailyHerald what we’d think of a potential Pinkberry on Thayer. While we’re not making any promises, FroyoWorld and Juniper might face some neighborly competition soon.

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Sir Kensington's Gourmet Ketchup is the Ratty's newest addition.

The Daily Meal, an online food and drink blog, recently re-ranked the country’s “Top 20 universities“ based exclusively on the quality of their dining services. Even though the writers praised Brown’s ability to cater to vegetarian and kosher eaters, we still came in close to last out of the 20 schools, with our ranking at #18.

The number one school on the list, Washington University in St. Louis, might offer a kitchen space where students can learn to make sushi, but I doubt its dining halls can get fratty like the Ratty. And, as if the Ratty didn’t have enough surprises over the weekend, today it introduced Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup — a brand created by two Brown alums.

We might only be #18 on the Daily Meal list, but at least we have alternative ketchup, Gail, and as of tomorrow, Mama Kim’s at the Blue Room.

The Princeton Review released a new guidebook on April 3 entitled The Best 300 Professors. The Princeton Review creates books for high school students, ranking colleges based on different criteria from best campus food to happiest students (a list we occasionally top).

In its most recent book, The Princeton Review collaborated with RateMyProfessors.com, students and administrators from colleges across the nation. According to GoLocalProv, Brown is the only school in Rhode Island to have any professors mentioned in the book. With five professors on the list, Brown is one of the best represented colleges. So, as pre-registeration for next fall approaches, consider enrolling in a class with one of these professors, whose areas of specialty and Fall ’12 course offerings are listed below…

• Barrett Hazeltine, engineering (ENGN9)
• Joseph Pucci, classics (The Idea of Self, Fortunatus)
• Stephanie Ravillon, French (Fren30, Fren60)
• Robert Serrano, economics (Microeconomics I)
• Daniel Stupar, studio art (unlisted for Fall ’12)

And, if you’re a second semester senior and haven’t had the chance to take a class with any of these professors, at least make your way to Professor Hazeltine’s office in Barus & Holley, introduce yourself, and receive a legendary handshake.

To no one’s surprise, most Brown students spent about five minutes this morning, between 8 and 8:05, clicking refresh over and over again on the Brown Marketplace website. Around 8:10, most Brunonians gave up, went back to sleep, or angrily updated their Facebook statuses.

Freshman year, when I lived in Keeney, newbies to Spring Weekend ran around the halls shrieking and thinking that the problem lay in their computers or internet connections. My friends and I tried to use each other’s computers, plug in ethernets, and use different web browsers.

No upperclassmen engage in such efforts though. They’re not surprised when the BSA website crashes. In fact, I would have been more surprised if I actually walked away from my computer today with two spring weekend tickets.To be honest, I don’t know why I bothered trying…

It’s pretty absurd that most of the student body wakes up to try to get tickets when year after year the system fails. How can this be this difficult? It’s really time for a new system. Whether that means having students buy tickets in order of class year, like Banner pre-registration, or some sort of system involving a Ticket Oak, BCA needs to mastermind something new.

And, on a side note, though the cost is steeper, it’s easier to get tickets for Coachella.