Posts by Sarah Weiss

To chill or not to chill? A reading period mantra. During times like these (with little-to-no class…or, if you’re unlucky, a lot of class), it’s easy to get distracted. Suddenly everything in New England may look super fun and enticingly adventurous—that’s totally normal. Although I won’t encourage you to drop the books and find a car and zip to the destination of your dreams….who am I kidding? That’s exactly what I’m going to do.

If you find that you’re coming to resemble the above animation, consider putting brakes on the studying and indulging in some you time. Consider doing one of the following:

1. Go to the RISD Farm in Barrington, RI (it’s actually a beach). It’s beautiful, a stone’s throw away, and it’s private! Only Brown or RISD students allowed, so bring your ID. Try biking there for a good workout. [Read more →]

The competition has been fierce. The captions witty, deft, and cheeky. The quippy quotations were so brilliant we had to fight them off with an army of Furbies. But it’s all over now. The first annual Spring Weekend Caption Contest has come to a close. Here are the results:

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As the fog of Spring Weekend settles over College Hill, you’re probably trying to piece together all the details of all that occurred this weekend. You’re likely asking yourself, WTF even happened this weekend? The past few days have been a whirlwind of tomfoolery, and BlogDH wants to get your take on the experience… and what you think you remember went down this weekend.

Here are three cartoons that need some captioning. Tell us what you were saying/thinking at these moments by commenting on each picture (like the one below) in our Facebook album. You may just see your caption in the thought bubbles published on our Facebook page. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

In middle school I went through a quick-bread-making phase. They were all banana breads, but I would put a whole bunch of other things in there. I made pear bread with walnuts. Then I made apple bread. Then carrot cake bread. And maybe, if I was feeling unoriginal, I made some plain ‘ole banana bread. Baking was something I did when I was extremely bored, and, while it was fun, I don’t think I was getting the point yet.

Maybe it was because I was just baking. I continued to sporadically bake throughout high school, but since I had exhausted the quick bread (may it rest in peace) I had to expand my repertoire. My new baked goods of choice were cakes, because I liked decorating them (and pretending like I worked at Charm City Cakes…a back pocket career move that I’m still saving). But baking’s downfall is that no one really wants to eat what you make. Baked goods are extra. Put them on the table in your home or dorm, and people will devour them when stressed out or drunk, but that’s not very glamorous. My cakes were pretty, but they would usually go to waste unless I forced any and all visitors to have a slice.

But cooking a meal is different. People really want to eat a meal. If you make dinner (especially if you time things wrong and it’s not ready until 9:00 p.m. and your family almost wishes you would just go back to college so they could eat at a decent time of night) people will be hungry when it’s served. Remember: hunger is the best sauce. They will be planning on eating your food, and they’ll spend more than a minute doing it.

It took me until this past winter break to start seeing why cooking is fun and fulfilling and communal and delicious. And I wouldn’t have delved into such a wonderful pastime if my little brother, Ben, had not recently become so interested in the culinary arts. Fortunately, I had nothing to do over break — a time I usually devote to a combination of eating and sleeping — so I became his devoted sous chef. Preparing meals with Ben soon became a part of my busy schedule. We made lamb filled wontons, duck gumbo, bibimbap, salted caramel ice cream, black bean burgers, and potato leak soup, among other things. I even learned how to use a mandolin to cut fruits and vegetables so thin that you could see through them.

But the mandolin (to to be confused with the instrument) wasn’t the only thing I learned about. Cooking, especially with someone whose company you enjoy, can change the way you think about food. And if you’re anything like me, food is a HUGE part of your life. Check out some things I learned that you can apply to even the smallest cooking excursions (like when I make an adapted Tiramisu in the Ratty) after the jump:

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You may know that kid from the first row of Principles of Econ, or from the Canvas page for Social Psychology. Having trouble spotting him? Look for a glint in his eyes when he talks about Environmental Studies or Neuroscience. That [Survey Course] Kids are everywhere.

Survey courses have the potential to induce this fervor and enthusiasm  in any and all students, especially when we’re feeling uninspired — trolling for a passion. And as indecisive American college students, we’re always ready to hop on the bandwagon of the next big thing. Trust me. I read the Social Psychology textbook cover to cover last year and proceeded to tout it as my second concentration. I now actively insert terms like “cognitive dissonance” into my everyday conversations. It’s infectious.

Here are some course offerings that tend to ignite such enthusiasm. Keep them in mind as you take a look at what you’ve just pre-registered for. Any of the mentioned courses could be just what you (underclassmen) are looking for in a new direction:

Humans, Nature, and the Environment: Addressing Environmental Change in the 21st Century (ENVS0110): First you’ll start recycling. Then you’ll purchase a bike on Craigslist. And before you know it, you’ll be making your own granola every week. This introduction to Environmental Studies offers a perfectly relevant platform for an invigorating academic obsession. With discussion section in Brown’s quaint University Environmental Laboratory — where one finds him/herself surrounded by a kitchen and an organic garden while discussing sustainability on the reg — it’s hard not to feel the cool factor of this area of interest. Everyone who passes through this building seems to have the passion that you seek. It’s tempting. [Read more →]

The wise sage Jason Mraz once said, “The sophomore slump is an uphill battle.” Sure, it may seem that way, but we’re here to make that hill a little less daunting. Introducing The Anti-Slump, a new series that gives you the motivation to win that uphill battle. So flock to us whenever you feel the slump creeping up on you — we’ll be here every other week with another helpful piece of guidance or generally inspirational tid-bits to help you shake up your sophomore year.

The myth of the sophomore slump is real. But it doesn’t have to be. Sophomore year is a time when academics get more serious, things get familiar enough for you to breathe, and a lowly second-year realizes how much of Brown there is left to discover. But sophomore year is all about motivating yourself — and that’s where we come in — because there’s no one else that’s going to force you to. At this stage in the game there are no Meikeljohns, First-Year Seminars or unit meetings, but there are still so many questions left unanswered.

To start you off, here is a lil bucket list that we have compiled, which will help us motivate ourselves, too. We’re setting the bar high and so should you! It’s all about keeping up the ambition. Check it out after the jump.

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This semester, I am taking my third visual art studio class at Brown. That means I’ve already gotten through two semesters of sharing List’s white-washed, fluorescent-lit workrooms without running into the kind of situation that I did a couple weekends ago.

It was the kind of situation where you can imagine yourself lashing out at those around you, but don’t actually, because you know it will be more fun to complain to your friends about it later, FlogDailyHerald-style.

So here it goes: I listened to a total of ten hours of K-pop (Korean pop music), all of which could be heard over the sound of my own in-ear soundtrack of sensitive girl music (admittedly there was some James Taylor in there) and the new Bombay Bicycle Club album (well, I had to make myself look cool after the aforementioned confession, didn’t I?). I tried to tune out my peers’ ambiance music, but alas, I did not succeed. I am now confident that I can sing more than half of these catchy Korean melodies from memory.

With midterms now upon us, the libraries have become packed with crazed, zombie-like students, influencing many of us to opt to study in an alternative location. Fortunately, Brown has lots of shared study spaces for you to take advantage of. Sure, they’re not libraries, but they still require you to use your manners and be polite. But how do you properly share those spaces with others? Check out our tips after the jump.

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You can feel the changes already: one month into the semester and you’re actually (somewhat) acclimated to life at Brown. You’ve figured out your classes (and took the S/NC jump), you have more than two people to sit with in the Ratty (and finally got that creepy dude off your back), and are well on your way to comprehending the difference between credits and points (one of them is for muffins only, right?).  Looks like the only things left to master are homework and living for the weekend.

Oh, right…the weekend.

There are a lot of activities I could advocate for and against here, but for brevity’s sake, this post will deal with the locale where a lot of them will probably take place: Wriston Quad. One-armed Caesar Augustus has seen enough shenanigans in his day (and survived a hurricane!), so make his rusty visage proud by handling yourself like a champ in these situations.

But I’m basically Ansel Adams!

As inebriation and the hysteria of seeing your best friend from POLS 40 in the basement of Sigma set in, cameras and iPhones will inevitably be yanked out of purses and pockets. Like a well-built piece of flypaper, anything with a camera in it causes the more narcissistic of us to flock towards the flash. So go easy on the party’s flow – don’t take more than two pictures of the same group of people. Stick to one serious, one funny. You’ll wake up the next morning and not remember half of their names, so make the tagging easier and keep your photo seminars brief.

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You may know him from Campus Dance. Or last fall’s BCA Speakeasy. Or his Stevie Wonder cover band. Or Caffe Vivaldi in New York City. Clyde Lawrence ’15 is our resident Soulman. When he’s not doing crosswords at Chicken Finger Friday or playing Mafia in his suite, the sophomore musician is writing, recording, and performing his original songs…and some covers, too.

But this week, Clyde Lawrence and his band, which includes Jonny Koh ’13, Sam Askin ’13 and Greg Nissan ’15, made their waves at The Spot (15 Elbow St.) right here in Providence. The four took the stage to follow a lively set by the venue’s house band — two of its members donned Dumbledore beards and while one played the washboard. The performance was a great way to get out of “the bubble” and appreciate Brown’s extremely talented community in an off-campus setting.

The band played eight original songs and two covers (one was a rendition of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which can also be found on YouTube and is getting attention in France) for a doting crowd.  To hear some of his original songs, check out the rest of Clyde’s YouTube channel or his website.

Check out some photos from the performance (via Tom Sullivan ’15) after the jump.

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