As the semester progresses at the speed of light, the senior class is beginning to make peace with that fateful day in May: Commencement. Until the class of 2013 leaves us, BlogDH wants to highlight all the interesting things the class has been up to. To this end, we are (re)starting a series, Last Call, featuring seniors reflecting on their experiences at Brown. Each featured senior will tag another senior for the next installment. Find this year’s other “Last Call” chain back here on Thursday!

Then + Now

People might know me as…  The tall blonde girl who wears a lot of beanies and black.

In my time at Brown, I am most proud of… Obviously my friends. But also editing three issues of Facture Arts Journal, a biannual journal that features art criticism, art historical essays as well as student art. [Read more →]

This afternoon, President Christina Paxson gave her first “State of Brown” speech. Though, in her words, it was more of a “discussion” than a speech, it stuck largely to the stated agenda of reviewing the strategic planning process from the past year. Since there were only about 40 non-UCS, non-University administration members of the community in Salomon 101—I blame it on the beautiful weather—it’s safe to assume most of you need to know the highlights of the speech. Read it; it’s worth knowing what’s actually going on with your school.

1. “Brown… needs to be Brown.” Paxson said this while recounting how her undergraduate experience at Swarthmore (she dabbled in English and Philosophy before landing on Economics her junior year) gave her a deep appreciation of the liberal arts education. Any changes that come with evolutions in education, such as online classes (more on that later), will not come at the expense of what makes Brown special.

2. Priorities for Strategic Planning. The academic priorities were brain science, public health, engineering, humanities, the Watson Institute, and a building for environmental research and teaching. Student life priorities were housing and athletics. The access priority was financial aid.

3. The new School of Public Health will be “distinctive” in that it will have plenty of opportunities for undergraduate participation.

[Read more →]

Casual law-breaking on Thayer; photographed holding just-purchased illegal substances.

College students are used to breaking the law (we’re not going to go into specifics here, but we’re sure you get the idea). However, there are some laws that make you wonder what had to go so wrong to create the need for a law against it. I decided to live on the edge and test the limits of the Providence Police (ProPo, as opposed to BroPo) by breaking some ridiculous Rhode Island laws.

You may not sell toothpaste and a toothbrush to the same customer on a Sunday in Providence.

I can’t even imagine where this law came from. Maybe churchgoers love morning breath? Or eating toothpaste while massaging your face with a toothbrush is a secret Sunday hangover cure? Anyway, I went to CVS last Sunday to once again do some badass law-breaking. I carefully selected a tube of Crest toothpaste and an Oral-B toothbrush and brought them to the register; I wasn’t trying to sneak around the law by using an Express Check-Out station. To my surprise, the cashier sold me the toothpaste and toothbrush together on a Sunday! But he conspicuously did not give me a receipt, so I’m assuming this was part of an elaborate cover-up effort. Although I was able to get CVS to break this law, I’m sure it’s super serious, so don’t come running to me if someone gets arrested—you’ve been warned.

It is illegal to wear transparent clothing in Providence.

I’m guessing that this law resulted from some Hangover-inspired night gone wrong. I wanted to see how seriously this law is taken, so I walked down Thayer in a transparent top. Although I got some weird looks, possibly resulting from the fact that it was 30° and my shirt was completely see-through, no one tried to make a citizen’s arrest (unfortunately I couldn’t find any police to break the law in front of). So for all of you who are guilty of this every weekend, don’t worry: the BroPo has better things to bust you for. Note that Rhode Island has no specific statute against Indecent Exposure, so if you’re planning on wearing a transparent shirt, just do the legal thing and go topless instead. [Read more →]

Almost a year ago, as excited as I was to become a Brown student, I had resigned myself to the fact that both the food and housing here could be a little better.

Coming in with lower than low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised during my first trip to the Ivy Room, where the pretty decent food is complemented by a full-service(ish) smoothie bar. But just as it was intimidating to navigate the open curriculum for myself, I found my autonomy in smoothie options overwhelming—how was I to know how guava juice or peach would affect the taste of my smoothie? Like anyone else, I just wanted to find a combo that worked and stick with it.

So, all in the name of my demonic food lust  love of investigative journalism, I decided to set out in search of the formula for the perfect Ivy Room smoothie. But, given the endless number of combinations, I knew I would never get there by myself.  So I decided to ask the people who know the ways of the smoothie best, the BuDS staff.

For five consecutive nights, I went to the Ivy Room and gave the person behind the counter the ultimate “that guy” request to make me his/her favorite smoothie. Check out what I found after the jump. [Read more →]

Have you ever gone to the Ratty incredibly hungry, only to find that there seems to be nothing to eat at all? Do you walk through those heavy doors ready to put your gastronomical skills to the test, but leave uninspired and unsatisfied? Enter Connie Wu ’12.5 and Annie Wu ’12.5, the twins who have elevated your Ratty experience from one of whining to one of fine dining.

Connie and Annie have incredible vision, creativity, and culinary skills; they’re the masterminds behind Ratty Gourmet, a comprehensive blog that catalogues their various Ratty creations with accompanying photographs and recipes. Needless to say, these two have most definitely changed the Ratty game for hundreds of Brown students.

Let these two master chefs walk you through the steps to whip up this Ratty delicacy and teach you the tricks of their trade. Cajun Chicken Broccoli Pasta is on today’s menu. Watch, learn, and become inspired to culinary action.

Introducing Humans of the Brown University presented by BlogDailyHerald! Inspired by Humans of New York, Humans of Brown University will collect stories and quotes from your peers so you can get to learn more about the humans on our campus. We’ve gone out into the field and snapped some pictures of humans (i.e., your peers) at Brown University in their respective elements and on the move. Check BlogDH (and our Facebook page) every Tuesday for new humans and stories. (We’re sorry if you don’t find the label “humans” politically correct; if you’d prefer to be called a squirrel or an alien, please drop us a line and we’ll make the appropriate adjustments.) Enjoy! 

“I love Sayles Hall, built in 1883. (I’m a tour guide.)”

“What are you studying?”
“Physics.”
“When is it?”
“Tonight.” [Read more →]

One of the campers pictured here bought those godawful JWW chairs. Tonight, he’ll sit close to the fire. Too close.

Despite the public perception that we’re the happiest students in the nation, Brown students and members of the administration have got a lot of ground to make up in a disturbing number of important areas. Our landscaping, for instance. Our entering/exiting architectural choices. Our “these chairs aren’t functional but who cares because apparently purchasing working things from Ikea would lose us street cred or something” decisions. And the list goes on.

FlogDailyHerald’s mission is to bring to light these failures, these persistent aggravations, in an attempt to spark some intervention on the part of the U and its student body (the authors of BlogDailyHerald and its malnourished sister publication, the Brown Daily Herald, being naturally above reproach). This screenshot of our inbox following the publication of our last Flog shows you just how well the student body has responded to our suggestions. Our writers are invested heavily in the Flogging process, to the extent that we’re in sponsorship talks with Mister Sister.

We realize, though, that the portion of humanity that exists beyond our impossibly virtuous staff is filled with folks eager to have their say. Who are we to deny the voices of our nation community school narrow group of Facebook friends? Witness, now, the birth of a new era of Flogging: the Fireside Flog. We’ll sit down and chat with completely real, not made up at all members of the Brown community, listening to their candid, uncensored view of what’s going wrong around here. Most importantly, we’ll try to show both sides of the issues: some of our Firesides will be with the victims, some with the very perpetrators we dream of [insert frightening gerund here]. Though these are conversations, we still strive to meet the challenge of FDR’s Fireside Chats – because really, what were his warm radio narratives if not extended monologues of “shit’s fucked so here’s unsolicited advice”? That’s nutshell enough for our vision.

Let’s get cracking.

Fireside Flog: “I mean, diagonal crossing is easier.”  [Read more →]

Dear Head Coach Mike Martin ’94 and the Brown University Bears Varsity Men’s Basketball Team,

I hope this missive finds you well. I am first and foremost a fan of your team–one of a select group, really–but I am also a concerned freshman at the university you represent. You see, there are only a few things I want to come away with from my college experience: a decent education; some good memories; some means of securing steady and potentially lucrative employment; and a trip to the NCAA Divison I Men’s Basketball tournament.

Unfortunately, this latter desire seems out of reach. Reaching the NCAA tournament (aka March Madness, aka The Big Dance) requires winning the Ivy League regular-season title: the Ivy League–echoing its academically elitist, survival-of-the-fittest ethos–is the only of the 32 D-I conferences that does not hold a postseason tournament to determine its winner. Postseason tournaments reward good teams, but they also reward lucky ones. Regular-season championships only reward good teams. And as an alumnus like yourself probably knows, Coach Martin, the Brown basketball program has had trouble offering any good teams, much less consistently good teams.

Before I go any further, I want to offer the following disclaimer: I love the Brown basketball team. I attended three of the past four home games, and only missed the fourth because of an unavoidable scheduling conflict. I am possibly the only person ever to download the 790 AM Radio app in order to listen to Brown basketball games on my phone. I have used ESPN’s Gamecast feature to follow every road game of consequence. And I think, from my admittedly limited observation, that every single member of the team seems like both a good human being and a competent basketball player. I just wish this collection of good human beings and competent basketball players could provide Brown the one additional dimension it sorely lacks (besides global prestige on par with its rivals, decent weather, and a nap room). [Read more →]

This Sunday, RISD alum Seth MacFarlane will take the mic to host the 85th Academy Awards (7 p.m., ABC). It’s been a solid year for film, with nine incredibly diverse Best Picture nominees vying for a place in the Oscar pantheon.

Before we get into our predictions, we’d be remiss not to mention just how surprising the nominations were. There were audible gasps from the journalists at the live-streamed announcement ceremony in January when both Best Director frontrunners (Argo‘s Ben Affleck and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Kathryn Bigelow) were passed over for nominations, leaving us to wonder: Can Argo pull off the win everyone expects without Affleck on the roster? The Director category is a historical determining factor for Best Picture, given:

• About three-fourths of all Picture winners also win Director, and
• A mere three films ever have scored Picture without a nom for Director. And it’s only happened once (1989′s Driving Miss Daisy) in the last eighty years. Good luck defying those odds, Argo.

[Read more →]

Surprisingly, this isn’t a Kiss concert.

There’s a joke concerning a group of certain well-known electronic musicians: how many members of Swedish House Mafia does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Three; one to screw it in and two to stand next to him, pretending like they’re doing something.

We Americans stand at the beginning of a potential new era in our country’s music. The rise of EDM, or Electronic Dance Music, in mainstream, middle-American culture has been both swift and widespread. Musicians formerly restricted to the realms of house and electro – Calvin Harris and David Guetta spring to mind – now produce regularly for pop stars, and the overwhelming popularity of songs like “I Gotta Feeling” suggests that electronic sound has caught on. Outdoor festival lineups, formerly the near-exclusive domains of acoustic indie and hip-hop, are now saturated with artists spinning danceable tunes. You’ve probably heard at least a few people enthusing about the latest Avicii/Alesso/Axwell/insert Swede whose name starts with “A” here concert they attended in the last few months. For better or for worse, electronic dance music is now a common part of many an average American’s life. But are we doing it right? [Read more →]