Tangents and Tirades

Relay For Life I'd like to dedicate my tangent today to all of the people who made Relay for Life such a great event. Not only did we raise an incredible amount of money ($118,000!), but the event ran smoothly and was a lot of fun. One of the best things about Relay, besides raising money and awareness about cancer, is that you get to be in the same place at the same time as most of your friends and people you don't get to see as often. Having such busy schedules and people choosing to go to their respective favorite bars or house parties on the weekends makes it hard for you to see everyone you want. There are rare times that the entire school can get together, be sober, and have a good time. Things like the music performances, the moving Luminaria ceremony, and the hilarious Ms. Relay pageant made this event a success. Everyone who went and worked on it should be proud of themselves.-Andy Kowal '10

Regretting the Renevation I openly pronounce my appreciation for the Philips Memorial Library and the facelift it got this past fall: With shelves that move and make me feel like Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones caught in a booby trap of closing cave walls, in addition to a new self-check out station located immediately next to an idle librarian, I'm all smiles every time I walk through the door (the door that STILL weighs 200 pounds). However, I have a large, woolly mammoth fossil-sized bone to pick with the new setup. Now that there are large tables on the second floor instead of rows of cubicles, there are markedly fewer seating options. It's much more aesthetically pleasing, I admit, but also less efficient. Whenever I haul myself and my work to the library, I find I must take three laps around the joint before I can find the gall to encroach upon someone's space and plop down at a table. Those new common room-esque couch/chair complexes likewise make for awkward moments when you catch yourself playing accidental footsy with the Air Jordans of the person opposite you. The library may be bookishly chic these days, but I prefer the graffiti-ridden cubicles of old.-Maryclaire Dugre '10