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The Eye | Feb 9 7:17 PM EST
Break it down
99 Problems (But a beat ain’t one)
Courtesy thelocoworld.com
By David Salazar
The Lead in this week’s issue of The Eye shines a light on the burgeoning number of LGBT rappers. Give it a read, and check out the work of the artist’s featured this week. With their ripped dancers, great shots of New York, and great beats, hopefully they’ll motivate you to hit up some clubs (or Glass House Rocks ) to start your weekend off right.
First up is Loco Ninja Ft. Lumidee and Carla Beretta with “I’m in Love.”
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Spectrum | Feb 9 5:42 PM EST
Rebuttals
What you’re missing about Park Slope
FlySi / flickr
By Raphael Pope-Sussman
Once in a while we’ll feature the perspective of someone who strongly disagrees with one of our posts. Today, a Columbia alum/Park Slope native takes issue with our jokes about his neighborhood.
When I was still in school at Columbia, a distant year ago, and people asked me where I was from, the response “Park Slope” inevitably elicited a laugh or a groan. I also heard, “Well, that’s not really Brooklyn” a lot.
Look, I am and will probably always be Park Slope’s harshest critic. The neighborhood has changed a lot since I was a little kid playing with Super Soakers out on the front stoop. It sounds silly to say, because Park Slope was already a very middle-class neighborhood when I born (in Park Slope, at Methodist Hospital, by the way), but it’s true.
Today, there are many more strollers and a lot fewer junkies on the block where I grew up. That’s probably an improvement, but it also has meant middle-class people (and working-class people) can’t afford to settle down in the neighborhood anymore. More »
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The Eye | Feb 9 3:21 PM EST
Eye Drop
Eye Drop: Highlights from this week’s magazine
By The Eye
Rap has always been about showing how tough you are and exuding machismo, but a burgeoning scene of openly gay rappers — from Azealia Banks to local rapper Loco Ninja—has been challenging that norm. In this week’s lead, Zoe Camp looks at the push against rap’s oldest taboo. [The Lead]
Codeacademy began at Columbia and has finally hit the big time—partnering with the White House with a summer program to teach kids code. Andrea Chan chats with former Columbian Mark Sims about one of the hottest new startups. [Eye to Eye]
Stephen Colbert has a Super PAC and is using it to point out how ridiculous American campaign finance law is. Emma Goss looks at Colbert, corporate money, and the new, not-so-subtle ways people are trying to buy the presidency. [Ideas]
Americans love Downton Abbey. More specifically, Americans love period pieces and opulence. Olivia Aylmer goes Downton to look at the new obsession with period dramas and the old obsession with royalty. [TV+Film]
A new poll shows waning faith in the impact of religion in America. Evan Shaver writes on religion and pop music, and how one is helping the other promote a better image and helping with religious solidarity. [20/20]
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Opinion | Feb 9 1:58 PM EST
Blosser
I still tie my laces using ‘bunny ears’
Caroline Blosser / Spec
By Caroline Blosser
Considering the more obvious examples like my age or the fact that I’m searching for post-graduation employment, maybe I should have seen this coming. And yet it came it as a bit of shock yesterday, as I was nailing an Abraham Lincoln poster above my bed and realized: I am becoming an adult person.
For example, I now own a hammer. My clothes are neatly folded in my drawers (some of the time). I have a folder for my tax returns (somewhere in my desk . . . or maybe under it?). I pulled a shard of glass from my foot yesterday with tweezers and didn’t even shed a tear (although I did put a Batman Band-Aid on it).
And, to top it all off, I’ve even begun wearing adult-person sweaters, the kind that are wooly and dark and have turtlenecks and character and ‘dry-clean-only’ tags. (But, in truth, I’ve yet to ever go to the dry cleaner. Baby steps.) More »
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Sports | Feb 9 12:07 PM EST
TUNE IN
Spectator SportsCast – Fencing can be dangerous and embarrassing
Courtesy of Columbia Athletics
By Mrinal Mohanka, Ronnie Shaban, Zach Glubiak, and Justine Hope
Welcome back! We’re proud to present the twelfth episode of the Spectator Sportscast, a weekly offering about Columbia varsity sports. Hosted by Spectator columnists and varsity soccer players Ronnie Shaban and Zach Glubiak, with fellow columnist and Spectrum daily editor Mrinal Mohanka, the SportsCast provides a succinct round-up of what happened last weekend, and what lies ahead for the Lions.
This edition includes the weekend’s basketball, wrestling, tennis, swimming and diving, and track and field events, and looks ahead to all the action coming up, featuring a special guest in senior fencer Sean Leahy.
Can people die while fencing? What has Greek life taught a student-athlete? Want to know Sean’s favorite thing about America? All that and more, including Sean being quizzed on interesting fencing terminology. Take a listen.
download this podcast (13.9 MB)
Email questions and comments for next week’s edition to podcast@columbiaspectator.com.
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Spectrum | Feb 9 9:28 AM EST
Wake-Up Call
Breaking: Poet makes money
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
By Samantha Henderson
It’s Thursday—finally. Moreover, tonight is Glass House Rocks in Lerner, starting at 9 p.m. Make it through those classes and head over!
Read this: School of the Arts associate professor Tim Donnelly has won the Kingsley Tufts award—and a prize of $100,000—for his book of poetry, “The Cloud Corporation.” [A&E]
Know this: Love Google Docs? Well, unfortunately, Columbia’s transition to Gmail won’t include it. [News]
Here’s more: Michel Shapiro changes his tune and argues that archery is worthy of big-time sports coverage. [Sports]
Cecilia Reyes seeks to tap into what it really means to be an immigrant at Columbia. [Opinion]
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Spectrum | Feb 9 1:11 AM EST
THE ONE-ELEVEN
In which nudity is a recurring theme
By Rebekah Mays
It’s late. You’re up. I know why you are reading this, so don’t try to pretend you’re interested in politics and actual news. But don’t worry, all in good time.
Actual news
Politics: This is an unbiased statement of fact: Republicans are bipolar. More »
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Spectrum | Feb 8 10:30 PM EST
LITTLE VICTORIES
Guess who’s speaking at graduation?
By Rebekah Mays
This series is all about celebrating the Little Victories here at Columbia. If you didn’t catch the latest post, we left our heroine celebrating the tasty secrets of Lerner. This week, she was excited to discover an intriguing email from DSpar.
First, I logged onto Barnard wi-fi on the first try. #littlevictories
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The Shaft | Feb 8 7:00 PM EST
dorm analysis
The LLC is not Hufflepuff
By Mikey Zhong
What’s there to know about the LLC besides that you get a single? Find out here!
I lived there for two years, in both Hartley and Wallach, and it’s an experience I’d definitely repeat again. So before I get to the diatribe, here’s the good stuff.
In defense of the LLC
1) The distance from the bottom step of Hartley to the bottom step of Hamilton is 79 feet (confirmed with a tape measure).
2) Your aim Other people’s aim can be three times as bad. Compared to Wien (two bathrooms for 46 rooms), Schapiro (two bathrooms for 30 rooms), the LLC (three bathrooms for 30 rooms) is pretty good. I’m serious about this. Especially since LLC is a dry dorm, you will never have to clean up other people’s mess. You also get three times as many TVs and three times as many common areas to study in. Don’t underestimate this. More »
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The Eye | Feb 8 5:13 PM EST
Reading's so over
How my liberal arts education ruined reading
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
By Parul Guliani
Look out every Wednesday for a new installment of The Eye’s recurring series: How my liberal arts education ruined… This week: Reading.
It’s official. Lit Hum has ruined reading for me. The class that’s supposed to be all about celebrating the greatest works of writing ever produced by Western society, Lit Hum was supposed to be a literature lover’s dream come true, but it has killed my love of reading. Destroyed it. Annihilated it. Well, not really, but it’s made it pretty damn hard to keep up. More »
&snippet=The Lead in this week’s issue of The Eye shines a light on the burgeoning number of LGBT rappers. Give it a read, and check out the work of the artist’s featured this week. With their ripped dancers, great shots of New York, and great beats, hopefully they’ll motivate you to hit up some clubs (or Glass House Rocks ) to start your weekend off right.
First up is Loco Ninja Ft. Lumidee and Carla Beretta with “I’m in Love.”
Next on the list is Cazwell’s “Get My Money Back”
And last but not least, Lester with “Regular Person.”
regular person
Lester | Myspace Video
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, but it’s true.
Today, there are many more strollers and a lot fewer junkies on the block where I grew up. That’s probably an improvement, but it also has meant middle-class people (and working-class people) can’t afford to settle down in the neighborhood anymore.
My parents, a teacher and a professor at a public university, would never have been able to raise a family in the Park Slope of today. That’s not a tragedy (it’s a universal fact of New York at this point), but it’s maybe a bit disappointing.
Still, Park Slope has a tremendous amount to offer. It’s bougie (this is actually my mom’s block, no joke) and overpriced, but there is no shortage of things to do or see.
Park Slope is a tiny residential enclave, not Midtown, but it’s not devoid of “intellectual stimulation.” As others have pointed out, it’s walking distance to the Brooklyn Museum. It’s also walking distance to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, as well as BAM (the oldest continuously operating theater in America). Red Hook and its art spaces aren’t far away. Within the neighborhood proper there are tons of restaurants and a few places to hear live music. There’s local favorite Community Books—one of the city’s most important bookstores.
“Celebrate Brooklyn” brings out huge crowds in the summer for movies and music, and the Met and the NY Phil come to the park in the summer, so there’s also opera or classical music to be heard.
There’s also Prospect Park, which—as many a dyed-in-the-wool Brooklynite will proudly remind visitors—Frederick Law Olmstead considered his masterpiece. I’m glad Sara’s post mentioned that the neighborhood is scenic, but to go to Park Slope and not visit (or at least not mention) Prospect Park is no small sin of omission. You might also consider hopping over to Greenwood Cemetery, which is gloriously verdant and peaceful, not to mention full of famous dead people such as Leonard Bernstein, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Henry Ward Beecher, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Also Boss Tweed.
Grand Army Plaza, particularly when it’s lit up at night, is one of the more beautiful open spaces in the city, and for those folks who care about such things, the equestrian statues of Grant and Lincoln under the triumphal arch were sculpted by Thomas Eakins (in collaboration with William Rudolph O’Donovan).
One might visit the Park Slope Food Coop and ask for a tour. It’s the largest member-run food cooperative in America, so if you’ve ever been curious how a large-scale cooperative (it has 15,000 members) operates, it’s worth checking out.
You can also see the block where Al Capone was born (Garfield Place) and the building that had its cornice sheared off when a plane fell out of the sky over Sterling Street in 1960.
The Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue is a reconstructed Revolutionary War site (a significant part of the Battle of Brooklyn was fought in what is now Park Slope). In front of it, a park that was a popular home to the neighborhood’s drug dealers when I was growing up is undergoing a major renovation. Everyone knows that before the Dodgers left Brooklyn, they played at Ebbet’s Field. What most people don’t know, though Wikipedia could tell them, is that before Dodgers played at Ebbet’s Field, they played ball on the land that is now Washington Park.
While you are on Fifth Avenue, grab a burger at Bonnie’s Grill. It’s one of maybe three places left in the city to get a great burger without maxing out your credit card. I always ask for extra pickles, as they have excellent burger pickles. Al di La is popular for top-flight Italian cuisine, and Miriam has solid Israeli fare, with an affordable combo deal. There are, of course, dozens of other good restaurants.
Park Slope is worth exploring. After almost 25 years in New York, I still believe that on a clear, warm spring day, there is no greater pleasure than wandering past rows of stately brownstones on its tree-lined streets.
So hop the train down to the Slope and spend a day there, or even a few. No one will think you’re cool for having visited. But coolness is, when you think about it, overrated.
Raphael Pope-Sussman, CC ’11, is a former Spectator Editorial Page Editor.
Interested in writing a response to something you’ve seen here on Spectrum? Email it to us at spectrumeditors@columbiaspectator.com! Responses should generally be 300-500 words long, though longer submissions may be accepted as well.
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. I have a folder for my tax returns (somewhere in my desk . . . or maybe under it?). I pulled a shard of glass from my foot yesterday with tweezers and didn’t even shed a tear (although I did put a Batman Band-Aid on it).
And, to top it all off, I’ve even begun wearing adult-person sweaters, the kind that are wooly and dark and have turtlenecks and character and ‘dry-clean-only’ tags. (But, in truth, I’ve yet to ever go to the dry cleaner. Baby steps.)
Why am I writing about this? Is it to profess my newfound love for cableknits and home repair? No. See, as I gave it some thought, I realized that most of this has to do with the natural progressions of a coming of age. But some of it has to do with an intentional desire, not really to be an adult, but to be perceived as one, by others and by myself.
For in seeking an image of maturity, my underlying wish was to be taken seriously. And then people would think as I walked by, ‘Oh! Look at that handsome stranger, with her air and manner of walking, and her charcoal cashmere sweater and leather shoes and that hammer in her hand—what an adult person, how versed she seems, she must be mature and wise and thus profound indeed. This is a person I will consider with seriousness and respect and perhaps even a sense of mystical awe.’ (And when I picture them thinking this it’s generally in some sort of British accent. Or maybe French.)
Of course anyone who actually knows me would tell you of a different story, one of a very un-mystical, overgrown child who is still very much in love with magic and make-believe and tomfoolery in the most earnest and innocent sense possible. (And by overgrown, I do refer to my rather imposing five-foot-three-inch stature.)
See, there is such a desire on this campus to have the image and style of maturity, of the cool adult intellectual. Not to have the life of an adult, per se, but the lifestyle—in which we dress up fancy and go to downtown bars and restaurants and clubs and drink scotch and take cabs and read Foucault.
But as I look back at my years here, at the moments I’m most thankful for and that I most cherish, what I find myself reflecting on is neither seriousness nor maturity, but playfulness. Yes, the childlike moments of silliness and kids being kids, like impromptu snowball fights on Low Steps, and singing Disney songs with my roommates in our kitchen late at night.
So, in all seriousness, take some time to be silly. Do it often. Do it always. For in the words of one adult person, “Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
(And, if I may add in saying to our Dear Administration: more puppies please!)
Caroline Blosser is a Senior and Spectrum opinion blogger. She’s majoring in Ancient History and, as such, she’s looking for a job .
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Email questions and comments for next week’s edition to podcast@columbiaspectator.com.
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 The distance from the bottom step of Hartley to the bottom step of Hamilton is 79 feet (confirmed with a tape measure).
2) Your aim Other people’s aim can be three times as bad. Compared to Wien (two bathrooms for 46 rooms), Schapiro (two bathrooms for 30 rooms), the LLC (three bathrooms for 30 rooms) is pretty good. I’m serious about this. Especially since LLC is a dry dorm, you will never have to clean up other people’s mess. You also get three times as many TVs and three times as many common areas to study in. Don’t underestimate this.
Hell yeah!
3) The surrounding amenities are amazing. LLC has the usual set of vending machines and drinking fountains, but there are also two beautiful sky lounges in Hartley and Wallach, and an empty classroom on the first floor to boot. Especially useful for finals week. There are also ten computers in the Hartley computer lab, the vending machines stock Red Bull, there are two pool and ping-pong tables, and there’s a cute little connecting thingy that takes you from Hartley to John Jay.
Hartley Sky Lounge
Wallach Sky Lounge
4) The LLC community is great. From my experiences, the LLC is the most social dorm.
5) Ten people per kitchen. That’s really nice.
With that said, there are cons…
A quick diatribe of the LLC
1) Their couches are YOU’RE-NEVER-NAPPING-HERE couches and it’s surprisingly annoying. I don’t quite understand why the manufacturers thought wooden arm rests would be a good idea. The couch is 46 inches long, and whether lying down or sitting up, it’s uncomfortable. If you want good couches, live in Schapiro.
The wooden pegs of doom
2) You get three TVs per floor, but each one has a diagonal of 19″. That, combined with that white fuzzy static stuff, is surprisingly annoying. If you want good flatscreens, take a double in Broadway or Schapiro.
3) The air circulation in the LLC really, really sucks. It’s stuffy, and only rivals Harmony in the Smells-Like-Horse-Manure category. It also doesn’t help that a) every suite has its garbage bins right in the common area, b) there’s little ventilation, c) nature’s ventilation (WINDOWS), are lacking in the LLC.
Also consider that you’re living in a confined space with 10 people, so assuming that 95 percent of people at Columbia shower regularly, 1-0.95^10 = a 40 percent chance you’ll be in confined space with a garbage can, small windows, and a guy who doesn’t shower.
wake up in the morning smelling this
4) There’s close to no privacy. The walls are paper-thin and every time my neighboring suitemate complained about Ordinary Differential Equations to his mom, I knew about it.
5) Elevator times are annoying. It took 31.6 seconds to get from the 10th to first floor in Wallach. The elevators do get Wi-Fi reception though.
So you wanna get in eh?
The Princeton Review’s My guide to the LLC application
1) It’s due 2/9 (aka tomorrow) at noon. If you’re like me though, you’re gonna do it the morning of 2/9.
2)
2a) Like applying to Columbia, LLC admissions seems really random. Unlike applying to Columbia though, the admissions rate is 50-60 percent, not 5-6 percent. I personally pulled the “I need a single because I have to wake up 6:30 a.m. every day (actually true) and my hypothetical roommate would murder me if that happened” routine. However, I also know of a (deranged) swimmer who wrote that she needed a single since she woke up at 6 a.m. every day, and a Columbia-Juilliard violinist who wrote about her need to practice and didn’t get in either. So I don’t think the I-Need-A-Single routine works.
2b) Definitely talk about how you host amazing study breaks.
2c) My RA told me she wrote the exact same thing for everyone on her floor who applied and that she didn’t put much time into the recommendation, so I’m guessing that didn’t get me in. But I also know of other people who had so-so RA recommendations and they got rejected. But a good RA recommendation can’t hurt.
2d) Under activities, I wrote that I work for Spec, and of the twelve other Spec people I know who applied my year, every single one got in. So maybe the secret is to write for Spec. Just sayin’…
2e) I guess, as they say, the review process is “holistic.”
Some random pics:
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, reading was one of my favorite activities. I’d plop down on a sofa with a stack of books and some sort of chocolatey snack (milk, not dark) and not move for a solid five hours. Classics, non-fiction, mysteries, fantasy, chick lit, sci-fi—you name it, I’d read it.
Fast-forward to the present: I walk through a Barnes and Noble and spot at least 10 books that I’d like to read right this second. I pick one up, make my way to the register, and just as I’m about to pay, I put it back. I can’t buy this, I tell myself. I’ve still got half of Confessions to trudge through.
A few days later, a friend shows me a book she’s really excited about. One of Jeffrey Sachs’s new ones about ending world poverty. “It’s so good!” she keeps telling me. Being a potential econ major, I’m pretty darn excited about the book myself. I pick it up, flip to page 1 and begin reading. A few paragraphs in, a voice from the back of my head commands me to put it down. “You haven’t finished Dante yet,” the voice states accusatorily. “So?” I ask it. “I’ll get to it tomorrow.” “You haven’t finished Dante yet,” the voice repeats ominously. I try to ignore it. “You have no business reading anything if you haven’t done your Lit Hum.” The voice is right. I put down the book and tell my friend I’ll borrow it over Spring Break.
I reach into my purse pull out my copy of the Inferno (You don’t take Lit Hum books everywhere you go?). Two pages in, I can’t handle it anymore. I’m doodling in the margin, day-dreaming about summer back in California. I close Dante and put it back in my purse. A year ago, the Inferno would’ve been a book I’d read for fun in my free time. But there’s something about being forced to read a book that just kills its appeal. So now I’m trapped in this eternal reading dilemma. I can’t read books for pleasure because I know I should be reading for Lit Hum. And I can’t read for Lit Hum because someone is telling me to read for Lit Hum.
So I give up on reading and take a nap instead.
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