Few phenomena of modern life are more inane than an accidental inter-office reply-all. And yet, the Amherst campus reacted passionately to Biddy’s school-wide email: “This is the wrong version. What happened, Pete?” On Facebook and via text message, to neighbors in class and among chatting friends in Valentine, we all — the whole campus in unity — pounced on Biddy’s email, recognizing it for its comedic gold. Unsatisfied with the competition for friends’ laughs and Facebook likes, students organized a protest in support of Pete.
By Joyce Wamala '18E, Contributing Writer
The scariest experience in life is knowing that something is wrong with you, when no one else can see or diagnose the fact that there is indeed something wrong with you. I was recently hospitalized for the first time in my life. It was two weeks of insanity, two weeks that could have changed the course of my very existence in this continent. It sounds highly dramatic, and that is because it was just that — dramatic.
There’s an old saying in politics: Laws are like sausages — no one wants to see how they’re made. Most American citizens want their roads plowed, mail delivered and bridges kept structurally sound. Yet, less than half actually show up to vote during the presidential elections every four years. That number drops dramatically for the state and local elections in which most legislation is actually passed. The candidates in many elections for crucial senate seats run unopposed as both they and their district have lost any of their original inspiration for change.
The recently published draft of the college’s strategic plan addresses, among many other issues, the culture of busyness and high achievement that leaves students, staff and faculty short of the time and energy necessary to build the strong community Amherst could and should foster. Yet despite taking perfect aim at this problem, the plan’s strategy for dealing with it leaves a lot to be desired, as it focuses on improving existing resources rather than locating the source of the problem.
Ashley McCall ’12 teaches third grade at LEARN South Chicago.
Inspired by Nora Gayer’s excellent piece.
In Valentine, I often see plates piled full of lasagna, General Tso’s chicken, macaroni and cheese or salad cycle through the dishwashing conveyor belt. Throughout campus, sandwiches perch helplessly on top of traffic posts. Defeated black bananas litter the snow, abandoned by students as if they are a joke. If these attempts are part of a joke, I hope those students understand that worldwide, according to a working paper for the World Resources Institute and United Nations Environment Programme, around 25 percent of food calories produced for human consumption are wasted annually. In the U
