Have you ever seen an opera before? For me — and, I’m sure, a good portion of our student body — the answer would be no. The time and money required to go see an opera are quite considerable, not to mention that opera is not an art form that many young people have been routinely exposed to. This season of The Met: Live in HD, however, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live transmissions of world-renowned operas to movie theaters around the world, will change my answer from no to yes.
The controversial execution of death-row inmate Troy Davis on Sept. 19 sparked nation-wide protests as opponents of the death penalty took up their pens and took to the streets. Armed with signs, candles and a megaphone, local activists rallied on the Amherst Town Common at 5:30 p.m. last Wednesday. Among the 80 attendees were Five College professors, Amherst residents, as well as over a dozen students of the College.
The Jeffs split this week’s matches, taking one from Springfield on Wednesday and dropping one to Hamilton on Saturday.
I had some time this week to reflect on my last column, where I talked about how the AAS was playing hardball with the administration over funding for senior bar night. Maybe all it took was talking to my friend at the College of Charleston, who is trying to convince his college administration to stop a policy of aggressively patting down dorm visitors, but it dawned on me that things generally function pretty well at Amherst. When the AAS almost barricades the doors of Converse over about $1,000 of social funding, it’s a testament to how well this school actually operates.
Michelle Bachman wants constitutional bans on abortion and gay marriage to “fix” states like New York and Massachusetts, but elsewhere she hypocritically preaches for freedom of the states; Rick Perry wants to eliminate one’s individual choice to smoke marijuana yet he paradoxically opposes the health insurance mandate because it restricts individual choice. Conservatives ban civil liberties for “terrorists,” ban prostitution, pornography, free alcohol distribution and many other things they don’t like. Freedom for this, no freedom for that.
On Sept. 25, King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia gave a five-minute speech granting women the right to vote, run in municipal elections and be appointed as full voting members of the Majilis Al-Shura. These rights have been denied to women in Saudi Arabia for too long, and the King’s announcement was met with surprised reactions all over the world. But as progressive as the decision appears, the King’s announcement is motivated by self-interest rather than a belief in woman’s liberation.
Last week, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas submitted a petition for statehood to the United Nations. Clearly a two-state solution is imperative to ending the conflict. Both sides realize this — according to a March 2010 poll, 72 percent of Israelis and 57 percent of Palestinians want a two-state solution. It’s the only hope of ensuring a lasting peace, delivering justice to the Palestinians and it’s necessary for the survival of Israel as a Jewish state.
