One last conversation with Shrill O’Really

By Patrick Hogan / June 2, 2006

Unbeknownst to me, apparently every graduating senior is required to give an exit interview before grabbing their shiny new diploma and departing for that mythical land beyond the quads where people don’t try to beat their own Rubik’s cube record and stare at their feet while talking to you. Imagine my surprise when I showed...

Undergrads need to apply the tools a U of C education supplies them

By Joel Lanceta / June 2, 2006

I sat in a chair, catatonic, my stuff haphazardly stuffed into boxes around me in my living room for storage, as the end of another academic year finally approached. I waited, pleading with time to be on my side for once, daring the sun to pull itself farther from the horizon and propel the space-time...

Homelessness is not a condition all can easily avoid in America

By Julien Appignani / June 2, 2006

Mike is 40 years old. He has a gentle, intelligent face; strong, capable hands; he speaks very softly. He usually won’t look you straight in the eye. He looks just a little away when he talks to you. Mike’s been living in Hyde Park for six years. He’s spent lots of nights in the gazebo...

A modest proposal on immigration

By Tim Murphy / June 2, 2006

The Senate recently passed a bill making English the official language of the United States. The wording was changed some in order to ensure its passage, but that was certainly the intent. Some might view this as a shameful act of political posturing, catering to the xenophobic and racist sentiments that seem to permeate throughout...

It is time for CAPS to offer more advice than “come visit CAPS”

By Joe Katz and Ryan Vass / June 2, 2006

“So, what are you doing after graduation?” Dramatic pause. Uneasy shifting. Nail-biting/hair adjustment. The previously mentioned question generally brings out one of four possible answers: (A) “Um, don’t ask me that question.” (B) “Something tear-jerkingly noble that pays virtually nothing (e.g. Teach for America.)” © “I’m staying right here/college admissions/same research job I had as...

Queers should shun Cheney, McGreevey

By Matt Zakosek / June 2, 2006

With the summer will come the publication of two opportunistic books aimed at the queer community—the Vice President’s daughter Mary Cheney’s Now It’s My Turn and disgraced ex–New Jersey governor James McGreevey’s The Confession. My fellow queers, I implore you: If you need to satisfy your morbid curiosity, take these books out of the library....

Stop the Bleeding

By Maroon Editorial Staff / May 26, 2006

While the U of C may not be the most prestigious or well connected university of them all, it offers a faculty rivaled by only two or three institutions in the world. That is why it is always so devastating when star faculty leave. Yale will always be Yale and Harvard, Harvard, but the U...

Make Scav about a product, not a process

By Pascal Wallisch / May 26, 2006

The annual University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is arguably the greatest anywhere, by any standard anyone chooses to adopt—scope, creativity, enthusiasm, and more. Yet every time I participate in the Great Hunt, there is a certain uneasiness that sets in shortly after judgment day. This feeling is hard to explain, but basically it can be...

Put convocation on Cruise control this year

By Christopher Lacey / May 26, 2006

Mayor Michael Bloomberg? Really? Now, I know that Richard M. Daley might not be the right guy for the job, given that his father never took it, but do we really need a politician, or even some dude from New York? Given the rigor of four years at the prestigious institution that is the University...

Millennium Park is a triumph for Chicago

By Samuel Rosenberg / May 26, 2006

Within the past few weeks certain Chicago politicians have taken the opportunity to criticize some of Mayor Daley’s past projects, Millennium Park in particular. In claiming that the funds used for the development could have been better allocated, these detractors ignore the benefits that its completion has brought to Chicago. Overall, it is incorrect to...

Progressivism is about deep introspection

By Hollie Russon Gilman / May 26, 2006

Over the past year I have continually assessed what it means to be a young progressive and whether or not this title aptly suits me. Perhaps second-year syndrome includes a restless desire to do something. The friends who were comfortable with video games and discussions of the Phaedrus suddenly host conferences, brown bags, lectures, and...

FOTA Vandals

By Maroon Editorial Staff / May 23, 2006

Large pink labyrinths, interactive Lego displays, and a house of cards helped characterize the Festival of the Arts (FOTA) on campus this past week. Each spring for the past 41 years, FOTA encouraged students’ artistic expression. But for the past two years, it has also brought out some students’ more destructive behavior. Last year, a...