Don’t let Free Speech slip away!

http://cf.telegram.com/worcesteru/worcu_blogs.cfm?record_id=469679

Yes, Worcester State’s student newspaper is no more; lack of interest finally killed it.  We’ve come pretty close to that fate at The Scarlet, even resorting to putting a photo of a burning newspaper on the cover to attract students’ attention.  Everyone knows that college students are a lethargic, apathetic group.  It always makes for good jokes and a good target for frustration.

But eventually, something needs to be done.  There are only so many crazy people willing to lock themselves in a basement every Wednesday night to produce a newspaper.  And a newspaper, especially an independent college newspaper, isn’t really serving its function without the involvement of the community.  So read The Scarlet! Write an article when you have time.  Send us news tips.  Vote “yes” on the upcoming media referendum.

Because we’re better than Worcester State, right?

We have e-mail!

As of 7:50 p.m., EST, the Clark e-mail server is back online.  Now we won’t have to resort to sitting in a circle and passing a conch shell around to communicate.

Jesus on campus

A few minutes ago, I ran into a student in the AC who is an active member of a local church.  That’s right, he was a Christian Clarkie.  I didn’t know such things existed.  He asked me what I thought of Jesus Christ (for the record, I’m Jewish although I haven’t been in a synagogue since Yom Kippur).

We briefly discussed the merits of studying the Bible even though I was a non-believer.  The fact that I patently disagree with the belief that Jesus Christ was the son of God didn’t seem to compute.  He eventually launched into an explanation of his atheist past, and how simply studying the Bible (miraculously?) made him a believer.

He was actually a nice guy, painfully polite in fact.  And I have nothing against Christianity.  Still, I’ve always viewed Clark as a safe haven free of religious zeal.  The fact that I no longer feel safe walking around campus without a copy of Beyond Good and Evil tucked under my arm is a shame.  I really need to stop going to the AC unchaperoned.

Obama and Brown… cousins?

According to the AP, President Obama and newly-elected Senator/nude model Scott Brown are 10th cousins.  ”The New England Historic Genealogical Society said Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown’s mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Mass.” I guess that makes Obama a New Englander; he must have taken a lot of elocution lessons to suppress his Bahstun accent…

It’s the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory in action!

Love in Ink

The Scarlet wants to print your amorous messages for Valentine’s Day!

Send appropriate messages under 140 characters to Scarlet@clarku.edu before February 9th to send your Valentine love in ink. Free to current and former students, $5.00 for everyone else.

Worcestah Weathah

It’s absolutely surreal outside.  It’s been snowing all day, and that combined with the nearly-full moon and darkening sky makes for a dramatic scene.  What does this have to do with anything? All that snow will slow down any potential armed robbers.  Of course, Worcester PD’s helicopter is probably grounded for the night…

Latest development in Blackstone robbery spree

UP knocked on my door a few minutes ago.  They had just kicked three “urchins” out of Blackstone and were checking to see that everyone’s doors were locked.  How do these people keep getting in here? Blackstoners need to be more careful about accidentally letting vagabonds in.  Or maybe we should just get a Phalanx Close-In Weapon System for the roof…

Mobilizing Dr. King’s Leadership

Clark celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by bringing Melinda J. Boone, Ed.D., Superintendent of Worcester Public Schools, to give a speech on “Mobilizing Dr. King’s Leadership for the 21st Century.”  That speech wrapped up about an hour ago. 

Boone emphasized the importance of studying King’s leadership strategy, and not just his accomplishments, in order to continue the social progress he started.  It was very Clark: social activism put under the academic microscope. 

Want to know what made Dr. King a great leader? Want to know why a seemingly sane person would willingly become Superintendent of Worcester Public Schools? These questions and more will be answered in The Scarlet, which hits the magazine racks in the UC tomorrow.

Health care bill passes Senate

Despite Joe Lieberman’s existence, the Senate’s version of the health care reform bill passed earlier today.  Among other things, the legislation will require the majority of Americans to have health insurance, just like in the glorious Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  With the public option dead, the government plans to subsidize private coverage for people who can’t normally afford it with taxes on the wealthy and their insurance premiums (I can almost hear Glenn Beck’s head exploding…), as well as an increase in Medicaid enrollment.

Also, the federal government will begin regulating the insurance companies.  Specifically, insurers will not be able to deny coverage because of illness (pre-existing or otherwise).  In other words, insurance companies will be forced to actually insure people.

That is definitely a good thing; legislation like this should have been passed a long time ago.  Not being from Massachusetts, I don’t know how requiring people to have health insurance will play out.  Hopefully the combination of government subsidies, insurance companies that actually pay for their clients’ medicine, and Medicaid will at least make the U.S. health care system better than Cuba’s.

Scarlet website

scarlet.com scarlet.org scarlet.clarku.edu scarlet.net scarlet.co.uk

I’ve embedded a few domain names and the phrases “Scarlet Website” and “The Scarlet, Student Newspaper of Clark University” in case people are trying to Google “The Scarlet” looking for our website.  The sad truth is that, at the moment, we  don’t have one.  But we plan on rectifying that.  I know that a significant portion of the Clark community, particularly alumns, have been asking for a Scarlet website.  So give us your feedback, what would you like the website to look like? What kind of content would you like to see? We would really like to know.

In the mean time, check out this blog and our newsfeed on LINK for quick bursts of journalism and an opportunity for comment and discussion.  And, for those of you who live in the general vicinty of campus, there’s also a print edition of The Scarlet. I’ve heard it’s quite good.