I've been slowly turning into a veritable news junkie since coming to Carleton. I think it's something in the water...Or maybe it's the fact that our Carleton Senate Association (CSA), of which I was a Senator for a good part of my Carleton career, maintains a readership program for the campus. Daily, we get the NY Times, USA Today, and the Star Tribune (Minneapolis newspaper) at different drop-off points around campus. Usually it's a battle to get an untouched NY Times unless you're an early riser, which I'm not, but you can usually find them in pieces floating around Sayles (Our Student Union), The Libe, or other random places on campus. My favorite place to find them is the little round table at the top of the stairs in Laird Hall, home of the English department (I'm an English major). Without fail, I can always take a couple minutes between classes or right before a meeting with a professor to sit at the round table (King Arthur anyone?) and see what's happening in the world.

Some people say college can feel like a protective bubble that makes you unaware of what's happening outside its walls, but I think Carleton provides a good example of students who make it their priority to stay in-tune with what's happening elsewhere. We have a ton of student newspapers like The Carletonian and The Carl and student magazines like The Lens, and even more seem to crop up every term. On Fridays the front steps of Sayles are like a newspaper jungle, with students hocking their newspapers' latest editions. They usually have all of the pertinent news stories you might find in mainstream newspapers like the info about Britney Spears' latest fiasco, the campus Security blotter detailing incidents like burned popcorn on 1st Burton (dormitory), or the latest student satire from The Carl.