The Carletonian

Does your vagina have a story to share? The Collective for Women’s Issues is interested in collecting vagina narratives of members of the Carleton community.

With eighth week fast approaching, I thought I would take a moment to remind your readers about one of the most exciting events to hit Winter Term 2008. That’s right, CSA Elections. In all seriousness, CSA Elections will be taking place at the end of next week and I will be running for President.

I would like to start this by applauding all the work and effort that went into the Vagina Monologues. Sitting in the audience on Saturday night, I was amazed at the performance and inspired to audition next year. However, I would like to take the time to comment on the only part of the show that I was not thrilled with.

Carleton’s lower Arboretum has been closed to cyclists of the Carleton and local communities for more than a decade. It is a result of the close-mindedness of the arboretum directors, and sadly, Carleton itself. I am writing this to encourage you to ask Carleton’s administrators to reopen the Arboretum trails to cyclists of all kinds.

Earlier this week, we sat in separate cars, facing bumper to bumper to traffic for almost an hour, to travel less than five miles to the Northfield Middle School. Why take nearly three hours out of a busy night? In order to participate in Super Tuesday’s Minnesota Democratic caucus.

The freshman experience at Carleton is unquestionably an important aspect of the climate on our campus.

Music sounds better when you lie on your back on the floor, just like an apple tastes better when you cut it up into wedges. It’s as if when you change how you experience the world, the world becomes more poignant. But it’s still the same world: the same apple and the same music.

Voter turnout is undoubtedly an intricate topic which analysts have focused upon for years. I’m definitely not in a position to try to specifically analyze why we as a nation rank very low among many other countries in voter turnout, and the arguments for many factors are already well-established and debated. But if you just think about it, the movement to get people to get out and vote (consider the organization Rock the Vote)—a movement that is highly intensive and plays a large part in political campaigns—is something quite extraordinary.

During the 2004 Democratic National Convention, in the speech that is credited with propelling him into the national political spotlight, Barack Obama condemned “those who are preparing to divide us … who embrace the politics of “anything goes.” He went on to declare, “We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” Unfortunately, Carleton students who participated in Tuesday’s caucuses failed to heed the Illinois Senator’s advice.

As I opened my college email account this past Monday, I was surprised to find two emails in my inbox regarding last week’s column.