"The Search" focuses on the more existential questions of life about identity, purpose and truth.

Students shared their culture during Saturday's Ganesh Chathurti festival.

Carleton’s annual activities fair filled the Bald Spot on Friday, with large numbers of first-year students flitting from table to table, and eager upperclassmen attempting to promote interest and awareness of their various groups.

Carleton President Rob Oden opened the academic year today with the annual all first-year student Frisbee toss at the Bald Spot.

Diana López Negrete has been involved in volunteering at Carleton for the past four years, working with the ACT (Acting in the Community Together) Center in various capacities. Since her first year Diana has been involved in many different programs, including WomenCircle and Sundays at Clare House. For the past two years she has worked as an ACT student coordinator. Kelen Tuttle ’04 had the opportunity to interview Diana just before graduation.

The last day of classes for the school year went out with bang with fireworks illuminating the sky over Carleton on Wednesday night. Taking advantage of a perfectly clear evening, the Office of Campus Activities sponsored a pyrotechnics display that featuring an impressive 20-minute fireworks show. The view from the Bald Spot was excellent, where Campus Activities also screened the film "Animal House," drive-in style on a 100 foot screen.

Last Saturday saw the arrival of the Carleton International Food Festival into Sayles-Hill Great Space. The event was sponsored by the Offices of Multicultural Affairs and International Students and by multicultural student organizations like AFRISA, ASIA and Barkada. The afternoon featured cuisine from around the world prepared by students, singing, Filipino tinikling and salsa dancing and workshops on Japanese calligraphy, among many other activities. Drawing overflow crowds, lines for food stretched outdoors and seats quickly filled to capacity for most of the afternoon.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, more than 100 Carleton students marched down Division Street as part of the Northfield Community Puppet Theater parade. Performers were in the crowd wearing masks, walking on stilts and carrying 20-foot-tall puppets. The marchers clapped and cheered, as the procession made its way through downtown Northfield. Leading the parade was Kate Strathmann, a sophomore who co-organized the event with senior Max Wirsing, holding a sign above her head proclaiming, “Wake Up!”

The only dance major in the class of 2004, Sarah Jacobs took a decidedly unique approach to her comprehensive exercises—she staged a performance involving 24 dancers, including Carleton students and staff members.

The 2004 Carleton delegation to the World Model United Nations Conference has received one of two Outstanding Delegations awards, the highest honor bestowed on delegations from around the world. Held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, this year's conference brought together more than 800 delegates from six continents to simulate the activities of the United Nations. Five of the six Carleton delegates also received individual Spirit of Diplomacy Awards recognizing their ability to overcome language barriers, demonstrate knowledge of the country they represent, and display the ability to compromise during the conference.

Carls in the Boliou Hall printmaking studio rolled up their sleeves at workshop in making traditional Ghanaian cloth. The workshop was presented by Dr. Richmond Teye Ackam, an art professor from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

The women’s rugby team battled blustering winds to take on the University of Minnesota on the rugby pitch last Thursday. The U of M team, though holding an advantage in size, found the tenacious Carleton team unwilling to back down. Women’s rugby is one of 22 club sports offered at Carleton that include Aikido, inland sailing, men’s and women’s lacrosse and the nationally ranked men’s and women’s Frisbee teams. Team membership is open to all Carls and joining a club sport is a new athletic experience for most.