Spring has Sprung! 
The sickly, pale-faced days of winter have been shattered by a resurgence of sunlight and plant life. Coughs and sneezes have been replaced with the laziness and optomism of spring fever. Now that the academic frenzy that follows spring break is coming to an end, student life is picking up as well.So without further ado, highlights of my week…. 
The second annual Forum at the Forum on wednesday was a much needed discussion/debate about censorship. A wide variety of views were expressed- statism (though no one ventured to call it by name), libertarianism, and everything in between was well represented.
Though the event was a bit too short for my tastes, it was heartening to see the forum used for its intended purpose.Also, yesterday I suffered a fit of cabin fever, and went with some friends to see Much Ado About Nothing, as performed by the Henely Street Theatre Company. I couldn’t help but swell with school spirit as I perused the program. Several spiders made thier appearance, including Raven Bonniwell and Billy Finn (both of whom were in Macbeth), as well as Gordon Jenkins. Despite the fact this is Henely Street’s inaugural season, they put on an excellent production. The comedy was fast, fluid, and totally immersive, ultimately a breath of fresh air for a jaded media consumer like myself.
This week promises to be heavy in homework…lab reports, a chemistry test, and of course, the obligatory core paper. During what will hopefully be some of my finer hours, I’ve still doggedly infiltrated Richmond to bring you timely intelligence. Honestly, if the weather had been warm enough for leather underwear, the docu-drama would have made millions.
Despite the heavy workload, my second semester as a freshman has been even better than the first. I recognize so many names and faces in the dining hall that I end up staying twice as long as I should. Possibilities are exploding around me in a kaleidescopic fashion as if someone has just pulled the pin on a clusterbomb of opportunities. Just yesterday I had the good fortune of being able to attend a great seminar having to do with organic chemistry. Dr. Scott T. Handy from Middle Tennessee University gave a talk about using polycoupling to build substituted heteroaromatics, particularly Lamellarins, a class of bioactive molecules isolated from sponges that look promising for medical applications. Had I heard what he said a month or two ago, it wouldn’t have meant anything to me. Luckily we’d covered enough in chem 205 to understand the general principals involved, and most of it was fresh in my mind. Even though I didn’t comprehend everything he spoke of, it was clear that it took a mighty dose of persistance and creativity to get as far and effient in the synthesis as they did. Speaking of innovation, I had a chance to attend and participate in a very juicy dialogue with President Ayers not ten hours ago. The discussion hinged on the question ’What do we want UR to be known for?’. To be frank, I was a bit skeptical at first. Would this be true dialogue, or simply brainstorming with PR mixed in? Lately change has become a worn out mantra, trampled for decades by politicians and administrators alike. Many issues were broached- getting people to care about athletics more, managing coursework, trying to unify academic and social life, and more. It was impressive to say the least, watching a person in power take tough questions and critiques straight to the face, without flinching, dodging, or launching a rhetorical counterattack. His answers were candid, to the point, and proved that he was truly receptive to feedback. There was nothing he didn’t want to hear; he wanted to hear it all, and verbally weighed all that was said. Furthermore, Dr. Ayers broughtup his ‘5-year strategic plan’, five fronts on which he wants to change the university for the better in the immediate future. As he explained them to us, they were:-Knitting together the academic community-Making Richmond more diverse in as many dimensions as possible-Improving/expanding financial aide-Becoming more civically engaged with the city of Richmond-Generally enriching student life The overarching theme of the evening was that UR has changed and improved so rapidly over the past 15 years, that we’re at a crossroads, and UR’s students need to help actively direct where our identity is headed. With a glimmer in his eye, President Ayers expressed his hope that the university would ‘do something bold’. It’s apparent from his attitude that he’s willing to mobilize vast amounts of money and resources, (dare I say as much as it takes?) to sustain and steepen Richmond’s upward trajectory.
From core class to athletics, everything is up for overhaul. To everyone out there…If you want to be part of a student/faculty led revolution that’s well-staffed and generously funded, the time is now, and the place is Richmond.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_RQkn1LAOANo, there was no accident, and I have no powers (or personality-altering brain damage). For now I’m a mild-mannered college student, and unless I forget to read the procedure before showing up to my cell & molecular lab, I’ll probably be spared the chore of playing arch-nemesis to a caped crusader. Yesterday I went to two seperate walmarts- one with my roomate Bernard & my friend Eric, and another with Ben & Andrew to get the food for this weekend’s class cabinet sponsored super-bowl party. Both the weather and the prices were fair. Energized after Taco Bell and a hearty bout of scientific calculus, my mind was whirring and buzzing with a creative curiosity. If I were to gain superpowers, what would they be, and how would I obtain them?The conclusion I came to was that the most likely origin of a real-life super powers would be a result of biotech research gone horribly wrong…and that the physical and psychological damage from such an event would far outstrip the benefit of gaining superhuman abilities.
