Princeton's First Co-eds

The weather is finally turning around (well, except today), so we thought we'd share some pictures of Princeton's first co-eds (via Covenger + Kester) on what seems to be warm spring day.
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Twitter, or, the New Frontier of Narcissism

The Prince reported this week that "tweeting" has increased in popularity recently, and has attracted the attention of a few big names on Princeton's campus, namely Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Cornel West. Not mentioned was Peter Singer, who also updates his Twitter quite frequently.

It's to be expected that these update-streams from noted scholars at a prestigious institution should be self-referential, yes, and perhaps even a bit introverted. But these three take it to a new level.

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Indeed, Ms. Lacewell, Mr. West, and Mr. Singer seem to "tweet" only about... themselves. Of course, that's what Twitter's all about, right? The homepage asks all the same question: "What are you doing?"

But while celebrities like Shaq, Diddy, and Seth Rogen often give "shout outs" to their fans and regularly respond to others' posts, this Princeton trifecta manages to keep their tweeting furiously egocentric.

On March 29th, former NPR host Farai Chideya posted about a lecture Lacewell was to give at Harvard. Lacewell responded with, "Thanks for the support. Wish u were here. Wish I could still hear your voice daily. We need a show."

Alright, one instance of turning an offhand comment into a self-referential boast. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Lacewell's April Fools "joke" was to post, "After Harvard lecture last night I was offered 7 pm slot on MSNBC beginning next week!" After receiving a couple responses congratulating her, she admitted it was a prank but "thanks for thinking it 'should' be true!"

Don't worry; it's okay to cringe.

Cornel West isn't shy about self-aggrandizing either. Since West's first post on February 27th, nine out of the scholar's ten posts have been quotes... of his own.

Peter Singer, on the other hand, focuses mainly on his new book, The Life You Can Save which addresses the ethics of the poverty issue. But he also focuses on how often he goes on shows to talk about it. And who reviews it for the Wall Street Journal. Oh, and book signings and readings. Also, the fact that "Shapoor Mohamadi, from the UK, is going to present the book to his Member of Parliament. Nice idea." Oh, and that due to the "generosity of Erroll Treslan, a Canadian citizen, every Canadian MP is going to receive a copy of The Life You Can Save."

Singer is altruistic. And everyone should frickin' know it, damn it.

It's all a bit dizzying, perhaps even nauseating, but at least they're not sticking their head in the public sector.

And while on the subject of warped vanity, Mr. Singer has an adorable set of photographs of himself (cuddling with animals, no less), on his website. If it weren't so cute, the whole thing would be painful.

WAS

(image source: twitter.com)

21 Questions with... Mona Zhang '12

Update 4/12: Zhang and Smashcraft Heroes have also been profiled by the NYTimes.
TRAILBLAZING FEMALE PRESIDENT OF SMASHCRAFT HEROES GAMING CLUB PWNS N00BS (W00T W00T!)

Name: Mona Zhang
Age: 19
Major: undecided
Hometown: Gaithersburg, Maryland
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Forbes College

Who's your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
Princeton from Avenue Q, but I don't suppose he's actually a Princetonian

What's the best meal you've eaten in Princeton?
Dumplings made from scratch and random ramen at three in the morning

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
I answer emails

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Gossip Girl and chasing squirrels

What's the last student performance you saw?
Various snippets of performances at the CSA banquet from Triple 8, the Juggling Club, and more

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
Three cheers for Old Nassau, la la la la lassau

What do you hate most about Princeton?
The sewage and maybe the cobblestone when I'm wearing girl-shoes

What's your drink?
Coke
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How often do you cook?
Random holidays here and there

What's your favorite medication?
Caffeine

What's hanging above your desk and/or bed?
An outdated Harry Potter calendar that I haven't bothered to replace--that and a quill

Where do you do your best thinking?
On the floor

When's bedtime?
3am, but 7am when OSL finals are on

New Butler or Old Butler?
FORBES.

What do you think of Dean Malkiel?
Who?

Where is the worst place on campus?
I think parking lots are really ugly. The one behind New South isn't very pleasant.

Who is your mortal enemy?
Sida Huang '12

When's the last time you used cash?
Today at Witherspoon for a large cafe mocha with whipped cream :)

In 25 years, I will be…
unemployed or a pro-gamer

Where do you go to study alone?
I bring all my books to the hammock on the Forbes terrace, but then I just fall asleep.

What makes someone a Princetonian?
The requisite genius and laziness behind every Princetonian's intellectual facade

(image source: dailyprincetonian.com)

Minor Detail?

The Prince ran a story yesterday about a new novel written by Jean Hanff Korelitz, a former reader for the Princeton admissions office. The story is about a fictional Princeton admissions officer and some sort of secret she harbors.

The reporter interviewed Korelitz to ask about her connections to Princeton and to discuss her book, and he even interviewed a student who used to babysit for her kids once upon a time. But over the course of nearly 600 words, the article doesn't mention the very minor detail that Korelitz's husband is Paul Muldoon. Nope, not important or noteworthy at all.

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(image source: dailyprincetonian.com)

Forbes Magazine discovers something called "prep schools"

Forbes.com posted a story yesterday about an earth shattering discovery: there are these crazy things called "prep schools"!

Perhaps we're being assholes, but isn't the existence of prep schools, like, pretty much common knowledge? We half expect Forbes to write about something called the "Ivy League" and "parochial schools" next week.

In addition to a slideshow of some prep schools, the piece offers wonderful insights such as, "The Ivy League is still the Ivy League." The rest of the article can basically be summed up as such: Prep schools are private! They can be famous! They have pretty campuses! Rich people go there! But so do poor people! They have famous alumni! They send their kids to the Ivy League! But so do public schools!

The most obnoxious part of the article is at the end:

But at the end of the day, writing Harvard or Princeton on your résumé really does mean something. So does what prep school you attended.

Okay, we can only hope writing "Princeton" on our résumé "really does mean something." Because with grade deflation and the Great Depression 2.0, we're just sure our prep school education will come in real handy.

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(image source: forbes.com)

SPOTTED: George Costanza

[Insert Seinfeld Joke Here]

Yes, that's right -- everyone's favorite nineties neurotic paid a visit to Old Nassau today. Or at least Jason Alexander, the actor who played him, did.

Alexander, also the star of the orangutan caper "Dunston Checks In", was on campus with his teenage son and started off the day with an Orange Key tour. Turns out the actor did his research before coming: he asked his group's tour guide about Princeton's much-debated grade deflation policy (no word about his take on the matter). According to the guide, Alexander stuck to the front of the pack and stayed attentive throughout the tour despite the day's heavy downpour of rain.

Word has it that Alexander later stopped by Theatre Intime, where he obligingly posed for pictures with a few lucky students.

DCW

People who make us feel inadequate: Lauren Bush '06 ends world hunger, starts own fashion line

Lauren Bush '06, Dubya's niece and model, has done a lot since graduating with an anthropology major three years ago. Last summer, she launched the FEED 100 Campaign, which sells stylish burlap bags to put food in the mouths of hungry Rwandan children. For instance, if you purchase a $30 bag, you will provide 100 school meals! And you if buy a $60 bag, you will feed one child for an entire school year! Average cost to feed one Princeton upperclassman for an entire school year? $6,960.

But Lauren must do more good! You know, "In the Nation's Service" blah blah. She has just launched her own fashion line, called Lauren Pierce, which made its debut at Barney's last week. Her line uses eco-friendly materials, and each collection will support a charitable organization. It's like she's her uncle, George W., except the opposite. And did we mention she's hot? And dating Ralph Lauren's son?

Pictures of her Spring '09 collection after the jump: More...
(via vanityfair.com & images from nymag.com, feedprojects.org)

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IN PRINT: Tom Kean is Mad at Congress; Terrorism Inspires Morbid, Stoic Humor

Tom Kean, former Governor of New Jersey and the co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, delivered the keynote speech at the somewhat terrifyingly named conference, "Emergency Preparedness in the Region: What Have We Done & What is Still Needed?" This reporter was hoping the answers were Everything and Nothing, respectively. Sadly, they were not. Highlights from his speech and the conference after the jump...
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Just in case you forgot about terrorism/ Al Qaeda:
"They've stated plainly and continue to state they want to kill Americans, and they want to kill as many of us as they can wherever they can. They want to produce mass casualties."

He's ANGRY at Congress:
“Congress was very anxious and willing to reform the executive branch. They were not so willing to reform themselves,” said Kean. “The 9/11 commission recommendations have made no headway, or very little headway, in congressional reform.”
Why is Congress a problem? Well, it turns out the Department of Homeland Security still has to report to 86 congressional committees, down from 88 since the 9/11 Commission Report was release. Michael Chertoff told Kean that he spent one third of his time preparing to testify in front of Congress.

Other highlights from the rest of the conference:
The audience laughing when the head of the New Jersey office of Homeland Security passed off a question to someone from the Port Authority, saying, "I’m a believer that if we have another event in this area its going to be on Port Authority property,” to which he responded, "hopefully not before I retire!" Hillarious! Clearly, this was a conference full of people who spend their time contemplating terrorist attacks on American soil; they'll get their laughs when they can.

Full Story here.

SKG

Update: And here!

AW

NY Times profiles Orszag '91

The New York Times recently profiled Pres. Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag '91, who has been tasked with the unenviable job of overseeing the federal budget. We learn that he is a "supernerd" with grand ambitions:

Everything about the way he has interpreted his new job speaks of ambition: the policy heavyweights he has hired for the Office of Management and Budget, his efforts to persuade cabinet secretaries to let him help shape their plans, a public profile as high as that of any budget director since David A. Stockman’s polarizing tenure under Ronald Reagan a quarter-century ago.

He is also a sex symbol?
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“He’s made nerdy sexy,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

And then, of course, he's also a Princetonian:

In classic political fashion, Mr. Orszag trained for Washington rivalry through family rivalry, not just with his father but also with his economist brothers. Peter, Michael and Jonathan Orszag have worked and written papers together and still compare electronic gadgets and their Princeton grade-point averages. [emphasis added]

Is this what Princeton alumni do when they become important? Oh dear God... Save us from ourselves! And who are the magical parents who birthed three Princeton economists? Michael was Class of '89, Peter was Class of '91, and Jonathan was Class of '96, and all three were econ majors.

Do they compare their theses as well? If so, Peter is the loser with only 80 pages, while Michael wrote 187 pages and Jonathan wrote 104 pages. Even worse? Peter's thesis title: "Congressional Oversight of the Federal Reserve: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives." It sounds so exciting it sends a shiver up my leg!

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(source: nytimes.com & http://libweb5.princeton.edu/theses/index.htm)

Princeton in The New Yorker

Update 4/6: This cartoon, coincidentally, is particularly fitting because Class of 2010 President Aditya Panda '10 just sent an electronic missive saying that all rising seniors will be offered free membership to the Princeton Club in NYC for an entire year starting this summer. Score! (We'll just ignore the unfortunate fact that the Princeton Club is ugly and embarrassing compared to the Harvard and Yale Clubs.)
By Henry Martin '48
Published in The New Yorker (December 12, 1988)

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(image source: http://tigernet.princeton.edu/~ptoniana/)