From: Brittney Hunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ad Libitum

Volume 2

 

In This Riveting Edition:

*New Year's Greetings

*Upcoming Events

*General Miscellany

*The Final Thought

 

New Year's Greetings:

 

My dearest Happy-Go-Lucky Libs~

 

Happy New Year!  Welcome back to another exciting semester!

 

Hopefully most everyone has recovered from jetlag and all of the excessive partying that college students are prone to do during their downtime (unless, of course, you're like me and opt to spend your vacation scrap-booking and knitting.  Pathetic, I know.) 

 

Attending all of the Lib events should have been a priority New Year's resolution for everyone, so start off the year right by coming to everything this week!  Since shopping period is a rather hectic time for everyone, we're keeping things to a minimum so you can spend nearly every moment running from class to class trying to figure out what you like (or, what you have to take).

 

In the meantime, go make a snow angel or two and happy shopping!

 

**Brittney**

 

Upcoming Events:

Lib Dinner:

*Monday January 12 at 5:30 in TD's South Common Room*

The executive board has unanimously decided to move Lib dinner out of the dark, dank and depressing atmosphere that is Commons (despite how much we all enjoyed eating dinner under a giant portrait of George Bush...)  This week we'll be dining in the TD; which is a perfectly lovely place to eat, though snowshoes, parkas and a dogsled team may be required to get there now that it's started to snow again.  We're attempting to reserve space in the South Common Room (at least I think that's what that room off to the side is called), but if that doesn't work out, just wander around until you find the group.

 

Blue Book Party:

*Monday January 12 at 8:00 in Durfee D41*

Do you know which classes at Yale are spankingly good?  Do you like to pretend you do?  If you don't get enough Lib love at dinner, meander on over to the Blue Book party in Durfee D-41.  Food may possibly be provided for you, but if it's not you can always bring your own!

 

YPU Meeting:

*Wednesday January 14 at 7:30.  Location TBA*

Guest Speaker Barbara Ehrenreich, best known for authoring the best-selling Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, will come to discuss a topic on the welfare state.  Ms. Ehrenreich is a political essayist and social critic who frequently writes about issues such as poverty, inequality and capital punishment  She's written a dozen or so books total and contributes frequently to periodicals such as Harper's, The Nation, The Progressive, etc.  Here's a brief sampling of her column in The Progressive:

http://www.progressive.org/ehrn0500.htm

http://www.progressive.org/0901/ehr0901.html

http://www.progressive.org/ehr0701.html

 

And, for those who don't have quite enough to do during this busy time, here's a few "welfare state" related links:

http://www.welfarestate.com/

http://www.socialconscience.com/articles/income.htm

 

General Miscellany:

I decided that my general miscellany this week should be at least somewhat politics related (being a political organization and all)...  So, for your enjoyment:

 

The Political Compass - http://www.politicalcompass.org/

Take this lovely test and see just how liberal you really are and where some of your favorite (and not so favorite) politicians fall on the spectrum.

 

The End of the World - http://www.ebaumsworld.com/endofworld.html

The harsh realities behind the looming threat of nuclear war.

 

EricToons - http://www.erictoons.com/editorial.html

Take some time to enjoy an editorial cartoon or two from a fellow Yalie.

 

The Way of the Tube Jedi - http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~stephenbalchin/tubejedi.html

All right, so this has no political meaning whatsoever.  I think it's funny, and I get to write the whipsheets.  So there.

 

Now, based upon the number of inquiries I received as to the meaning of the name of the whipsheet, the Lib word of the week is "Ad libitum," meaning "freely," "at one's pleasure," "without advance preparation," etc.  You probably recognize its shortened form "ad lib," which is used with much greater frequency. 

 

The Final Thought:

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect."

~Mark Twain