This page is a Monthly Archive of entries from February 2008 listed from newest to oldest.
It's springtime, which means students at the University of Illinois (and all their friends, who come in from campuses all around) are ready to get their drink on. And you know why: It's Unofficial, people. According to a recent letter from the university provost's office, the big U "does not support or condone" the "annual business promotion known as Unofficial St. Patrick's Day (USPD)." But it doesn't matter who condones it, because the "holiday" marches on. In fact, this year, for the first time ever, Unofficial is a two-day event. This means more drunks in the bars, more puke on the sidewalks, more trips to the hospital (last year ambulances escorted 90 students) — but it also means more money in a lot of cash registers, including the Champaign city coffers.
At a packed city council meeting on Tuesday, Chancellor Richard Herman delivered an urgent plea to do away with the non-holiday. He cited the death of Carolyn Yoon, an Illinois graduate who died at what Herman dubbed, "an occasion that has no meaning other than to soil our campus and lower community standards." Last year, 176 students were arrested at Unofficial, and according to Herman, that was a 71 percent jump from last year's statistics.
But, then again, parties throughout the years have been much bigger and rowdier than these Green Street festivities. Ever been to Bourbon Street?
I have to state it, for the record: I think WPGU (107.1 FM) is the best commercial radio station in Illinois. No sarcasm here. I promise.
The station's playlist engages me, every time I listen in. After all, WPGU's Music Director, Mat Brown, added “Living Through Another Cuba” by XTC this year, and for that, I am eternally impressed and grateful.
But that doesn't mean they are off the hook.
The WPGU/Buzz Local Music Awards are here again, and in my humble opinion, this charade is actually a bad thing for the music scene: the musicians, the venues, the promoters, the audience — everyone.
I don’t really understand the pro-gun folks. They put those little Burma Shave-like signs out in the cornfields that tell us how guns save lives. They complain that the State of Illinois doesn’t allow them to conceal their guns and carry them around whenever and wherever they want.
And when a bunch of people are killed by some lunatic with a gun — such as in the recent shooting at NIU — the pro-gun folks say something like, “See? If those dead students had been allowed to carry guns, they could have shot back and prevented this tragedy.”
The pro-gun folks seem a bit backwards to me. They’re myopic. They just can’t seem to see the big picture.
One of the most disturbing things about the Northern Illinois University shootings last week (aside from the actual carnage, of course) was the lack of any warning signs. Steve Kazmierczak, the shooter, did not seem troubled and he wasn’t described by acquaintances as many mass murderers are: quiet, keeps to himself, kind of creepy. His colleagues and advisors at the University of Illinois School of Social Work, where he’d been pursuing a graduate degree since spring 2007, described him as personable, engaging and motivated — and no one, not even his girlfriend, had any idea he would be capable of such a thing. He also did not leave behind any hint as to why he did this, even going so far as to remove his phone’s SIM chip and the hard drive from his laptop. He apparently intended to take his mysteries to the grave with him.
WUNA, or the West Urbana Neighborhood Association, is known for its amazing ability to organize and engage its immediate community with relevant and important issues facing its neighborhood, one of the most economically diverse in the city. The association covers this area of Urbana.
Some of the issues that WUNA has brought to light at city council meetings include the number of people living in single residence homes, how to properly police the actions of the landlords and how to control college students who regularly throw parties in the neighborhood.
Despite the association's concerns, however, some of the transient residents in the neighborhood over the last few years have spoken about multiple instances of blatant voyeurism and outright disregard for personal privacy by WUNA members.
Tell us what you think.
lllinois American Water Company, provider of Champaign-Urbana agua, is currently building a new treatment plant on West Bradley Avenue that will pump out 15 million gallons a day. With a price tag of $51 million, the facility is slated to be up and running by December, and Champaign County residents will be asked to partially foot the bill by paying 60 percent more for their water.
Some religious scholars have been trying to discover the "historical Jesus" — the real guy, Jesus of Nazareth, before he got buried under centuries of mythology and became “Jesus Christ the Son of God.” A lot of the stories about Jesus are debatable. For example, did Jesus really feed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish? Or did this story get embellished over the years as it was told and retold by people who weren’t even there? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Or was he sort of an ancient version of Elvis whose death inspired many “sightings” among his grieving, loyal fans?
There are lots of Jesus stories that we could argue about, but one thing is for sure: whether we’re talking about Jesus the man or Jesus the God — Jesus liked to party.
Last Tuesday, City of Champaign Township voters had the opportunity to vote on a referendum to ask the City of Champaign Township trustees to restore the level of general assistance funding by “any and all means available to them.” In the crazy patchwork of overlapping jurisdictions and taxing bodies that is Illinois local government, the townships are the ones who provide general assistance — a type of welfare for the poorest of the poor.
A Saturday server outage means we’re getting the second installment of Ask Politely to you a little late. But this week's issue is still fresh in the minds of anyone who’s taken a vehicle to downtown Champaign this past week. Smile Politely’s Marissa Monson brought us coverage on the parking meter rate increase last week — so brush up on the details and let us know what you think.
Greetings Humble Reader. I remain, The Campus Wit.
Winter is here again. All over campus, I see people grumbling about the cold, cursing the snow, and wearing dour frowns on their faces. Everybody is surly and curt. In fact, about a fortnight ago, I saw a man down on his knees outside of the Krannert Center screaming curses to the cold while shaking clenched fists at the sky. The majority of students have given up on their morning toiletries and all attempts to tart themselves up. They walk around in 14 layers of rayon, stretch-fit, cold protective gear trying to remember the last time they showered. Body odor and acrimony pervade the air. By three past high noon, Lincoln Hall smells like an eastern European brothel. The long and short of it is: No one on this campus seems to like winter. I have come to this conclusion after much observation and hours of lab work, and it confounds me. I love winter.
For those folks unfamiliar with Islam, there are five “pillars” or duties that are required of Muslims:
1. Confessing that Allah is the one God and Muhammad is God’s messenger
2. Praying five times every day while facing Mecca
3. Fasting
4. Giving alms to the poor
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (this is required only for those who are able)
Muslims have been following these five pillars faithfully for well over a thousand years. As a result, the local Unit 4 school district has a policy of allowing Muslim students time to observe the second pillar of Islam during school hours. This has caused some of my more conservative Christian brothers and sisters to get all bent out of shape.
The weekend is a time for contemplation and lively conversation, right? We think so. And in this vein, we inaugurate Ask Politely, a question-and-answer feature that'll come your way every weekend. The premise is simple: We ask, you respond. Politely. Passionately. Knowledgeably. Ironically. Humorously. However it flows.
As we've said before, Smile Politely is our way of filling a void. And we can't fill that void without you. So let's hear what you have to say.
To get things started, we're asking you to turn your critical eye on us.
| 
