When you get six hours of sleep (the average for most college students), you’re operating the next day as if under the influence of two beers. With less sleep, it’s even more. I learned this from a lecture given by Dr. Richard Simon (Whitman alumnus ’72 and director of St. Mary’s Sleep Disorders Center) during […]

Some years ago I was watching the film “Braveheart” with a friend of mine. There is a prolonged battle sequence some ways in of sustained, awful gore. Men chop others’ heads off, arrows pierce legs, maces shatter people’s skulls. The scene begins drolly, with William Wallace’s Scottish troops mocking and mooning the British Army. It […]

Hannah Montana is not an actual person. She’s a Disney character who plays sub-par, ultra-short pop songs with tame titles like “Old Blue Jeans” and “True Friend.” She’s played by the admittedly charismatic Miley Cyrus (“Achey Breaky Heart”-throb Billy Ray Cyrus’s daughter), and her bubbly character has every tweenaged girl’s dream life: She’s a funny, […]

I can’t make up my mind about feminist vegetarians. Which means I can’t make up my mind about myself. What I can’t decide is this: Are the two related? Am I one at least partially because I am the other? Why do so many women hate meat so much? Why does my mom have to […]

Organic food is beginning to infiltrate the mainstream. Safeway has its own line of organic products. Even Costco has brought in some organics. Although a majority of people still reject organics as overpriced, many average folks buy at least some organic groceries. According to the Organic Trade Organization, 39 percent of the U. S. population […]

As I got up on Tuesday morning, I briefly lamented the fact that I had gone to bed only 45 minutes before. Moving into the bathroom, I noticed that my hair perhaps didn’t look quite as hellish. “Is bad hair proportional to the amount of time spent in bed?” flashed through my mind as I […]

China and India are not the only two countries in the running for the “America’s Next Top Supersuccessor.” Brazil, the most booming democracy south of Texas, is a force to be reckoned with.
Unlike China and India, Brazil is primed to be a world superpower. This is because Brazil possesses something both Indian and Chinese […]

Buddhism has become attractive to a certain type of American who would fit right in at Whitman. I would describe this type as liberal, peaceful and earthy. I think individuals who fit the type would describe themselves as “spiritual.”
In defining themselves as “spiritual,” these people are conspicuously avoiding being identified as “religious.” Yet, at […]

I love chocolate and human rights. Unfortunately, the two don’t overlap as much as you would think. Human rights abuses related to the chocolate industry are all too common, and more often than not involve children under the age of 14 that work in the industry.
Child labor is implicated in many […]

by George Bridges
President
Hey there, “Whitties!” Halloween is coming in less than a week, and I’ll let you in a little secret: it’s my absolute FAVORITE holiday of the entire year. No kidding! What other holiday lets you buy five pounds of awesome Snickers bars from Safeway without the cashier giving you a sideways glance?
No, but […]

There are several telltale signs of the strength of the men’s tennis team. Whitman has some of the best indoor facilities of any Division III school in the area and outdoor courts situated right by the center of campus. Also, many evenings in Jewett dining hall, the wall is lined with racket bags […]

This was supposed to be my favorite movie. It was essentially made to be, in fact. Every single thing I usually love about movies was in “Gia.” Strong female characters, drug problems, pretty clothes, artsy shots, AIDS. (See also: RENT). And yet, I could barely make it through the whole thing. At two hours long, […]

Team responds to Head Coach McAlvey’s challenge: ‘Give me a reason to get back into it’
At the end of last year, the Whitman Rugby team’s commitment level was at its lowest in the past decade, which resulted in less accountability for each player. They were coming off of a 3-7-1 record, and morale was low.
“That […]

Loosely based on the allegations made by Khaled el-Masri and Maher Arar, “Rendition,” raises the ethical question of torturing suspected terrorists. It attempts to show as many sides to this sensitive issue as possible by running nine stereotypical perspectives parallel and ultimately running them together.
Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), an Egyptian-America, is falsely suspected of […]