I hope you’re not scared of needles (Washington and Lee University School of Journalism)

Smoking ban, check. Trans fat ban, check. What else can Philadelphians borrow from New Yorkers? A sense of street style, perchance? Or, sticking to the possible, how about free flu shots, like New York supplies, at least for medical providers.

Alternately, if flu shots aren’t his thing, Mayor Street can start promoting physical well-being in the City of Brotherly Love the Street Way. Let’s step out of the Big Apple’s shadow and pioneer our own urban health trend. Free antiseptic wipes anyone?

In all seriousness, city governments around the world are offering free flu shots to eligible citizens, pre-empting the nasty consequences of flu season. Urban metropolises like Seattle and Toronto have caught up on the trend.

Likewise, Philadelphia can boost public health by inoculating citizens against the flu for free. Sure, it’ll make a dent in the city finances, but it pays off in the long run by reducing lost productivity from sick days and even saving lives. Rather than relying on citizens to vaccinate themselves, why not buy shots in bulk and distribute them to Philadelphians? This measure would offer the additional benefit of buffering against occasional flu shot shortages, allowing pharmaceutical companies to better anticipate demand. More importantly, it would help ensure that those who are most susceptible to the flu and least able to pay for the shots will have access to them.

Since the city government is prone to bureaucratic delay, Penn should step in to fill the vacuum. One seasonal flu shot through Student Health Services costs about $25 . Instead, the university should subside shots, or even give them out free of charge to its employees and students. For employees, this measure would curb the working productivity lost from seasonal illness. And flu shots are even more critical for students because we live on top of each other &mdash literally and/or metaphorically. Given the contagious nature of the flu, protecting most people would also yield positive benefits for the rest of the population.

I <3 NY (ny.gov)

Grime mixed with filth, with a slash of urine, a handful of rats and some scattered Metrocards. These are some of the lavish decorations that pave the floors of every subway station in the New York City underground labyrinth. Yet on Valentine’s Day last week, over 150,000 New Yorkers were able to get even more down and dirty than usual — but this time, with a bit of protection.

On this Feb. 14, the the New York City Health Department unveiled the “NYC Condom, the first in the nation with an official brand.”

And the wrapper even features brilliantly-colored replications of the different subway lines. Now that’s eye candy.

According to the city’s press release, “More than 100 night spots and retail outlets — including Kenneth Cole, Theory and MAC Cosmetics — are giving them out to clients throughout the day, and many will continue to distribute them.”

And as The New York Times wrote, the Internet-based Free Condom Initiative has been hugely successful since its onset in June 2005. With approximately 1.5 million chic condoms distributed a month, its safe to say that sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies are going out of style in New York City. Racy animations on the program’s Web site encourage safe sex on the city through “the condom that speaks all languages”—or five, if you watch the cartoon.

So, Philadelphia, this is our cue — we should follow in the footsteps of our neighboring city and create some government-sponsored rubbers of our own. But we might want to avoid the Philly subway stations as marketing tools, whose crime and filth certainly exceed those of New York. Any SEPTA doesn’t have the draw of the stimulating spunky colored circles.

Sex isn’t going to end anytime soon, so neither are STDs nor potentially costly accidents. Free and popularized access to condoms would certainly curb disease spread and help maintain sexual wellbeing in our densely populated city.

It’s time that the Philly government started promoting some healthier brotherly lovin’.

May she rest in peace.

Journalism in Philadelphia (present company excluded) is going down hill faster than the Street mayoral dynasty.

Alas, the days of quality journalism at the Inquirer have long since passed. And while my love for the Bulletin lives on, the paper sadly does not. Real news is pretty much a foreign concept to NBC10, and the Daily News … well, I don’t even need a link.

But the most recent sad news isn’t in print or on television: It’s online.

While just about anything the Inquirer has done on the Internet has been horrible, there has been one major exception: Dan Rubin’s blog, Blinq.

(Inga Saffron’s Changing Skyline is unquestionably fantastic, but it’s not updated too often and or even hosted on Philly.com.)

For nearly two years, Rubin covered everything from the Phillies’ Sal Fasano to Super Bowl ads.

More important (and relevant to you Spinstas), Rubin was no stranger to Penn or the DP. He was all over Box in a Box, getting one of the first interviews with Wharton soph Melissa Lamb. And not like Stephen Morse needs more coverage (thanks Brosbe — see below), but Blinq also covered Morse’s explosive videos last semester.

Dan’s blog had style, humor and a Web site that, despite living under the Philly.com moniker, didn’t look like something from 1997. By the end, Blinq was getting nearly a quarter million hits each month.

Everything seemed to going smoothly until last week, tragedystruck:

Tie a toe-tag on Blinq. I’m getting ready to start another assignment here at the Inquirer. What I’m moving on to is the metro desk, taking a crack at being a local columnist. Talk about your old media.

Commenters chimed in quickly, with one adding,

the inquirer needs to clone you, so you can do both.

Rubin built a community that will be sorely missed in the Philly blogosphere. I’m sure he’ll be a great columnist, but he was a true Philly blog pioneer. Until Blinq returns (or the Inky comes with something better … which may happen in the next decade), I guess Philebrity will just have to do. Hats off to you Dan.

Academia, meet Earth. Earth, academia. It would seem you two have been estranged for quite some time. What has puzzled me most recently is the bizarre disconnect between what goes on in the Middle East and the larger world and what we are told is going on in endless symposiums, teach-ins, awareness initiatives ad nauseam by our omniscient tenured overlords.

The latest example comes from our Ivy-encrusted comrades over at Columbia University. Columbia professor Joseph Massad spoke at a discussion on just how apartheid Israel is (presuming black South Africans could vote, speak freely, and even hold office, the parallels are indeed striking) as part of “Israeli Apartheid Week,” in New York City. Beyond the usual litany of Israel killing babies etc., one comment stood out as particularly ludicrous in its nature. According to Israeli linguist Tanya Reinhart, Israel is a “rogue state” because of — wait for it — “lack of health care and hospitals for Palestinians in the occupied territories.”

Um. What?

Let’s see here.

This is one for the kindergarteners: Which of these is not like the others?

The scary thing is that this carnival of the unhinged was described as merely the “penultimate” event in “Israeli Apartheid Week” Those of you who have read Orwell might know it better as “Hate Week”. What, pray tell, is the ultimate event in this week of unbalanced criticism of the Jewish state? Kristallnacht? Newsflash, New York — that’s in November.

It is times like this when I am the most glad I go to Penn. I don’t know whether it is our pre-professional apathy, the benevolent presence of our jew-normous Hillel, or the long capitalist shadow cast by Huntsman Hall scaring the radical left away, but whatever the cause, I am most grateful that Penn has maintained at least a surface impression of sanity when it comes to Israel.

There aren’t words…

The Daily Pennsylvanian lost a good man this weekend. After seven months blogging and another four writing columns, Stephen Morse finally succumbed after a long battle with facts, journalistic principles and people in general.

As a columnist last Spring, Morse took on discrimination towards broad definitions of sexual harassment in the university’s handbook on the subject and other hot topics.

As a Spin blogger his ambition (and notoriety) only grew. After attending a Darfur rally he asked the question, why aren’t more African Americans doing more for their brothers and sisters in Darfur? Later he tackled an odd smell in Logan Hall and a hazardous crosswalk at 33rd and Locust.

Morse achieved cult celebrity status, at one point garnering his own tag on Penn alum authored blog Philadelphia Will Do, written by Daniel McQuade. In December he was even named one of a Philadelphia Will Do’s People of the Year.

And yet after his brief but illustrious career, Morse came to epitomize that epithet made famous by Kurt Cobain, “It is better to burn out than fade away.”

In Morse’s final moments as a blogger he took on those bastions of corruption, the Preceptorial Committee and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

Unfortunately for Morse and those subscribing to his cult of personality, while the details are hazy (and privileged) one thing is sure: Morse is no longer with us.

Morse, you were the O’Reilly to my Colbert, my inspiration, nay the wind beneath my wings. The Blogsbe Nation mourns your departure from this blog, but feels confident that you’ve moved on to a better place.

P.S. For those wondering the betting line for impetuses behind Morse’s departure was as follows: Amy Gutmann 3:2, Black Student Union 4:1, Students Taking Action Now: Darfur 7:2, Bob Casey 10:1, Dan “D-Mac” McQuade 13:1, Dan Savage 25:1.

Editor’s note: While Stephen Morse will no longer be blogging for The Spin, new pieces by Morse will still be available in 34th Street. “Well…that was awkward” will continue on Thursday.

I grew up in suburbia and attended a private Catholic school. As a child I had little contact with diversity. Coming to Penn changed that. I loved the diverse atmosphere, the opportunities for exploration, and friendly people. But despite my enjoyment at discovering new cultures, I still wasn’t convinced of the merits of affirmative action. Giving preferences based on race didn’t seem like the way to go.

The rhetoric coming from back home, where Michigan was deciding on an affirmative action ban, colored my view. Pro-affirmative action groups like By Any Means Necessary flooded the media with demands that affirmative action be kept legal. They claimed that proponents of a ban were purposefully trying to exclude minorities from public universities. They claimed that affirmative action would rectify the wrongs of a racist electorate.

The book that changed Dan Brickley’s life — or at least his view on affirmative action (The Brookings Institution)

After the infamous University of Michigan Supreme Court decision supporting affirmative action, opponents of affirmative action turned to the voters for an outright ban. As I prepared to vote for the ban, a professor assigned The Black-White Test Score Gap by Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips. Filled with scientific studies, a subdued political agenda, and cold, hard numbers the book spoke to me. And it changed my vote.

See, as a member of the American majority, I never had to confront racism, experience the trials of poverty, or suffer through inadequate schooling. Rhetoric speaking of inherent rights to admission, due to terrible acts that happened before I was ever born, just didn’t click. Instead, cold hard facts about the black-white test score gap, the inability to explain this phenomenon and the importance of test scores in university admissions, do click.

Militant (their word, not mine) groups like BAMN scare away the majority of voters like me. Mass demonstrations with scores of screaming pro-affirmative action youth does little for the cause. Logical, fact-based discussion should take hold, allowing people from every background, including me, to understand the true reason for affirmative action.

BAMN may be a valuable legal resource, but their public voice obviously rests on the emotional issues of slavery, segregation, and the civil rights movement. Arguments resting on these issues may be the easiest to make, but, as shown by failures in Michigan and California, they just don’t work.

If the leaders of the affirmative action movement want to change America, they must start with their own movement.

Excited for that school let out after only half a day, I eagerly left my high school to head downtown. I, like a good suburban Maryland student, was on my way to a protest at the Supreme Court during the 2003 challenge to the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy. I ended up missing the march, but picked up one of the signs anyway provided by the organization By Any Means Necessary.

Otherwise known as BAMN, this political action group has a history of swarming meetings to block votes and organizing public protests. Beyond marches, they’ve expanded their arsenal to include aggressive legal campaigns. In 2003, they filed as a co-defendant supporting affirmative action in the Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court case, and are currently fighting to block the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, claiming that the anti-affirmative action Proposition 2 was improperly allowed on the ballot. BAMN is not merely a rag-tag group of over-passionate, under-informed radicals, and their supporters show as much.

The list of endorsements for BAMN’s 2003 march reads like a roster for a Fels Institute of Government symposium. The AFL-CIO, Congressman John Conyers, and three city councils all officially endorsed the protest.

The list had local supporters as well. The former faculty fellow of DuBois College House, Dr. Vinay Harpalani, was instrumental in organizing Penn’s 500-person delegation to the 2003 protest at the Supreme Court. Harpalani also earned his PhD from Penn in 2005, and while a graduate student, organized press conferences downtown, coordinated student groups in support of affirmative action, and orchestrated a picket of Justice Scalia when he spoke at the law school. Our own GAPSA endorsed the rally- their detailed resolution is online, at the BAMN website no less!

A protester joins others in a demonstration against Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia outside of the University Museum when he spoke at Penn in 2003. (Geoff Robinson/DP)

Intelligent, rational, well-thought out individuals is in our own backyard &mdash BAMN is not an organization for extremists.

On a broader scale, BAMN is not the end-all for affirmative action activism, nor should it be. They have honed their specific method of contribution &mdash investigating how anti-affirmative action petitions are conducted, protesting court cases that may undermine racial integration, and raising awareness of the exponential loss to minority students after affirmative action programs are discontinued. There’s a host of ways we can get facts out, BAMN represents a public arm that is complemented, and not complicated, by conventional discussion.

Warren Buffet (CNN)

I had lunch on Friday with the most successful investor of all time. He took me out for a steak. We drank Cherry Coke, shot the breeze about his life and his outlook for the future. He offered to pay the bill. His company earns around $200 million a week so he’d easily covered his costs by the time we’d finished eating.

With a net worth of $42 billion, Warren E Buffett is the poster boy of modern capitalism. Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, where he still lives, Buffett started his career as a professional investor in 1956 when he created the Buffett Associates Ltd, managing $105,000 of funds. Just $100 of the money was his own. 10 years later, the fund was worth $44 million, a return of 1156%. Hello Mr. Buffett.

From there, he went on to build an empire, acquiring Berkshire Hathaway , a failing textiles business, and then investing in other firms under the Berkshire umbrella. Today Berkshire Hathaway has a market capitalization of $167 billion and is one of the most successful companies in the world. Buffett has built what he calls his “masterpiece,” his Sistine Chapel.

Now 76 years old but still as energetic as ever, Buffett has turned his attentions more towards giving something back. Each year he meets with a small number of business students from across the US, imparting pearls of wisdom upon their sponge-like brains, holding swathes of eager young minds enthralled by his love of investing and passion for life. Last Friday, I was lucky enough to be one of the few Penn students to meet with him. And what an honour it was.

For a man worth 6 times the Penn endowment fund, Warren Buffett is as humble as they come. Not interested in the glitz and glamour of billionaire life, he still lives in the same house he bought in 1958 for $31,500 and always drives his own car. Last Friday, he drove four Whartonites from Berkshire Hathaway’s headquarters to Gorat’s Steakhouse for lunch. No chauffers, no bodyguards, no overtures to grandure–Buffett is reassuringly unassuming and a pleasure to be around.

Last year, he shocked the world with his generosity, making the largest philanthropic donation in history. Buffett announced plans to transfer shares in Berkshire Hathaway totalling $30.7 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and over $6 billion to other charities.

It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear of such compassion and altruism again, such was the extent of his charity. But to Warren Buffett, who recently told Fortune magazine he “agreed with Andrew Carnegie, who said that huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should in large part be returned to society”, this monumental act of philanthropy is merely the natural reallocation of wealth to a society that has given him so much.

After lunch and a few photos, it was time to go. A handshake and a smile and Buffett was off into the Omaha sunset. It was short but very sweet, for I had sat in the presence of greatness.

This painting, Radiator Building- Night, New York by Georgia O’Keefe is being sold by Fisk University. (Fisk University)

I love art. Raised on a steady diet of Cassatts and Renoirs, I’ve always had fond regard for the Impressionists. Then, upon discovering Dali, I realized that perhaps surrealism is just as enticing. Modern art has sadly never struck my fancy, but regardless, I’ve always considered myself a devoted art fan.

Even so, there are times when I realize that other concerns should take precedence. Drastically improving a university qualifies.

The president of Fisk University is doing just that. A historically black institution without a major endowment, Fisk University is home to Georgia O’Keefe pieces as well as a 101-item Arthur Stieglitz Collection given by O’ Keefe to the university as a gift from her husband’s estate.

In order to increase its endowment, fund a new building, establish three endowed chairs, and revamp the art gallery, Fisk has proposed selling one of O’Keefe’s paintings as well as one of Marsden Hartley’s, both items in the original collection bequeathed by O’Keefe to the university.

This proposal was greeted with horror and lawsuits from the Georgia O’ Keefe Museum. The museum tried to block the sale, claiming that it would diminish the value of the collection and effectively dishonor the donor’s wishes.

I understand that a donor’s wishes should be considered when making such a decision. Yet when it comes down to choosing between looking at a piece of art hang flaccidly on the wall, or using money from its sale to replenish an endowment, I think the choice is pretty clear. Fisk is right.

University and museum agendas may fundamentally differ. And to that end, the job of the university is to ensure its own survival–even if it means parting with a critically-acclaimed masterpiece.

It’s a partaaaaaay! (Architect of the Capitol)

Dear Penn students,

Today Abe and I were chatting over a midday martini at the Cloud Nine Presidential Lounge. We keep trying to acquire a guest pass for our old chum Ben, but this seems to be one place where Poor Richard’s Almanacjust won’t gain him access. And you wouldn’t believe all of the perks we enjoy up here: Marilyn Monroe, Helen of Troy, Rita Hayworth…Ahem, I mean scholarly conversation, visits from Sophocles and lunches with Aristotle–it’s a whole other world.

I digress.

Penn students, we’re writing to you on the fervent recommendation of Ben. Apparently, you guys still have it in with a founding father up here in heaven. I’m writing to you because of “long train of abuses and usurpations” by your University of Pennsylvania. This coming Thursday will be my 275th birthday, and Abe celebrated his 198th just one week ago. Today is our collective celebration for the most humble deeds of two quite distinguished fellows, if I may say so myself (Humility wasn’t ever one of my strong suits. When I told those generals to “do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks [sic] of the Divine Author of the blessed Religion,” I was bluffing.) But I bet that at least half of you reading this letter have completely forgotten about this occasion, commonly known as Presidents’ Day. You Penn students, for example, don’t even get to miss classes in my honor–no love for the founders.

I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but honestly, you all might not be Americans without me. In fact, you might be subjects of Queen Elizabeth right now–or who knows, maybe even of France! Pragmatically, I understand that my national birthday celebration was moved from the rightful February 22 to the third Monday in every month. For taxpayers, government officials and general convenience, this just makes much more sense.
While the holiday is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday,” I am happy, honored really, to share this day with someone as admirable as my good friend Abe Lincoln. His foresight, integrity and value in human equality changed the progression of our country in ways no one ever thought possible. Clearly, racial differences in the United States are far from over, yet Abraham Lincoln’s innovative prowess is bringing a gradual end to injustice in our multicultural nation. And besides, his elegantly sculpted beard and designer top-hat must certainly be the envy of every modern man.

America established a day to commemorate the presidential legacies of Lincoln and myself, and it saddens me to find us so often unremembered and ignored. Just like the wartime martyrs on Memorial Day, the valiant Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in January and workers on Labor Day, we deserve some more public acknowledgement for our deeds. Honestly, I just don’t think you should have to be at that Econ lecture or PoliSci recitation today–unless, of course, you’re about to discuss the merits of the Revolutionary War.

Respectfully yours,

George Washington