We’re done for the semester, but don’t worry — spring’s coming! New classes, bunnies, blooming flowers, and, of course, a whole new crop of bloggers.

So if you’re funny and interesting, if you think the blog’s been great and want to contribute (or think it could use some work and want to help us make it better), if you’ll have too much free time next semester, if you want a platform from which to launch your plans of world domination — apply! The application is here, along with more information.

We’re looking for text bloggers as well as anyone into multimedia, so if you think you could rock the blog with photo, video, voice podcasts, or any other original media (webcomics? charcoal drawings? claymation?), throw your idea out there and we’ll see what we can do with it.

Applications are due January 4, so you can apply when you’re done suffering through finals and eating/sleeping (most of) your way through break.

Happy Holidays from the Spin!

I snagged an interview with Nate Bourne, College ‘10, co-founder of Kuloco Clothing. His idea of creating a clothing company rooted in where you live, not how you live, is taking off. I first heard about Kuloco when I noticed quite a few of my friends had joined the group “Kuloco Clothing” on Facebook. I checked it out and saw almost 1,000 members in the group. I read the description of the clothing company and realized that it’s hot.

Anyway, check it out:

This post almost turned into a tirade about the effects of abstinence education, but I’ll spare you all that rant.

Instead, since it’s my last post of the semester (and I refuse to write a single post about the “s word” next year), let’s actually talk about sex.

Being the DP “sex blogger” has given me new perspective. (And no, not the staring-at-the-ceiling kind.) Regardless of what the shout outs imply, I wasn’t surprised to read in the 34th Street sex issue that most Penn students have only had one or two partners by graduation. Maybe it’s that we party less than those who go to state schools, or just that many Penn students tend to overthink their lives, but I’ve certainly come across a lot of hang ups and assumptions that I didn’t expect to — some of them my own.

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Syria has blocked facebook, fearing an infiltration of Israelis.

Human rights groups have regularly criticized Syrian authorities for blocking opposition sites …

Now if blocking facebook isn’t a violation of human rights, what is?

Today, as of 4:20 pm, 527 Wharton freshman have just gotten their lives back.

This could mean only one thing …

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$4.01. That’s how much Bucks County Coffee charges for a regular coffee and a chocolate croissant. Four-oh-freaking-one.

Every time the cashier dumps a pile of change so big that only Rainman knows if it amounts to 99c in my hands I want to leap over the counter and snap some necks. Instead, I just glare at her, further poisoning my relationship with everyone in that god-forsaken store.

It takes a special kind of arrogance to charge anyone $4.01 for a basic combination like that. The same kind of arrogance it takes to serve up scorched coffee and stale croissants.

I Bucking hate that place. So why do I keep going?

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MIT now releases 90 percent of its coursework material online. Will this be the beginning of the end for college campuses? Though MIT won’t offer degrees online, it seems only a matter of time until other elite institutions decide to.

I applaud MIT for putting the material online. It’s a great service to anyone who needs to learn linear algebra immediately, and by anyone I mean probably one person ever. However, getting an online education is nowhere near as valuable as a real college experience. Sure you learn the material, but think back to the classes you took just two or three years ago. How much of that material do you still remember? I barely even remember the titles of the classes I took freshmen year.

The classroom of the future?

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The deep, dark abyss that is finals week looms ominously in the distance.

The lackadaisical among us may hide in warm beds, watching re-runs of “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila“, munching on snacks bought up with excess end-of-the-semester Dining Dollars, while others move into Van Pelt, hibernating in study cubicles, feverishly copying notes and creating outlines.

What to do when those grades don’t turn out as expected? Well, an article published yesterday in The New York Times calls this type of obsession over perfectionism self-destructive and potentially damaging to mental health.

The article states new studies “suggest that perfectionism is a valuable lens through which to understand a variety of seemingly unrelated mental difficulties, from depression to compulsive behavior to addiction.” Oops. So I guess meticulously organizing my flashcards in both chronological and alphabetical order, color coded and labeled, might be an indication that something else is, say … off?

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In case you weren’t reading The New York Times yesterday, Penn got a prominent shout out. A Wharton study on business trends? A new medical breakthrough? An investigation into increased on-campus exposure?

No, it was all about Kelly Writers House.

At an elite university filled with undergraduates preparing for professional and graduate schools — and on a campus in which the Wharton School can literally cast the largest shadow — the Writers House is an oasis for the arts set, for the unconventional, even the countercultural.

I thought it was a touching and meaningful story about a close-knit community on campus. Here’s that positive press we’ve been looking for.

“Ahhh!” screamed my friend as she glanced out the window of Leidy Labs.

“What,” I asked, “A security guard flashing someone?”

“No,” said the Californian, “it’s snowing!”

Yes, we got our first real snowfall today. It makes me so happy, I just wanted to share this cute, winter-y photo with you all.

But still no place to sled … Come on, Penn! You really need to get on that.