“Regretfully they tell us, but firmly they compel us To say goodbye to you. So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu – Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.”

And that’s all she wrote.

Thank you so much for reading The Spin this semester. When the blog returns August 30 I will no longer be its editor. Next semester, I’m leaving my warm, comfortable home at 4015 Walnut Street for the far away land of Belgium. I hope it’s worth it.

But The Spin is moving up in the world. "http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/user/index.cfm?event=displayAuthorProfile&authorid=2413484" target="_blank">Ali Jackson, a former columnist, will be the next spunkier, funnier Spinster-in-chief. Adam Goodman, also a Spring 2007 columnist, will join Ali in the mighty Ed Page office, taking the indomitable Ms. Tillman’s role as Editorial Page Editor. This San Diego coup of the fully DC metro-area opinion office was fate. It’s not the first time this pair has collaborated — Ali and Adam are both from Southern California and were co-editors of the La Jolla Country Day Palette in high school. But that’s not all this pair has in common. They are also both pimps of opinion journalism and will most definitely bring the Opinion section to new heights (at the very least because they have a combined 21 inches of additional editor on Zoe and me.)

Speaking of Zoe, I’d like to take a minute to acknowledge her work as Editorial Page Editor. Zoe is an obscenely talented journalist and manager. I can’t wait for the day when I pick up The Washington Post and see her byline on the lead story — there is no doubt in my mind that it will come. Our collaboration and friendship have been the biggest rewards of my work this semester as has getting to know the rest of members of the crazy capable 123rd.

I’d also like to thank Dan, Blogsbe, Evan, Camille, John, Simeon, Sarah, James, Elizabeth, SteinZ, and Sharon for putting up with me for the last four months. It has been my sincere pleasure to work with and get to know y’all. If you guys had 1/3 as much fun as I did, this semester was a success. You da best!

Okay, this is starting to look like an Oscar speech and I, afterall, did not win an Oscar — I just edited a blog. So…

Siegel, out!

PS: Check back in a few weeks for information on applying to be a columnist or blogger for Fall 2007.

Thanks for the memories!

Even though the primary elections for Philadelphia’s next mayor will occur after graduation, when Penn, Philadelphia, and finals are a mere memory for most students, they are still critically important to Penn. No, really…I promise.

There is a special election feature in today’s print edition of the DP which includes information on the issues and candidates, polls, and the DP Opinion Board’s endorsements. The Spin wanted in on the action.

All five Democratic mayoral campaigns were contacted to submit posts to the blog. Four of the five — all but Chaka Fattah’s campaign — responded. The posts went up, in alphabetical order, at 9am. The links and multimedia included were submitted by the campaigns.

Enjoy the feature and remember to vote in the primary on May 15.

Hi Everybody,

Finals are approaching at a terrifying speed which means that the DP is finished with regular publication for the semester (your humble editors also have to “study”). But don’t curl up under your covers and weep just yet — The Spin will be back for one last hurrah on Wednesday. Don’t miss it!

Best,

Julie

We’re not laughing with you.

SUCKAZ, WE SOOOO GOTCHYA!!!

So, you should actually pick the DP today, because it’s the best issue of the year: the joke issue! We Spinsters decided to succumb to delicious temptation of peer pressure and write a bunch of funny/hokey/smartass articles as ourselves–you know–to blend in.

I know what you’re thinking: funny/hokey/smartass writing, why is this day different than any other day (sorry, the Matzah’s getting to my head)? Well, you see our dear readers, today, our posts don’t actually have to be true.

Here’s a little bit of history about the DP joke issue. For more, see the page 6 of the print edition.

The Daily Pennsylvanian’s annual gag issue has a long history, of which another chapter has been written today. Every year at about this time, tradition dictates that DP editors turn their usually proper paper into a playful parody.

Although the DP used to publish a gag issue on or about April Fool’s Day, the issue was moved to Washington’s birthday in 1962. Through a series of haphazard and random events, the DP has settled on a time loosely referred to as “sometime in March or April, or whenever we remember to commemorate the crusading DP editors of days gone by.”

So how did this strange tradition begin? The DP was then led by the now celebrated Melvin Goldstein. “Magnificent Melvin,” as the flamboyant editor-in-chief was called, decided to liberate the traditional all-male newspaper by adding a few women to the staff. Not to be outdone, the rival Pennsylvania News–a weekly published by female undergraduates–decided that it, too, would go co-ed and invited men to join the paper.

The women got more than they bargained for. The very next day, Feb. 22, Magnificent Melvin and his staff produced their own Pennsylvania News, mocking the News’s frivolous style.

Ever since the Melvin, DP editors male and female have produced a DP gag issue each year. The results have often been memorable.

One year, an associate dean in the College called up the provost to ask why he had not been told that the University had been kicked out of the Ivy League.

Another February, an article disclosing that the University was really a “mafia shield” caused a Philadelphia Evening Bulletin editor to “damn near run to the telephone to give somebody hell for missing a story like that.”

Thus, the current editors, recalling Magnificent Melvin and his clashes with the forces of evil, present Gag Issue 2007, partly in fun, partly in jest — and partly to remind everyone who really runs things around here.

Just to be clear, it’s The Spin.

White Dog Cafe owner (and philanthropist, entrepreneur, environmentalist — basically all-around person extraordinaire) Judy Wicks made the trek to Logan Hall last night to speak to Women in Leadership Series (full disclosure, I’m in the group). Her talk was brilliant but I was so distracted. I couldn’t concentrate — this petite, liberal, leader of the Philadelphia community looked so familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. Then I got it:

Were they separated at birth?

Norman Finkelstein

I came of age in shades of gray. As a liberal girl from a liberal suburb of Washington DC, moral relativism was my native tongue. In my formative years, discussion, discourse and debate was not just a means, but an end. The ultimate end. Everyone had a right to be heard and all opinions were equally legitimate.

And then I got my first high school history paper back with a note on the top that said “Nice rhetoric but facts aren’t the enemy of truth.“

It is this same naivete that the DP Opinion Board showed in today’s editorial which praised the Political Science department for co-sponsoring a lecture by the controversial Norman Finkelstein last night. Earnestly, they wrote that the debate his appearance on campus catalyzed “alone makes Finkelstein a worthy speaker.”

Put aside for a second the fact that it is unclear what productive debate could possibly arise from Finkelstein’s appearance (Do American Jews use the Holocaust to line their pockets?). I take issue with the support of the Political Science department because any debate that the department’s sponsorship spurs is the thin silver lining to a much bigger dark cloud: the legitimacy given to Finkelstein’s scholarship by lending their name to the event.

This legitimacy is undeserved.

Finkelstein brags that he teaches at a “third-rate university” in Chicago because he was “kicked out of every job” in New York. He has written at least two books directly about Israel without ever visiting the country. A judge in Chicago wouldn’t certify him as an expert witness in a criminal trial about Hamas — a classification often given to real academics.

The Political Science department is right and justified in seeking to bring controversial and enlightening speakers with unorthodox views to campus. The problem is that when an academic department brings a speaker the assumption is that while the speaker’s views may be contentious his evidence is sound — the guest is a scholar. While not endorsing Finkelstein’s views per say, the department is attesting to the rigor and factual accuracy of his research.

This faith isn’t justified. Benny Morris, a left-wing Israeli historian Finkelstein quoted in his most recent book, wrote that Finkelstein “selectively quotes from [my books] what suits his purposes while ignoring, and in Finkelstein’s case, ridiculing what doesn’t. ” In other words, Finkelstein’s writings employ my favorite 9th grade rhetorical tool which also happens to be the cardinal sin of academic writing — he twists and fabricates evidence in an intellectually dishonest way.

It may be true, as Professor Goldstein asserts in his column in today’s paper that some small minority of scholars back Finkelstein’s work and that he has been published in an academic journal. This article on Finkelstein’s website seems to dispute that claim. Regardless, even if Finkelstein does have a sprinkling of supporters, that’s not enough. There are also many Creationist professors. That doesn’t mean that the Biology department should spend money and invite them to present the evidence behind their Creationist research. There are groups elsewhere on campus to serve that role. The same is the case here.

The Political Science department has should not deputize any schmuck with a PhD as a scholar. Co-sponsoring this event does so in the minds of students and, given the prestige of Penn, in the minds of the world as well.

There was another speaker on campus last night. Nonie Darwish, daughter of a shahid grew up in Cairo and Gaza. When she spoke about the power of education in combating anti-semitism, she said “[Education] doesn’t meanthat all ideas are right and no ideas are wrong. There is truth and there is fabrication.”

Norman Finkelstein’s writings are clearly the latter. The Political Science department has no business indicating otherwise.

Editor’s Note: If the DP’s a family 34th Street is the hipster older brother — smart, sometimes silly, and certainly edgy. We at The Spin look up to our snarky older brother and so, we are proud to present you with the new Street blog, StreetEats. TaDa! Here’s the first post (the writing may look familiar):

Anyone who knows Philly will tell you that there’s so much more than Pat’s and Gino’s when you’re hungry. We agree wholeheartedly, and that’s why we’ve decided to start StreetEats, 34th Street’s new food blog. In class, on Locust Walk, downtown, at home, and pretty much everywhere in between, I overhear conversations about food. Whether it’s someone raving about a new restaurant or complaining about poor service, the Penn community is on top of our game in terms of recognizing changes in Philadelphia’s dining scene. This blog isn’t going to be written by us — it will hopefully be written by you! We want anyone and everyone with access to a computer to submit their thoughts, opinions, secrets, and any other information about that perfectly ripe tomato you bought from Fresh Grocer to the slightly overcooked escargot at Le-Bec-Fin. We want it all here.

For more StreetEats, click here. Enjoy, and goodluck Street!

You know what they say about red heads… (NYTimes)

Tragedy struck for this news junkie on September 19, 2005. That sad day, the illustrious New York Times decided to join the pack of big-shot old media establishments in trying to make money off its website: Times Select was born.

The work of the seven regular op-ed columnists plus many of the best Times features were just beyond my grasp. What a tease, the headlines and first paragraphs were visible, but then, just as the I could taste the bliss born of good writing, the columns were stolen away. Particularly painful was to me was the forced separation from the indomitable goddess of columnizing Maureen Dowd who gave me hope that, if written well, cynical snarkiness could make it beyond charges of insubordination and spell genuine success (in Pulitzer form).

But alas, The Times has sobered up and made Times Select content available to anybody with a .edu email address.

Goodbye homework, I’m hooked.

To Our Dear Reader(s):

Spring has not yet defrosted Philly so Penn students, including the pasty-skinned staff of the The Daily Pennsylvanian and your loyal Spinsters have headed home/to [insert exotic MTV destination here] for Spring Break to gain some much needed R&R. The Spin will return Tuesday, 3/13 with a scholarly analysis by James Russell of the impact of an English accent on an exchange student’s ability to pick up girls in Cancun (please James, like it’s hard)!

Have a great break, everyone! Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do…

Best,
Julie

Lookin’ good!

On behalf of your humble Spinistas and the Daily Pennsylvanian, I’d like to wish a very happy 256th Birthday to Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1751, ole’ Ben Franklin., father of all things good, founded the Hospital, which, in fact, was the first Hospital in the United States. Two hundred fifty six years later, the Hospital is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System colony behind the quad and is one of the ten best in the country.

The Hospital was one of many firsts at Penn. We also had the first Student Union (Houston Hall) and the first female President in the ivy league (Judith Rodin). In short, Penn’s an innovator in health, happiness, and women. Father Benny would be proud.

Oh, one more thing. We had Drew Faust first. Take that, Harvard!