What do you do between classes?

If you’re anything like my roommates after three hours of intense Wharton, there’s nothing like watching funny TV. VH1 is a favorite, particularly with their Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever. The show meshed with this week’s entertainment news when Russ Heller set a new world record for listening to Jefferson Starship’s “We Built This City” more than 324 times in one day.

“We Built This City” (musicobsession.com)

The song recently topped Blender music magazine’s “50 Worst Songs Ever!” chart for the second consecutive year. Other songs included Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” The Beatle’s “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and Bobby McFerrin’s “don’t Worry Be Happy.’

What is ironic about Blender’s, VH1’s and CNN’s “worst song” lists is that their songs topped the Billboard Chart at some point. In fact, all of the artists featured on Blender’s “worst” rankings are household names. Many are also Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. It would make more sense if the publication had titled the list “The Worst Songs from the Best.” ABC News had the right idea when it described the magazine as rating the “50 Worst Hit Songs.”

The “worst” lists pose a paradox: they would loose their mass appeal if the songs were not so recognizable. Still, they have become a type of pop culture tradition. Just as watching SNL and mocking outdated fashion provides for a good laugh, there is an inherent comedic element to the Blender charts.

But what makes these songs horrible? Is the “The Sounds of Silence” too didactic in its poetic message? Is “My Heart Will Go On” too sappy and overplayed? And does the playful nature of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” negate its catchiness? Or are they all similar in that you love them the first five times you hear them, like them the tenth time and can’t stand them by the fiftieth?

Since this is an interactive column, I would love to hear what readers think makes such widely-known songs “the worst.” Please post your own thoughts!

Many pre-med students who took the MCAT on August 19th considered themselves lucky, as it was the last time the exam would be administered in the traditional paper-and-pencil form.

“As a Kaplan student not taught in manner of the computer version, I would have been uncomfortable if I had to take it on the computer. I was glad to be able to take it on paper,” says Mokerrum Malik a College senior majoring in Biology.

But starting this January, students will no longer have a choice. The Association of American Medical Colleges will only offer the exam at Thomson Prometric computer testing sites. The AAMC claims that the new format offers many advantages such as more frequent exam dates, quick grading and shorter exam duration.

(NYU MedEcs)

Many pre-med students whom I spoke with expressed concern that the techniques they learned in Kaplan and Princeton Review courses–such as “mapping”– would no longer be applicable with the new format. As for anxieties of not being able to write in the margins or underline passages, these may not be obstacles for those who have never taken the test in its traditional form.

“Any exam presents a new experience” says Malik. ‘You just have to learn and practice how to take each format,’ adds Soham Dave, a College senior majoring in the Biological Basis of Behavior who took the MCAT in April. “Even with the mechanisms for Organic Chemistry, you are not required to draw out the arrows on the exam. The MCAT’s way of evaluating skills is different from in the classroom,” says Dave.

Adapting to the new digital form is inevitable. But the switch will be more problematic for those in their fifties who have to recertify for their Medical Specialty Boards on the computer, as they have spent their lifetime taking paper-based tests. So as you pre-meds start browsing MCAT test prep services, make sure that they are actually preparing you for the new test. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your money.

I like my doughnuts and French fries as much as the next person. I’d choose a Big Mac over a boca burger any day. I prefer whole milk to soy. But I’m still in favor of banning artificial trans fats, as New York health officials recently proposed.

Prohibiting a food ingredient is not the equivalent of the government regulating our food choices. You would still be able to have your fried foods, but they would be healthier. And it would save lives.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health maintain that “removing trans fats from the industrial food supply could prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and cardiac deaths each year in the U.S.”

Considering that, as of January of this year, the FDA required that food labels list trans fats, it seems like a natural next step to prohibit them them in fast food chains and restaurants to combat the growing epidemic of heart disease.

Because it is difficult to discern when the ingredient is being used, no one can actively choose not consume trans fats. We should welcome a change in policy that would allow us to eat the foods we love without the unnecessary worry of partially hydrogenated oils clogging our arteries and being detrimental to our health.

With exams and work accumulating, advanced registration is the least of our worries at the moment. The Add/Drop period was the real time to shop for classes.
With Penn InTouch, we all change our schedules numerous times in the fledgling weeks of each semester.

(upenn.edu)

So why does Penn send hard copy confirmations of class schedules in May, months before anyone’s even thinking about next fall?

It’s always nice to have documentation, but we are given it too early for it to ever come in handy.

On many college campus, stories circulate about every student’s worst nightmare: failing a class they thought they dropped or didn’t even know they were enrolled in. But the quirks of these newly adopted systems vary from campus to campus.

A Penn professor made an informal waitlist of students who showed up to his full seminar a few weeks ago. When spaces opened, he asked me if I wanted to join his class. I told him I had already finalized my schedule and was not interested. But he enrolled me anyway. Had my friend not told me that my name was being called for attendance, I would have never checked my schedule again. But I did and to my surprise the class appeared on it. Imagine receiving an F in a course you never thought you were in.

The story gets more complicated when the course registration system allows for automatic waitlists. “A class that you are on a waiting list for could just show up on your schedule when seats open, said Syracuse sophomore Michael Boshnack. “It would be better to have email notice.”

Indeed, students I spoke to at Carnegie Mellon and Syracuse knew of the nightmare of finding themselves enrolled in a class they assumed had never opened up.

A sensible solution would be for PennInTouch to e-mail you whenever changes are made to your course schedule. Until then, you can never check your course schedule too many times.

On Saturday night, nearly 200 hundred Penn students gathered in the Hall of Flags for a banquet for Humanitarian Aid in Lebanon. The setting was somber and intimate, mourning the loss of life in Lebanon due to the recent war between the Hezballah and the state of Israel.

Many of the attendees are observing the Muslim holiday Ramadan and joined together to break their fast and pray.

Past banquets have focused on Katrina and the Tsunami. “Since the holy month is a time to reflect on ourselves and the state of other people, it seemed fitting to have the event focus on the current state of Lebanon, in order to create awareness in a place where humanitarian aid is greatly needed,” said Khalid Usmani, a Wharton junior and President of the Muslim Students Association .

The evening included poignant speeches from students who have recently visited Lebanon. Some students even showed personal photos. College junior Farah Mokhtareizadeh featured a picture that particularly struck a chord. The photo speaks for itself:

The night was successful in its initiative to raise “awareness.” The program proved that sometimes storytelling is the most effective means to communicate a message.

Human suffering seems to erase religious differences. Perhaps human compassion and understanding can do the same.

you’ve seen them here on campus. They put on their game faces when they step onto Locust Walk and they’re ready to take on the day. But don’t get in the way of these “alpha girls”, because They’re taking over. There are now even books dedicated to this new breed of independent women.

In his new book Alpha Girls, Dan Kindlon, author of Raising Cain, attempts to shed light on the psychology of what he calls this “new American

Alpha girl takeover? (pinellas.k12.fl.us)

girl.” He depicts her as driven, accomplished, academically gifted, athletically talented and socially engaged, as well as confident in who she is and wants to be. Kindlon’s research, along with other contemporaries, portrays an aggressive girl who topples the traditional theories, such as Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia.

Pipher depicts adolescent girls as psychologically disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts. Kindlon asserts that “American girls are by and large outstripping the boys who are their contemporaries in academic terms and in self-esteem levels”–a sharp contrast to the depressed and insecure Ophelia.

While Kindlon’s book stands as an earmark for the female cause, it is not without controversy. Alpha Girls argues that the demeanor of today’s females can be partly attributed to “closer” father-daughter relationships in our society. He argues that such rapports have “a profound impact on the way many girls think and feel, how they interact with the world and what they want and expect from life.” Kindlon explains that fathers “deliberately and unconsciously” pass down to their daughters traditional “male ways of being.”

However, some of Penn’s “alpha girls” don’t seem to agree with Kindlon. “I’d call myself a Daddy’s girl, but I don’t agree,” said Ayeesha Sachedina, a Wharton senior and President of Wharton Women. “Male ‘ways of being” are not necessarily inherently male. There were women in the past who exhibited these qualities. I believe that the reason we see more females demonstrating them today is because it’s more socially accepted.”

“I was equally close to my two parents since I was an only child,” said Amy Gutmann, arguably Penn’s biggest alpha girl. She attributes her success to “both my mother and my father passing down to me a love of learning and a desire to contribute to making the world better. I don’t associate it with either male or female characteristics.”

My female classmates have never taken a back seat to the boys in the classroom. However, I would say that sometimes a girl needs to make a stronger effort to prove herself when she enters a disproportionably male territory. My first encounter to this was when I became the first class of girls admitted to a previously all boys school. It wasn’t until I threw a football with a better spiral than the guys that I was considered one of them.

Maybe it’s the extra obstacles that “alpha girls” need to overcome, whether in gym class or in the working world, that has enabled them to develop a thick skin and be more willing to make sacrifices to achieve their goals–and maybe it makes success that much sweeter.

The real Philly cultural experience isn’t the trip to the art museum.

If they ever make a hip-hop hall of fame, Philly’s The Roots would be the cornerstone inductee for their innovative sound, their longevity and their expansive body of work. They are a group that doesn’t shy away from controversy and lyrically poses riveting questions reminiscent of the civil right’s movement. Take for instance the punching commentary with which Blackthought opens their new album over the dark drums

played by ?uestlove: “America’s lost somewhere inside of Littleton/ Eleven million children on Ritalin/ That’s why I don’t rhyme/ For the sake of riddilin/ False media/ We don’t need it do we.”

They are the voice of the people. They embody contemporary social polemics and stimulate thought. They’re not afraid to break boundaries and don’t seem to conform to what the market demands.

Yet many fans thought they did just that when they recently signed with Def Jam. Fortunately, their new album, Game Theory has alleviated all fears that they had abandoned their roots. Their main focus remains producing a uniform and organic sound. Game Theory achieves this without resorting to the gimmick of big-name cameos in order to sell CD’s.

“We just wanted to do things with people we had a relationship with. We wanted our cameos to be honest and not for commercial reasons. To keep the record cohesive we didn’t reach out to people who aren’t representative of or connected to us” said Richard Nichols, manager of The Roots.

Fans agree. “I think it’s really interesting to see them bringing up new underground artists. They explore new territory sonically,” said Wharton sophomore Rahul Sharodi. “For me, if they had Jay-Z as a cameo I wouldn’t have liked it–it was very smart and exploratory on their part to feature these new artists.”

Philly’s own up-and-coming “Nouveau Riche” is a group whose members produced or were featured on many tracks of the Root’s newest album (full disclosure: I had the opportunity to work with “Nouveau Riche as singer-songwriter).

Although The Roots don’t need to drop names on their albums, Penn can brag that the band put on a special show two years ago on Hill Field for President Gutmann’s inauguration. The Roots were a natural selection considering their strong ties to Philly and their spot on the top of students’ wish lists for on-campus performers. It was also serendipitous that the Penn freshman summer reading book for the year, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, was the title of their newly-released album at the time.

“The performance was absolutely hot,” recalled College junior Andrew Anderson. “The bassist went off for three minutes doing his own thing we were all jamming pretty hard. I’m all for having them come again.”

Although college students from across the country consistently list The Roots as their favorite musical artists on their Facebook profiles, the band is indigenous to Philly. Over the years their music and aura have greatly contributed to the city’s rich culture. Graduating from Penn without having taken the time to listen and appreciate their prolific works is like leaving without ever having visited Old City or tasted a Philly Cheese Steak. To really assimilate everything this town has to offer, it’s essential that you experience The Roots.

See for yourself:

Imagine graduating from college knowing that, in a few years, you would be sworn in as mayor of a big city. Would you be scrambling to jam in enough experience to be a competent leader?

This happened to Luke Ravenstahl, who graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 2002. Last Friday, Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor died from lymphatic brain cancer. Newly appointed City Council President Ravenstahl took office as O’Connor’s successor. The minimum age to be a mayor in most large cities in Pennsylvania is 25. Ravenstahl, 26, is just over the mark.

Luke Ravenstahl (city.pittsburgh.pa.us)

The public doesn’t have much information about its new mayor’s qualifications. His official biography highlights his previous leadership positions on the college football team. His lack of political experience leaves little else to talk about.

It is no secret that there has been an exodus of Pittsburgh’s young people for employment. Thus, some younger Pittsburghers are understandably interested in Ravenstahl.

“I actually think it’s exciting that he’s not much older than we are in college,” said College junior Christina Catanese, a native of Pittsburgh. “It should be interesting to see what happens and the kind of job he does. But I do understand the hesitation” about him.

Older Pittsburghers are also unsure. Therese Rocco, a former assistant chief of police in Pittsburgh (and a family friend), noted that “his being young creates a bit of anxiety, but from every indication he appears very mature and we can only hope …[he] will learn from his colleagues who have more experience.”

Ravenstahl may have to face a special election to confirm the duration of his term. However, even if he is mayor for less than a year, any Penn student applying to grad school would welcome that kind of coup on their resume.

This twist of events has demonstrated that even obscure local candidates are significant. Given that many Penn students will be voting in Pennsylvania elections this November, it’s important that everyone actively researches candidates, instead of blindly pushing buttons in the ballot box.