The time for choosing is now
Your time here is short. Seniors, we are on the threshold between academia and the “real world.” At this time next year you will (hopefully) be working a job or wading through graduate school, still adjusting to life outside the bubble. Freshmen, three years aren’t much; even you will soon leave the cozy collegiate atmosphere in pursuit of your ambition.
Help the University go up in the Friendster rankings
It finally happened. I had convinced myself that it was stupid and little more than a waste of time. But sitting last week in a familiar wood paneled booth over glasses of Blue Moon, I gave in. I decided to join Friendster.
Strength through truth
I am a conservative. I am a classical liberal. I am an anarchist. I am a capitalist. I am a communitarian. I am a Christian. I am a rationalist. I am a Lutheran. I am a Thomist. I am a substance dualist. I believe in libertarian free will. I had none of these positions when I came here four years ago.
Stay true to those liberal values!
My name is Brendan Watson, and I am a recovering Howard Dean supporter. I believed in his message for America. I believed in him when he said we needed to boot special interest politics, and instead make the system accountable to those that rely on it the most: schoolchildren, the elderly and infirm, and the poor. No, he wasn’t perfect. But I believed that he was genuine, and that he’d involve the disenchanted and the disenfranchised in formulating solutions to some of our most pressing social, economic, and political problems.
‘Hasta luego,’ not goodbye
As graduates and their families enjoy commencement activities and leave campus for the new challenges of careers, graduate school, or taking some time off to put things in perspective, just remember that we are saying “hasta luego,” not “goodbye.”
A new goal: environmental responsibility
I thank the editors of Student Life for the invitation to write to the Class of 2004. Of course, the first order of business is to offer my congratulations. If you are graduating with honors of one sort or another, you should be justifiably proud. On the other hand, if you are getting out of here by the skin of your teeth, you should be equally proud.
‘Wake me when it’s over’
It is that time of year when the platitudes, thought clich‚s and bromides gush like a syrupy torrent. Yes, friends, it is the glorious period called graduation, when older people say things to younger people that are obvious, untrue, or nonsensical, yet believe that somehow they are dispensing wisdom, the sagacity of their experience.
Congratulations from your Admissions Angel
As you prepare to go down a new path, with many exciting adventures awaiting you, I bet it has never occurred to you that someone in the Admissions Office has been watching over you. She is your Admissions Angel. When you were a senior in high school and Washington University was sending you all that mail, there was an admissions officer always watching out for you.
Embrace life’s uncertainty
Over the past four years, I have edited well over 1,000 articles for Student Life. I have forgotten almost all of them, even the ones that received plenty of attention on campus. However, one remains in the forefront of my mind: a column that taught me one of the most important lessons I have learned in college.
People are what make this place great
I’m a tour guide. Every week someone asks me my most and least favorite things about Washington University and just about every week I lie. I rotate the “things that I don’t like” based on the crowd. Sometimes it’s the career center, sometimes it’s courses that lack syllabi, and-as many of you who know me well can attest-it’s even been Student Life.