Stay inspired. Two words, four syllables. The best advice I’ve ever gotten about life in the real world. My four years here have left me with a fiery idealism and burning restlessness to approach this canvas we call earth and beautifully paint a piece of it. I hope your education has done the same.

On the scientific scale of pain, job hunting normally falls somewhere between root canal and dropkicking tiny kittens. In an economy like this one, however, it’s closer to letting an English major perform open-heart surgery on your gaping chest without anesthesia. (And no, English majors, you are not going to qualify for jobs involving open-heart surgery. Try again.

Academics are smart, highly educated, deeply intellectual people. Yet most of them insist on writing as if they failed Composition 101. Twice.

In response to the current tumult in the Middle East, there has been widespread speculation amongst pundits and politicos that the Obama administration will soon announce a new foreign policy doctrine outlining the United States’ philosophy in regards to promoting democracy abroad.

Treasury exists to serve the interests of the student body and the needs of SU student groups. Unfortunately, however, its funding choices often fail to reflect the student preferences.

I, a gambling-averse senior, am willing to bet that at some point during your four years at Wash. U., someone is going to ask you to define the American Dream. It might be your lit professor, it might be the next Graham Chapel speaker (hey, Bristol!); it probably won’t be that “female, red hair” you posted about anonymously on likealitle.com, but, hey, you never know.

I’m starting to feel neglected. I always wanted to be the most important part of your life, but, lately, I feel like you keep pushing me aside to make time for your other “priorities.” And when we do spend time together, you’re always late. Most nights, we don’t even meet up until like 3 a.m. What kind of relationship is that?

The hype of 2008 is officially dead. The faddish adulation of Obama, which promised to permanently draw millions of disengaged, apathetic young voters into the political process, has collapsed in the death throes of 2010’s low turnout.

During a class discussion a few weeks ago about existentialist philosophy, my professor informed our class that in the 1950s, every college student in America was reading the works of Jean-Paul Sartre. His history lesson got me thinking about whether our generation has an equivalent scholar or shared intellectual experience—one that is not a formal course requirement, yet is still an essential part of our liberal arts education.

Is it just me or are the freshmen getting smarter this year? No, I don’t mean smarter as in less prone to heading to frat row in packs of 20.