The Wake

A. General Gonzales: The fact that the Constitution—
again, there’s no express grant of Habeas
in the Constitution—
there’s a prohibition against taking it away.
But um, there’s—
it’s never been the case.
I’m not aware of a Supreme—

The Arlen Specter: Now wait a minute, wait a minute.
The Constitution says
you can[no]t take it away
except in the case
of invasion or
rebellion.
Does[no]t that mean
you have the right
of Habeas Corpus?

A. General Gonzales: I meant by that comment that
the Constitution does[no]t …

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Students
Trapped
In dormitorial dreamworld
Chanting in pseudo-utopian bliss
Rolling stone mantra
Praying for chains to rot.

Workers
Trapped
In industrial nightmare
Sweating factorial frustration
Alienated confusion
Struggling for chains to break.

People
Trapped
In commoditic consumption
Purchasing profusely
Self-product
Hoping to someday buy chains.

On Tuesday, Mar. 20, the Bell Museum of Natural History’s Café Scientifique hosted a talk at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater focused on the history and evolution of birth control in the United States in honor of the 40th anniversary of the pill. John E. Troyer, who teaches in the Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature department at the U, introduced Elizabeth Jansen and warmed up the audience of approximately 50 people by asking several questions related to the topic of the night. One of the questions was “What common household device was the most widely used contraceptive from 1930-1960? Birthday …

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Deborah Keenan’s reading at the Weisman Art Museum, an occasion for the release of her newest work, Willow Room, Green Door delivers a large audience. The poetry reading, packed with prospective grad students, the faculty, the public and myself, was in fact a concert. Deborah cites Stephin Merritt often, using his influences in her poetry. Her relationship to music ties with her diction as she reads. Keenan twists the line in both a delicate and precise, if not surgical fashion. Such abilities, coupled with her distinct rhythms propel her poems, giving them a song-like resonance. The composition of the reading …

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I could spend this article discussing every detail of the lecture on how Kabbalah, a mystical sect of Judaism, relates to rationalist thought, but instead I’d like to focus on the simpler theme of the discussion: happiness. More specifically, what it has to do with astrology, incest, Britney Spears and Christian rock.All of these subjects began connecting in my mind as I sat in a sunny, rose-colored library and munched on a free lemon bar. I was in the Nolte Center library, where the only book spines I could read were about Hebrew verbs, listening to Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, an Israeli …

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Remember when swing dancing was all of sudden hip and trendy due to a commercial? We were all blessed with the music of Cherry Poppin Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Brian Setzer. I know we’ve all moved on from those days, discarding our dancing aspirations like the slap bracelets of our youth. Although some of those bands bastardized the swing music genre, swing dancing is alive and well, thriving off the original hits. U-Swing is a student group on campus that still is jumpin’, jivin’ and wailin’ away to swing music.“It’s something different, open to everyone …

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Driving around Los Angeles at 4 in the morning looking for an In-and-Out Burger, we realized that none of us had ever been to Los Angeles, we didn’t have a map, and that the men in the car next to us were not smiling and waving. Going to a national paintball tournament is always an adventure. The combination of young people traveling more or less on their own, the ever-present need to save money and the fact that most paintball players seem to be just a little bit crazy makes for interesting times. This realization was only reinforced that night …

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