Sirinya Tritipeskul Matute

Juan and myself at national train day. (Taken with instagram)

Juan and myself at National Train Day in Philadelphia. Yes, be jealous.

And here was the judges’ runner-up:

uclafund:

Announcing…the runner-up in our 2012 Bruin Video Contest! 

UCLA Commercial, produced by Sunny Tripathy and Sahil Punamia

Sunny and Sahil are creator of the very funny “Keeping Up With the Guptas” reality series. 

Congrats to the winners! 

uclafund:

And the Grand Prize and Viewer’s Choice winner of the contest, “One True Blue”, submitted by Jorge Parra Jr, Thomas Lindblom, and Jesus Montes! 

Jorge, Thomas and Jesus are in the Marching Band together. Jorge came on our radar last year when we saw “Fantasmic At UCLA”, a video he edited that was directed by Vivian Lam. (And that came on our radar thanks to a post on the UCLA sub-reddit.) 

Coincidence? Howard and Jarvis?

Lizzie G and Juan’s Galaxy Nexus phones talked to each other.

Circa 2009

asila:

Scallions, a Chinese restaurant on Broxton Avenue in Westwood Village, has closed. My colleague told me that rents were rising.

What I don’t get is how owners justify raising rents in a tough economy and in a business district with 40 empty storefronts (wait, make that 42 when including Frege, the hair salon, and Scallions).

Which business will close next?

Apron parking is a problem in Santa Monica too, although perhaps not to the same extent as it is in Westwood. This SUV was photographed apron parked on 11th Street; the rear of the car abutted into the bike lane.

His comment: A few facts regarding the issue of parking at this Westwood/VA station:

1. Construction of the Subway will cost around $50,000 per daily rider – this is 100% subsidized

2. Operating the subway will cost somewhere between $2-$3 per boarding, representing a 25%-50% subsidy.

3. $25,000 is a conservative per-space estimate for structured parking at the VA. This brings the per daily rider cost to $75,000 for VA parkers.

4. Metro would have to charge over $25 per day for parking if is to be unsubsidized. $25/day is expensive for LA, so few would use it.

5. Metro could increase subsidies to certain Big Blue Bus and Metro Lines to improve connectivity in the area, yielding additional ridership at a fraction of the cost of parking subsidies. These additional subsidies would probably be in the range of $0.50-$1.00 per trip.

6. Metro has limited funds, and while subsidizing parking would not necessarily preclude it from subsidizing connecting transit service, doing both would be difficult given its financial position and fiduciary responsibilities

7. Based on analysis and community feedback, Metro seems to have chosen to strengthen transit connections rather than subsidizing parking. I think this is a good decision.

This alumna talks about the importance of supporting Smith in her our hearts, with our time, and with our philanthropic support:

To The Smith Community:

I, a member of the Class of 2008—a year that broke the schools the record for admission yield in terms of racial diversity held since 1974—was greatly disturbed to read a letter submitted to The Sophian by a fellow alumna Anne Spurzem ‘84. This letter, which I’m…

vintagesmith:

Vintage Smith was included in Jezebel’s coverage of the Anti-Spurzem Uprising, including a fantastic response from a current student today. Read it here! 

but i’ve been pissed pretty much all day long about the publication of a letter to the editor from an alumna of smith named anne spurzem. she graduated in 84. in approximately 300 words, she managed to get thousands of alumnae riled up over her “observations” that smith was now seen as a safety school for teenage girls in westchester and fairfield counties because it is now a haven for a) dykes, b) international students, c) poor women of color who chose smith bc it gave them the most financial aid and d) straight white women who got rejected by the ivy league.

the use of social media to respond to this letter has been immense. tumblr and facebook seem to be where it is at; i haven’t seen any rebuttal videos (ie alexandra wallace “asians in the library” style), but figure that is only a matter of time. most of the people who have responded have identified themselves as everything but the characteristics associated with category d (which is so narrowly defined anyway). but i wonder what they have to say (if there are any that exist).

as for me, i actually find this to be incredibly exciting. this is because i recall a time 10 years ago when social media was basically leveraged to inflame hate speech.

shit seriously hit the FAN at smith in spring 2002. there were a number of hate crimes centering on homophobia and racism that occurred during the spring of 2002 that i think smith handled very, very poorly. since we didn’t have youtube, facebook, tumblr, pinterest, twitter, linkedin, or comment-ready blog content management systems yet, the online boards of the smith college dailyjolt became where students went online to anonymously vent, rant, pontificate, etc. This, in my view, further inflamed the maelstrom and worsened campus climate.

quite possibly for the first time ever, my mother got involved. she emailed many administrators at smith to tip them off to the bullshit and angry, hateful speech occurring on the jolt (she read what happened to me - i had gotten cyberbullied, logged on and saw the deluge of hateful, hateful stuff). smith at the time saw itself as powerless to control the dialogue on a third party site that was having a devastating impact on its campus climate. smith (and likely many, many other higher education institutions) also had no freaking clue how to handle the impact of social media on its student population - forget using social media to market to prospective students.

so, 10 years ago, i recall a situation in which students used social media in order to basically turn on each other.

today, i see something totally different (i.e. www.pearlsandcashmere.tumblr.com. www.smith-squirrels.tumblr.com. www.smithd.org.) smithies using social media to share their lives together. they actually seem pretty HAPPY.

i saw the youtube video last night of carol announcing jane lynch as the commencement speaker. the camera panned to the students dressed in their resplendent gowns. they looked so freaking excited. i don’t remember being nearly that happy at smith. (then again, our speaker was judy woodruff, who was so condescending in her talk.) it made me feel pretty damn good to see that smithies today have it better. sure, things on that campus are not perfect (they talk about the need to be more welcoming of dissenting views…) but it is so exciting to hear about women coming together, talking about why smith is so important to them, and how we are empowered to affect change and lead impactful lives.

The elephant in the room.

smithsophian:

The Sophian editors are pleased that this LTE has prompted such a vigorous discussion of issues of diversity, classism, racism, and homophobia in the Smith community.

We encourage all of our readers to debate this issue in a respectful, thoughtful, and productive manner. Some posts have gone…

I look forward to hearing more about this.

smithose:

Read The New York Times story on how Smith College has developed two programs through its Center for Work and Life to help students engage more effectively on campus and teach valuable skills for life after college.

LOVE

albusthesquirrel:

I think I am in the section of books about dogs. I thought I heard a bark.

Apparently, Fresno State had an entire week devoted to Squirrels.

TimeOut’s Squirrel Appreciation Week Press Conference (by fresnostate)

Check out the song at the end.

Good magazine highlighted the findings of a new survey commissioned by the National Association of Realtors, which basically concluded that people want to live in walkable neighborhoods.

This is lovely.

Um, this is AWESOME. this picture marries my love for bikes and squirrels. the only thing that would be better would be Albus the Squirrel on a Xootr Scooter.

albusthesquirrel:

beccaelainepuddentane:

sarahstocracy:

albusthesquirrel:

If you see me on the back of your bike, don’t fret! I want to go to class with you and learn.

THIS IS SO ADORABLE!!!!!!!

Can we PLEASE make this a running thing on campus? PASS THE SQUIRREL!!

If you pass by me too quickly, I might be scared and I will run away.