The band gave a brief, unsolemn, Orgo-Night-style funeral to the alcoholic energy drink we all just barely knew. More touching images after the jump.

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Our time together was too short, friend.

Catch up on the November issue of The Blue and White on Bwog until the print edition arrives.

Always an area of intense pressure and continental clashes, Morningside Heights was pretty much the same place 450 million years ago as it is today. Except instead of panic attacks in Butler and anti-protest protests on College Walk, the neighborhood disturbances tended towards the geological. Continents collided, layers of sedimentary shale burst through the surface, and an extremely tough form of bedrock known as schist abounded.

Today, a 30-foot pile of schist remains on 114th Street, sandwiched between the service entry to Havana Central to the east and the Columbia-owned brownstone Greenborough to the west. Although it’s roughly the size of a circus tent, the rock is far from a spectacle. Instead it is a surprisingly uncared-for piece of Morningside lore.

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Actor Jason Biggs

The Culinary Society is having a study break featuring seasonal pies at 9 PM in Lerner Ramp Lounge East. Reported flavors include cranberry-blueberry, macadamia-coconut, apple-sour cream, pumpkin, and pecan. You know it’s gotta be good cause it’s the Culinary Society, right? Right. See you there.

Update, 6pm: Also, the Columbia University Photography Society is holding a workshop tonight on DSLR basics where there will be free pizza. It starts at 7pm in Lerner 568. Go get filled and learn something fancy that’ll impress your relatives back home!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Chocomize was founded by three young entrepreneurs—Nick LaCava CC ’09, Eric Heinbockel CC ’08, and Fabian Kaempfer CC’09—who met while studying together at Columbia University. One day they all went to a supermarket together. Nick, the one with the famed sweet tooth, visited the penny candy section and loaded up on candy, chocolate, and nuts. He accidentally left the bag in the car during the day, and when the three returned all the chocolate and candy had melted together into one giant ball. Fabian and Eric dared him to put the bag into the fridge and eat the hardened ball of chocolate, candy, and nuts. It was surprisingly delicious, (both Fabian and Eric ended up trying some) and the idea for Chocomize was born. Sylvie Krekow checked in with the sweet-toothed alum.

Bwog: What has Chocomize’s biggest challenge been?

Nick LaCava: It wasn’t difficult in the sense that writing a business plan or trying to raise money was a huge challenge, but taking something that just seemed like a good idea and then actually taking the risk and acting on it was a huge leap forward for all of us. In my experience, almost everyone seems to have a great idea that they think would work for a business. The biggest challenge is actually forcing yourself to take the risk and get your business started. Once you get the wheels moving you are able to tackle specific problems, but before you take the first step, you’re facing the imaginary and that can be pretty daunting.

How’s business going in the chocolate world?

Nick: Business is going great! Right now we’re getting geared up for the holiday season which is our busiest time. Our chocolate bars are really popular for gifts, so things get really crazy around Christmas. We’ve also been getting some great press recently. In addition to Bwog, we’ve recently been in the NYT, Bloomberg Business Week Magazine, WSJ, and USA TODAY. It’s made things pretty crazy around the chocolate factory. Read more…

Sean Zimmermann reports on last night’s ESC meeting.

• ESC Sustainability Liaison Will Cybriwsky, in collaboration with GreenUmbrella, GreenBorough, and Eco Reps, is working to organize a “book swap,” where students would give their used textbooks to ESC after the semester. The council would then sell the books for the student, and give them the money from the sale. If the book doesn’t sell, the book is returned to the student. The idea is to encourage student to recycle books while also giving students the real market rate for their books (instead of the book store, which only pays students a percentage of the market rate).

• Council members discussed that, according to dinning services, only 30 students so far have used the newly implemented takeout options at JJ’s place. This comes as a surprise to both the council and Dinning Services, as the lack of JJ’s takeout was one of the most common complaints in the recent dining survey.

• Though the council discussed splitting the current amnesty policy proposal into two separate initiatives, one for individual students and one for groups, it was decided that the council would vote on a single updated proposal, which would offer amnesty to both individuals and groups, at the next meeting. Under the proposal passed by CCSC, student groups hosting an event, as well as students in the immediate vicinity, would receive amnesty if a student called CAVA.

• ESC President Chris Elizondo reported EC will receive an electronic turnstile for a second entrance. This should decrease the amount of time required to get into EC during busy nights, and is a small step in the council’s continuing efforts to expand the swipe system on campus.

If you're like Weezy, you can take a space shuttle home!

The holidays in New York are the most wonderful time of the year… so long as you live in New York. For the rest of us, it entails a desperate odyssey to get out of the city in order to see our friends and families. There are lots of ways to get out in one piece. Bwog’s resourceful Peter Sterne tells you how.

Trains

If you’ve shrewdly decided to live close to Columbia, then you should be able to take the train home.

Those traveling to Westchester or southern Connecticut on Metro-North should make sure to check the holiday schedule here and you should wish you had the foresight to buy a ticket online. If you (like this Bwogger) have yet to buy a ticket, make sure to get to Grand Central at least an hour or two early since the lines in front of the ticket machines will be ridiculous. Alternatively, you could take the M60 to 125th station, which should have shorter lines at the ticket machines. But remember that if you catch the train at 125th, you’ll be lucky if there’s standing room, let alone a seat, on the train. Read more…

Last night Sabor, Columbia’s largest Latin dance group, performed its show Inferno: Our Divine Comedy. Before the show, the line to enter Roone was out the door and down towards the 115th street gates, and the show was packed indeed. Inferno featured singing, dancing and spoken word, directly or indirectly revolving aroung the axis of kindness and love and service. Proceeds from the event will fund Sabor’s annual service trip. The show was divided into five Cantos (you know, like Lit Hum) featuring different themes such a “Kindness,” “Confusion” and “Addiction.” In addition to traditional Latin American music, performers danced to Kanye, R. Kelly, Coldplay and musical numbers, inspiring the crowd to cheer, whoop and call out friends’ names. The show maintained a frenetic, contagious energy throughout. Hooray, Sabor! Loads of images after the jump.

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Greenmarket is today and not Thursday (’cause Thursday is Thanksgiving, duh) so that means that this is your last chance to stock up on local- and localish-ly produced comestibles on Broadway before break. Some highlights:

• A duck booth, offering Thanksgiving duck of all varieties: smoked duck, duck legs, duck confit, and duck fat
• Decorative fall-y things like Indian corn and a variety of colorful squashes and what have you
• An extra offering of seasonal pies and muffins from Meredith’s Bread
• Pride of New York wine, hailing from Long Island and offering free samples of an array of reds and whites for between-class drinking

image via Wikimedia Commons

Namaste to YOU, Al Gore

Zoë Camp tells all!

Of course, the night’s main point of interest was the revelation of the Greek Life poll results. But last night’s SGA meeting had other notable moments.

Big Bossy Lady DSpar stopped by the meeting for about an hour to address a number of questions and to give attendees an update on her recent travels. She’s been traveling to Dallas, Houston and Boston to reach out to alumnae and prospective students. Spar hopes to expand the alumnae clubs and further emphasize their inclusion in the greater Barnard community. Those looking for internships outside of the New York area should stay tuned– according to DSpar, the administration is investigating internship opportunities in Dallas, thanks to alumnae networking. In the spring, DSpar will head to South Africa and South Korea with the hopes of internationalizing the Barnard name and getting more young women interested in the school.

New Barnard Dean Avis Hinkson (A-Hinks!) will start her new job on February 14th (<3), and DSpar is thrilled to have her on board. “The New Dean is wonderful. She’s really Barnard- she loves this place and everyone who talks to her says she’s really excited to be here,” she said. Vice President Denburg will have plenty to do, as well – among the possible ventures she will be heading are expanding the college’s programs in Israel, developing a three-part, multidisciplinary study of the Hudson River, and planning more pre-college programs in areas like architecture and theatre.

Early Decision application rates are way up for the college – anywhere between 30 and 40 percent by current estimates, and, according to DSpar, this year’s pool is very strong. While she is excited by this news concerning the 2015ers, she stressed her vision for alumnae – “the most important thing you can all do is get involved as alumnae the second you walk off this campus” – and her idea that in order to get older alumnae engaged, younger alumnae need to get more involved as well. She also stressed the need for developing more Barnard traditions, and was visibly excited when SGA mentioned the Greek Games’ possible return. “The chariot’s in the basement!” she reminded them.

Students eager to voice their opinion on the proposed smoking ban on Barnard’s campus will have their chance to do so next Monday. In next week’s SGA email, students will be able to vote on the proposed smoking ban. SGA will take these opinions consideration when they vote on the issue in a few weeks’ time.

And a hearty congratulations to Yoga Inspire, who by unanimous vote was granted the status of a Stage 1 recognized group! Now go and perform Sun Salutations to your heart’s content.

Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, master virus hunter and a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, is featured in the Times for his mad virus skills. (NYT)

Someone put a “9 3/4″ train sticker on a sign for the 14th st.-Union Square subway station. The MTA is not expected to provide service to Hogwarts, however. (NYP)

The national executive director of the fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi, which was founded at Columbia in 1910, is being sued for making unreasonable financial demands of the fraternity’s chapters, while providing little service. (NYT)

You can expect to find this pair of cowboy boots in Central Park every night. Is it ghosts? Is it art? Is it a labor union organizer? (CityRoom)

Today is Miley Cyrus’s 18th birthday! (MTV)

image via Wikimedia

Live from the SGA meeting– the votes have been counted!

56.9 percent of the student body voted. 768 students voted for the recognition of Greek Life at Barnard and 577 students voted against. Thats 57.1% for and 42.9% against. A difference of 191 students out of the 1345 students who voted. DSpar is at the meeting, and she expressed her satisfaction about the way SGA has handled this issue.

SGA will vote on whether to officially recognize Greek Life next Monday.

The Barnard Bulletin will give you unspecified snacks in the Saint Anna Quindlen Room at 8:00pm.

Then stop by the Lerner Ramps at 9:00 pm for a free Havana Central empanada, courtesy of the POTUS project. You don’t have to shell out any cash, but this pastry comes at a price: you have to write a letter! Bwog suggests you “tell your friend POTUS he’s got a funny name and he should learn how to ride a bicycle.”

Until the print edition arrives, read the November issue of The Blue and White on Bwog. Today, Sam Schube catches up with the director of Columbia’s Miller Theatre.

Miller Theatre, although regarded as a premier forum for contemporary dance and music, has struggled to carry its citywide renown into its own backyard. Despite Miller’s on-campus presence and the nearly 80 percent ticket discount it offers, Columbia students only make up a fifth of each concert audience. Even then, Miller Theatre Director Melissa Smey recognizes that those undergrads are there mainly for concerts like the Bach series–anything that furnishes a usable essay for Music Humanities.

“You should want to go to a concert, not because you have to, or because you ought to,” she says. The current season–Smey’s first since her recent promotion to director–features Miller’s trademark eclectic blend of early and new music, but Smey is eager to continue innovating the way the Theatre interacts with the University. Simply put, she is convinced that the Theatre can play a more significant role in student life.

Smey credits her predecessor George Steel with making Miller “the only game in town for new music” during his 11-year reign. After spurring Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to develop new music programming (with Carnegie Hall even building a Miller-sized space for new music), Miller, always the innovator, looked inward for inspiration. This season’s program reprises the traditional “Composer Portraits” series, but the current iteration will feature two Miller firsts: a world, U.S., or New York premiere at every concert, along with a discussion with the composer.

Miller’s ambitious, constant reinvention reflects its aim to establish a niche in the New York music scene. “There’s no point in being the third-best string quartet series,” Smey explains, “because you can go to Carnegie and hear number one and number two.”

Smey hopes to focus these aspirations to tackle one of the fine art’s biggest hurdles: programming for the everyman, or in Miller’s case, the Columbia man. Miller is a destination for music aficionados throughout the Tri-State area, but Smey admits that “in a way, it’s easier to attract the press than a wide audience of students.” Under Smey’s direction, then, audience development has become one of the Theatre’s top priorities.

Smey describes the Miller- Columbia dynamic, with its “brand-new, self-renewing potential base of audience members every year,” as a laboratory to explore strategies for audience growth. She has, for example, arranged for four sections of Music Humanities to hold class inside Miller during concert rehearsals, and the Theatre has begun analyzing ticket data to better target audiences in addition to conducting focus groups among students. Ultimately, Smey aims to “distill the principles of audience development: what is it that’s compelling, what makes it interesting?” With Columbia’s help, she hopes Miller can set yet another example to make Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall salivate: “A national model for audience development everywhere.”

It’s worth pointing out that Smey seems perfectly suited for the admittedly difficult task. She’s excitable and bubbly (she favors the adjective “awesome”), and she has a proverbial ear tuned to youth culture to broaden Miller’s experimental horizons. Last year, for example, a New York Times piece revealed her affinity for bands like Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. To her, thinking-man’s indie rock is another avenue to attract student interest, envisioning a Miller “unplugged indie series.” “They could all be showcased here,” she says. “And then we could hang out with them–wouldn’t that be great?”

Illustration by Stephen Davan

It’s only November, but your “most cherished professors” are already bidding adieu. Tomorrow at 10:00, registration opens for the first farewell of the Closing Remarks Professor lecture series. Our very own PrezBo will give the inaugural lecture on December 7th. Seniors from all four schools in Columbia University are invited.

Full email from “The Closing Remarks Committee” below:

Dear Columbia Senior,

You are invited to attend the inaugural lecture of the newly-launched Closing Remarks Professor Lecture Series, an initiative by your peers in the Columbia University class of 2011. Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University and a University Professor of Law, will be the first speaker of the Closing Remarks series. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in Low Memorial Library. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session and a reception.

Advance online registration is required and is open to all seniors in Columbia University’s four undergraduate schools. Registration will open on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at http://www.universityprograms.columbia.edu/.

The Closing Remarks Professor Lecture Series aims to give Columbia undergraduate seniors a chance to hear parting words from their most cherished professors. Following President Bollinger’s participation in Closing Remarks, the series will resume in the spring and continue through the rest of the semester. If you have any questions, please send an email to closingremarks@columbia.edu.

Sincerely,
The Closing Remarks Committee