The Spectator hits newsstands every weekday morning, and it’s easy to forget that actual people work around the clock making it happen. Last Thursday Bwog caught up with the News Editors, Josh Hirschland and Erin Durkin, to talk about riots, skipping class, and what makes it all worth it. I know it’s kind of a […]

A gadfly, according to Billy Goldstein (CC’ 09), is “some big-ass fly,” and also the only non-defunct undergraduate philosophy magazine at Columbia University. The Gadfly has so far printed one issue with a medley of contributions: a letter of explanation, a few art pieces, a fictional work, a quasi-Socratic dialogue, a lecture review, and–as a […]

Lieutenant Colonel Isaiah “Ike” Wilson, a visiting professor at SIPA on loan from West Point, has a more than academic understanding of the Iraq War, having studied it from both an historian’s and a commissioned officer’s perspective. Bwog editor Sara Vogel caught up with Wilson before class to talk about bad planning, doing better, and–of […]

Professor Karl Kroeber is restless of mind, the sort of academic who likes pioneering new fields and then abandoning them. The loquacious and sagacious fellow, brother to Ursula Kroeber Le Guin [see right], currently teaches the ever-popular children’s lit course. He talked to us about growing up, “the business of imagining,” why he hates Disney, coming to terms with cancer, the Navy, and just about […]

Caitlin Shure CC ‘07, Shruti Kumar CC ‘08, and Jordy Lievers CC ‘07 sing along to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in the kitchen of Shure’s EC suite. They are preparing a veritable feast in the spirit of the upcoming holidays—it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ’round here, so the trio […]

Cold season is fast approaching and Bwog doesn’t want you catching one. For advice on how to stay healthy this winter, correspondent Kate Linthicum sought out Roman, the cryptic, clever shoe repairman who works at Paul’s Shoe Repair on 111th and Broadway. The 55-year-old with a shy smile but a hearty, rumbling laugh says he […]

In which Bwog Staffer Brendan Ballou tries desperately to find something to talk about with Kira Kalina von Ostenfeld — a German countess who graduated from Georgetown at age 19 to work for the FBI, grew up in Peru, learned six languages, and started her own art company. She’s also a fifth-year grad student in […]

On September 11 of this year, former Clinton administration official Nilda Mesa assumed a sizeable responsibility: the post of Environmental Stewardship Director, charged with making Columbia’s footprint a little bit smaller. Bwog caught up with Nilda in her airy fourth floor office, across a bowl of organic fruit. Bwog: You’ve been here two months. How’s […]

Monty Sarhan, the corporate lawyer-turned Editor-in-Chief of the humor mag Cracked, on brilliantly written court decisions, Michael Ian Black, the over-ratedness of the Big Lebowski, and how he made The Funniest Magazine in History funny again. Interview by Brendan Ballou. How late were you working last night? Last night, I think until about 7:30. The […]

In a world where college bands seem to be perpetuating the same ol’ indie trend, Beilis serves as a refreshing reminder that not all college bands want to be The Walkmen 2.0.  The band, fronted by Matt Beilis SEAS ’07, is composed of guitarist Pete Couto C ’07, drummer Matt DeWit NJIT ’07, and bassist […]

Watch out, the nerds are gettin’ it on! And writing about it! Here comes Outlet, Columbia’s “new erotic review.” In light of New York magazine’s blog post about the new online sex rag, Bwog staff member Sara Vogel picked the brain of editor-in-chief Kimi Traube, CC ’08, about fonts and porn. How do you respond to New York magazine’s blog observation that Outlet is composed […]

Peter Mende-Siedlecki CC’07, Tom Keenan CC’07, and Rob Trump CC’09 are this year’s Varsity Show writers. Bwog dispatched Brendan Ballou to find out what they think of campus humor, what the writing process is like, why the Minutemen probably won’t play so great a role in this year’s show- and why Christian Bale may: Brendan: […]

Vampire Weekend is not a bunch of hipsters, puh-lease. The band, comprised primarily of the most recent batch of Columbia graduates, is preparing to break out beyond the campus music scene. Sure they all live in Brooklyn but, come on, they love Africa and LaCoste.  Just last spring they played at a Yacht-themed party at […]

Columbia journalism and sociology professor Todd Gitlin knows activism. Once president of Students for a Democratic Society, there’s not much he hasn’t seen, and although now he writes from comfortable digs in the Journalism School, Gitlin has some words of wisdom for those still taking it to the streets. After an hour of stories from […]

Andy Bean, CC ’01, is one of the gentlemen of the Two-Man-Gentlemen-Band. Together with Fuller Condon (CC ’00) they perform ‘Up-Tempo, Original, Old-Time, Two-Man Music at a reasonable volume.’ Bwog Staffer Brendan Ballou asked Mr. Bean a lot about kazoos. So what’s the Two-man-Gentlemen-Band? The two is an Americana band. We play country and Dixieland […]