the alterNTive

The Final Chapter of the State Quarter Program

Now that 2008 has drawn to a close, many chapters in the history of our country have come to an end. Of course, the Bush administration has left office after almost a decade of ruling the Land of the Free, but seriously, let’s focus on the important stuff here. After ten years of touching the lives of millions of people and changing the course of American history forever, the 50 States Quarter Program comes to an end.

Read more after the jump

Canvassing

The moment I stepped into Barack Obama’s Kenosha, Wisconsin offices, I wanted to cry. The walls were so plastered with flyers for volunteer events, Obama-Biden lawn signs, printouts of inspirational quotes, and now-iconic pop art portraits of Obama that the white stucco buried beneath was barely visible. Our motley crew (consisting of a high school sophomore, a Winnetka mother, Obama’s top fundraiser in Illinois, said fundraiser’s mother, an investment banker, and a psychiatrist) arrived in a red minivan the morning that Colin Powell announced of his endorsement of Obama, and the timing could not have been more perfect. The breaking news set an optimistic, eager tone for the day and we got to work at once. After being briefly briefed on the rules of the game, we were each given a map and a list of addresses to visit; fired up and ready to go, six passionate progressives were launched onto the streets of Kenosha.

After the break: more anecdotes from the "Gateway to Wisconsin."

The joys of babelfish

Hullo, all.

So NT History faculty member and the alterNTive reader Ben Yang emailed us to point out that we probably shouldn't have mocked the Gospel writers for not having taken AP Junior English, because, well, they were writing in Greek. Our bad. In fact, Gideons International, the organization who translates, produces, and distributes the lil' orange bibles is at fault. We don't necessarily mean to take a jab at religion itself, but rather the fact that that our devoted street evangelists chose such a poorly translated passage to call upon the masses of Trevians to read as the introduction to their new lives as saved people.

Anyhow, Yang also decided to take the original passage, translate it into Greek, then back into English. Then he did the same thing, but with Korean and Chinese. The result was epic, to say the least.

AFTER THE [SUSPENSEFUL] JUMP: READ THE RESULTS

Get yo bibles.../UPDATE: Incoherent bible passage analysis competion

Outside East Campus. Just the New Testament. Bound in an orange plastic cover. With a quick guide to instant salvation in the back. 'Nuff said. 

[Excuse the cellphone photo.]

UPDATE: kids at the 423 bus stop are ripping up bibles (even your rather liberal, secular blogger found that to be a little disrespectful/unnecessary), turning the snazzy orange covers into wallets, and giving dramatic readings of page 166, which one street evangelist claimed was the page to read if you plan to only read one. "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made...," it begins. Good thing the translators of the Gideon Bible took AP Junior English.

Contest:  If you can decipher that passage, please email us at the.alterNTive@gmail.com. Your analysis need be neither literal nor rational. Keep in mind that we at the alterNTive enjoy humor. We'll post the best explainations...

A Little Something for the Inebriated Among You...

Have you ever sent an email to your history teacher, swearing to drunk that you're not God? (Honestly, we haven't, but can imagine the humiliation). Not that any New Trier student would ever be drunk on anything but water(?) or life, but the good folk at Google Labs have had mercy on those who might party just a *wee bit* harder than your decidedly un-bacchanalian blogger.

Introducing Gmail Goggles: a new feature in the popular webmail program in which Gmail forces you to complete 5 math problems in 60 seconds before sending emails. Best of all, the program can be set up to only work at specified times. If you find yourself setting Gmail Goggles to work at 4 P.M. on Wednesdays, please consult a physician or your local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Needless to say, the alterNTive doesn't condone drinking, but merely found this funny. In fact, your faithful blogger (who really hates the taste of alcohol) recalls a certain Harvard study claiming that sleep deprivation causes a lot of the same effects as drunkenness. Maybe Gmail Goggles would work after [2 A.M.] study binges, too!

After the jump, screenshots of the Gmail Goggles user interface.

After All, Lagniappe Isn't A Movie

    Lagniappe/Potpourri, one of New Trier’s fall theater productions (and the only one that is written and performed entirely—or so it is said to be, but we’ll get to that momentarily—for the students, by the students) is exciting for the reason that movies are not. Movies are unforgiving, unyielding, and unflexible. After they have been put through the Humpty Dumpty-esque process of being chopped up and pieced back together (otherwise known as editing), they are released to a slew of waiting critics who slide the films under a microscope and begin their flaw-seeking examinations. Once completed, these findings are released to the general public in the form of magazine articles and Saturday morning news-show segments, and for the month or so that follows, directors, actors, producers and script-writers must put up with the constant reminders that their work was sub-par. The poor things. Because in the film industry, you don’t get do-overs. You can make all the promotional David Letterman appearances in the world, but you can’t re-release your work. There are sequels, yes, but a sequel is not the same as “[Insert Film Title Here]: Bigger and Better, Since the First Time We Tried It Didn’t Work Out So Well.”     therein lies the beauty of live theater.

After the jump, find out what exactly the beauty of live theater is.

the quasi-liveblog

So the debate went down. The moderator asked a lot of questions about rather trivial things like transportation and census reform. Oh, and there was also some talk about his one country called Iraq and some financial crisis that's apparently going on...

During the 90-minute debate, there were a couple rather funny moments:
2:19-Kirk attacks Seals for working at GE Capital, a company involved in the financial crisis
2:21-Seals asserts that Kirk doesn’t get that some of us need to have jobs to support our families. Says Kirk hasn’t had a job outside of Washington, but might in 16 days.

2:32-Kirk wants to secure the Mexican border to stop terror
2:33-Seals: says border patrol is better than a 20 foot fance. It can't be stopped by 21' ladder. Wants to deport criminals, but let other illegal immigrants apply for citizenship.

2:36-Seals wants to double number of people using mass transit, because it’s for environment. Also wants to stop earmarks, bring home troops.
2:38-Kirk says he's had train lines doubled, calls Half Day Road “Full Day Road” because of traffic congestion, condemns Gov. Blagojevich. Crowd cheers (Dems too).
2:39-Seals agrees that Blagojevich kind of sucks. Warm and fuzzy bipartisan moment

2:42-Seals rips Kirk for accepting campaign contributions pharmaceutical companies, then for voting to keep drug prices high
2:43-Kirk lampoons Seals for taking Indian casino money from Charlie Rangel.

3:03-Seals says 185 gas when Kirk started, asks what happened to gas prices. Supports domestic drilling. Says big oil big enough to “fly off on its own.”
3:04-Kirk talks about Seals’ gas stunt. Moderator gets pissed.

3:06- Seals says gov’t should support equal pay for women,
3:07-Kirk says women should take control of their own rights (as opposed to trial lawyers in class action suits), is booed
3:09-Seals calls BS, says equal pay is a fundamental right.

After the jump, read a full 'play-by-play' of the debate

Quasi-Liveblog: the 2008 Congressional debate

It may not be analyzed on CNN; it may not be moderated by Tom Brokaw. But it's a debate between Mark Kirk and Dan Seals, it's at Deerfield High School, and it's going to be epic. Well, at least we hope it will be. We'd planned to live blog this, but the league of women voters (the debate's co-host) won't let us. Notes, comments will be posted right after the debate.

(For the sake of full disclosure: your faitful blogger for the afternoon was a Seals internn this summer.)

Fall Theatre Preview

October is upon us, and most of us here in [the suburbs of, but we like to forget that part] Chi-city have finally finished weeping and wailing goodbye to summer. Over the next few weeks, we will stuff our cheeks with nuts and line our nests with fur in preparation for about six months of hibernation. Existence will be bleak.

But wait, glum Chicagoans! Never fear; the autumn theatre season is here! The windy city's performing arts program for the upcoming months is so full of wonderful productions, we may be momentarily distracted from the dismal weather outside. Pick up your iPhones, Blackberries, and Palm Pilots (or if you're really old-fashioned, just go grab a pen and a 2008 calendar, yeah, the paper sort) and record these dates! Below the fold, it's show time. (In case you didn't notice, that means click the "continue reading" link).

When you Have $200 mil. to Renovate a School, You Get Cubbies.

Yes, you heard right. New Trier High School wants you to have cubbies in all of your classrooms so that you can hang up things like plastic firefighter jackets and store your surplus of Juicy Juice (100% Juice!) boxes. Depending on the size of the cubbies, you also might get to frolic in them, as per the photo at left.

In all seriousness, though, interim principal Tim Dohrer proposed to school board members last monday that the new 900 sq. ft. classrooms in the soon-to-be-renovated Winnetka campus have, among other things, cubbies, which are supposed to keep teachers from tripping over backpacks.

Pioneer Press has a slightly more, erm, serious article on the topic.