If you’re looking to stay local this weekend, the Barking Dog is the place for you.
You’ve likely seen the scattered chalk drawings on the sidewalk or on the sides of various building, so now is your chance to fulfill your curiosity: Tonight, HandsDownMusic is presenting Ground Up with Michael Cameron & Uno Hype at the Barking Dog.
Students await Ron Paul's arrival yesterday outside Ritchie Coliseum. TJ Root/For The Diamondback
The shirt I purchased for $15 had paid off. Not only was I in Ritchie Coliseum to see Ron Paul, but I was in the third row. If I had a good enough shot I could probably spit on Paul from where I was sitting.
The place was packed. People were looking around and waving their hands to get the attention of others that they knew. It took until 6:43 p.m. for people to start chanting. One guy, donning a brown Ron Paul sweater, was running up and down the center aisle leading the cheers.
He yelled, “Ron Paul revolution,” for the crowd to respond, “Legalize the Constitution.”
He screamed “President,” for the crowd to respond, “Paul.”
He began a lingering, simple chant, “End the Fed,” (referencing Paul’s belief that the Federal Reserve has to go).
The crowd was getting wild. They were stomping on the bleachers as if they were waiting for a kickoff in a football game. I could see Paul behind the glass doors in the back of Ritchie. First a student came out to introduce him.
I recognized this student. It was the tan, black-haired fellow who had gotten me to sign the petition to bring Ron Paul to campus who I wrote about in my first post. It was then I realized the petition I signed brought me to that moment right there. Everything had come full circle.
After the student thanked everyone who helped bring Paul to campus, he introduced the man himself. The crowd stood and roared, not even giving Paul a chance to speak.
Finally he said his first words, “Sounds to me like freedom is popular in Maryland.” The crowd roared again.
Paul referenced that this university had one of the highest, if not the highest most signatures to bring him to campus. The revolution had come to College Park.
Then Paul went about his platform. He trashed mandates, said that nobody on “the hill” reads the Constitution, criticized selective service and he referenced America’s “way too many unwinnable, undeclared wars.”
He spoke of hypocrisy — that America was being an aggressive nation in order to spread kindness.
It was the most serious I had ever seen him when he asked, “Why don’t we just mind our own business?” The crowd stood and went crazy. At that moment I got chills.
Using the collapse of the Soviet Union as an example, Paul put forth the notion that more can be achieved in peace than in war. He also talked about how the country should begin trading with Cuba.
The crowd was responsive the whole time: cheering when he made a stern point, booing when he made a reference to something that the crowd disliked and laughing when he cracked a joke. Eventually the audience broke into an “End the Fed” chant.
Paul responded, “That will be one of the first things on my agenda.”
The crowd went nuts, and Paul went into why he dislikes the Federal Reserve. He also talked about how he would repeal the Patriot Act with a bill that he would call the Restore the 4th Amendment Act.
Although the crowd loved him, for me, time dragged on as he spoke.
Finally, at 7:55, he mentioned delegates — the main reason his campaign has any hope. The crowd erupted in chants of “President Paul.” This was just about the end of his speech.
He stepped down from his podium and I participated in a rush to the front. I had my memo book out for an autograph, my camera out for a picture and my hand out for a shake. I wanted to cap my night of journalistic work with the man’s blessing.
All for naught, though, as he stopped shaking hands and signing things when he was about five people away from me. I did not leave Ritchie disappointed though. I saw the revolution first hand. I was on the trail.
Juan Cervantes is a junior history major and student blogger for The Diamondback
I was strolling along McKeldin Mall the other day between classes and plopped down in front of the library to talk on the phone. Outside of McKeldin is a popular spot to stop for a cigarette. Students and professors alike congregate just outside of its doors to literally blow off smoke before diving into the books.
As I sat, I noticed a common occurrence: Multiple passersby doing the loud, over exaggerated fake cough. It happened once and I paid no mind. Twice and my ears perked up. When it didn’t stop, I was shocked.
For those who spent Spring Break on the couch, Fur Nightclub has just the right dosage of nightlife you have been craving.
Dada Life, a prominent Swedish duo in the world of electronic dance music, has been creating remixes as well as original house tracks since 2006. In 2010 they opened for Tiësto, the world’s most popular DJ after David Guetta, and in 2011 they performed at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. The two most recently performed at Ultra Music Festival last week in Miami.
A U.S. senator has taken an interest in the controversy brewing at University of Maryland University College in recent weeks surrounding the resignation of President Susan Aldridge.
Aldridge’s resignation takes effect Saturday and Javier Miyares, UMUC senior vice president for institutional effectiveness will continue in his role as acting president. According to The Washington Post, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has asked University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan to release records on “enrollment and workplace practices” at UMUC.
Let me start by saying McKeldin Library is great for a lot of reasons. It has coffee, computers, couches, books and pretty good Internet service. However, contrary to popular belief, the library is not a quiet place to study.
McKeldin is about as quiet as a dubstep rave — which might not be far from the truth considering it was turned into a “Club McKeldin” dance party late last year. I have hours of studying to do for my art theory class, so perhaps I should start working.
In class, I basically beg people to stare at me. No, I’m not the girl wearing a skirt that suddenly becomes a belt when she sits down — the only downside to this warmer weather we were experiencing before Spring Break.
I own a PC. Yes, I am that girl.
For the last week, Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video has been spamming my news feed and timeline. I’ll admit, I was intrigued at first. Kony was trending on Twitter and I decided to do some investigating. Of course, because it’s trending on Twitter, the first thing I did was click through and check out what everyone was tweeting about. That was a mistake.
I’m going off on a mini-tangent here for a second. Sit tight.
Doing a Twitter search is normally useless and this time was no different. When something first gains traction on the Internet and people begin tweeting about it, every tweet looks like this: “WUT IS #KONY?!?!?!?!” These people must then anxiously wait for one of their 102 followers (57 of them are porn-bots) to fill them in. You’re already at a computer, it’s called Google.
When I hopped on Google I found the infamous Kony video and I watched most of it and thought, “Well, that was a bummer.” Then I went back to watching basketball.
The next morning, I found my Facebook and Twitter feeds overrun by a full-fledged Kony invasion. One thousand sorority girls proclaimed “OMG WATCH THIS! MAKE KONY THE MOST FAMOUS PERSON IN THE WORLD!” Virtual philanthropy at its finest, folks. There’s nothing like the sense of self-satisfaction that comes from watching a video and clicking share. Ah, justice has been served. That’ll show that mean old warlord!
People will get all bent out of shape for mocking this whole trend, because, after all, how dare you disagree with the Internet? And I’m not saying this situation isn’t horrible and Joseph Kony doesn’t to deserve a Hostel-like death. I’m just saying you’re not actually doing anything besides clicking a button.
Furthermore, where is that anger and energy over problems that are in, say, America? You know, the country we live in?
If you’re really against mindless and violent indoctrination of children — which ultimately results in needless death, a crumbling social structure, a disregard for law and humanity — you can do something about it. It might shock you, but we have a problem with that here too. They’re called gangs. Gangs who have networks that blanket the country and plague inner cities. They’re a real bitch.
You really want to make a difference? Go volunteer in D.C. or Baltimore. You’ll actually be affecting people’s lives.
Retweeting a video made by a couple of sketchballs about a nut job who runs around a country full of people who don’t even know what a computer is isn’t doing much. You might be “raising awareness,” but most people are going to just resume Facebook stalking after they make a status.
If you donate money to the cause, good for you (Unless it’s to Invisible Children). If it inspires you to spend time in Africa helping these people, fantastic. You’re a better person than I am. But if you’re not, shut it and stop clogging my news feed.
Taylor Schwink is a senior journalism major and student blogger for The Diamondback.
It was just a typical night at Looney’s Pub and the usual crowd shuffled through the doors seeking a drink or a plate of chicken wings.
But Monday, 15 people — all except one of whom were students — walked out of the bar as newly registered voters, ready to make their voices heard in the upcoming elections.
The J. Franklyn Bourne Bar Association — a coalition dedicated to advancing African Americans in legal professions — hosted the voter registration drive at Looney’s alongside members of the League of Women Voters. The university’s African Students Association, Black Student Union and Terps for Obama also co-sponsored the event.
John Webster, a junior communication major and president of Terps for Obama, said the goal of the drive was to increase student participation in their government, especially among minorities.
“Students don’t often know that they can have their opinion out there and that it really does matter,” Webster said. “It’s important that they elect politicians who they feel will benefit them the most and stand up for what they believe in. Registering to vote is the first step towards making that happen.”
However, getting students to sign on to register was no easy task. Looney’s owners even offered free chicken wings to incentivize people to sign up.
“The biggest issue is that students don’t want to commit the time to register,” Webster said.
Sophomore letters and sciences major Cameron Mitchell, one of the students who registered at Looney’s, said she’s excited to vote in the upcoming election.
“I want to vote so I can have a say,” she said. “You can’t complain about what’s going on in the country if you didn’t make an effort to change it.”
— Madeleine List
Before I get to the results of Super Tuesday, let me first send my congratulations to foreign kandidate Vladimir Putin, who is once again president of Russia. He retains his reputation as the second-most famous Vladimir in Russian political history.
Now, for Tuesday’s events:
The first state unofficially rewarded by the CNN pundits Tuesday evening was Georgia, which was won by Newt Gingrich. Georgia may have been Gingrich’s only victory of the evening, but the state the former Speaker of the House represented in carried 76 delegates — the most of any state participating in Super Tuesday.
