Loyola Greyhound

This week, John Dougherty reported on a park owned by St. Vincent De Paul Church, a place that lends some semblance of home for many of those experiencing homelessness in Baltimore. Colloquially known as "Bum Park," every Monday and Tuesday night Loyola students make sandwiches and drinks and deliver them to the homeless there.

Among many of the city of Baltimore's flaws, one that has had dangerous repercussions to human life is the city's "Code Blue" policy during the winter months, regarding a particular homeless shelter known as the "cold blue shelter." Prior to this past winter, this shelter was not open during the night unless the air temperature dropped below 25 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was measured at a minimum of 15 mph.

So far the main concern of the 2008 presidential candidates has been the war in Iraq. This is understandable as stability in the Middle East, American leadership credibility, and countless American and Iraqi lives depend on the outcome of this war. Although the Middle East is and should be the candidate's main foreign policy priority, it is important that voters consider China before picking a candidate to support.

This week I received a letter from a junior boy. He writes, "Yo, talk about pulling all-nighters." Yo, nice. At some point in our college careers, we all come face to face with the brutal reality that there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything that is expected of us.

On May 6, the night before I flew home from Paris, the French elected a new president, Nicolas Sarkozy. My mom and I watched from the open window of our hotel room as cars honked their way up and down the Boulevard Montparnasse. Earlier, at dinner down the street, a table of smiling Parisians had ordered champagne and toasted Sarkozy's victory.

Hollister and getting drunk. This was the best opinion and answer I could put together up for my writing professor upon his asking how I would define the general culture at Loyola. I couldn't even put a coherent sentence together. I just blurted out the two things that came directly to mind in that moment, and at the time, that's what came out.

Gretchen McGillicuddy-Point: Ok, there's a trend going on that needs to be stifled, namely, the overabundance of double dates on college campuses. I don't understand how this happened, but everywhere I look I see double couplets scurrying around ever ready for a pick-up game of four square.

As I have mentioned in my last few columns, and as I'm sure you have heard in the news, that there is a "credit crunch" problem that is currently looming over our heads. The problem, in short, concerns coporations. When companies that create everything from cars to computers need money to grow and expand their businesses, they usually go to a bank or another lender to get a loan and put it into their business so they can make more money that will eventually benefit many different parties.

Thumbs Up Being "That Guy" It can't be easy being the guy everyone loves. You've gotta balance your Zack Morris-like ultra coolness with Lloyd Dobbler's nice-guy charm. You gotta supplement your Dr. Gregory House-type acerbic wit and blinding intelligence with Bear Gryll's intimidating but amiable street (wilderness) smarts (the man walks on lava and munches maggots for Christ's sake).

The current state of our public school system is appalling. Nationally, only 70 percent of Americans graduate from high school with a regular diploma. And the graduation rates are even lower for minorities, dropping to about 50 percent. And these statistics don't even speak about the quality of some of the educations these students are receiving, for all we know only 50 percent of those are quality educations.