Procrastination

I think the title of this blog is a little ironic considering that I have procrastinated posting this for far too long. Everyone loves to procrastinate because it's easy and a lot more fun than whatever else you would be doing. But a word of advice to all new students, avoid procrastination at all costs.

If you stay on top of your work you'll thank yourself when you're in bed sleeping and not caged in at the library all night writing a paper. Believe me, I know how hard it is to avoid procrastinating. Why do my paper now when its due in a week and I could be playing NFL Blitz? I've asked myself this way too much. So from me to you, don't procrastinate. It's that simple.

Jake

Adventure through Boston!

Hey all,

Today, I went for a bit of an adventure through the streets of Boston. I think it's a pretty good (if tourist-y) route, so I figured I'd share some highlights:


View Walking Tour! in a larger map

We took the BC Shuttle down the road to hop on the D Line of the T:

Blue - Got off train 20 minutes later at Copley Plaza, left the stop and immediately found something interesting. I've never been in the Boston Public Library, and, oh my, was it enormous. And free!

Red - Walking past all the ritzy boutiques and art stores and cafes along the famous Newbury Street.

Green - Walked through the lovely spring-time Boston Gardens, and by the also famous Swan Boats (they were not running today, sadly). We then continued through Boston's version of Central Park, the Boston Commons. Lots of frisbee, dog walking, and Merry-Go-Rounding on a nice day here.

Teal - Hit up historic Tremont Street, one of the first routes of the Freedom Trail through downtown Boston. Strange that some of the people responsible for the creation of this country walked along that exact road.

Yellow - The circus was in town... literally! The Big Apple Circus tent was set up in the middle of the expansive Government Center plaza, outside the *gorgeous* (sarcasm) City Hall. We continued our walk past that irrational excitement that surrounds circuses, to

Purple - Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall, one of the main tourist centers and a very handy marketplace, entertainment center and shopping plaza for everyone. We watched one of the many street performers balance on the top rung of a 10-foot ladder while juggling three daisies, spinning a pillow on a pole off his mouth and doing comedic stand-up. Needless to say, he earned a tip from us.

Red - Finally, we made it to our destination! Annddd... way past it, accidentally. But after a bit of backtracking, we sat down and tasted the glorious Mike's Pastries (though personally, I'm partial to Modern Pastries across the street). Located in the heart of the Italian-influenced North End, and in the middle of downtown Hanover Street, you really can't go wrong with a trip to Mike's, Modern, Cafe Vittoria, the Gelateria, Pizzeria Regina, or really anywhere else in that neighborhood. Mmmm...

So there's your introductory walking guide to Boston. I'm two years in, 20 years native of the suburbs, and still love walking around to see all the things I've seen before, while finding all the new things I've never noticed. More to come soon, of course!

Meantime, email me!
~Joe
mahonjc@bc.edu

The Asian American Scholarship Has Been Named!

Hey guys!

I'm proud to say that the Asian American Scholarship has been named!! HOORAY! Why is this important you might ask?

For a few years now, the scholarship has been left nameless; there has been no one for Asians to look up to, unlike other mentors such as Martin Luther King (a scholarship in his name goes to an African American student every year). So the BC community believed that the Asian American Scholarship should be named after someone also.

However, BC has been denying our candidates that we believe the scholarship should be named after, for reasons such as having no connection to Boston College or not living within the Catholic faith, but all that changed this past week!


With the scholarship now named, the Asian community here at BC can feel a bit more at peace. To celebrate, everyone was invited to participate in a few events, one of them being a small "flash flood" in the Quad with lots of music and dancing. Such a great accomplishment!

That's it for now! Peace!

David - A&S 2013
nguyenec@bc.edu

Boston

Hey y’all,

My name is Katherine McKenna, and I’m an economics major from Houston, TX. One of my favorite things about BC is the city of Boston. One of the cool things about BC is that we’re out in the suburbs, and we have awesome football games and tailgates just like other big schools, but you can also hop on the T (the subway) and go into downtown Boston or Cambridge. The trip usually takes about 20 minutes, and it is definitely worth it.

There are a ton of fun things to explore in Boston. My friends and I love to go to Newbury Street when the weather’s nice on Saturday or Sunday to go shopping and eat lunch. There are also lots of really cool museums and historical sites around Boston. Being in a city full of colleges is a blast. You can go check out parties at other schools like MIT or Harvard (who actually have fun parties, shocking huh?) or go see a concert at the House of Blues or other venues.

There are a ton of schools in Boston, and therefore there’s always something cool to check out. However, BC is nice because it is not directly in the hustle of the city.

Thanks,
Katherine

Play that Funky Music...

Wow! There's always so much to talk about here, especially in the spring; when the weather goes nuts, people emerge from their winter-sleepwalking, every group on campus seems to have events going on, professors basking in all this forget to give as much work as usual, and on and on! But, it's Easter break, I'm relaxing at home, and I'll keep this one quick.

So, there always seems to be something going on through the music department, and I usually completely overlook many of the smaller, solo-performance artists they bring into the Irish Room (a beautiful performance hall used for performances in Gasson Hall).

Thankfully, my music professor told us not to miss Mana Tokuno's performances this week. A professional pianist, she came in to do a recital performing a piece one of my old professors composed just for her, Tokuno Toccata, but while she was here, she also played Beethoven, Schumann, and another entire recital dedicated to Chopin.

I'm not usually one to gush over small ensemble or solo pieces, but I have to say her Chopin recital was probably one of the most beautiful musical performances I've ever seen or heard. I'm definitely going to pay more attention to the Arts Calendar from now on, especially since all these concerts are completely free!

Also, did I mention that this performance was a rehearsal for her main recital coming up at Carnegie Hall? I feel very special now.

That's all I wanted to share for now, but happy Spring! The rain's finally stopped here in the Northeast, and it's gorgeous outside!

As always, feel free to comment or email: mahonjc@bc.edu

~Joe M

SHOWDOWN brought down the house!

What's up people?

The ALC Showdown has come and gone. Every single ticket sold out! (And might I say some people even sneaked into the show because there were rows filled that should not have anyone in them). I was part of the VSA cultural dance and we left our mark for sure. There were two competitions: Cultural and Modern. For cultural category, MASTI took 2nd place and AeroK took 1st. For Modern, Fuego received 2nd and Synergy received first (with their "SinCity" Theme dance). Here are some photos!

Synergy


Conspiracy Theory


Easter Break is coming up so I think I will be enjoying that as much as possible, given the fact that people who participated in Showdown put in hours of practice each day! Congrats to everyone!

Peace!

It's Almost April?!

Hey Guys,

So it has been a while since I posted, but I figured it would be a nice break to jot down the things that have been happening since Spring Break ended.

I'm amazed that it is almost April. Where did my semester go?!?! Midterms are for the most part done with, which is amazing. To make this even more amazing, the weather here in Boston has been phenomenal. There's nothing better than Boston when there isn't an enormous pile of snow covering the Million Dollar Stairs. It's great to see all the BC kids dust off their shorts and T-shirts and play some Frisbee in the Dustbowl or eat their lunch outside of Hillside.

I also went to a phenomenal lecture last night called "The Last Lecture." It has become a pretty popular concept, but in case you aren't familiar here's a small re-cap: Each semester a Professor is asked to pretend as if he were reaching the end of his or her days, think about what is the most important lesson they have learned over the years that they would like to pass along, and then actually pass it on. This year the lecture was given by Father Fleming, a beloved Father here on Campus who is unfortunately leaving BC at the end of year. He focused his speech on what a Jesuit Education truly means, and how its cardinal principles can be incorporated into our daily lives. It was an amazing speech and a great way to put my last weeks at BC into perspective/prepare how I want to spend my last year at BC. Unfortunately his lecture isn't up, but if you want to catch the first "last lecture" at BC from Father Himes, an equally beloved and distinguished professor here on the Heights, click here!

Alright well time to get some more work done so I can go and lay out in the Quad before the rain comes.

Thanks for reading,
Juan