Clark Diaries

29th Mar, 2009

Televised sports, poetry and housing

Hi everybody,

This week I didn’t take my camera out enough, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. I will do my best to take more next week.

Now the Final Four have been decided for the NCAA DI Men’s Basketball Tournament. However, despite Clark’s small and oftentimes uninterested in sports population, I could feel March Madness sweeping the campus. In the Dining Hall, games were shown on the huge projection screen during meals, and a big bracket poster was on display in the Bistro. The Pennsylvanians among us took particular interest in last night’s Villanova – Pittsburgh match up. UConn has a pretty strong support base here, given our close proximity. We’ll see what happens. This weekend was also time for FIFA World Cup qualifiers. I watched two games with some friends, including a come from behind tie for the US vs. El Salvador. It’s cool when some international students wearing their country’s colors on matchdays.

My intramural team just won another game! Our record has increased to 3-1, which is unprecedented in our team’s history. Usually we’re around 1-3 by this point in the season, but maybe it’s our year. Even though I have a challenging week ahead of me, with Just Do It Day on Saturday and some big assignments coming up, I can smile at our intramural glory.

On Thursday, I went to see German-Turkish poet Zafer Senocak read in Razzo Hall. One of my professors, Prof. Tobin, brought Senocak to read poems and answer questions about multiculturalism and identity in Germany. He read in German and had a translator to read English translations. I was curious to hear from his translator, who answered qustions about the process of translating poetry. Every language has nuances, so she said it was a matter of “sometimes winning and sometimes losing” when trying to preserve these subtleties.

This week was time for the RLH Lottery, where rising Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors figure out where they’ll be living next year, if they opt to stay on campus. As an RA, I helped one of the nights, answering questions for participants. Most people I talked with were happy with their housing situation for next year. It’s impossible to meet everyone’s demands, but in the end, a bed is a bed. On Friday night, I went to Karaoke in the Grind. It was sponsored by SADD and included snacks and mocktails. I didn’t sing, but enjoyed watching others try to sing and actually sing.