Husband by the Hour

This was too funny not to put up:

Turns out it's a repair service for things like plumbing and electricity.

Guest Blog: Writing at Yale

Editor's note: This entry is by Roshan Sethi, a Trumbull senior.

Welcome new members of the class of 2013!!!

A little bit about myself: My name is Roshan Sethi. I'm a current senior in Trumbull College, majoring in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. I do a lot of "science major" things on campus - I usually take 1 or 2 biology courses each semester; this fall, I took Neurobiology and Biochemistry, both fascinating classes. I work in a lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, investigating spinal cord injury. I took Perspectives on Science during my freshman year, and I write for the Yale Scientific Magazine.

Even though the biology major and my pre-medical requirements have kept me busy, I've still found time to pursue my other interests. Since high scohol, I've enjoyed reading and writing, but I didn't expect to have time for either when I arrived at Yale. I was wrong - by the end of my final semester I'll have taken as many English courses as Biology courses!

My favorite classes have been the fiction workshops. The "coursework" consists of reading short stories written by other students, and writing your own. I can never quite believe that I'm writing - something I usually do for pleasure - for credit! And the classes themselves never seem long enough (they are two hours, once a week), and I'm always sad when each session comes to a close. It's a delight to sit around a table with other intelligent, creative people who are trying to do the same thing you are. And the fact that one of those people is an award-winning professional writer is eve cooler. (Take a look at the creative writing faculty here.)

Last semester, I had the opportunity to try a type of writing that I've never attempted before - screenwriting! I took "Writing Half Hour Comedy" with Robert Stevens. Professor Stevens is the former head writer of "Malcolm in the Middle,' one of my favorite shows. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this may help.

My favorite part of the course was the assigned textbooks. There were only two of them, and they are shown here alongside the wonderful Blue Book.

The course itself was amazing. I didn't think I would be able to write a sitcom but I ended up developing a 30-minute pilot for a new show!

The best reason to take these classes is because they force you to write a lot. The scientist in me likes to total things: I've produced nearly 200 pages of fiction (of which I'm happy with, probably, ten pages) and 3 full-length television scripts (about 150 formatted pages). I never would have written this much outside of class, on my own.

I will note that these courses can be competitive to get into. But the English Department has done a good job of expanding the number of sections (there are usually 3 fiction courses in a given semester) and designing courses that are specifically intended for novices ("Introductory Fiction" is limited to freshmen and sophomores when it's offered).

I've also had the opportunity to explore my interest in writing outside of the classroom. During my freshman year, I helped found a literary magazine that (thankfully) still exists: Yale Undergraduate Magazine, so-named because of its memorable acronym: Y.U.M. Visit the website and peruse old issues here. And definitely write for us when you land on campus next fall!

In addition to writing for campus publications, students have the opportunity to organize Master's Teas with the authors they really admire. Last year, I brought Lois Lowry (author of "The Giver"), R.L. Stine (author of "Goosebumps") and Sam Tanenhaus (editor of the New York Times Book Review).

There's basically no way to describe how awesome Master's Teas are. Students are allowed to invite anyone who is sufficiently well-known (they have to be able to draw at least 12 people) and the College will pay for accomodations, travel, a small honorarium, etc. They also pay for a subsidized dinner with that author - here's my friends and me with Lois Lowry at Scuzzi, an awesome Italian restaurant on Chapel Street.

As a last note, there are just as many opportunities for those interested in nonfiction writing. The Yale Journalism Initiative offers courses with major writers and publishers like Steven Brill (founder of "Court TV" and "American Lawyer"), Anne Fadiman (former editor-in-chief of "The American Scholar") and Jill Abramson (current news managing editor of the New York Times).

So, if you're interested in writing, even as a hobby, Yale is a wonderful place to explore that passion. I never expected to spend so much time in Linsley-Chittenden when creative writing has absolutely nothing to do with my planned career (medicine). But I know I'll never have the chance to write this much again (certainly not in medical school and residency). I count it as the greatest aspect of my years at Yale that I've been able to receive an incredible education in both the sciences and the humanities. I could not imagine a more satisfying college experience.

Guest Blog: Working at the YDN

Editor's note: This blog is by Harrison Korn, a sophomore in Saybrook and one of the science tour guides.

Working for the Yale Daily News, the oldest (and according to the Princeton Review, best!) college daily, has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me.

As a freshman, I started at the YDN (what most people on campus call the Yale Daily News) as a production and design (P&D) assistant. Two days a week I went to the YDN building (yes, we have our own building) and worked a two hour shift (usually from 8-10 pm or 10 pm-12 am) designing the next day's paper. My amazing editors and other P&D staffers taught me so much about design (for instance, what is a pica?) and about life.

Most of the amazing YDN P&D staff and editors at the annual YDN banquet

Working at the YDN has a lot of perks, one of which is lots of food. Every night the YDN has sushi, Thai food, pizza, etc. I picked which days of the week I went in based on the food that night (I usually chose sushi nights).

One of the highlights of my YDN experience was working on the redesign of the paper last summer. Mario Garcia (who has designed over 500 papers, including the latest redesign of the Wall Street Journal) and Pegie Stark Adam were hired to redesign the YDN. On Memorial Day weekend, I went to New York City along with most of the YDN design staff (paid for by the YDN) to meet with Garcia and see the initial prototypes of the redesign.

Over the next three months we went through prototype after prototype to get the design just r ight. Every little thing (should sports headlines be centered or left justified?) was thought about. Over those three months I learned more about fonts than I thought I would ever know.

In case you were curious, which I am sure you are, the YDN now uses three fonts: Moderno (for headlines), Quiosco (for body copy), and Benton Sans (for captions).

The best part about working on the redesign was for one week before the dorms opened in August the entire design team came back to campus to be trained in the redesign. The YDN put us up in the New Haven Hotel (and paid for all our meals so we obviously went to eat at nice restaurants) while we worked with Peggy and Mario to make the final redesign decisions and learn how to work with the new design.

This year, in addition to design work, I became more involved with reporting. The great thing about reporting for the YDN is that you can get involved as little or as much as you want. As a freshman, you typically start out as a general assignment reporter. You can write three times a week, once a month, or anywhere in between. After spending the afternoon writing your story, you come into the building and sit down with an editor. Together, you go over the story and work to polish it up. I am constantly amazed at how my editors' small changes always make my writing so much better!

Sophomore year, many reporters choose to get a specific "beat," or area of the University that you specialize in covering. Beats range from covering the University President (my suitemate Paul has this beat so he talks to President Levin frequently, usually at 9 pm) to covering Admissions to covering New Haven City Hall politics.

Being a YDN reporter also has some nice perks. For the elections, the YDN sent Paul to Arizona to report on John McCain's concession speech. We sent three other reporters to Chicago, another reporter to Virginia, and another to Nebraska (where a Yalie was running for Congress). One reporter even went to Wasilla, Alaska (Sarah Palin's hometown).

A picture Paul took while in Arizona to cover John McCain for the YDN

In addition to P&D and reporting, I also dabbled with the YDN online desk. For the online desk I videotaped events and edited the footage for the website. A huge perk of this was I got into events (in order to tape them) that I otherwise would have never gotten into (like the Denzel Washington Master's Tea last year in SM).

P&D, reporting, and online are just three of the many ways to get involved in the YDN. YDN also has copy staffers (who write the headlines, captions, and make sure the articles conform to Associated Press-style standards), photographers, and there is Scene (a special section that comes out every Friday) where there is lots of opportunity to get involved if you want to write theater/music/food reviews or be a little more creative.

The absolute best thing about the YDN is the people. YDN is not all work. There are plenty of fun events to get to know all the other YDN people - I met many of my best friends at Yale through the YDN.

The editor-in-chief and one of the city desk editors prepare for the YDN holiday party.

I strongly encourage all of you to look into getting involved in the oldest college daily. If you have any questions, feel free to message me!

Guest blog: Want to Go to a Hawker Center, Lah?

Editor's note: This post is by Maureen Gaj, a junior in JE who will also be guest-blogging from her semester abroad in the spring!

If you can handle 24 hours of traveling by plane, then Yale has some opportunities for you!

Well, okay, I lie. It could actually be less than 24 hours of plane torture, especially if you are some of the people who work in Brussels, London, Mexico, Montreal, and Madrid. (I don’t want to bore you with all 18 places, so for the whole list, you can check out HERE. But for the rest of the people jetting off to Ghana, China, Singapore, South Africa, and Uganda, I hope you remember a fully charged iPod, a travel pillow, and some really interesting books.

This summer, I applied for one of the International Bulldogs Programs. And suddenly, when people were asking where I would be for the summer, I was answering "Singapore!"

So Singapore (The land where food courts are hawker centers and everyone is a lah).

I had to double check where Singapore was, ensure that my lack of any language other than English would not land me into trouble, and explain to my mother that Singapore was malaria free, but it was worth all the preparations, because I think it is safe to say I had the best summer of my life.

Not only did I have the best job ever. But, I had a lifetime of experiences in ten weeks.

First, Yale found us great housing right in the middle of the Central Business District. Wicked awesome. I lived with three other girls in this cute little apartment. It was just like being all grown up, except that in ten weeks I’d be back at school, with cooked meals and bathrooms that magically clean themselves. The view from our room was amazing. I’ve included it below, because it still makes me smile.

So breathtaking. Karolina (my roommate) and I could climb out our window onto this small balcony and look out at the city at night.

There were twelve of us there in Singapore this summer, and we each found our own niche in the city. We went on trips and activities sponsored by the Yale Club in Singapore, many of which involved Devin, who is pretty much the best example of how awesome Yale alumni can be. We got to go to various events at his three different restaurants in Singapore: Brewerkz, Café Iguana, and Wine Garage. He took great care of us while we were there; he even took us on a tour of Brewerkz brewery!

Here we all are at Brewerkz with Devin (he’s the guy with the super sweet shirt and glasses on the left). Well almost all of us: Jie was on a business trip to Malaysia (she went to 5 different countries with her job!) and Betty left early, and I’m taking the photo. And we are missing Liz, our amazing coordinator.

We also did a ton of traveling. A bunch of us went to KL in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and I also went to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Bangkok in Thailand. It was absolutely, positively, fantastically, amazing.

And what’s even better, is Yale also paid for us to go and work at an orphanage in Siam Reap, Cambodia. That was probably my most favorite part of my entire summer. We worked at Sunshine Village and really got to have a great time with the kids. It made me really appreciate what I’ve got at Yale and at home, and made me a little more conscientious about the world. It was also great to see my first Wonder of the World (on some lists): Angkor Wat. I can’t even find words to describe this. We climbed on ruins, walked through huge gates, and saw Buddhist monks. It was incredible.

Katie, Karolina and I (complete with paint from our morning at the orphanage), with a couple of boys who liked our warpaint and copied!

All of us in front of one of the Bayon faces: Gabe, me, Katie, Bernie, Betty, Mitchell, Khadija, Karolina, Jie, Dhruv, Diana and Derek!

When I wasn’t traveling, I worked for Schlumberger in their Subsea Division, running explosion and fire analysis. It was complicated stuff, but so cool and totally relevant to my Chemical Engineering degree. So all you science majors can definitely go abroad too! There are plenty of research opportunities abroad (I know because I just checked the database).

Anyways. This summer was amazing. There just aren’t words or room here to describe it all. But, it all happened because of Yale. The program, the activities, the internship were all set up by Yale. In fact, Yale even gave me some funding through a couple of grants. And you can even use this awesome thing called ISA, which basically provides funding (based on the percent of your financial aid) for one summer experience abroad.

As if Yale doesn’t have enough for me right here on campus, it has also found a ton of things for me to do abroad too. Its kinda like Christmas where each present is better than the last, except this time, Yale is outdoing each of my summer experiences. I can’t wait for Summer 2009!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever you celebrate!