What a week. There are some weeks when it is hard to come up with a topic to write about. However, between the State of the Union, Rahm Emanuel’s victory in the Illinois appellate court, Stephen Colbert’s homecoming and “brothelgate,” there seems to be a lot to talk about.
On Jan. 25, President Barack Obama gave his second State of the Union address. My favorite response came from none other than former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the Greta Van Susteren show, Palin noted how the theme of Obama’s speech “Winning the Future” created an unfortunate acronym – WTF.
She then went on to describe all the “WTF” moments in the speech. You know, like when Obama described how the USA’s “Sputnik moment” was finding a way to create jobs. Sarah WTF’d that part of the speech by explaining how the President didn’t understand that when the USSR created Sputnik, the Soviets incurred so much debt that it caused their collapse. Though Sputnik was created in 1957 and the USSR collapsed in 1989, history should never get in the way of a good sound byte.
This got me thinking about what other acronyms could describe the events of the week. Here’s what I came up with.
On Jan. 24, Northwestern announced that comedian Stephen Colbert was going to speak at commencement. This announcement was well-received by the student body and parents alike (at least mine), but I think it is safe to say that come June, the senior class will be ROFL – “Ready tO Finally Leave.” Don’t get me wrong, I (and probably most of the senior class) have immensely enjoyed my time at NU. However, most of us have been in school for around 17 years, so I think a change of pace is welcome for most of us. Besides, you’ve heard of senioritis. Come June, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of us were FUBAR – “Forgettable, Unemployed, But Able to Read.”
On Jan. 27, the Supreme Court of Illinois voted 7-0 that Rahm Emanuel should be allowed back onto the ballot for Chicago’s Mayoral Election, which will be held in less than a month. Rahm is no NOOB (“Nothing w/O OBama?”) to Chicago politics, a city famous for its back room deals – not that I’m implying anything. However, with the rest of the field’s inexperience and what amounts to incompetence, he’ll probably be able to at least back up his ego with a win. For this NU grad, I think it is only fair to say that he may be ROFL (“Respectfully Obfuscating a Few Laws”) at the Illinois Appellate Court.
Finally – and this one is easy – on Jan. 26, President Morton Schapiro had a meeting with Evanston’s finest, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, to talk about the enforcement of Evanston’s “three unrelated” law. This law, more affectionately known as the “brothel law,” limits off-campus residences to no more than three unrelated occupants. When it was announced that the law was going to be more strictly enforced on beginning July 1, an uproar erupted on campus. That is, only until Morty walked in and convinced the city to change its mind. I think it’s safe to say Morty FTW.
Ben Rothschild is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
