Author Meredith McKenna

Ring, ring! London is calling! Greetings from Mother England! As a Fairfield tour guide, I have to love Fairfield. However, studying (ahem) in London tops any townhouse/beach house party any night of the week - including Tuesdays. Exchange rate: Can you hear the echo in my bank account all the way in Connecticut? You'll get used to feeling as though you're in post-World War II Germany pushing a wheel barrel full of worthless American money around to buy an order of chips.

The red carpet. Rambling speeches. Billy Crystal. Fashion faux pas. This year, Oscar comes early: next Sunday, Feb. 29 marks the 76th annual Academy Awards. Crystal, Oscar's real golden boy, returns to host for the eighth time this year, much to the relief of fans of the awards show.

After a semester ends, most students forget about their teachers faster than Britney Spears can get married. "What do teachers do after four months of lecturing?" is right up there with "who shot JFK"? Do they moonwalk their way out to the Michael Jackson trial, predict A-Rod's at bats, wait in line for the new U2 CD? There's always that sabbatical in Hawaii.

Remember how excited you were when you landed your first job? Whether it meant scooping ice cream, waiting tables or hawking retail, everyone can identify. Even so, people go to college to escape from these name-tag jobs. The big question after graduation, especially if you're in the liberal arts, is what can you do with your degree? What can't you do is more like it.

Christmas is a time of Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas movies, green and red M ' M's and... finals. You know that saying, "can't live with 'em..." Uh, right. This could be applied to the dreaded reality we know as finals. Even the term "final" connotes a negative image.

Sparkling sports cars, prestigious clubs, oodles of billable hours - sound like a Mastercard commercial yet? Oh right - the cost: law school. While three more years of parties at the beach, Pizza Med for dinner and a smattering of studying may seem like the way to go, unfortunately many Fairfield University students (75-100) may find themselves punching a clockcard instead.

Many Fairfield University students have heard that Fairfield's current president, Rev. Aloysius Kelley, S.J. will be leaving his post as President of Fairfield this spring after 25 years at the helm. The cast of "Friends" has nothing on him! The university has been busy carefully orchestrating a committee that would represent the many faces of Fairfield in search for a new president.

I'll be back...the most famous line of Arnold Schwarzenegger until now. "I'm the governor" is now his greatest line. We, the people of the United States, have witnessed the travesty of a former Mr. Universe and action film star become governor of our most populous state, California.

HONK, HONK - VROOM, VROOM - LOOK OUT - ARGH! That's the sound of Arnold driving his hummer through California's many woes. Will he drive away in a blaze of glory or will reality finally catch up with him? As one of the nine million Californians born in a foreign country, Arnold can certainly appreciate the problems of getting a valid driver's license.

Members of the Ignatian Residential College (IRC) despise the conception that the group is a cult. Yes, these students were given doorstops to encourage an "open door policy," reside in the same dorm, meet for monthly IRC meetings and go to activities/occasional dinners and a class together but please, it's not a cult - it's a community.