Friday, May 29, 2009

Div Dictionary: GPSCY


GPSCY (n.): 1) The Graduate and Professional Students’ Center at Yale. 2) The only place I can find $2.00 PBR’s in this town.

New Haven’s got plenty of places to get your drink on, but few of them as cheap (read: Yale-sponsored) at the Graduate and Professional Students’ Center at Yale, or simply GPSCY (pronounced “gypsy”). Although the “center” part of its name implies it must perform some other services, it’s website betrays that GPSCY is essentially a bar. A really cheap bar, that is. The bar is actually called “Gryphon’s Pub,” but call it that and 99% of divvies will have no idea what you’re talking about. Its just GPSCY.

GPSCY runs many weekly specials, including weekly Karaoke, and Monday Night Football specials, but the one you’ll really care about is 2-for-1 Wednesdays. From open to 11pm, when you buy one drink, you’ll get a ticket you can redeem later that night for another drink. Wednesdays are also the traditional Div School night – you’ll usually find a crowd of us downstairs by the bar, or outside talking to Forestry kids if it’s a nice night.

To get into GPSCY, you’ll need to buy a membership at the beginning of the year. This’ll run you less than $10, and means you never pay cover. They’ll stick a little sticker on the back of your Yale ID card, and you’ll have to bring that AND your ID that proves you’re 21+ to get in every time.

Don’t worry – we’ll be introducing you to GPSCY during BTFO. And if you’re very, very good, Sandra and I will do a karaoke number for you.

-Kate

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Div Dictionary: Refectory


Refectory (n.): Sterling Divinity Quadrangle’s source for meals, unless you REALLY like vending machine food.

Since back-to-back classes on Holy Hill don’t really give you enough time to get down to Yale’s main campus and back for lunch, SDQ is equipped with it’s own cafeteria and dining hall, known as the refectory. The refectory is open from around 7am until 2pm every day, and serves sandwiches, hot lunch entrees, packaged stuff and salads. There’s a grill in the back that I always forget about, and enough soda choices to make anyone happy (until they run out of Diet Coke, which makes me distinctly unhappy).

When you begin the school year, you’ll automatically be charged a $400 board fee. You’ll get that money back though – it’s loaded onto your student ID so that you can use it to purchase food at lunch or between classes (or, for the ambitious among us, before classes too). If you don’t use up all $400 in the fall semester, it will roll over to the spring semester. If you don’t use up all that money during the spring semester, you will never see it again.

To spend $400, you may need to employ a little strategy. Since the refectory stocks canned goods and household items, you can buy a lot of tissues or buy cans and donate them at Marquand chapel (the chapel team puts out a basket and make sure it gets to a deserving charity). Some commuting students buy more than they need to take home to hungry kids or spouses. The staff will also take your points at the end of a term and use them when students like me come to the register with $8.00 worth of food and only $6.57 remaining on their card balance. You could also just be me, and be on campus almost every day for lunch, and run through $400 in no time.

This all sounds a little silly, but please remember – the refectory is hardly a money-making operation. It’s a service provided to us so that we don’t have to rely on the vending machines, or troop all the way down to Commons every day. The refectory also provides space for the community to eat together (in a scant 77 seats, so it’s more like a portion of the community). There’s even a community kitchen in the back where you can store and warm up food, as well as use and wash plates and utensils – remember, jut a few minutes spent over the sink will help reduce YDS’s carbon footprint!

-Kate

Friday, May 22, 2009

What it means to be a Yale student: Part 2,409 in a 109,293-part series

There’s a LOT tied up in what it means to be a Yale student, but in this season of unexpected wonderful things, I’d like to touch on just one: you can see a lot of art for free.

No doubt you’ll visit the Yale Art Gallery and the Center for British Art (in which I am mostly interested because it’s a Louis Kahn building). They’re both excellent museums, and wonderful respites for when you’re really sick of everything, and just want to see some paintings. Or, again, if you’re me – some great decorative art.

But did you know that your Yale ID will ALSO get you into the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art? I actually didn’t, until I drove up there. (It’s normally a 2.5 hour drive, max, but thank to MassDOT and a water main break near Springfield along I-91, it took us 5 hours.)

No joke! Since Yale University helped fund the 25-year Sol LeWitt installation , you get free admission with your Yale ID. (Ed. note: I frankly don't really understand why Sol LeWitt is enjoyable - yes, I get why he's important, but I'd rather look at the George Bolster stuff for kicks.)

So if you’re REALLY sick of everything, and can only be comforted by innovative video art or installation pieces, drive on up past my old high school and check out MassMOCA. (Then drive on over to the People’s Pint in Greenfield, Mass, and get a growler to take back as a souvenir.)

Safe and happy travels – whenever you’re going this summer!

-Kate

Monday, May 18, 2009

New Faculty!

I wouldn't be surprised if we already sent you this in another email, but check out the newbies: Young scholars fill YDS positions*. I want to read all of Clarence Hardy III's and Tisa Wegner's books. (Not that I don't find Asian Christianity fascinating, it's just that I attended Chloe Faith Starr's lecture when she was being interviewed, and I feel like I have a grip on what she's about. Also, I have a not-so-secret crush on the American Southwest.)

New faculty have their own little orientation, but we hope they'll be joining us for some BTFO events. Just remember not to be too smug when you know where things are and they don't. We'll be doing tours of SDQ on Monday evening just so you know where the RSV room is.

-Kate

*No, it's not just you. That does sound like a "That's what she said" moment.

Friday, May 8, 2009

A Journey of a Thousand Miles …

We’ve now reached the end of finals week. After taking my Hebrew exam on Wednesday, I’m down to one paper, which isn’t due until May 18th. Right now, that seems like a lot of time, but I’m sure I’ll find a way to procrastinate it right up ‘til May 17th.

Speaking of Hebrew, the language was a little like yoga for me. First the teacher demonstrates, say, parsing the Hithpael imperfect or doing bird of paradise pose, and I’ll be like “Noooooo way. That is not going to happen for me.” Cut to six months later, when I find the Hithpael to be second nature, and my leg does bend that way. Once reaching my goal, I seem to have forgotten the long journey it took to get to this point.

Hopefully your adjustment to YDS will be a similar tale. Though it seems daunting at first, you'll look back later and wonder at how much difficulty you had finding the Day Missions Room that first time you had a paper to write.

In the mail in the next few weeks, you’ll all be getting the materials you’ll need to take the very first steps on this next great big journey you’ll be undertaking – information on how to sign up for your Yale email, and a draft of the course schedule for next semester. Just like when you’re perfecting your bridge pose or learning the object pronouns of a dead language, it’ll all about visualization, seeing yourself successfully completing the task at hand.

Once you get to YDS, you’ll be assigned an advisor who will have some helpful input on what course you select (and will sign off on your selection every term). You might also want to spend some time with the YDS bulletin – this lists the areas of study we have and the distribution requirements you’ll need to fulfill for whatever degree you’re going for. The bulletin you’re given at orientation will be your secondary Bible – save it forever and refer to it often. No matter what regulations change as you move through YDS, your graduation will be dependent on your fulfilling the bulletin requirements from the year you matriculated.

Vaya con dios!

-Kate

PS – I only got four and a half hours of sleep last night, because I went to see the new Star Trek movie. Apologies for whatever lapses of logic occur in the above.

PPS – Not gonna lie; totally worth it. The movie was pretty great.

PPPS – Speaking of actual yoga, there are several places to practice in New Haven. Check out www.freshyoga.com , where I go, or http://www.bikramyogact.com/, where my friend Jen is a regular. You can also do yoga at the Yale gym for cheaper as a series class.