In this past Friday’s Daily Collegian, James S. Young and Lindsay Glace cited nearly all of the current crop of USG candidates, even those who did not make themselves available for comment. However, they neglected to mention one very important and very visible candidate — write-in vote Chef/Helga. While it might be tempting to dismiss a candidate whose platform and appearance are so obviously silly, shouldn’t the students of the University be allowed to make that choice for themselves? If, as Young and Glace write, “students are usually seen as apathetic to Undergraduate Student Government” and are often dissatisfied with what they see as that government’s empty promises, why isn’t the Collegian reporting on a candidate whose main goal is to breathe new life into the election process and generate student interest? When confronted with the inherent silliness of the system, it’s refreshing to discover a candidate who is silliness personified. If the Daily Collegian truly prides itself on giving a voice to the students, it should let Chef’s silly Swedish voice be heard.

My current lease runs out in late July. I’ve already been sent a renewal notice. My rent won’t be going up more than a few dollars, and the rental office is offering other incentives (like a local gym membership) if people stay. I like my apartment, and I like where I live. When I first moved, I though it was a shame that I might only stay a year. It felt like the sort of place where I could live longer than that. It alone, however, is not reason enough to keep me here. I’m not sure I could handle another Pennsylvania winter.

My job is not a reason to stay either. I recently applied for a writer/editor position in another department, but I haven’t heard anything back yet, and I don’t know when (or if) I will. And the possibility of another job is not reason enough to stay. If I move, though, especially somewhere largely unfamiliar, can I be guaranteed anything better? The idea of moving anywhere without some kind of financial security seems like a very bad idea, but I haven’t seen much posted on job boards or online want ads for which I qualify in the cities that interest me. Scheduling interviews long-distance can be difficult. I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit these places.

Visiting these places also isn’t necessarily cheap. I could probably afford airfare, for instance, to Austin or San Francisco, but I doubt I could afford both. Certainly, these trips would have to be months apart, since right now about half my monthly paycheck goes to pay my rent. I also have to keep in mind the cost of moving, which itself is not insubstantial. I don’t want to let worry about the cost keep me here, immobilized, but I recognize that it will take more planning than seeing a city that looks nice in a book and hopping on a plane.

I would also like some sort of closure with the Monty Python Society, if only because I still have a lot of club material (old newsletters, videos, props, etc.) I need to give them before I leave. (The club no longer has an office where I can store them.) I don’t need to make a big deal about my leaving, but I’d like to let them know. If I plan to move at the end of my current lease in July, this could be difficult; they themselves will be gone at the end of the semester in early May. This isn’t insurmountable — I can always give them the material and say I might not be coming back — but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an issue.

And Haliburton won’t have to worry about pesky U.N. interference, now that the United States has officially said it will not cede control of Iraq to the U.N. at the end of the war:

Powell said the United Nations should, however, have a role in a post-Saddam Iraq, if only because it makes it easier for other countries to contribute to reconstruction costs.