Luke Adams responds
I must say I take great offense at being told that I am not "taking this campaign seriously."
For one thing, it definitely shows a clear disconnect at The Daily; whoever wrote this completely ignored profiles on me that have shown up in your own newspaper and explain my position very clearly. As Nathan Adkisson wrote in the April 11 Daily, my main campaign style is to capture the attention of students through comedy and one-on-one dialogue instead of flyers and chalk.
Is my integrity being questioned because I don't go around campus taping garbage to the ground? Because I don't enlist the aid of superficial minions to pass out quickly discarded flyers to students who are already late for class?
My campaign is word-of-mouth and electronic; it is a grass-roots campaign that treats students as intelligent, quirky people who realize that unconventionality does not equal unprofessionalism. I am using my creativity to get the attention of students.
I dress up as the prolific rapper Eljay and the early 1900s stump speaker Cornelius L. Goosefood, and lightheartedly promise to move the lake closer to campus (a very obvious joke, and the only one of my issues to be said to have a completion date of Summer 2035). Once I have their attention, we get down to the issues. A student at the Rock today from Reformed University Fellowship talked to me about how he is perturbed that religious groups cannot receive ASG funding, but cultural groups can. Yes, I was dressed as Eljay. But you had better believe that he knew I was serious when I pledged to act on this issue if elected. I could have ran by him and shoved a flyer in his face with that same information on religious group funding, but I guarantee it would not have had the same impact.
Whoever wrote this piece obviously cannot grasp a confluence of wit and wisdom, of satire and sincerity. You didn't read your own articles, you didn't watch the Thursday debate in which I clearly described my campaign style and my stance, you took my Web site completely out of context and you therefore are completely unwarranted in saying that I don't take my campaign seriously.
- Luke ADAMS
Weinberg sophomore
Candidate for ASG President
A letter to A&O
Please stop bringing good bands to Northwestern. Not because I don't like good music, but because I'm embarrassed at the lack of concert etiquette my fellow students practice.
Last Thursday, I, along with 1,200 others, attended the Counting Crows concert at The Riviera. I'm sure it was a really great show. It looked nice. Adam Duritz jumped around a lot. But I couldn't tell you how it sounded because the audience talked through the ENTIRE show. I know, it's a concert, it's loud, and sometimes you have to lean to your friend and talk about how sweaty the guitarist is. Fine. But when the band is playing a slow, quiet piano ballad, it's polite to pull out your cell phone and sway, not do what some douchebag in a blue polo did and wave his middle fingers around in the air, yelling "play a real song."
The Crows played a lot of the songs from their new album, so it's understandable that people were frustrated they didn't hear songs they knew. But that's what bands do when they're promoting an album. Half the time, the audience didn't even seem to notice when a song was over, because they were so wrapped up in their own personal conversations. When the lead singer gave a heartfelt explanation of the inspiration for one of his new songs (the inspiration being how disillusioned he was with touring, probably because of audiences like us), I had to strain to hear over the sound of some girl flirting with the 300-pound security guard and the guy in front of me talking about why the Crows are irrelevant. Great. Then don't come to their concert.
I understand that we're in college, and when a concert, ANY concert, is offered for $15, it seems like it'd be cool to go, have some background music and drink with your friends. But that's what bars are for. Concerts are for people who like the band playing and who want to hear them perform. Talking throughout a concert is disrespectful to the people around you, and especially to the performer. NU, as a whole, has pissed off, and been called out by Counting Crows, Wilco, Cake and Talib Kweli. Even Bob Saget made fun of us for being a terrible audience. And that is why, with all due respect, I thank A&O for bringing such great acts to NU, and I ask that they please never do it again.
- Jenn Babin
Communication senior
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