Two female first-years were overheard bringing new meaning to "innocent until proven guilty" near the John Jay elevators:

Girl 1: "My dad works with one of the Duke lacrosse players who got in trouble."

Girl 2: "Really? Which one?"

Girl 1: "The really hot one."

As most Columbia students struggle to remember which shirt they wore to 1020 last Saturday night so that they'll know not to wear it this Thursday, first-year Bee Shaffer, scion of legendary Vogue editor Anna Wintour, has her sights set on something higher: the Met's swanky Costume Institute Ball. And another thing, dearer to Bwog's heart: a career in journalism?

In the Telegraph, she polls various fashion insiders (read: mom's mah-jongg buddies) about how to prepare for any glitzy event that requires any sort of bodily movement beyond minimal breathing.

All well and good for a certain crowd. But as for Bwog, we're hoping she'll settle once and for all the Great New Balance vs. Converse Debate. What say you, Miss Shaffer?

There was a Target photoshoot today in front of John Jay. The models were really skinny and pretending to be intellectuals for the camera by reading the Spec. We tried to run out with some copies of the Blue & White but, alas, were too late.

Wherein Andrea Gallardo observes a panel discussing "Beauty and Morals." Plus, a Q&A session that turned adults into grade-grubbing Columbia students.

"Sometimes we want to live the beauty we've been talking about," said Marie Ponsot. "It is the tragic destiny of human beings not to understand and to be misunderstood."

What else could one say to a quiet, eager, and middle-aged audience sitting with rapt attention, waiting to hear a panel discuss beauty? Was there any way to satisfy these people, waiting to hear a discussion about one of the most ambiguous and subjective ideas out there? Regardless, the seats of Davis Auditorium were filled, and clusters of people listened just outside the open doorways. On stage, the panel reclined in their seats, each waiting their turn to speak.

Ponsot, one panelist in a discussion on "Beauty and Morals" that took place at the Heyman Center on March 23rd, is a poet whose collections include Springing and The Bad Catcher. Her lyrical, rhythmic voice made it seem as if she spoke entirely in verse. Expressing a sober frustration with the human desire to describe or revisit beauty, Posnot chose a few select anecdotes from her life and some wonderful words with which to entertain the audience.

In the spirit of wedding crashers, lonely and ambitous men from the B-School have started crashing SIPA parties--"where the wine flows and the women are beautiful" in an attempt to escape the few and relatively ugly girls of their own school. But wouldn't these business folks have a tough time handling the liberal ladies of SIPA? The guys in suits chatting outside Uris may have found some middle ground. "Women empowment? I'll go down on a girl. Is that doing my share?"

As you recall, Business School is a load of cock.
-Asa Merritt

Warner Brothers may have censored itself to stay on the good side of the FCC's new indecency standards, but you can catch the uncut premier episode of the Bedford Diaries, filmed on the Barnard campus, at the WB website before the sanitized one runs on Wednesday. Sexy professors! Suicides! Unrequited love! Is YOUR life this exciting?

The Splog is on the story, too.

B&W Fasionista Josie Swindler reports on the latest from the Lecture Hopping front:

At Parsons, the audience of wannabe fashion editors was a whole lot more stylish than the five editors on a recent panel called "Fashion Magazines: Behind the Seams." Lesson one: it takes more than nice hair to get a corner office at Condé Nast.

The problem of the panel may have been the relative ignorance of its members. Though highly successful, the editors aren't in the most coveted fashion positions at the most coveted fashion magazines, probably disappointing most of the audience members. What they could teach, involuntarily, is that talented people can be talented anywhere and that the people who make the magazine are rarely like the people the magazine is made for.

A big room was mostly full with more than 100 hopefuls. They heard from the art director at Glamour, the creative director at Marie Claire, the style editor at GQ, and the managing editor of Lucky, all moderated by the executive editor of Redbook.

Andrew Stinger reports:

For any fans of 'America's Next Top Model' or of beautiful women, KAHLEN from Season 4 (the runner-up) is now a BARTENDER at Nacho's. She's training on Thursday.

This information comes courtesy of the cool bartender last night during a "love sucks" toast.

In dress reminiscent of Maggie Simpson's blue starfish sleepclothes combined with the little brother from A Christmas Story's winter-wear, this baby stole hearts on college walk when her parents posed her for next year's Christmas photo.

Find a cuter picture. We triple dog dare you.

A Craigslist posting under Women Looking for Men:

Beware: Academics are Players

Date: 2006-02-05, 1:07PM EST

Watch out for these self described nerd types. It is a front. They are unusually cunning individuals due to their intellect and can use incisive language at the wrong time (like in the middle of sex). They look to screw with common people as a release and when they are done with you they tell you to fuck off they have papers to write. Check Craigslist w4m and m4w, that is all you see is Columbia, NYU, Phd. I reply and some have been on here for over a year. They are serial daters and not into relationships just term paper deadlines. When people ask why they broke up with you they will say you are stupid or dumb because you did not finish college. These people had to grow up fast and most had a bad childhood due to their nerdiness. They are robots who kill at the thought of failure or being subpar. Their self-esteem is based on a GPA and the letters A,B,C. They are snobbish perfectionists too.

This is from a reformed nerd girl lover. They are so sexy but bitches.

this is in or around Columbia

no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests.

Posters for the Taiwanese Student Association's spring general meeting (with seductively posed Asian women):

Haiku — 'The Freaky feeling'

She gives me a look

Sweating, I walk towards her

Damn yellow fever.


The haiku is a traditional Japanese form of poetry, making the TSA's statement either a capitulation to the imperialist force of Japanese culture, or a more subtle attempt to turn the form on itself and subvert the dominant paradigm.

In unrelated news, The Columbia Department of Public Safety recently confiscated two full-length, ornate samurai swords in decorated scabbards.

Students are currently giving out blue and white t-shirts on College Walk. You
might want to pick one up if you're comfortable with the message:

Front: "Our bodies are temples...."
Back: "Reform Jews are HOT"

The Blue and White: Now using sex to sell Judaism....

-Lydia Depillis

Bwog staffer Brendan Ballou sat down with Columbia junior Jamie, a writer for the Fed, the former singer for the F-Holes, and current Suicide Girl to discuss knitting, pornography, and why the Blue and White is too pretentious.

Don't I know you from somewhere?
Well, I'm naked on the Internet. I feel that it's something not a lot of Columbia people get paid to do. Most of the modeling I do is for money. And it is work, and it's a job like any other job. It can be boring. It can be hard. It can be creepy.

What is Suicide Girls?
It's a cool website full of pin-up style photography and alternative looking women who don't fit the normal notions of beauty—although some of them are skinny and white and have big boobs—but not all of them, and that's a common misconception. But it's fun for me. It's a community, and a lot of my friends are Suicide Girls.