College Walk finds itself abuzz with excitement this afternoon, playing host to an array of colorful happenings. Spring is here to stay, much to the delight of protesters and peddlers.

First, as the beat of a conga drum wafts through the air, one finds the ubiquitous trinketry, cheap spring scarfs, and ethnic food of a street fair. Feeling a little green? Make your way to the base of the Steps and celebrate Earth Day by picking up a few fluorescent light bulbs courtesy of the Earth Institute and Columbia's Sustainability Working Group, but remember to trade in your incandescent bulbs first. Hear a gong in the distance? That's the Iraq War protest group counting five years of conflict by striking a chime for every person killed. They're on day two now, and Bwog just received word that a counter-protest may be in the works!

See all those American flags on clotheslines? Courtesy of the College Democrats, it's a flag washing extravaganza to "wash away the negative image associated with the American flag" and restore the flag as an "international symbol of freedom and justice." College Walk and Low steps are very much alive today, and Bwog looks forward to many more hours spent idling on the urban beach.

More photos of the sunshine festivities after the jump!

Bwog heard a high pitched, triangle-like pulse emanating from College Walk, and upon closer inspection, noticed that a funeral service being held for those killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war. The protest is called "5 Years of Occupation, 5 Days of Action" and the leaders of the protest are marked by their stenciled red and black on white t-shirts. Coffins and petitions currently surround the Sun Dial as a girl stands at a microphone reciting dates and numbers dead.

If that mini-gong is bothering you, however, don't hold your breath. The last time Bwog checked, the readers were still on April 2003 and a single pulse is going towards every person who has died so far. And depending on which report they believe, there have been between 104,000 and 1,446,063 deaths since the invasion.

-JJV

Tipster John Gardner sends photos our way of the Hindu Students Organization's Holi festival. The annual springtime celebration features 1500 lbs. of paint for throwing at your friends and promises (threats?) of supersoakers. There will also be a classical dance performance explaining the origins of the celebration. It's happening til around 2ish on the EC/IAB plaza.

More aerial photography by John Gardner after the jump.

Bwog was pleasantly surprised to awake this morning to a beautiful spring day and a pleasant plethora of red balloons scattered around Low quad. One thousand balloons were placed around campus earlier today by LionPAC. According to LionPAC, "1,000 balloons [represent] 7,000 rockets that have fallen on the civilian city of Sderot."

One Bwog staffer has already began to notice campus reactions to the balloons. Recalls the staffer, "A bearded grad student in a tweed-patched jacket paused on College Walk to stare at the balloons... after about thirty seconds, he removed a pen from his pocket, obviously deep in thought, and popped one."

There's a lot of talk about Columbia students being too fortunate for our own good. That may or may not be true. But there is no question, we got lucky today. Columbia students could not have asked for a more ideal afternoon for Relay for Life. The event began at noon and will continue until three am Sunday morning.

About 90% of Columbia students are outdoors right now, so the unsheathing of the glorious, emerald South Lawn is news only for a cloistered few.

More lawn porn after the jump.

Ah, the change of the seasons! A dash of color on a landscape of concrete and leafless brittle trees! An opportunity for no snark at all.

Enjoy this, the habitual replanting of the flowers, with us.

Photo by Zach van Schouwen

So, it took awhile, but unless you've been pent up inside during the last week and a half, spring is finally here! Finally, a time to break out of the boots and slide on those flip-flops, and hopefully some motivation to do your problem set outside in the sun, as opposed to drooling in your textbook in your dorm room.

To celebrate, Bwog is taking the opportunity to post more photos of the outdoor goodness and goings-on around campus, casually taken throughout the week with our handy digital camera (it ain't no high-end gizmo, but it works). So, enjoy the pictures, take a walk this weekend -- or at the very worst, take your Don Quixote to the steps. If you don't mind the pigeons, that is.

- MIP

Photos after the jump.

63 degree weather brings out the reptile in all of us. Lounge space on the Steps has become as rare as a Butler alcove during finals, and students have taken their readings and conversations to campus' more obscure perches...let the sun burn away your housing woes, not your lily-white (or brown, or pleasingly tan) skin!