Over Spring Break, Campus Security and Student Affairs installed two security cameras in the post office as part of the ongoing investigation into the homophobic acts that shook the campus in February. While Joint Board members had expressed a desire to be involved in any decision on camera placement, administrators say there was an urgent need to install the cameras without consulting Joint Board given the nature of the ongoing investigation.

At the end of November, residents on the third floor of Cleveland Hall spotted a mouse. Since then sightings have been reported in the pit and on the first and second floors. For weeks, residents complained about the mice but to no effect as communication problems stymied efforts to resolve the problem. Since then, lines of communication of opened up and there have been no new reports of mice sightings in the hall.

While most of us are barely managing to get all the readings done on time and make it from deadline to deadline, some students are stretching the academic experience way beyond the designated classroom boundaries.

When most people think of issues of global warming and its impact on the arctic, they usual focus on a narrow set of environmental consequences. This week's "Critical Issues for the Arctic" Rosenfield symposium seeks to expose some of the numerous other issues involved.

After the sports doldrums that are February and early March, my favorite time of the year has arrived: the start of the baseball season. Not only does it mean that I will be spending an inordinate amount of time watching MLB.com's gamecast, but it also signals the end of other sports' seasons.

With the snow melted and sun shining brightly on the green softball fields of Grinnell, the sound of leather on leather has returned. The Pioneers return two first-team All-Midwest Conference South Division players in Emily Stewart '08 and Darcy Ward '09. A mixture of upperclassmen stars along with a plethora of first-years amalgamates to form a women's softball team that has the capacity to go very far this season. "We have the potential to beat everyone this year," said Stewart.

Water Polo requires a level of endurance that is matched by only a handful of other sports. With the possibility of leaving the starters in for the entire game all but impossible, a certain level of depth is required. "It's like soccer, but it's got the aggressiveness of rugby and football," said Mari Guttman '09. "And there's water!"

After a 20-plus-hour drive, the Grinnell Ultimate Frisbee teams pulled up to an ornate, grand house in historic Savannah. The house where they were to stay dated back to 1870, with weeping willow branches blowing in the breeze and red and blue flowers blossoming in the window boxes, and they arrived only to discover the power was out. But it was business as usual for the Grinnellephants and Sticky Tongue Frogs, the flexible teams always ready for adventure, who trekked to Savannah, GA for the High Tide tournament the first week of spring break.

On Mar. 1-2, the premier men's volleyball clubs of the Midwest met for a tournament in Iowa City. Up there with powerhouses Iowa and Nebraska were a dozen ragtag Grinnell students, half with no volleyball experience prior to this year.

Since the dawn of man, communities have been bound together by storytellers. From a bearded man in a cave to a mustached man in a uniform, the tradition of tall tales lives on today in the lively and loud conversation of Russ Motta. Security man in title and wise elder in practice, Russ is one of the defining faces of Grinnell staff.

The first duke is always the most intense. Nature inevitably calls as you wander along a backwoods hiking trail. The urge is present, the need is immediate. You have to be careful to choose a blocking tree that is far enough off the trail to protect you from potential sightings, but not far enough off that you end up discovering the scary wildlife you had hoped to avoid. With a tree in sight and a sharp, sturdy stick in hand, you brave poison ivy, lizards, snakes and armadillos in order to pop that age-old squat.

Quoth T.S. Eliot, "April is the cruelest month." Unfortunately, Eliot was also a dirty liar, because if there were an accurate poem about April, it would be called, "April is totally the sweetest month. Suck on that, March." I know! I'm shocked by my unfailing optimism too!

Mention of the word "JudCo" often draws a vague response about clandestine tribunals for students accused violating college policy on campus. Far from a menace, JudCo is actually a bastion of self-governance. The trouble, in fact, usually starts when the administration bypasses JudCo.

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to write an "S&B professor column." The possible topics ran through my head: Why every Grinnell student should take CS; the wonder of Grinnell's faculty governance (even more complicated than self-governance); comments on Wikipedia (including my vision of a future in which everyone will have his or her own Wikipedia entry, and the disambiguation page for "John Smith" will be huge); why I regularly refuse interviews from the S&B (although it's always fun to predict whether I will be (a) misquoted or (b) quoted out of context); even another rant about drinking on campus.

Sweeney Todd is a bloody good time--and I do mean bloody. Tim Burton has adapted Stephen Sondheim's musical for the screen, bringing just enough of his characteristic style without overdoing it. The hair is extravagant, the blood splatters are a garish red-orange, but he's smart enough to let the music and songwriting speak for themselves.

Atonement might be one of the most finely crafted movies I have seen in the last six months. From start to finish, the creators of the film have rendered the landscape, the characters, the music and the story to a degree both opulent and easily approachable. Atonement's first scenes in and around the English manor house, almost drip off the screen under the weight of summer lust and looming tragedy.

Philip was asked to paint a portrait of the Queen of England. Bemused, he immediately called back and asked to speak with the King of England. On the phone, Philip heard a faint gasp. "Who am I speaking with?" asked the anonymous female British announcer-type voice on the other end of the line. "Uh, Mr. Eggwash, now where is the king?" Philip demanded.

Sponsored by the Center for International Studies and the French Department, Algerian writer Mohamed Kacimi is on campus this week to discuss Arab, francophone and religious identity. This interview was translated from the original French.

To those who have ever had the title "Hardest Working Man in Show Business" thrust upon them--quit posturing and bow down to Dan Deacon, the epitome of the working class hero and deliverer of joyous and unique electronic music to Gardner 9:00 p.m. tonight.