The holiday season offers endless opportunities for serious mishaps. Extended family hanging around, large-scale cooking, earnest shopping and the weather all contribute to an unstable environment prone to misunderstandings, embarrassments and all-out fiascos.
Events like this are not uncommon this time of year. Of course, there are also heart-warming moments during the holidays (though those can be few and far apart). Below, we present student holiday stories of the more common type:
She was from France. That was, unfortunately, about the extent of what we learned about this petite, middle-aged woman smiling in our living room, on Thanksgiving Day six years ago. If I could even recall her name I would have changed it-to protect les innocentes-so I will simply call her Nathalie.
One of my fondest Christmas memories as a child was not of presents, holiday cheer, or seasonal smells, but rather of seasonal eats and treats and sweets. I vividly remember going to one of those over-the-top Southern California shopping malls packed shoulder-to-shoulder with masses of holiday shoppers.
Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. When I consider the treasure trove of horror stories I've accumulated throughout my years as an Army BRAT, one vividly comes to mind. It was our first holiday season without my father.
Christmas Eve for us Italians is all about the fishes. We eat seven different types. My grandmother used to make eels every year, until one year she put one too many eels in the pot, and when the water got hot, one lucky bastard launched off of the others onto the floor.
Some students sell fluids, others pile into focus groups to cushion their spending habits over the holiday season. And Phil Doherty made cash while he was in college in Florida by selling his skills.
"I've been knitting since forever . . . I'd knit during class.
"Brothers" starring Toby Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, is the dramatic tale of a family ravaged by war. Marine Capt. Sam Cahill (Maguire) is about to deploy for his second tour in Afghanistan at the same time his brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is being released from prison.
"Habari Gani," a Swahili word meaning--what's the word or what's the news-- is the traditional Kwanzaa greeting. Can't quite wrap your tongue around that?
Then stick to the simpler "Joyous Kwanzaa". But what is Kwanzaa anyway? Some sort of Christmas spin-off? Can anybody celebrate or do you have to be black? How do you celebrate it anyway?
Last week the Black Student Center hosted the fourth annual Kwanzaa celebration.
As you may have heard, the Division of Marine Operations (DMO) has taken steps towards outsourcing the UMB Sailing Program.
This program has been part of UMB since its move to the Harbor campus 35 years ago. It has faithfully provided students, faculty, and staff with free sailing instruction provided by undergraduate sailing instructors along with the opportunity to get certified to take boats out solo.
1). Tiger Woods' Roller Coaster of a Year
After missing eight months after knee surgery, the world's number one golfer finally made his return in 2009. In only a month, Woods found himself back in the winners circle. He overcame a 5 stroke 4th round deficit to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second year in a row.
