Welcome Pre-frosh!

Congratulations on your acceptance to [one of ] the most selective college[s] in the Ivy League! As we’re sure you probably know, you have the honor of being admitted to Princeton in the most competitive class our fair university has ever seen.

You have arrived at a very special time in the Princeton calendar. It is the season of Quintessence. Don’t be alarmed – it happens every year around this time. And no worries – it won’t get in your hair. It is at this juncture that our lovely school revels in all that makes “it” what “it” is. The administration is patting itself on the back for admitting such a stellar new class (read: you). Seniors have completed or are close to completing (or not) that Quintessentially Princeton institution, the Senior Thesis. Juniors are slaving away over that quasi-Quintessentially Princeton institution – the Junior Paper. And, of course, everyone is engaging in another, altogether different Quintessentially Princeton activity – procrastinating.

Yes, that’s right, we at Princeton procrastinate. And we’re masters at it. Youtube, Facebook, and the online editions of various publications all conspire to keep us from studying, writing and general life productivity. However, if there’s something that Princetonians do better than procrastinating, it is talking about procrastinating. More specifically, it is talking about how much work we have to do and how we didn’t do it the other evening due to [insert reason]. And no one at Princeton does this better than the Nassau Weekly. After all, we could have been doing our reading for that Philosophy seminar or we could have finished the problem set for our Econ class. But we didn’t. Instead, we spent all of last week putting together this week’s issue – which we sincerely hope you enjoy. And then talk about how you didn’t do your work because you were reading it.

And what a Quintessentially Nassau Weekly issue it is! In the Centerfold, we have Conor Gannon’s take on ex-Obama aide Samantha Power’s take on Genocide (there’s a number you can call in case Genocide happens to you!). The second chapter of the Congo Saga, brought to you by John Nelson, appears on page 8. The ‘Ask a Girl’ column, penned by A Girl, makes its debut next to a review of installation art and Jonathan Edwin Huddleson ‘08’s Visual Arts thesis (yes, artists can be part of the Quintessential Princeton experience as well) at the Peter B. Lewis Center. So there you are – this week’s issue – a tickety tack tranny hot mess out-of-control super tranny from Transylvania. And we’re not even apologizing for it.

Quintessentially Nass,

–Eds.