The society system. ?It has its faults. But it?s the best system there is ?? ?? And it makes Yale what it is today.? This is how savvy sophomore Hugh Le Baron explains the world of Yale to freshman Dink Stover his first night on campus in 1900 in Owen Johnson?s 1911-12 serial novel ?Stover at Yale.? For the Stovers of the time, the society system was the reason to attend Yale ? the reason, even, to exist in ?a crowd you?ll want to know all through life.? The lists of those ?tapped,? selected by the graduating class, were published in The New York Times every year until the 1970s. The great and the best. The politicians and the powerbrokers. And practically all of Yale?s most illustrious alumni. To be tapped is to be, on Yale?s campus and around the world, what Stover would deem ?a big man.?

DURHAM, N.C. ? Five years ago today, Richard Brodhead ?68 GRD ?72 was struggling to get back to New Haven as snow blanketed the northeast. Brodhead, who was at the time in the middle of his 11th year as dean of Yale College, had been on Duke?s campus here in balmy North Carolina to interview one last time for the Duke presidency. As he headed back to New Haven, to what he had called ?the greatest job in higher education,? he was coming to terms with the fact that he was finally going to leave the college he had called home since he first entered as a 17-year-old freshman.

George and Martha Washington are finally reunited ? at the Yale University Art Gallery. The gallery recently acquired an 1801 miniature painting of George Washington by British painter Robert Field. The watercolor on ivory miniature is the complement of a miniature of Martha Washington already owned by the Art Gallery. The purchase, made through the Boston auctioneers Skinner, cost Yale $303,000.

In his New York apartment over Thanksgiving break, Micah Fredman ?10 combined his unique passions ? cooking and his Jewish faith ? to create a fusion latke he hopes will transform traditional Hanukkah fare.

It is an early Christmas present for Bass Library ? a $4,000, 47? screen for displaying student group fliers.

The consequences of a bankruptcy by the ?Big Three? U.S. automakers would be felt nationwide, and Connecticut?s Sen. Chris Dodd has been center-stage in congressional debates on a possible bailout.

Two-year-old Alexandrea Overkamp was supposed to wait 10 seconds before pressing the button to light the New Haven Christmas tree. She lasted seven.

Though the national recession may put a damper on holiday spirit, it seems that the city?s 60-foot Norway spruce is safe from financial woes. For now.

President-elect Barack Obama hosted the nation?s governors in Philadelphia on Tuesday and Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell was amongst those who attended. The group chatted about how the federal government can help the states make it through the ongoing economic crisis and what sort of relief might be feasible. As for the terms proposed: The governors want $136 billion for infrastructure and $40 billion for health care. It remains to be seen if those numbers will be met, but right now, Connecticut will certainly take all the money it can get. The state Office of Policy and Management is projecting a $338 million deficit for the end of this year ? not to mention the $6 billion deficit projected for two years from now.

The University of Pennsylvania received 7.8 percent fewer early applications than it received last year, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported Thursday. Penn?s announcement reflects the greatest decline in early applications for an Ivy League school that has released this data so far. Yale and Dartmouth College increases in early applications of about 10 and 12.5 percent, respectively, and Brown University saw a small dip of about 4.5 percent. The economic downturn played a role in the application drop, Penn Admissions Dean Eric Furda told the Daily Pennsylvanian. Officials from the Penn Admissions Office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Yale University History Professor Stuart B. Schwartz won the first annual Cundill International Prize in History for $75,000 awarded by McGill University, according to a University press release on Thursday. He received the award for his book ?All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World,? which was published by the Yale University Press in June this year. It is the largest non-fiction historical literature prize in the world, the release stated. McGill selects a U.S. author who has ?published a book that has had a profound literary, social and academic impact on a given subject.?

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven will honor James Bundy DRA ?95, dean of the School of Drama and artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre, at an annual luncheon Friday at the New Haven Lawn Club with four other individuals and organizations. The 2008 Arts Awards praise ?ground breakers whose fresh, raw ideas spur innovative programs, unleash remarkable results, and foster a lively, ambitious artistic community,? according to the Arts Council Web site. Tickets to the event are $70 for Arts Council members and $80 for non-members.

One would be hard-pressed to invent a scene more beautiful than that of the Christmas nativity.

I think the fried-dough cart was the last straw for me.

The proverbial economic cherry has been popped ? we?re officially in a recession. Reporters have become all too good at semantic tongue-twisting with phrases like ?economic downturn? and ?dip in the economy,? but finally, after months of verbal foreplay and heavy petting, our economic situation can finally be called what it is.

"I hate athletes.? You?ve no doubt heard the sentiment before. Maybe it is one you hold yourself. Even good friends of mine will sometimes confide in me their prejudice against athletes, knowing full well, of course, that as a member of the track team I am the object of their criticism. And no matter how they restate their remarks ? by excepting the author or claiming to hate, ?just the really dumb ones? ? such comments always unnerve me.

HOUSTON As chief financial officer of DJ Resources, an oil and gas producer in the Rockies, I am forced to watch a ridiculous example of why America is losing its struggle for energy independence. The promise of natural gas deregulation was that consumers in New Haven could purchase natural gas from producers in the Rockies, Louisiana or Texas and pay a normal transportation charge to move the gas to their homes.

I have been anointed. It happened over the summer at the World Harvest megachurch in Columbus, Ohio. The pastor, Rod Parsley, received some media attention this year for serving as John McCain?s ?spiritual guide? before the presidential candidate rejected his endorsement for calling Islam a ?false religion.?

In 1965, Dick Ebersol ?69 was a freshman in Timothy Dwight College. Just two years later, he was working at ABC Sports under Roone Arledge, oftentimes called the father of American sports television.

Ice flew in Ingalls Rink yesterday as the women?s hockey team heartily trounced Brown 4-1. The high-energy two hours proved another strong showing for the Bulldogs following their Thanksgiving success against BU and in the Nutmeg Classic.

As if a Cinderella story for the regular season were enough, the Bulldogs are headed to the big dance this weekend.

The men?s hockey team is off to a hot start this season, yet they sit in sixth place in their division. The reason ? despite a 3-1 record in the ECAC, Yale (6-2, 3-1) has not had the opportunity to prove themselves much in conference play so far.

Coming off a resounding 76-66 home victory over perennial Patriot League power Holy Cross, the men?s basketball team now heads into its second stretch of road contests. This time around, the Bulldogs are on the road for five games, starting on Saturday against Wagner (4-2) and ending at Division 1 newcomer Bryant (1-4) on Jan. 2.

While Yalies are barricading themselves in the library for the start of reading week, the women?s basketball team will head across the bay to Stony Brook, N.Y.

The society system. ?It has its faults. But it?s the best system there is ?? ?? And it makes Yale what it is today.? This is how savvy sophomore Hugh Le Baron explains the world of Yale to freshman Dink Stover his first night on campus in 1900 in Owen Johnson?s 1911-12 serial novel ?Stover at Yale.? For the Stovers of the time, the society system was the reason to attend Yale ? the reason, even, to exist in ?a crowd you?ll want to know all through life.? The lists of those ?tapped,? selected by the graduating class, were published in The New York Times every year until the 1970s. The great and the best. The politicians and the powerbrokers. And practically all of Yale?s most illustrious alumni. To be tapped is to be, on Yale?s campus and around the world, what Stover would deem ?a big man.?

In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably admit that I?m a Bond girl. Not an actual Bond girl, of course ? hey, I can dream ? but a girl raised on the original Bond films. I can name all the movies in chronological order, I know Halle Berry doesn?t hold a candle to Ursula Andress in a bikini, and if you argue that anyone was a better Bond than Sean Connery, I will fight you to the death. That said, the new Bond movie ?Quantum of Solace? is a letdown.

About two years ago, a man in black skinny jeans and a purple silk button-down stood in front of a packed Green Hall. He shared his belief that art should aim to create spectacle from the ordinary. But that man was David Byrne, and his attempt to be ordinary ? giving a lecture in an art school ? seemed the greatest spectacle.

A MadLib ? scene writes your Shakespeare: Histories & Tragedies paper for you ? badly? but enthusiastically!

I remember learning in Intro Psych that a baby?s cry is perfectly adaptive. Its pitch is just irritating enough that you pay attention to it, but not so irritating that you feel the urge to crush the baby?s skull.

I spent the summer studying abroad in Italy, and upon my return I hoped to skip two levels of Italian class. The following is a transcript from the Italian oral placement exam that I took this September. The conversation was conducted in Italian and has been translated into English verbatim.

The question of ?choice? sparks the brilliant undergraduate production of Stephen Karam?s ?Speech and Debate,? playing this weekend at Nick Chapel. Under the sprightly direction of Michael Leibenluft ?10, the decisions the three adolescent characters face regarding the exposure of a high school drama teacher?s potential pedophilia drive the audience?s questioning of character judgment and even the definitively stated teacher sex scandal.

Danny Boyle?s ?Slumdog Millionaire? is an emotionally uplifting tale about an orphaned boy struggling through life in Mumbai that just might usher in Bollywood to the masses. Though the ending is predictable within its first few minutes, Boyle brings a gripping energy to the film, offering a balanced dose of harsh reality and thoughtful escapism.

In his review of ?Synecdoche, New York,? Roger Ebert called Charlie Kaufman ?one of the few truly important writers to make screenplays his medium.? I agree with Ebert on the basis of Kaufman?s expansive imagination. Like the mythic Daedalus, Kaufman builds labyrinthine structures so complex and so dangerous that he himself can barely escape from them. When I left the theater, I had an inclination to check the obituary pages for Kaufman?s name, just to be sure this mad genius had survived not only the painstaking blueprint for ?Synecdoche? but its realization, as well. (The film is also Kaufman?s directorial debut, which means ? for better or for worse ? that his personal vision bows to no authority but his own.)

At the turn of the century, Jedi Mind Tricks kicked Philadelphia?s rap scene in a new direction with their sophomore album, the underground classic ?Violent by Design.? Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind?s revolutionary production, combined with Vinnie Paz and Jus Allah?s furious rhymes, marshaled in a new era for the Philly underground. JMT?s blend of horrorcore and mysticism influenced artists and groups across the East Coast, especially those signed to the group?s label, Babygrande.

Ten minutes into the Yale Cabaret?s ?Pamela Precious: A Balls-out Love Story,? I thought I might have hit the jackpot, might have finally arrived at the moment every theater critic dreams of ? the chance to write a really bad review. Something extravagantly and enthusiastically mean. Something along the lines of Zachary Fuhrer?s ?11 ??Monty,? flaccid, still somehow performs,? perhaps.

Terrence McNally?s ?Lips Together, Teeth Apart? is a study of the way bodies turn away from each other, even as their voices crash together and come to naught. I would love to go back to Oren Stevens?s ?11 deft production of the play at the Whitney Humanities Center tonight and watch it with the sound on mute. Sure, I?d be missing the wonderful clash of dialogue, but would all fall short if the four sole figures only mimed their meaning?

Meet Daniel schlosberg, pianist conductor composer

As part of a composer-pianist concert series, a group of nine young musicians ? current and former Yale School of Music and Harvard students ? will be performing original solo compositions for piano tomorrow at Firehouse 12. ?Each [pianist] brings a unique musical voice and perspective on composing and performing,? Douglas Fisk MUS ?06, the series? organizer and participating musician, wrote in an e-mail. Firehouse 12 is located at 45 Crown St. Tickets are $10 at the door. The concert starts at 8 p.m and lasts about an hour and a half.

The only thing reminiscent of a ?Circus? in Britney?s sixth studio album is her low, husky, almost lion-like growl. Unless your vision of a circus includes lascivious Britney strutting her ?six-inch heels? and scanty ?lace and leather? garb intoning: ?all eyes on me / in the center of the ring.? In that case, this is Britney?s Barnum and Bailey?s. Bitch.

All religious considerations aside, I?ve always thought of Christmas as being pretty foodtastic. Candy canes basically grow on trees; chestnuts roast over open fires (fire codes be damned); everything smells like gingerbread and tastes like rum. Even the Grinchiest little hearts can?t help but stir at the prospect of Christmas cookies ? and joy to any world that gives us eggnog by the gallon.

Where I Went: Pizza House; 89 Howe St. What I Ate: Spaghetti & Sauce What It Set Me Back: $4.50