Salutations

The idea of creating a space for a few of us to ramble, discuss and debate our experiences during and after our undergraduate careers at UW-Madison has finally come to realization here, at the intersection of University and State. Named after two lesser known streets in Madison, for all of you who haven’t spent much time on the the liberal island, the title speaks a bit about all of us and what we’ll be writing about. The eight of us kicking off this project share a common bond as alumni (and alumni-in-training) of the Great State University of Wisconsin and as persons who care, each in our own way, about how the crazy world around us works. There are no rigid guidelines for format or procedure; there is simply the hope that what we write is provoking and in some way helps to spark thought about the universities we study at, the states we live in.

You can contact us at universityandstate[at]gmail.com

Meet the gang. No we’re not one of those gangs dwelling in the poorer lit areas of Madison (that can be fixed with the Downtown Lighting Initiative), but a nice gang that will only rough our readers up a bit with our content:

Kyle Dropp graduated in 2008 with political science and journalism degrees from UW-Madison. He spent last summer in the Washington Poll polling unit at the Washington Post, and is now a first-year political science PhD student at Stanford University. Writing for the Daily Cardinal, one admirer commented that “Dropp [has] one of the smartest political minds I have ever met; he will steer the shaky Ed-Board street car to safety this year.” Kyle will provide us with insights into the lifestyle of an Americanist political scientist on the West Coast.

David Lapidus enters his senior year at UW-Madison declared in economics and history, with a substantial amount of classes in finance and accounting. His campus involvement includes a two-year stint on the Student Services Finance Committee, a run for Dane County Board 5th District Supervisor and organizing on issues related to student veterans’ benefits and interfaith dialogue. David’s closer associates would probably characterize him by his dry and absurdist sense of humor, his ferociously nuanced – yet moralist – style of thinking, his respect for sincere and independent judgment, and his attempted adherence to philosophical pragmatism.

Eli Lewien, after graduating with a political science degree from UW-Madison in 2008, he spent one last glorious summer enjoying Madison (taking intensive Nepali lessons), and is currently studying in Nepal on a Fulbright grant, researching the transition from monarchy to democracy. A former Chair of the College Democrats of Madison, he’s retired from American politics for a while but still enjoys frequenting the coffee shops of Kathmandu, sipping cappuccino while reading paperback classics, and discussing the current youth political movement. An unproclaimed hipster, he hopes to travel South Asia before heading back to the states for a graduate degree, or something like one.

Alec Luhn, a senior at UW-Madison, is currently spending a year gaining educational experiences in St. Petersburg, Russia. Recently singled out as one of the top student journalists in the United States, one can best learn more about Alec from the “About” section from his blog, the Eagle and the Bear (www.eagleandthebear.wordpress.com): “a recovering Pushkin and an aspiring Solzhenitsyn. After a summer in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, he’s neither tender-footed tourist nor hardened Russophile, but is as of now gainfully unemployed in St. Petersburg, accruing language experience, life points and a leathery skin against the cold. Most importantly, he is deep into the love-hate-scrape-your-face-on-tree-bark relationship with Russia that’s so typical of Russo-American relations. He’ll tell you about it, should you choose to read more. Life Aspirations: Write like Tom Wolfe, bitch like Joan Didion and party like Hunter S. Thompson. And, in fact, write like all three of them, decked out in white, pin-stripe jacket and Bermuda shorts, chain-smoking cigarettes with his nose turned up.”

Ben Pasquale, a.k.a. Mr. Ben, after graduating in 2007 from UW-Madison with a political science degree, split his year off before graduate school conducting research at Yale and studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt. Currently, he is a first-year PhD student at New York University studying comparative violence, and we’re sure his room is stacked floor to ceiling with books he both cherishes and someday will read. The former chair of the Political Science Association at UW, Mr. Ben has a knack for placing things bluntly into words that you might not want to hear, but need to.

Suchita Shah, after graduating in 2008 with a degree in neurobiology from UW-Madison, is now a first-year medical student at Columbia University. Between intensive study sessions and grueling study sessions, she has found time to fly across the United States for Marshall and Rhodes scholarship interviews this autumn. The number two “campus elite” at UW, this Queen Bee became an instant celebrity after appearing on College Jeopardy, though we also know her from the “College Democrats, The [Badger] Herald and pretty much anything else you could think of” (as the quirky but illustrious Jason Smathers once put it). We jest that her role here is to be the token woman, token person of color, and token scientist, though truly she shares a passion for politics that rivals any of the majors listed above.

Danny Shahar graduated in 2008 from UW-Madison with a philosophy degree, and spent the summer in New York working at some institution we don’t know the name of. He is currently contemplating a philosophy PhD. Danny will probably be the best at shaking things up with his sometimes strong libertarian reasoning about the way things should be. This gem is pulled from his facebook profile: “My name is spelled incorrectly (it’s pronounced “Donny”). I am both dashing and cavalier. I can out-starve Ghandi, out-philosophize Hoppe, outrun almost any turtle, and use an outhouse with a perfectly straight face. I’m a capitalist and a guitarist, but not a chauvinist. I staunchly oppose religion, valiantly defend the eating of delicious red meat, and am firmly undecided about abortion. I’m over one foot shorter than Hogzilla (whose triumphant likeness no longer represents me due to popular request), over one taller than the shortest girl KJ’s hooked up with (sub-5), and over one time the man that Brett Favre is (take THAT). I hate facebook because it’s the worst waste of time ever, which is what I’m using it for right now.”

Danny Spirn is a senior at UW-Madison majoring in political science and communications. Having worked on numerous political campaigns, and as an adviser to many candidates and elected officials, he currently runs the extremely successful blog the Critical Badger (www.criticalbadger.com), which recently won the Milwaukee Press Club’s award for best up-and-coming blog in Wisconsin and has been covered by state and national publications. Danny has worn many hats on campus, serving as the president of his fraternity, a campus tour guide, and as the communications director of Students for a Fair Wisconsin during its 2006 campaign. He loves to make late night MacTaggarts runs, can go on for hours about Badger football, and tends to give strategic advice on how to do just about anything. He is also an amateur stand-up comic, taking cues from Lewis Black and Dave Chappelle, blending it into his own postmodernist mix of humor. Next year, he plans to start a joint law/masters program in mass communication.