To the Editor:

I’m sure many of you saw the YDN’s “big scoop” yesterday revealing the e-mail promoting our beloved former president speaking at Battell Chapel to be a hoax. A chance to see demigod Bill Clinton speak here on campus on the heels of a hotly contested election? If you thought that Bill had better things to do, you were right. Fortunately for us gullible types, the YDN had our back, diffusing this prank before it struck with a front-page expose.

I’d like to thank the YDN. Thank you for once again saving this Elm Street bumpkin from the wicked plots of scheming groups. Thanks for restoring tedium and monotony to my Monday so I could spend more time with my problem sets.

On second thought, the YDN didn’t seem to be serving me with its article. In fact, it seems rather self-serving of them to ruin a memorable prank in favor of a triumphant scoop. Somehow, “remember that time the YDN outfoxed that prank” doesn’t feel like it will be that defining college memory to the same degree as “remember that time 2,000 students were duped into piling into Battell and then … well, we’ll never know now.” Am I the only one who feels robbed of something special here? And worse than that, not by the administration, but by my peers and friends. C’mon Newsies, let the kids play!

To all you possible pranksters out there, please don’t be discouraged by this. Turn your creative energies away from the books occasionally and relieve us of the daily grind. Give us your bladderballs, give us your naked sprints through the library and give us your fake snow days. And maybe if you’re lucky, your deed will make the YDN the day after instead of the day of.

Phil Levin ’06

Nov. 8, 2004