Work it Harder, Make it Better!!

(Work it, make it, do it, makes us harder, better, faster, STRONGER!)

(Work it harder make it better,
do it faster makes us stronger,
more than ever, hour after hour work is never over )

“N-now th-th- that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can't wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can't get much wronger
Man I been waitin' all night now
That's how long…”

Hello world…this is your boy Angelo and I am one of the Admissions Counselors from Vanderbilt University who was selected to serve as an office blogger for the ‘07-‘08 school year. How exciting right? Well, I am quite enthused to offer you, the reader, some insight into Vanderbilt University, and as a 2005 alumnus and a current Vandy graduate student, I feel that I am more than equipped to do so. In fact, what’s great about serving as an office blogger is that I have been given complete autonomy about what I talk about. So as a result, I have decided that the main purpose of my blogging, outside of the standard admissions questions and the like, will be to focus on the cultural aspects of VU’s campus that defies typical stereotypes of Vanderbilt.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking…oh great, here’s another blog from a university employee that’s going to try and stress the school’s evolving ethnic diversity! Well, let me relieve your fears right here and right now. Although we might talk about Vanderbilt’s ethnic diversity on campus and how it has significantly increased over the last few years, this blog will focus primarily on Vanderbilt’s student culture and I am defining culture as, “the characteristic features of everyday existence” (Thanks Webster!!) So, essentially, this means that I will be talking about organizations, issues, current events, etc. that affect student life at Vanderbilt. Is that cool? Cool!

Now with this being my first entry and all, I must say that I am more than excited to report that one of my favorite hip hop artists was announced, a few days ago, as being the 2007 headliner for Homecoming. I’m not sure if many people have heard of him before, but his name is KANYE WEST!! That’s right folks, Kanye West is coming to Vanderbilt and his newest single “Stronger” is my favorite cut from the Graduation album that was recently released. In fact, the lyrics above are from Kanye's newest single, “Stronger”, and for those of you who struggle, like me, to understand the robotic section of the song, I have included those lyrics for you to sing along to if you wish. Yes...you’re welcome! GUSTER is also hittin’ up campus for homecoming this year. For those of you who don’t know, Guster is an alternative rock band from Massachusetts that is largely known for their top 40 hits “Fa Fa” and “Careful.” Random fact, but The Weather Channel selected a Guster song to serve as its slogan. Now if the weather channel is into Guster, then you know those dudes must be hype! What’s funnier though is that you should have seen the line outside of our campus ticketmaster for tickets for the homecoming concert; there were folks who even slept in the Sarratt Student Center to get tickets. Students are all a buzz for both Kanye and Guster’s arrival to campus and please believe that yours truly will be there too. My ticket has already been claimed!! Anyway, until next time, GO DORES!!