I have now been living in New Zealand for six weeks. Yet, for me, and my fellow international students in Dunedin everything still feels fresh, new and different. And, quite frequently, everything seems better here than in the United States. The burger place that does two-for-one Tuesdays is so much better than any burger I can get back home, the...

The first thing one notices (aside from the familiar faces of Elijah Wood and Peter Jackson telling Air New Zealand passengers to fasten their seat belts) upon arriving in Aotearoa is rugby. The game is everywhere. And it means everything. It seems that on almost every street, whether in Dunedin or Auckland, the striking jet-black jersey of the New Zealand...

In the middle of the road, a ratty old couch bursts into flames. The fire leaps into the night sky and sends off a thick column of smoke, lighting up the smashed windows and shards of glass in an orange glow. The couch’s time had come; it was asking to be burned. Someone had put it out in the front...

Kia Ora—or good health in the Maori tongue—from Aeoteroa, “The Land of the Long White Cloud,” more commonly known as New Zealand, or Middle Earth for you Lord of the Rings fans. This blog will consist of dispatches from two Weekly staffers, Emma Lodes and Tim O’Donnell, as we study at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and...

On Monday Nov. 10, members of the Occidental women's water polo team entered the women's aquatics locker room in the early morning to find trails of ants leading to discarded food in the sinks, bloody tape left in the showers and writing on one of the walls. In black face paint was written the words "squad, squad, gay." The nature...

Two seven-figure donations made in November to the college's athletic department have ignited a final push toward the construction of a new aquatics facility and two additional tennis courts at Occidental. Barry Crosthwaite '80 and Jennifer Townsend Crosthwaite '84 will provide $1.5 million to finance the proposed Ranier De Mandel Aquatic Center, and Ian McKinnon '89 and Sonnett McKinnon will...

Michael Wells is a man with many titles. He serves as Occidental's Sports Information Director, assistant athletic director and an assistant basketball coach. He oversees almost every game Occidental plays, hosts and organizes the Annual Roy Dennis Senior Scholar-Athlete Banquet and the Occidental College Athletics Hall of Fame and manages Sports Facilities Rentals and External Relations. Wells's colleagues have high...

The creation of the Facebook group "OXY PICK UP" has made pickup sports more popular and more accessible to both students and faculty in recent years, but male turnout still significantly trumps female participation. Of the 136 members of the group currently, only six are female. The Facebook group provides a platform for students to rally players beyond their immediate...

Occidental women's basketball guard Ashton Reid (senior) has established herself as the team's jack of all trades over the first six games of the season. Despite the squad's slow start (0-6 overall, 0-0 SCAIC), Reid has continued to produce, ranking third on the team in points per game (6.6) and second in steals (1.4) per game. However, Reid is the...

Juwan Rice (senior) Guard Juwan Rice (senior) has been a defining presence as the team's lone senior player this season. After a 20-point, eight-steal performance in the season opener against Caltech, Rice racked up a combined 49 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists over the past four games as the men's basketball team posted an even record against four non-league...