If you look at any other style of dance — salsa, swing, tango, etc. — there is a basic step that is the foundation for the dance.Therefore anyone who know’s the basic step can go to party and dance with a girl or guy without being overwhelmed by the prospect of not knowing “how to dance.”

Beyond “grinding” there isn’t any basic way to dance with a partner when rap music plays at a party. People without a natural sense of rhythm and coordination are left to fumble there way through lil’ wayne and Jay-Z at parties — often relegating them to the beer pong table and games of flip cup.

I would even go so far as to say that our culture’s lack of a common popular dance is part of the reason that we have a binge drinking party scene.

Young people that are nervous about what to do at parties drink excessive amounts of alcohol so that they don’t feel awkward.  If those people felt confident in they’re ability to dance, they would drink less and dance more.

I took one semester of salsa dance lessons and it did wonders for my dance moves and confidence on the dance floor. Even when I was grooving to “Gin and Juice” in a basement on Buel St, my understanding of basic salsa moves and ryhtm translated in to more creative and confident dancing.

We should all take a step back and realize how important dance is to individuals and society.

Our society’s obsession with State Standardized testing and AP tests is getting out of control, and it is crippling our education system.

The basic idea is this: if we have universal tests we can quantify and rank people’s intelligence and fix problem areas.  However, the reality is this: Teachers teach students how to take the test, or school’s lower standards so that students technically “pass.”

Even a friend of mine at UVM said that she felt that she was not a good writer when she first got to college because she spent her senior year learning how to write an essay for the AP English exam — a skill that she says did not translate into being a good writer.

Intelligence and education is far too complex to be standardized.  By focusing on measuring progress we’re missing the real point: progress itself.

If we invest more resources in education, and increase the standards and salary for being a teacher in  elementary, middle, and high school,  we will see in increase in education.

And you know how we’ll know when it’s working?  More kids from inner cities attending college, a boost in entrepenuership and the economy, less crime, and lower drop-out rates. That’s how we’ll know.

However, I do care if perfectly good students at our university are losing financial aid over a bag of pot.

If any of you have checked your UVM email account since exams finished, you found a pleasant little email from student financial services reminding you that any student caught in possession of or selling illegal drugs will lose financial aid for at least one year.

When I think of illegal drugs, I think of crack, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and meth — but weed, mmm not so much.

The fact that this edict would apply to possessing marijuana poses a big problem for any judicial system that claims to be fair and just.

Sure, smoking weed might make you lazy; you’ll definitely waste enough money to make you cry, and you’ll probably eat too much chinese food — but smoking weed is no heinous crime against society. Stupid? Maybe: it depends who you are, but illegal — come on we all have better things to do.

Plus, if someone is smoking enough weed to get caught, what’s going to help counter his habit is education and responsibility.  (News Flash!) taking away an individual’s education will be way worse for society than letting him smoke weed.

Who’s going to be a bigger burden on society the college graduate that smokes weed after work, or the bum that is jobless (probably selling weed) because he lost his financial aid and dropped out? Even the stoned kid playing Halo in Tuper 4 knows the answer to that one.

Whether weed is legal or not people are going to smoke it if they want to; it is only problem when we introduce statutes like this where the punishment does not fit the crime.

Here are some friends of mine as we headed out last year...

In just over twenty-four hours dozens of UVM students will take to the streets wearing nothing but their birthday suites.  I plan on being one of them, and you should too.

Unfortunately, it seems that over the past few years the Naked Bike Ride has become more of a spectator sport.  No doubt, the tradition is a spectacle —  I would bet that on the night of the Naked Bike Ride the UVM has more nude flopping per capita than any community on the East coast, but that’s not what the naked bike ride is all about.

It’s a celebration.  Everyone should be involved!

Its all about doing something crazy together — and together is the operative word here.  As we run screaming and laughing, slipping and sliding, we become more of a family — a unique UVM family.

We all worked hard;  did our work;  got through our classes. Now its time to let loose, and simply not care what anyone might think.

People are so worried about being judged.

Take it from me, as a guy, there is probably nothing less flattering than being naked in 20 degree weather, but its funny cause its happening to all of us, and its real — that is reality.  You can stand on the sideline and pretend like you’ve got a ripped body and a big— well you see where I was going — under all those clothes, but everyone knows the truth.

We need to move away from pretending like everyone needs to have a “perfect” body.  That’s not what the naked bike ride is about.  Its about being human — whatever shape or size — and celebrating life and the work we’ve done this semester.

I think a lot of people are deterred from doing it just because so many people are watching.  If everyone ran, no one would worry about people judging his/her body — it’s to damn cold to judge when your running around naked!

So this year don’t let this great tradition become a lame spectator sport.  Be part of the festivities. Get naked. Have fun.

See you there…