Free stuff

This afternoon, my department was giving away books. I arrived when what I'm assuming were slim pickings remained (I was a bit late to get there) but ended up with two books I'd wanted: Sylvie Strudel's Votes Juifs and Jean-Denis Bredin's The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus. Hurray!

Had I bothered to look at my university's home page yesterday, I wouldn't have missed a chance to add a pair or two of new jeans from the "Great Jeans Giveaway!" to my pile of free stuff. As part of NYU's "Eating Disorders Awareness Week," earlier today you could "[d]onate clean jeans, grab another pair that fits, and feel good NOW!" I like how they specify "clean"--are your too-tight jeans a bit ketchup stained, by any chance? As the owner of many pairs of ill-fitting jeans--too large, small, and just plain ugh--I could have come away with such fabulousness. Alas...

It somehow seems appropriate that a college whose uniform is leggings-as-pants would have a week to raise awareness of the bizarre and potentially tragic things people do to fit into said leggings. The University of Chicago would never have something like this. Why a week to prevent bulimia when you could have a day off to prevent yourself from doing yourself in?