The Front Room was hit by a storm on Thursday night-a Brainstorm, in fact. The Program Board sponsored a trivia competition complete with cash prizes, t-shirts and a host falling rather short of the Alex Trebek standard. The competition was stiff, and it was anyone's game right up to the last question. The teams had fantastic names such as the Psychics, the Zonkers, the Smarties and the Minute Men.

In between the challenging multiple choice questions, there were opportunities to answer other questions for $5 or a stylish Brainstorm t-shirt-size 2XL. A quality bonus of this event was the great corny game show host humor that permeated the entire contest. That alone made this event worth every minute.

The contest included questions like, "What's the cooking term for beat 'til stiff?" The answer was "whip," although none of the teams answered the question correctly. Another real stumper was, "What animal has the largest heart?" The correct answer was the giraffe.

The intense competition went on for three rounds. In the final round wagering was allowed on the last two questions. Everyone agreed to risk it all in the last round, and everyone with the exception of the Psychics failed to answer the question correctly.

"It was interesting and definitely high on the cheese," said contestant Marisol Thomer '03E. "It was fun; there should be more money incentive events like that on campus ... it's better than work study," she said.

Another player who suffered a crushing defeat was Brian Carty '02, who explained the cause of their downfall: "My partner blew it." According to Carty, his teammate Sarah Michelson '02 "made some terrible choices." Said Carty, "I absolve myself of all blame for the loss." In response, Michelson said, "Wow. Carty's right. What a great night! The trivia game really helped me see how incredibly dumb I am!"

In the end, the Psychics, composed of Courtney Dowd '04, Jon "Werkle" Edwards '04 and Benjy Caplan '03, came through for the clutch win from third place. The grand prize was $100 and the glory of being Brainstorm champions!

Marsh mellows

Those students feeling nostalgic about their elementary school glory days were in luck last week. Marsh House sponsored four days of all-out youthful fun in the Campus Center beginning on Tuesday. The activities were mostly crafty: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday featured pasta necklaces, pipe cleaner flowers and card making, and Wednesday featured bubble-blowing outside the Campus Center.

Marsh organized this event to help people "find their inner smile," said Molly Williams '02. "Dean Boykin-East suggested we organize some art-involved activity to forget about stresses and sadness and lose themselves in art."

Both organizers and participants alike were psyched by the opportunity to make these artful creations. The bubble blowing was the highlight of the week's activities for many. "The bubbles were my favorite, definitely," said Katie Buechner '04. "It was really, really cool."

Not even professors could resist the allure of the bubbles. Professor of Black Studies and English Andrea Rushing was spotted outside the campus center on Wednesday afternoon for a brief stint of playing with bubbles. "She really really liked it; she was into it," said Buechner.

"We all had a lot of fun, which was the point, and the best part," said Williams. With the help of Marsh residents, students and faculty found both their inner smiles and their inner children.