The key is thinking beyond what normal dating generally entails. Go outside. If the two of you have been together long enough, you know by now being with each other is more important than spending money.

Things like rock climbing, hiking or taking a good long walk together can be just as fulfilling as chatting over a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet (and far cheaper). The point is to make the experience of a relationship the least taxing to your wallet as possible — right?
To save yourself the trip to Kentucky or Alabama, check out the Evanston Athletic Center for their rock climbing wall and bouldering cave.

If you don’t want to pay to enroll, or didn’t grab any of those nifty coupons from the Daily awhile back, consider something outdoors-y in a public space. The lighthouse just north of campus has a rustic garden and a path that leads down to sandy dunes and a beach that will probably be empty. Cheesy-sounding? Yes. Beautiful? Also a resounding yes.

The other alternative is to acquire a pair of bicycles, and explore the surrounding neighborhoods. Pick a nice day, surprise your partner, and ride around Wilmette, Winnetka, Highland Park or Skokie. Work up to biking all the way to the city – then do it.

The Chicago Botanic Gardens are expansive and interesting – there are themed sections (Japanese garden, bulb garden, English walled garden, etc.), greenhouses, and several ponds with ducks and swans. It’s great exercise, it’s fun to look at, and you’ll feel like you actually got away from everything that is Northwestern when you’re finished. The gardens are about half an hour north on the 213 bus, which picks up at the Davis El station.

Even if going outside isn’t exactly your thing (which, considering the weather, it should be) there are plenty of things you can do that involve being indoors. Play racquetball at SPAC. Sign up for a salsa dancing class together. Sit on the lakefill and share your feelings.

Any of these things can be fulfilling, and most of them involve minimal mental effort — just a lot of body movement. Take advantage of the springtime, and leave your cell phone at home.

Bright shapes of white swirled to the sounds of lilting instrumentals and trance-like vocals. Undulating hems of heavy fabric and tall hats of camel hair bobbed, spun, and wove in dizzying displays of meditation and praise.

Signaled simply by the lull of voices, the whirling dervishes threw off their black cloaks and padded onto the stage of Ryan Auditorium to perform the ancient Mevlevi Sema ceremony, honoring the birth of 13th century poet Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi.

Whirling dervishes, also called semazens, are devotional dancers of the Islamic sect of Sufism. The mystic religion is centered on the ideas of unity with God, spiritualism, and love.

The practice of whirling is a form of meditation intended to transcend the ego and bring the dancer closer to God. The position of the hands, the pieces of each costume, and the order of the movements all hold a significant place in conveying a spiritual gift to those who witness, as well as execute, the ritual.

Sunday’s presentation was merely one piece of the seven-section ceremony. The Middle East Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago backed the three semazens, playing traditional instruments and singing folk songs.

After less than an hour, the music halted abruptly and the dervishes paused, and the audience was still. The performance concluded when a singer muttered “thank you” and the dancers moved away from the stage, as if coming out of a dream.

College is structured a little differently. Classes may start as early as 8:00 a.m. or end at 10:00 p.m. – with any myriad number of time combinations in between. And on Fridays – well, who wants to miss that fundraiser party on Ridge and Davis?

An important component of balancing work and play in college is knowing when to do what. In previous lives, your regimented daily allotment of homework, extracurriculars and hooking up was determined by alarm clocks and lunch breaks. Now the basic freedom of determining your own schedule can undermine even your own best-laid plans.

So what can you invite someone to do on a Thursday morning? Try breakfast at Orange with a Peel, a little-known but extremely delicious breakfast-all-day style restaurant on Clark in Belmont. The restaurant itself is adorable (everything is orange-themed and decorated like bed and breakfast) and the food just makes you happy. The pancakes are huge and come with an enticing array of garnishes – from mixed fruit jellies to cinnamon and icing. They even serve the classic waffle with fried chicken. Order the “frushi” (fruit sushi). Just do it. When you’re finished, you can cross the street and get a couple of tattoos together – after all, you’re in Belmont.

Lunch dates get a little more complicated. While breakfast is good on any level of involvement (best friend, one night stand, cousin) lunch says, “I think I want to take you to dinner, but I’m not comfortable with spending that much money on you yet.”

Ultimately, lunch is a good tool for taking the next step with someone you’re interested in – but stay away from semi-fast food places like Cosi or Panera. Instead, go to Billy Goat’s Tavern on Michigan Avenue (watch out for it, you have to go underground) and marvel at one of Chicago’s most famous landmarks in dining.

If you’re ready for dinner, though, Hackney’s won’t lead you astray. The restaurant on Harms is the original – since 1939 – but there are several other locations now. The best part of the menu is “The Famous Hackneyburger” (must I explain why?). Don’t be fooled by the antiquated appearance – if you’re in Chicago, “dive” doesn’t mean a thing.

And if you really don’t have time to make it off campus, there’s always something that’s good at any time of the day.

As a city, Chicago is unique for its opportunities to have fun. You don’t have to be super-creative or go very far out of your way to have a good time.

If the traditional dinner and a movie aren’t your cup of tea, then consider switching up the arrangement: hors d’oeuvres and an opera, tacos before a concert, barbecue on the beach, etc.

The Old Town School of Folk Music (4544 N. Lincoln Ave.) doubles as a school of folk music (big surprise) and a venue for free or low-priced concerts. Their most recent series, called AfroFolk, featured artists like The Occidental Brothers Dance Band International – an eight-piece ensemble “specializing in Highlife, Rumba, Dry Guitar, and other delights” from Central and West Africa.

For nearby dining accommodations, consider Los Nopales Mexican Restaurant, conveniently located only a block away on Western Ave. Los Nopales is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m., or more generally, the span of hours in which you might desire some tasty Mexican food.

If free African Jazz or beat madness isn’t enough to get you off campus and spending some hard cash, then consider the realm of lame and go watch a laser disk at the library.

Check out the events at Old Town.

Kwon discussed his experiences with Asian stereotyping in hopes of affecting positive change in politics, the media, and business on Monday evening in a mostly full Harris 107. The event sponsored by Lambda Phi Epsilon and partnered with the Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation.

Before Kwon spoke, leukemia survivor and foundation recruitment manager Cammy Lee addressed the audience on the importance of signing up for the National Bone Marrow Donor registry. Since becoming an official marrow donor recruiter, the foundation has registered over 100,000 minorities.

“Basically, if you’re Caucasian in this country and you need a bone marrow transplant, your chance of finding a match is pretty good – about 70 percent,” Kwon said. “But if you’re a minority, especially an Asian-American, your chances are basically nonexistent.”

In Kwon’s sophomore year in college, his best friend and fraternity brother was dying of leukemia. Kwon stopped attending his classes and began to organize donor drives to help his friend. Although a match was found, it wasn’t perfect, and his friend died a year later, he said. This spurred Kwon to use whatever status or power he might gain in his life for the good of others.

“What I remembered most clearly about this time was how hard it was to get anybody to listen and how hard it was to get anyone to care and help,” Kwon said.

But not everything Kwon talked about was so serious. He also elicited laughs from the audience with descriptions of his childhood in a traditional Korean family.

“Basically, my parents taught me and my brother that smart kids got Ph.D.s and became professors,” Kwon said. “Dumb kids dropped out of school and became hookers – or worse – actors.”

Kwon said he was chosen as a contestant for Survivor through a mutual friend. Initially, he was reluctant to sign up for Survivor, and admitted to nearly quitting the game after he found out that the tribes on Cook Island were to be separated by ethnicity. He recalled being told to wear a business suit and glasses to casting calls, and how the contestants seemed typecast in racial roles.

“The manipulation comes in the editing [of the show],” Kwon said. “On the show itself I didn’t feel any pressure to be one way or another, but I was worried that during the editing process [that's how] they’d portray me.”

Kwon got a pretty glamorous treatment when the show aired, though.

“Towards the end they kind of played me up as being a godfather,” Kwon said. “For the most part they had me being the kind of Korean Jesus.”

However, Kwon said he wasn’t as concerned with $1 million prize as he was with building a strong group of people and defeating stereotypes.

“I didn’t really care if I won,” Kwon said. “I just wanted to make sure that someone from my tribe would get to the end and we wouldn’t have this racially biased outcome at the end of the game.”

Kwon participated in a question-and-answer session with the audience after he spoke. One student asked him for advice on higher education and employment.

Kwon described being pushed into certain careers by his parents and the difficulties in trying to break out of traditional jobs to find what would make him happy. He urged the listeners to avoid the “gambler’s fallacy” of staying in one place for fear of losing all the effort put into it.

“The other thing I’d encourage you to do is really consider alternative careers. Don’t stick with being a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer just because it’s the path of least resistance,” Kwon said. “If you’re only doing it because your parents are telling you to do it, or because you’re afraid to think outside the box, then you’re only doing yourself and your community a disservice.”

A somber speech. A lighted candle. A quiet prayer.

The courtyard surrounding the Rock filled with students for a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting.

A white banner, painted with an orange “VT” and a purple “N” in opposing corners, was draped over a table for students to sign. The messages of hope and love will be sent on to Virginia Tech students as a gift from Northwestern. The Rock was painted black and emblazoned with the orange “VT” initials in mourning for the victims. The wall around the Rock read, “Today We Are Hokies.”

The University Chaplain, Tim Stevens, addressed students about the tragedy and their reactions.

“The first response of many of us, I suspect, has been to feel fear and anxiety,” Stevens said. “It is important to acknowledge and validate our feelings of apprehension and the ways in which we all find all of this disturbing.”

When Stevens finished, the podium was opened to students who felt compelled to speak before the gathering.

“It really questions how we come together, how fragile we are as people,” sophomore Sam Schiller said when he approached the microphone.

After hugging a graduate student who attended Virginia Tech, senior Coley Harvey spoke about the tremendous effect this event has had on students who would otherwise never think of the school.

“I didn’t know this was going to be quite as emotional for me as it is,” he said. “To see you all out here doing this tonight is awesome. I’m so blown away to see this entire plaza area filled with people.” Harvey also proposed that students don the Virginia Tech colors maroon and orange on Friday in a second act of remembrance.

All of the speakers emphasized the positive lesson of hope and friendship one can take away from this tragedy. When students finished speaking, the crowd took a moment of silence punctuated by Krystyna Kowalik performing “Amazing Grace” on violin.

Students filed out silently, many stopping to sign the banner on their way.

Multimedia production by Tom Nunlist. Photos by Tom Giratikanon and Rachel Koontz.

I slid onto the stool in the kitchen and looked out the window.

Is it possible?
I could simply be a garden hoe.
Leaning there, against the shed
Wooden handle,
Brand new,
Waiting.
One day,
In the spring,
The gardener may pick me up
And I will find a purpose
In weeding the moist earth,
Making beautiful the garden.

Then my ego,
Having stamped out that
Last burning Marlboro,
Returns to remind me
That I believe I am the gardener
And not simply the tool
Of a greater genius.

NAYO isn’t an acronym - it’s swahili. And while the African American dance troop’s name may be a synomym for bliss, their performance of Insane Asylum at the McCormick auditorium on Oct. 29 was, well, crazy.

NAYO put together Insane Asylum in a month, their fastest fall production ever. The show lasted about half an hour, and consisted of a series of short performances, none more than three minutes long. Anywhere between four and 28-ish dancers were on stage at a time, where they combined hip hop and tap with a pinch of modern dance.

The crowd cheered and called out names throughout, most especially during “Soup’s Up at the Insane Asylum” and (the shorter version of) “Thriller“.

A strobe light flashed during several pieces, ramping up the excitement. At the opening of one of the pieces, one dancer added humor to the mix by remarking to the other how glad she was they had “met at DiversiFYINu.”

At the end of the show, NAYO upheld an old tradition by bringing everyone on stage to dance to the “Juke Slide.” And to add to their awesomeness, all the money that the show made will go to a charity.

Pick-Staiger was packed, and the audience seemed really enthusiastic: one girl even shouted out to him and went up on stage to hug it out with the bitch Piven himself. Another girl stayed afterward to see if he’d record her voicemail message; alas, Piven was busy backstage talking to his mom, who was present that evening.

I got turned away by a bossy usher, and was left to text my mom a disappointing “never mind, he didn’t come back out.” No cleavage-signing for me.

What’d you think of Piven’s performance?
Inspiring, or annoying? Leave a comment.