Now, I really must back Marisa up when she says,

Bertucci’s rolls are probably my favorite starch-based food. They’re warm and soft and taste great with butter. However, two years ago Bertucci’s stopped giving you butter with your rolls, opting instead for a mix of olive oil, herbs and cheese. I don’t much care for it.”

So true. Perhaps this switch precipitated a rapid decline in the restaurant’s overall quality, because I don’t remember anything like the following happening when I went to the Brookline Village Bertucci’s during my formative years:

Then I got the wrong soup. Halfway through eating it, I realized that minestrone soup is hardly ever made out of cheese and sausage, and that I had probably received the cheese and sausage soup.”

Heh.

Gabi is currently posting from Colombia (the “o” means the country, not the school — this is apparently a source of confusion). Among other insights, we learn that

In Colombia, they love bacon, and not just regular bacon, but really really thick bacon, on everything. It is awesome.”

Colombian restaurants also hand out plastic gloves to wear while eating greasy foods. Lesson learned: Colombia is classy, ya’ll.

Unfortunately, their quest has come to a bit of a standstill on the Ivy end. Marisa tells us,

I’ve sort of been slacking on writing reviews this fall, mainly because it’s pretty hard to get Brown students to go to like, Red Lobster, with me.”

Get it together, Brown.

As Eaten On TV can be visited here.

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That’s right, Columbia University Teacher’s College Professor Madonna Constantine, she of the noose-beribboned door and plagiarism scandals, she of the appeals to reverse Columbia’s firing her sorry ass (and revoking her tenure) has decided that, since she’s done everything else, she might as well sue the school.

According to the Associated Press, Ms. Constantine filed papers today with the state Supreme Court.  She contends that her dismissal from the faculty of Teachers College was “arbitrary, irrational and unauthorized.”  Columbia University spokespeople have so far declined to comment.

Our only comment is to roll our eyes, snigger, and wonder why she’s still trying.  But, you know, maybe she felt she had nothing left to lose?

As a social club the A.D. is exempt from taxes, but because the organization generates money from space it leases to Adidas - a whopping $320,000 in 2007 - it must pay taxes on that income.

Nevertheless, the entire affair seems to be somewhat of a touchy subject among A.D. members and alumni, since after The Crimson left a voicemail message for Michael Madden - a Harvard alum listed as the vice president of the A.D. - it received an angry phone call from a man identifying himself only as Madden’s representative threatening to take legal action:

“You are blinded by your hatred of final clubs. The Harvard Crimson should have other news besides the tax matters of the A.D. Club,” he said. “We are going to have to go to our lawyers if this continues.”

Later, Madden called to inform The Crimson that the back taxes had been paid and that everything was fine - that it was negligence more than anything else - but somehow, in the back of our skeptical minds, we at Ivygate doubt. Does anyone know something we don’t? Email us at tips@ivygateblog.com.

Dear friends and colleagues in the field of education,

It seems that the character assassination and slander of Bill Ayers and other people who have known Obama is not about to let up. While an important concern is the dishonesty of this campaign and the slanderous McCarthyism they are using to attack Obama, we also feel an obligation to support our friend and colleague Bill Ayers. Many, many educators have reached out, asking what they could do, seeking a way to weigh in against fear and intimidation. Many of us have been talking and we agree that this one gesture, a joint statement signed by hundreds of hard-working educators, would be a great first step. Such a statement may be distributed through press releases or ads in the future

What crime did Ayers commit, to so draw the ire of McCain and company? Well, he participated in bombings of the New York City police headquarters, the Pentatgon and the US Capitol building to raise awareness about Vietnam, among other issues. Nobody was hurt in these attacks. Ayers now teaches at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Did your professor sign the petition? Would you sign it? Write in and let us know.

Saw her walking around with one of the head tour guides, and now she’s in the admissions office having an interview. Once I muster the courage (read: creepyness), I’ll take pictures from the bushes or save her from being run over by a bus or something.

In the absence of Miss Watson, Harvard has been entertaining a handful of other celebrities. An operative informs us:

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are currently at Harvard as well. Rumor has it that one of Demi’s daughters is looking to apply. And also JoJo was here like two weekends ago I’m just learning. As opposed to Emma and Demi’s daughter, she came just to party (allegedly) and was sighted at a couple final clubs.

Eh, who cares about Rumer or Bristol or whoeverthehell Ashton is awkwardly fathering these days. Let’s obsess about Hermione Granger a little more. Since Emma’s Grand College Tour appears to be heading south, we predict a Columbia appearance tomorrow (plus partying in NYC for the weekend?) and Princeton next week. Squeal!

Budding paparazzi, get your shutters ready. Next time, we want pictures.

This discussion took place in what I think was a church on the Lower East Side. Young and old New Yorker fans packed the room to capacity. In fact, there were people standing in line outside the building (this made me feel bad about nodding off a few times during the discussion. But whatever–I was tired.) The moderator, a British guy who probably works for the New Yorker, opened with a joke about how incongruous it was for a British guy to moderate a discussion about the American Dream.

And then the panelists started talking.

Boyle on social mobility:

If the ‘American Dream’ is about about social mobility, I am its exemplar.

Boyle, working-class son and author of World’s End and other award-winning books, modestly admits it wasn’t until he was a junior in college that he “blundered into a creative writing class.”

London-born Lahiri, Barnard ‘89, on America:

It’s taken me my entire life to understand and accept that I’m an American.

Lahiri explains that Indians are more exotic in America than in Britain, where they are part of “the fabric of the culture.”

After the jump, Jeff Eugenides, Brown ‘83, tells us greed is good and Boyle tells us his pet name for his wife.

When Eugenides joins the discussion 10 minutes late (he was stuck in traffic in the Lincoln tunnel–presumably coming from Princeton, NJ, where he teaches at some college), he says, “Well, I had three hours to think about this.”

The moderator later asks him, “Is the American Dream to have material things?” Eugenides replies:

I think that’s part of what it is

Eugenides answered several questions about one of his latest short stories, which he described as “A story about an embezzler that was also a meditation on Tocqueville.”

But aren’t they all?

Later in the discussion, in an offhand quip, Boyle jokingly refers to his wife as his:

Chief purchaser

But aren’t they all?

In conclusion, the American Dream is alive and well at The New Yorker.

But lately, not in New York. And maybe not in America.