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Students protest anti-Asian Abercrombie shirts

It’s not just about ugly sweaters and pants with multiple zipper pockets anymore. Now, Abercrombie and Fitch has aroused the ire of Asian-Pacific American groups, including students from HLS and the University, who gathered Saturday in front of the Abercrombie and Fitch installation in Harvard Square to protest a series of t-shirts produced by the chain that include offensive characterizations of Asian-Americans, such as one that shows two slant-eyed caricatures working at a laundry that bears the caption, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service – Two Wongs Can Make It White.” The Crimson reports that about 100 people attended, booing one Abercrombie employee who chose to walk outside during the protest wearing one of the offensive shirts. And you thought that nudie mag the chain calls its “Quarterly” was in poor taste.

Portman puts HLS activist’s essay in Washington Post

Nothing like a little star power to attract attention to your cause. 3L and well-known HLS activist Faisal Chaudhry gained some unexpected fame when the Washington Post picked up on a letter sent by Star Wars: Episode I star Natalie Portman to The Crimson in response to an essay published by Chaudhry about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Chaudhry purportedly referred to the violence as “Israel’s racist colonial occupation,” in which “white Israeli soldiers destroy refugee camps of the brown people they have dispossessed for decades.” Portman’s response called Chaudhry’s essay, “a distortion of the fact that most Israelis and Palestinians are indistinguishable physically,” adding that, “Outrageous and untrue finger-pointing is a childish tactic that disregards the responsibility of all parties involved.” At least neither side has gotten their hands on a Death Star.

Dowd says professional women can’t get dates

In a rather depressing bit of news for HLS women, after New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote an op-ed piece about how, “professional women are repelling the men they’re trying to attract,” she got a whole bunch of responses, many of them “scorching career women as materialistic, choosy and self-absorbed.” While some fellows out-and-out defended the attractiveness of women with brains, one guy just admitted that, “What do successful men want? Typically, a good-looking woman who is kind.” If there’s anything scientific about the column, it certainly provides yet another example of how the dating lives of most smart professional types aren’t exactly Sex and the City. HLS men are still awaiting a comparable column on how the use of good personal hygiene, fashion sense and a strenuous avoidance of “dropping the H-bomb” can also be a boon to one’s ability to attract professional women.