WHETHER THE WEATHER

A friend poses the question to Dartboard of whether the weather is an issue of significance for the Harvard community to be reading about. It is one thing for forecasters to prognosticate the next day's temperature on the front page, he says, but it is quite another for a newspaper to comment on the weather, as if it were a newsworthy matter, as if it were something important.

Well, it seems to us, dear friend, that your query reflects an insufficient appreciation of the natural forces surrounding your very existence, of the powers greater than thou. The weather is, in fact, more binding than the Core, and is able to wreak more havoc on students' lives than the most bicycle-weary Cantabrigian motorist. In short, the weather determines the whether.

To see the Charles flowing against muddy banks is to sense the general loosening that comes with the fernfresh smell of spring. The icy tensions of February are currently--though unexpectedly--easing into the windier atmosphere of March. Yes, friend, the forthcoming month will force the lion and the lamb into the media spotlight. Even in 1997. And we might rightly welcome both the lion and then the lamb.