Jessica Barnett
Editor
I started this semester with more than a few goals in mind. A lot of them were the usual sort that always found themselves on a goals list: eat better, spend wiser, study harder and sleep more.
There were others that were more specific to this particular semester. For example, quit smoking and stress less.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
It is an odd thing to see a large chunk of one’s life summed up in the pages of a three-ring binder.
The first time, it was a black binder. I held it up in front of a class of about 20 students at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Ala. I described it as a book I had written under a pseudonym and planned to self-publish.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
My mother is cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents’ house this Saturday. The whole family is invited.
For my mother, this means both grandparents, her three siblings, my stepdad, my six siblings, my two brothers-in-law and my two nephews. I don’t have cousins on her side, and significant others are only invited if they put a ring on it.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
Let's start with a riddle. There's a person running for president. This person has years of political experience, a lot of influential friends and a firm belief that women are equal to men. In fact, catering to women has played a big part in the campaign. That said, the person also has a reputation for being untrustworthy, which has caused a fair amount of trouble during the campaign.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
From day one, it felt like this semester set itself apart from every semester before it. It’s almost as if the campus got dumped into an alternate but mostly similar universe, where it’s close enough to reality that we assume it is but just different enough that we feel the need to comment on it.
I say “we” because all it takes is attending one class or eating a meal on campus to hear other students saying the same.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
In my first editorial of this semester, I talked about adventures and stories. I advised everyone to set out to create their own and to be unafraid to share it. Over the next two months, I encouraged people to vote and to keep their heads up as the semester neared an end.
I wonder if any of you actually managed to do those things. What adventures did you go on this semester? What were they like? Did you share your story with someone new?
Jessica Barnett
Editor
With everything going on these days, it can be really tempting to toss in the towel. Maybe you got a little too lazy on Spring Break and you can’t get back in the swing of things now that school has returned. Maybe the assignments and deadlines piled up, and there’s so much on your plate that you just want to crawl away and hide from it all.
Whatever your reasoning is behind procrastination and avoidance, trust that you are not alone. Students all over campus are feeling the end-of-semester drag. Summer is just a few weeks away, and as much as we’re dreading each day that brings us closer to another deadline or exam, we are eager to get through each day that brings us closer to summer.
Jessica Barnett
Editor
I voted in my first presidential election in 1996. I was 8 years old. Some of my classmates decorated signs to hang on the back of their chairs or wore stickers on their shirts and backpacks. I didn’t know who any of the candidates were, except that one had the same name as a banana. The girl in front of me had a Clinton sign, so when it was time to vote, I picked him.
It was the most attention I paid to an election or politics until I turned 20.
Asia Duren
Editor
In recent years, the everyday use of cell phones has skyrocketed, and I am not alone in believing that they are ruining our relationships.
I cannot count the times I have been with a group of friends sitting in pure silence. We were not silent because we were sad, tired or angry, but because we were all on our cell phones. When a conversation does start, it spurs from a post someone saw on Facebook or a picture someone posted on Instagram. That is absolutely insane. If a room full of educated college students cannot carry on a conversation without getting ideas from social media, then where is our society headed?
Asia Duren
Editor
For as long as I can remember, Halloween has been my mother's favorite holiday. She says she likes the idea of getting to be whatever, or whoever, you want to be once a year. (She also really likes that we don't have to throw parties and give presents.) My question is this: Why can't we be whatever we want to be every day?
When you ask a child what he or she wants to be for Halloween, you get a broad spectrum of replies. You could get anything from a dog to an astronaut to a trash can (yes, I was a trash can one year). So we laugh and think to ourselves, why does this child want to be this? Personally, I wanted to hide in my trash can and scare people walking by. I thought my costume would be hilarious, and I like to make people laugh.
