— STAFF EDITORIALS —
Veterans Day: ‘all but forgotten’
Each year as the November weather takes hold, Americans remember our military heroes whose sacrifice and service enable us to enjoy countless freedoms in this great nation.
Yet here at Xavier, Veterans Day passed all but unnoticed, largely overshadowed by 1-in-4 Day, which, though addressing the important issue of sexual assault on campus, distracted campus from that spirit of remembrance.
We say “all but unnoticed” because the Xavier ROTC program did honor fallen Xavier graduate Capt. Matthew C. Mattingly in a solemn and touching memorial dedication. Sadly, the event was away from the heart of campus, and though the small gathering of about 40 people undoubtedly made the dedication more intimate, it’s a shame that more students did not participate.
Though Xavier students are largely anti-war advocates, we still must recognize that peace was not the path always taken in the past, and as such, we must acknowledge, honor and remember those who stepped up to protect our country in times of need.
Currently, U.S. troops are fighting a largely unpopular war in Iraq and returning to a less-than-respectful population. Veterans are not geting adequate health care or counseling to help them deal with the traumas of war.
So let’s give them the remembrance and respect they deserve.
Perhaps next year, those planning 1-in-4 Day will hold their event on a day that does not eclipse another oft-ignored group.
We all could use a pick-me-up
Everybody has seemed pretty down in the dumps lately.
The budget cuts and crises have left some professors and student workers jobless (or dreading becoming so). The country’s economic morale is not, shall we say, the most optimistic it’s ever been. People at Halloween parties go and upset the entire Newswire staff. And the campus. And to top it all off, urgh: the weather. The skies are cloudy and gray and spitting rain on our sorry little heads. This is not the way we imagined crisp November walks to class.
BUT! We won’t tolerate the moping. Here are several activities to perk your mood right back up and help you remember the good things in life:
- Go visit a coffee shop. Whether it’s the Coffee Emporium (ask for a Montezuma’s Revenge—chocolate and chai, yum) or Starbuck’s or the Speckled Bird; doing work or chatting in a cozy environment always improves the mood. Some local shops even have live music. Go check it out!
- Drive up to Jungle Jim’s off of I-75. It is the amusement park of food. You will never want to shop at boring old Kroger again.
- When it starts snowing, get all your buds together for a hot chocolate-charged study session. Or movie session. Or walk across campus.
- THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS IS ALMOST HERE! Who doesn’t love wandering through the zoo, cup of cider in your hands, admiring the millions of glowing little lights?
- ICE SKATING IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE IS ALMOST HERE! Isn’t it wonderful that Xavier still sponsors both of these trips for students? Isn’t it wonderful that we can skate for cheap and fun and STILL be next to a Graeter’s Ice Cream shop?
There are other reasons to be proud
Katherine Monastero
Editorial Columnist
Let’s start with this fact and go from there: I’m so proud of Barack
Obama, I can hardly stand it. I’m completely overjoyed by everything his
victory represents for this country. Last Tuesday, I was torn between bumming
at McCain’s loss and elation over Obama’s win. Yes, I supported
the opposition party, but Obama will be our next president. I’m ready
to stand behind him, and I know he wants what’s best for the country.
On that note, there’s another reason I was bumming on election night. I heard many friends say and saw many a Facebook status that commented something to the effect of: “For the first time ever, I am proud of my country.”
The first time? Really?
I’m not denying we have problems, and I won’t waste your time with a disclaimer about how much I know things already suck. I’m just saying that we’re forgetting we have reasons to be proud of America beyond the events of last week. It upsets me to think how easily we take this country for granted.
Just look at our history. Look at how we shook off the centuries-long suffocation of the then-most powerful country on the planet using a few ragtag soldiers and a big idea. Remember those who have bled because their belief in our natural rights was so intense that they were willing to give their very lives.
Unfortunately, racism is still a problem for some Americans, but look at what we’ve just done as compared to where we started. As little as 30 or 40 years ago, most adults believed they’d never see the progress we’ve made in their lifetimes.
Think about our low poverty levels. Think about how you always have enough to eat (even if it’s Ramen 24/7) and that there’s spare change in your pocket.
Think about the quality of education we’re getting; think about how many of our starting salaries will consist of more than anything our parents ever dreamed of.
Think about how every single night you can go to sleep without fear that your dorm or house will be bombed by radicals. You can follow whatever religion you choose and support any political issue you like without fear of persecution.
And in America, we have not only the power, but the right and duty to oppose our own government when it goes wrong. Only a handful of other nations share this principle that was so obvious to our founders.
The next time you think you have no reason to be proud, think of our nation’s history. Think of the people who took bullets and bayonets so you could state your opinion as freely as you do. Think of how you have an iPod in your ears and snacks in your pantry and a cross on your necklace.
We have hundreds of things to be proud of. Our history and heritage are far greater than any current event. I am proud to live in a nation that has all but eradicated racism from its people—but it isn’t the first time I’ll be proud, and it definitely won’t be the last.
Relationships start with you
Andrew Chestnut
Editorial Columnist
In the last year or so, a lot of people have written about relationships and dating on these pages, but I have yet to throw in my two cents, which is rare. When do I ever sit on the sidelines of a debate?
The problem with this relationship debate is that it isn’t really a debate. People simply seem to give their specific account of how much chivalry is appropriate and/or dead, how much people should be committed, whether the guy should pay for dinner, where to draw the line at stalking and so on.
Basically, everyone has their own interpretation of what relationships are and how they should work. They are unique, like snowflakes, and usually more selfish than we would realize or admit.
That is why we (students) in live in a world (college) where so many relationships are dysfunctional and doomed for failure. They are a matter of two people failing to rectify two different sets of unbelievably high expectations.
People go into relationships surmising that their significant other will be an idealized redemption of their existence, the other half of their heretofore-incomplete soul. Everyone expects to one day find a person that will make them happy forever and ever, but never gives any thought to being a person that will make someone else happy forever.
When it becomes apparent that whomever we are with is not the end-all-be-all of our life, we lose interest. You don’t need me to tell you the trouble that ensues then.
As Tom Cruise said in “Cocktail,” “All things end badly, or why else would they end?”
It seems like every relationship is doomed from the start to end with someone being hurt, and what’s worse, we all know it. No one at this age goes into a relationship looking for a potential husband or wife (and would never tell you if they did, because it would sound really creepy). It’s strange that we agree to enter into something we know has almost zero chance of not ending badly.
So why do we do it? I have no idea, but I will try anyway:
At this point in our lives, we have been away from home for some time. For most of us, being away from the people we are close to takes quite a toll. There is a strong urge to get close to someone, and we fill in the gaps with newer, closer friends, to be sure.
But college relationships are tricky, mainly because people expect so much out of them. We want a steady notion of closeness and trust, something like what many of us experienced in high school, but that is hard to get because it is hard to give. Our lives are too crazy, busy and strange to be that for someone else, yet we expect that for ourselves.
When I see the problems of relationships, I also see the problems of life itself. Life seems like an endless struggle to promote and defend one’s idealized version of what life should be. In life, we are constantly met with failed expectations, because our expectations are unrealistic. In life, we so often overlook our shortcomings, choosing to concentrate on what others are doing wrong.
I suppose the solution here, to make relationships and life better, is re-set out expectations and focus on ourselves. Relationships, and life, are not always pleasant; in fact, it is the hard times that give each character and meaning. Life and love are as much about bad as they are good, and we certainly weren’t placed here to experience as much good as possible.
Reject the typical, Disney-fied notion of relationships—and life—as things that will always make you happy, because neither will. And cliché though this may sound, when bad things happen, don’t blame someone else; think about how you can make it better.
Chartwells responds to student layoffs, future opportunities
Chartwells regrets that our recent staffing changes in Ryan’s Eatery and Pub have created hardships for a number of our student workers.
In an attempt to minimize the impact of the scheduling adjustments to our workers, Chartwells has notified affected workers of other work opportunities through the Cintas Center catering program and concessions.
If student workers are interested in the work and available during scheduled events, there are on average more work hours available in these areas compared to Ryan’s.
Part time work opportunities in Ryan’s and other dining service venues will continue to fluctuate on a weekly basis to meet business demands, especially during semester openings, basketball season and campus special events.
However, in the future and when possible, Chartwells pledges to better communicate staffing trends in advance of actual scheduling changes to our workers to minimize any last minute surprises.
In addition, we will be more diligent in communicating and promoting other campus work opportunities in catering and concessions to help student workers maintain a minimum level of work hours during the semester.
To support our pledge and commitment to our student workers, Chartwells is currently researching the development and potential launch of a Xavier Dining Service student job service that would be a centralized “one stop” work placement service for all dining service center work opportunities, including jobs in Ryan’s, Hoff Dining Hall, Catering and Concessions.
We envision the service to be operated completely by student job placement managers. Any students, faculty or staff interested in helping us develop this new enterprise may contact me directly.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve Xavier University campus community.
Walter Silka
Senior Director of Dining Services
Xavier Dining Services
— LETTERS TO THE EDITOR—
Business minds
It seems like every week that Darren LaCour bashes business students, usually in uncalled-for places such as last week’s article on dating. He champions Arts and Sciences students for their “intellectual pursuit” and slams business students for obsessing over money.
As a marketing and theology double-major, I have a problem with this. Is it so wrong that I find my accounting and finance classes useful and sometimes challenging? Is it stupid that I would like to manage my finances intelligently and understand how the economy works? According to LaCour, I’m an idiot. Economics and accounting must be joke classes for those without brain cells—because it would be dumb to understand the financial crisis hitting our economy today. I guess Xavier was idiotic when they gave me my academic scholarship. I think we need to stereotype less and respect others more, and LaCour just needs to shut his mouth sometimes.
Will Geerer | ‘11
Racism reaction
A little birdie told me that it had dressed up as an African for a Halloween party and made it into the Xavier newspaper. I read no less than three articles about how the birdie was racist—this same birdie who I hear hold basic conversations in Arabic on its cell phone—this same birdie who voted for Obama. How can how far we have yet to come since MLK and the first black president be discussed in the same newspaper?
The articles were worse than Fox News and more like the Salem Witch Trials. How about a little truth? It was an international costume party. People were dressed up as all different nationalities. The eyebrows were natural. Was Lawrence of Arabia a terrorist? If a Caucasian dresses up as someone from Africa (the continent for those who don’t know), is it racist? If someone from Saudi Arabia dresses up like someone from Saudi Arabia...
Racism isn’t hard to find, but this wasn’t the place. Don’t
treat a patient that needs antibiotics with chemotherapy—and while you’re
busy defining what is culturally acceptable, I’ll be reading Ginsberg
to prepare for literature class.
Devin McNally | University of Cincinnati
Katherine Monasterio
Op-Ed Editor
Submit a Letter to the Editor
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Editor-in-Chief Nathan Sergio
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