The musicians are fellow Missouri Western students, getting some practice playing to the public. The pretzel and pink lemonade came from a bistro operated by Western students. All of the clothes I am wearing, including the Chucks, were purchased in a neighboring thrift store operated by Western students. This could be our future.

Missouri Western has a total of over 700 acres of land. I think we should be addressing ways to join the St. Joseph community to the University. Every day, over 3500 people enter and exit the campus. These people are students, faculty, campus employees, family, friends, vendors and laborers. They eat and shop in the community. Why not develop the land around the school to cater to these people while offering employment opportunities to students?

Since Missouri Western developed the current campus, it has been a separation of city and school. I often hear that St. Joseph doesn’t feel like a college town should. Let’s change that. There are many opportunities that could be researched for business possibilities.

Small shops featuring students artwork, clothing, music, pottery, and crafts could be scattered among bistros, coffee shops, musical venues, thrift/vintage stores and cozy diners. The possibilities are endless. Many other schools our size offer this adjacent to campus. It would tie the students in with the community, making us more supportive of one another. What better way to create jobs in the community than to create them next to or on campus?

Most of the Heartland Health, American Family Insurance, and Mitchell Woods employees pass by our gates daily. Altec employees travel by our campus as well. These are St. Joseph’s largest employers, besides the St. Joseph School District. Let’s address how Missouri Western can help students make money, share their talents and engage the community.

I have suggested this idea over the years to many people, hoping that someday the school will take notice and at least look into the possibilities of creating a more pleasant campus experience for everyone.

It’s the slogan of our wonderful university. this place where Griffons stomp the yard and non-trads roll around with their backpacks, the place that every other university laughs at. “Haha, open enrollment!” Don’t get me wrong, I love this school. But it’s not what I was promised. And that’s what this column is about.

My junior year of high school I was determined to attend Mizzou. I was told by counselors that it was the premier journalism school in the midwest. “And it’s a great college experience.” College experience is just a fool’s gold universities use to attract, well, fools. Mizzou has a rock climbing wall and they used to have tanning beds in their rec center. I’ve been told of (and seen first hand) the underground party scene of Truman State University. It’s all glitter on the biggest turd ever crapped out.

But more often, I see fools on this campus buying fool’s gold. This university no longer values education, but instead the “college experience.” We have an online remedial math program but we have six different greek organizations (and a rock to honor them). We have increasing class sizes but we also have exquisite overpriced coffee in half our academic buildings. We have three counselors to help students transverse growing up but we have nine armed officers hired by Western.

This column is about priorities. It’s time someone answer for all the things wrong with this place. All the things I was told were supposed to prove that Western is gold and all the other universities are just expensive hogwash. I want my gold and if I can’t get it, I’m going to make sure that the freshmen this year get theirs in four years.

This isn’t journalism, at least not like you’ve seen it before. I’m biased; I have an agenda. There will be no apologies for my disillusionment of your fantasies. If it takes me removing the mascot’s mask to make people realize the truth, then that’s what I’ll do.

Some of you will see this as an affront to something you hold precious. I don’t blame you. Western is a magical place. It has some great qualities that other universities don’t have. I’ll leave that pandering up to our Public Relations department.

More importantly, I want to be clear, this isn’t a soap box. I don’t plan on standing on top of a high moral podium lecturing to students who have already been lectured enough. This is a funnel. Who know the illusions of Western better than me; you. As students, you should be willing to join with me in this metaphorical “pitchfork and torch” march of of truth.

Cause we’re not after Frankenstein’s monster, we’re after Frankenstein.

When I look back on my four years of college, nothing amuses me more than the attempt to re-label the buildings I lived in as “residence halls.” There is nothing residential about them.

Let’s ignore the fact that you can’t have pets. Let’s also remove that drinking isn’t allowed in our rooms and let’s also ignore that Logan (the building I live in) has a non-smoking policy, even on our balconies, on the books.

What makes the term “residence halls” so ludicrous is that it makes Juda, Logan, Bashears, Vaseloakos, Leaverton, Scanlon and Griffon Hall sound fancy, as if when you move in, people will be greeting you with a smile, a warm towel and—if you live in Griffon Hall—a full set of kitchenware. None of this is true.

The dorms, as everyone else in reality likes to call them, are the places you have to live in. The only reason anyone lives on campus is for the convenience of not having to pay rent and bills. Maybe they also like being close to their classes. Every student I have ever known with the financial ability to move off campus, does so. And they do it fast.

What makes these places so horrible? Well, they aren’t horrible. I’m not going to complain about my 8×10 foot room while I know there will be several people living in St. Joseph’s downtown parking garages this summer. But what I will complain about it is the need for some people in residential life to pretend that living in the “residence halls” is a glamorous life.

There is nothing glamorous about sharing a toilet and shower with three other men. There is nothing wonderful about moldy heating and AC units. There is nothing magical about door locks that break every time it rains. This is dorm life.

During my freshmen year, a Resident Assistant—using an extremely snooty voice—corrected me when I called Scanlon a dorm. I was on the phone with one of my friends from high school and the RA, who was eavesdropping on my conversation, yelled as I walked by, “You live in a residence hall, not a dorm!”

The fact that you lock the front door of the building, each wing of the building, and tell me that I can’t have a toaster does not make this a place of residency. The dorms are a few steps above a prison and several steps down from a $10-a-night motel.

More than anything, living in the dorms is a nuisance. It seems that every time I’m doing something important, RAs have to stop by to put “door deck” on our doors. For those of you who don’t live in campus housing, these are tiny pieces of paper they place on our doors with our name and some glitter or other fifth grade left over art supplies. To be honest, I’d much rather prefer our G-numbers be placed on our doors so we can stop pretending that residential life actually cares.

If you’re still in your early years of living on campus, I figure you have two choices. Either move off campus or move to the suites. Logan, Juda and Beshears have the most privacy and most space per student. Yeah, all your locks might break at once or your bathroom light might go out and mold starts to move in within 24 hours, but at least it’s less like prison. Since living in Juda, no one has checked my ID as I walk into my dorm and no one really cares what we do.

As long as we play nice with our neighbors, everything is copacetic.

Doesn’t that sound like the real world?

One such event was the recent “fiscal cliff” debate. Simply put, this “cliff” involved a series of Bush era tax cuts that were set to expire on January 1st. If that deadline were to be reached without some sort of compromise to keep some cuts in place, or for there to be a system-wide reform, it could be devastating to the middle and lower class, given the current economy.

The debate was between President Barack Obama and Congress and due to what appeared to be a downright childish refusal to even meet for discussion, no compromise was found until literally a few short hours before the deadline.
Wrapped up in all of this political drama was something that could be easily overlooked but would affect college students across America.

Low to middle income families currently enjoy a tax cut of up to $2,500 a year for up to four years. That comes up to a possible total of $10,000 shaved off of a four year degree; while one may not even realize that one receives that now, one would certainly feel it if that cut were allowed to expire by these irresponsible individuals in Washington.

Even with the compromise over the fiscal cliff, students aren’t in the clear yet. According to an article in The Huffington Post, written by Tyler Kingkade, changes may be coming that could drastically change who qualifies for help with tuition.

“The federal government’s continuing budget resolution comes due at the end of March, and Republicans in Congress are demanding budget cuts in exchange for any raise in the debt ceiling,” Kingkade said. “Federal research money would be the most likely casualty of future budget cuts, along with changes in who is eligible for financial aid programs.”

That means that some students who may be on the edge financially for tuition may not receive the aid they need, depending on what kind of deal is reached, and thus they wouldn’t be able to afford classes.

These officials that are making all of these decisions that are so crucial to some of us are supposed to be working for us. They are civil servants and we write their paychecks. They need to stop letting things come down to the final hour; these things they debate are far too important, balanced and complicated to be decided at the very last second. We pay these people to work, not to sit on a beach in Hawaii for months on end or refuse to come back from break on time for discussions. Collectively, we are these individuals’ bosses and they need to know that they will be held accountable for their actions, just like any employee should.

The traditional student comes to college to live alone for the first time.  Finally, personal freedom triumphs over paternalism.  I, the scholar of MWSU, am finally able to make choices on my own (Freedom) as opposed to some authority making that decision for me. (Paternalism)

I came to college to experience less paternalism and more personal freedom. Not to have mommy western slap a no-no stick out of my hand.  MWSU is not for children and it is not an equitable practice prohibit an activity that students are willing and able to participate in.

I took part in that “Scholarly Research” Dr. Suzanne Kissock claims supports her smoke free campus.  The study that claims “student majority indorses it.” (smoke-free campus) That survey/study, which I participated in, would be a shame to any statistician.  According to that survey, I support a smoke-free campus.  ”Why” you ask? The free tee-shirt.  Not from my ardent opposition to smoking on campus.

As for Dr. William Russell statement that a new tobacco policy “allows us to make it easier for people to engage in healthy behaviors,”  I say: “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.”  You aren’t suggesting we “make it easier for people to engage in healthy behaviors,” as if we are being done a favor, students will be forced into a particular way of life that they may not have chosen themselves.

Lastly, I am surprised this article didn’t bring up the Murphy/Eder smokers.  This has been the only viable argument in this whole discussion because it brings up the negative externality presented when smoking close to buildings and brings John Stuart Mill’s “harm principle” into the argument.  As my rebuttal to this point I make a very simple observation; if you don’t want people smoking by the doors, don’t put the cigarette dispensers by the doors.

I agree with Dr. Daniel Trifan in that smoking areas are a “perfectly reasonable compromise.”

Cheers,

Nick Brewer

Thanks to the partnership of the state of Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon, Missouri Western, Metropolitan Community College and several others who made these projects possible, students will now have the chance to discover endless career possibilities.

President Dr. Robert Vartabedian stated in a press release that Western would be working closely with its partners to help the participants in this program become aligned with job openings and career opportunities in high demand. Due to the current condition of the economy, the innovation campus will include fields that need high demand employment such as human health and animal health.

The partnership includes businesses such as Heartland Health, Hillyard Industries, Lifeline Foods, Altec Industries, Blue Sun Biodiesel, Albaugh, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica and Gray Manufacturing.

This program will cut the time it takes to earn a degree for these students. Western has wanted to increase their number of college graduates in recent years and with this project, it will ensure that Western will uphold their commitment. The project shows that they will work with adults in a timely manner. Cutting the time it takes to graduate in half could possibly ensure more college graduates. Many high school students dislike the idea of a four-year commitment and possibly having to endure even more education depending on their choice of major.

Vartabedian stated in a press release that this project will provide students with real-world applied learning opportunities. The project itself is very symbolic in the fact that it gives many individuals dual credit courses to earn their post-secondary degree in a shorter manner than the average college student.

Western has been handed a golden opportunity to show not just the St. Joseph community, but the entire state that we have something to offer everyone. Only nine universities in the state have this project and with Western being cut hard last year by the state in funding this may be just what the university needs.

It also gives students the option of financial aid up to $7,500 to finish this college degree. It is a great moment and come this fall we might see more students at Western thanks to this project. Participants in this program should be thankful for the opportunity that Western was selected for this grant and for the possibility of a higher number of graduates in the future.

Students who decide to be part of this project will receive on-site training and mentoring beyond what would otherwise occur within the company by the partnering business.

Though you now have the freedom to do what you want, you must remember the cost of staying here at Western. It has been said time and time again that there are those who come to Western and believe it will be a piece of cake. Some have even gone as far as to say that we are just a four-year junior college that passes students right on through.

Well if you take some time and sit down to talk with some students who are in departments, like nursing, business, or any major for that matter, they will tell you it takes work. The thing that you have to understand is that college is about meeting new people and living a new life; however, that’s not the half of what college is all about.

If you are a serious student and want to get that degree, then you have to work for it — harder than you worked in high school. The fact is, you’re at a four-year institution just like the University of Missouri or Northwest Missouri State University. It’s not as easy as you may think, and many have fallen thinking it will be.

Here’s a little piece of advice that has been passed down from one student to the next for all those students starting their first week of classes in college:

1. The moment you get a homework assignment you get started right away. It doesn’t matter if it’s a reading assignment, homework, or online work, just do it! The problem that almost all students make is putting their homework off, and many have seen their fellow classmates leave right out of Western’s doors for not keeping up on the work.

2. When you are given the opportunity to have a study group with three or four of your classmates, take the offer, because it helps. When you have an extra few hours to read a chapter or two to get ahead, take advantage of it so it won’t pile up later on. If you follow these simple steps, you should do well on your exams and succeed in your college experience.

There are a lot of people that won’t make it their freshmen year. You are probably thinking that the guy writing this piece is just making it up, but in fact you will witness your friends and classmates disappear like a magic trick.

College isn’t for everyone, but those who want it bad enough will work for it. So welcome to Western and the next chapter in your life.

Now that the fight is over, the work was already begun. My number one goal as the new top dog is to be a true voice for the students. I want to reach those students that don’t know or understand the many things going on at Western. From the events, to the politics, to the funding, to the exciting opportunities that students don’t often hear about, I want to cover everything that involves this campus.

If I could have every student just browse our front page or even take a quick look at our photos, even if only for a second, then I know I am doing my job. Readership is the biggest issue that any publication faces in today’s society. Why should people take time out of their day and actually read stories in the first place? Once a journalist can answer this question and provide content that is interesting, relevant and readable, he or she has found the true meaning of journalism. I wish to make all of our stories meaningful and appealing to the public while still keeping a since of pride and integrity at Missouri Western. It’s important for the public to know that the Griffon News is a composition of students researching, reporting and investigating all necessary elements worthy of attention. We are not drama starters, gossipers or whiners that report things just to stir up some conflict. Though some journalists are like this, which is quite pathetic, we are not. We are students that work for our campus and write and report stories for our campus.

In response to that, we are not a pr campaign either. We do not simply run stories that are more in depth press releases with no angle nor since of objectivity. That is just plain, boring journalism. The Griffon News is created to be the campus’s outlet of information. What students and staff don’t outright say, we find a way to say. The policies and procedures that are too complex for students to make concrete sense of, we break it down for them. Those elephants in the room that everybody knows are there but nobody wants to acknowledge, we uncover them. That is what we do here.

Being a senior that is entering my fourth year on newspaper, I have learned a lot about what a newspaper is supposed to be. Behind all the good and bad press, the stories, quotes, sources and photos lays a blank page that must be filled each week with content to ultimately better our campus. What I want to do is make the newspaper even better. I will do this by making our content great in every aspect and angle. From all perspectives, this upcoming newspaper will be so interesting and appealing that you can’t keep your hands off of it. It will be more then something you want to read. It will be something your friends, family, professors, peers and faculty all want to read. Because if nobody wants to read it, what’s the point of having it?

Let me say one thing about this: shut up.

This rivalry? It’s bullshit. It doesn’t exist. Any more talking about it is just fuel to a fire that isn’t even flammable.

The biggest example of this so-called “rivalry” was the casting of “Little Shop of Horrors.” A lot of Theatre majors were irritated by the fact that there were so many Music majors casted in the show.

First of all: there are 5 Theatre students in the show and 4 Music students. We have the majority.

Second of all, it’s a musical. There is singing. So the performers who are trained in vocals are going to have some advantage.

And lastly: you’re going to be bitter towards a production because you didn’t get a part? How professional of you.

This is how the real world works. You do not always get a part. You move on.

One of my professors, and somewhat of a role model to me, once told me (in a nutshell) that you just have to forget about your audition. If you get the part: great! If not: who’s next? And when someone asks you how your audition went, you say, “What audition?”

Let me tell you a personal story.

I’m an actor. I love being an actor. And a year ago, I had no roles to my plate. When I would tell fellow students or my professors that I was here to learn acting, they would be in surprise. They didn’t take me seriously.

I was bitter about this.

You know what I did? For the next audition, I studied my ass off and put together the most intense and exhausting audition I could possibly do. I had something to prove. I wanted everyone to know who I was and what I was capable of. I auditioned with a purpose.

This was my Romeo & Juliet audition. If you didn’t see the production, I got one of the most desired parts in the show. And I had close friends who were jealous of me. Mad at me, even. I still worked my ass off to get it right and I did. This whole experience changed my life. It didn’t just make me a better actor, but a better person.

Not getting a role should motivate you. Inspire you to be better, but in a healthy way. Not in a destructive way.

These words I use may not please you. These words might blow like a pipe bomb. In fact: I hope they do. This needs to be heard.

We need to realize that it doesn’t matter what our major is. We are all here to put on an amazing production. Hating each other will not accomplish that. Hating each other will accomplish nothing.

The SOS proposal clarifies the spending through line items that deal with departments under student services. These are determined to be the items most important to the students. Most students I spoke with agree that a fee is necessary and acceptable to fund the university. However, many worry that the funds will not be used for intended purposes. The undetermined cuts trouble students because no one knows where the axe will fall next, not even those wielding the axe.

The administration is not in an envious position. Governor Nixon is demanding that all universities do more with less. President Obama echoed those same sentiments in his State of the Union address. Therefore, let us do more with less and think outside the box. Missouri Western prides itself on applied learning. What the administration should do now is take advantage of our years of training. While it may not be easy to open the ledger to students, the time has come to sit down with a student task force to discuss the proposed cuts. A fresh perspective from those of us who have seen the impacts of staff and faculty reductions from the inside of the classrooms might make a difference.

Budget reductions should not just mean an increase of fees or reduction of services. For instance, Barnes and Nobles is an excellent bookstore. Missouri Western staff and students from the Craig School of Business could run the bookstore cheaper and more profitably. The leasing of land for hay brings in some money but corn, soybeans or tobacco would bring in more.

The SGA is also stuck in a difficult situation. They have the option of passing the fee through the Senate but that comes without the confidence of the student body. The students should vote on the fee once the university comes forth with budget. Yes, the semester is winding down and time is short, but with voracious, competent campaigning, I believe the student body would support a fee. It is only a matter of the SGA and the administration believing they can do it.

Here are the reasons they have put forward to explain this:

“Because we can.”
Aside from the fact that our parents ceased using “because I say so” as a rationale by the time we were old enough to perform simple reasoning, this justification offers no explanation and is a textbook example of circular reasoning. “SGA will vote on the issue because it can.” Well, students could also vote on the issue. Why? Because they can. In such an important election, why not make sure that all students get the opportunity to determine the outcome? What’s the real reason SGA may circumvent a student vote on student-approved fees?

“Voter turnout is low.”
So an election is not credible if voter turnout is low? First, people have a right not to vote, and if they exercise that right it doesn’t mean we should dismantle our democracy. Second, how would 18 senators voting on an issue concerning 6,000 plus students constitute high turnout? Finally, what was the voter turnout for current SGA executive and senatorial positions? If low turnout constitutes an illegitimate election, what is to be done about members of SGA? I have a funny feeling proponents of this justification may be reasoning themselves right out of their offices…

“We represent the student body.”
But nearly all senators acknowledge that student support for an additional fee is not high and that the fees, if left for the students to decide, may fail. Some have even admitted this is the reason for avoiding a student vote. So how is avoiding a student vote simply because it jeopardizes the hopes of the Administration representing the student body?

“We know what’s best for the students.”
One prominent SGA official said that since SGA senators agreed more fees were needed, they only needed to worry about how best to get those fees. Students’ voices don’t matter even in their own representative body! SGA should personally tell their fellow students this. Let your peers know you think 18 senators are better equipped to speak for the students than the students themselves. I would even suggest a quota of 340 students each since that is the approximate number of voices you would be consolidating into your own.

It is not in a leader to take the easy way out. It may be a challenge to convince the student body to vote in favor of student-approved fees, but that is the responsibility of the SGA officials who support it. I hope and believe that in the coming weeks some members of SGA will step forward and provide true leadership and representation for the students. Whether you are for student fees or against them, we can all rally behind the idea that students’ votes should be counted. Concerned students, it would be great if you join me at SGA meetings, 6pm Monday nights on 2nd floor of Blum. Just showing up and watching may be enough to guarantee you a vote on this critical issue.

A curious thing about this election was how the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses were complimentary. Scott has the experience, connections, and political know-how to get much done in the name of the students, but strong ties to the Administration may impede the ability to stand up to the MWSU Administration when necessary. Beyers is driven to make sure the student voice is represented and clearly has the fortitude to step out of his comfort zone and take a stand, but a lack of familiarity with the practices and policy of SGA could make it easy for the administration to steamroll the student voice. My hope is that each candidate recognizes his own weaknesses as well as the strengths of his opponent and that whoever is elected (results should be out by the time this article is printed) asks for his opponent’s assistance to effectively represent the students.

The foremost responsibility of SGA is to represent the voice of the student body on campus and to the MWSU Administration. While this requires keeping the students aware of what is going on in the Administration, the overall goal must be to communicate the needs and desires of the student body to the Administration. I want to congratulate all the new members of SGA; you have shown dedication and a desire to serve our community and have earned the responsibility and authority of your position. I also want to remind you of the situation you face. Earlier this semester the MWSU Administration came to SGA to ask it to consider imposing a student fee to help offset impending budget cuts. It did not come to ask what suggestions SGA and students had concerning where potential cuts should or should not be made. They want us to help fund the solution, but not help decide what the solution should be. This disregard for the student voice on critical issues is the central challenge you will face in representing the student body. You should work with the Administration, but should also keep in mind that it may not always put the interests of the students first. That will be your job.

Gary Weidemann

I would just like to inform those who think it’s a waste of time that it isn’t. In fact it does matter, it could help you in the long run, and yes it is time consuming. But, I am sure in the long run you would be happy to know that you have accomplished something that the last officers didn’t. I believe that if more students knew the benefits the President receives when elected, we would see more Senators, and students running for the position.

I tried running last school year, but the guy I ran with didn’t meet all the requirements after signing up. I ran because I wanted to make a real difference. I think we need real leaders who care about the position and not about the power. I think that we found those qualities this year with Alison Norris and Jacob Scott, but I am worried to see who will get the position next school year. Jacob is a hard worker and I know he would be a great President, but if he decides to run who will he choose as his vice? I hope for the sake of our University that it is someone with experience in SGA, or another organization on campus.

Next year we will need a President and V.P. who knows what to do and how to use the budget the best way possible. In my honest opinion, I believe if Jacob Scott decides to run he will be the best candidate for the job! I believe he understands that it is a position requiring a good bit of time. However, I feel that he truly cares about Missouri Western, and the students here, especially after seeing what he has done with SGA, and the progress he has made with Alison this year. So Jacob if you’re reading this, then consider the run for President! You have my support any day.

Multiculturalism positively contributes to this struggle by promoting diversity, tolerance, and fairness, as well as providing a valuable perspective through which to view social issues and establish needed reforms. It has helped our society begin to heal the horrendous self-inflicted wounds of slavery and racism. We should not forget, however, that too much of a good thing can be harmful, and diversity is no exception. 

One new trend in analyzing American society is offered by diversity extremists, who view America as a nation of opposing clans. They deride our individuality in favor of ethnic groups. Some think the purpose of studying history is minority social therapy and even suggest that requiring standard English be spoken in class is “racist.” This cult of diversity rejects our national identity as one people, instead classifying all Americans into categories based on racial and ethnic criteria. These criteria, the diversity extremists say, define our nation and ourselves. America is not made of united individuals but of separate ethnic blocs; personal identity is not derived from our experiences as Americans but solely through experiences of race and ethnicity.

If this fad, which has already saturated our education system, were to become accepted dogma, America would decline into a self-loathing, loosely knit confederation of tribal antagonists. That is how diversity extremists already see our nation. Their view, however, contradicts the reality of what has held America together throughout its existence. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, were the citizens of America inspired by ethnic categories to confront the threats of imperialism and fascism? When the Twin Towers fell, did we stand under banners of race to mourn those we lost and determine our response to terror? No. We transcended racial, ethnic, religious, gender, political, and class labels to unite as one people and face our challenges.

Injustices like those perpetrated against Japanese Americans during World War II and the hostility toward Muslim citizens in our country today are tragic not because of the victim’s racial or ethnic status but because they are American. It is in our identity as Americans that we find our rights. Acts that violate those rights are deplorable because they disgrace our national ideal by unjustly attacking one of our own.

Multiculturalism is a beneficial and needed perspective in our society, but extreme forms threaten our common story of the past, our solidarity in the present, and our shared aspirations for the future. Despite all of its shortcomings (of which there are plenty), our American experiment has produced one of the most successful and just societies in world. Things are not, nor will they ever be, perfect; utopias are the siren songs of lunatics and myth. But we are all in this together, and the sooner we accept it the better for striving as best we can to achieve our ideal and face the challenges that lay ahead.

So why is our state wasting money on this election when our votes literally mean nothing? Is this what we were hoping for when we cast our ballots for our state officials? It is clear that the only representation politicians have in mind is that of themselves and the interest groups who have bought them and their votes, along with our democracy.

Therein lies my disgust with our political and electoral systems. A bunch of powerful lobbies form two separate political parties, who then pick a few candidates who “believe” what they’re told to believe and act in the same fashion. This February 7 contest is a symbol of how little our needs count. Clearly, our interests are far from the minds of our “leaders,” who are really just the custodians of corporate and bureaucratic interests.

The Democrat and the Republican Parties are two sets of special interest groups represented by crooked, scheming, vulturous party hacks. Anyone dumb enough to believe that the complex world we live in is actually so simple it can be adequately broken down and represented by two parties is getting exactly what they deserve from our current political morass.

The way I see it, there is only one candidate running for president who is not a slave to special interests and the status quo. He has beliefs and ideas, and stands by them, even when they aren’t popular in his own party. He is concerned with the state of our nation, not just the state of his poll numbers. He says the way to get big money out of politics is to severely restrict the government’s ability to affect big money—after all, if politicians can’t have their hands in everything, what would be the incentive to buy their votes? The media tend to discount and ignore him, which is possibly because he speaks sincerely and consistently and isn’t a scandalous soap opera of drama. Or maybe because the special interests that own the status quo own the media, too.

Interested? Then start looking. Don’t let yourselves be tools for Washington or Wall Street, the lobbyists or their custodians. They couldn’t care less about you. Look at the issues and candidates yourselves and try to see what’s really there, not the smoke and mirrors special interests and the media and the parties and their hacks want you to see.

]]> http://www.thegriffonnews.com/2012/02/missouri-primary-is-a-waste-of-moeny/feed/ 0 http://www.thegriffonnews.com/2012/01/editors-soap-box-community-needs-to-step-up/ http://www.thegriffonnews.com/2012/01/editors-soap-box-community-needs-to-step-up/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:00:14 +0000 Dave Hon http://www.thegriffonnews.com/?p=8270 Ringing in the New Year, a fellow Eagle Scout, someone I know, confessed to the brutal murder of 22-year-old Alissa Shippert.

The night I found out I was staying up late working on our website, GriffonNews.com. In our small community, people knew Quintin worked with Shippert. Somehow, he walked around for seven months, acting relatively normal, with murder on his conscience.

What is done is done. Sadly, the community I call home can’t get passed that. Quintin’s facebook wall remains open and a litany of ignorant, belligerent, and downright hypocritical comments have been appearing on his wall since.

Before I continue it should be noted that I know he confessed to both charges. I recognize that his mug shot, which has been run on national news now, shows no regret in the man’s face. For all intents and purposes, Quintin is a murderer.

What I find further depressing is the actions of the rest of us. We cannot change Quintin. What he has done cannot be reversed. So, when people I went to school with post in his facebook that they will pray for his swift death or hope he gets raped in prison, I want to thank those people. Thank you. I now see how ignorant and soulless you are.

Another posted that if Quintin ever got out, people would murder him. Now, I don’t want to turn this into a column about the death penalty and the moral implications of a society deeming someone unfit to live in it. You, dear poster on his facebook wall, are not society. We have courts, prosecutors, judges and juries to decide those things. Not one man, who has most likely never studied criminal justice or sociology.

Please, for those of you who know Quintin and are connected to his now inactive social networking sites, don’t post there. He’s never going to see it. Do you really think they have facebook in prison? They don’t. You know who does have facebook: his family. His two sisters are finishing their last year at Platte County High and are probably being tortured by their peers already.

My condolences to Miss Shippert’s family, but I also have sympathy for Quintin’s family. For everyone involved, the tragedy won’t end after his sentencing. These things linger, but hopefully not for long.

Another ignorant idea coming out of this is that somehow, Quintin’s rank of Eagle Scout somehow had something to do with his violent tendencies, or that, being and Eagle Scout isn’t as much of an honor as our society says it is. Lighting strikes even the tallest of trees.

I can assure you, that in no way, would the training of the Boy Scouts of America ever play into the amoral killing of an innocent woman. The last line of our Motto is “to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” Those aren’t just words though, everything in scouting teaches us how to be a good person to ourselves and to each other. I know that scouting has made a significantly positive impact on my life.

Does this mean that Scouting went wrong with Quintin? Not at all. It doesn’t mean anyone around Quintin did anything wrong, including his parents. It means that lightning strikes the tallest of trees, too. Ever since I had known Quintin he was never a violent or angry person. But, sometimes people just aren’t born with something. Our idea of evil is that evil is a possession of some sort, meaning that those who murder in cold blood have evil. Maybe evil is lacking something. Maybe no amount of scouting could fix that ever.

I will defend, protect and adhere to the scouting way of life until I die. The actions of individuals do not reflect on an organization as a whole. If that were true, America, and all countries for that matter, would not be considered great societies to live in.

SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, is an Internet censorship bill that would prohibit websites from displaying copyrighted intellectual properties, or IPs. In theory this sounds like a good idea, but in action it is more detrimental to our country’s freedom of speech than piracy is to the music and film industry.

SOPA states that any website that might “engage in, enable, or facilitate” copyright infringement is subject to penalty under this law. What exactly does “engage in, enable, or facilitate” mean? Simply stated, this means that an IP holder can seek a court order against a website and shut it down due to copyright infringement. This can be anything from a YouTube tribute video, to movie and music download links. What this means for the Internet is that anything the RIAA and the MPAA sees as unfit can be subjected to having their URL blacklisted and made inaccessible to the public.

This doesn’t stop piracy though; the same websites can still be visited and used if a person has the IP address. What this does is create a censored Internet based on what an organization thinks is acceptable. This is way too much power for these organizations, with known agendas, to have.

SOPA feels so much more restrictive and fascist than a country based on free speech and basic human rights should even consider. If we pass this law, our media is no better than the censorship in China. In 1996, China started to ban websites and censor the Internet in fear that information could be subversive to the government. In fact, China employs Internet Police strikingly similar to Big Brother’s Thought Police.

In fact, this not only violates free speech, it also has a negative impact on the economy. Websites that have user submitted content such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr could all be affected by this act, not to mention all the future websites that could be affected, or even cease to exist. There’s a good chance that every site you frequent could be affected by this act.

What SOPA is, and what it says it is, are two completely different things. We must act on the rights we have before they are taken away. This is going down a one-way road we won’t be able to return. It’s our duty as US citizens to act against an atrocity that could damage our freedom that we pride ourselves on so much.

There are various foundations that are raising awareness to this bill, the foremost being the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The site www.EFF.org was founded to inform the public about threats to Internet neutrality, which in our technological day and age, is one of our most important assets.

The threat of a censored life has finally come upon us. This doesn’t just affect IP owners, the economy, or some political agenda. This act will directly affect you and your daily life. If you don’t want the possibility of seeing only what a bent organization wants you to see, it’s time for action.

What I have noticed during my studies is that my major isn’t what you’d call a legitimate major. Missouri Western does not offer a Journalism major. My preferred area of study is actually a concentration of English. That’s what it says on my transcript – Major: English with a concentration in Journalism. It’s really like I’m minoring in the thing I want to do with my life (which I could also do; there IS a Journalism minor).

People who want to major in Public Relations, Botany, or Zoology will run into the same problem. These subjects are only offered as concentrations of much broader areas. And yet students looking to major in French or Spanish (but not German), or Convergent Media, or Music Education have definitive majors. Western also offers the traditional Pre-Med, Pre-Law, Nursing, History, Chemistry majors etc. So why not Journalism?

While Journalism concentration majors (I guess that’s what we’re called) spend most of their time taking classes on literature and textual analysis along with their reporting, publishing, and photography classes, I’m sure other media majors aren’t bogged down by reading and language awareness. And we’re stuck into such a wide category. English majors can minor or have a concentration in quite a few subjects. But there isn’t one large Language major that encompasses all the French and Spanish students.

Don’t get me wrong here – I have NO problem with any students or any majors. It just feels frustrating to people like me (and probably the PR and zoology kids) who are spending our time studying things we may not need, and then maybe getting the job we want but never being able to say, “Yeah, I was a journalism major.”

We are making the best of a challenging economic climate. One recent example of this would be this year’s homecoming celebration. This was the best homecoming that I have experienced in my four years here. The campus-wide signage, the level of student participation, and the general atmosphere of enthusiasm were all quite impressive.

Other points of pride include:

• A seventh consecutive year of record enrollment
• International recognition of our Wildlife Society
• The growth of the arts areas ­­including a new Missouri Western Arts Society with close to 200 charter members
• National recognition for the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex as one of twelve noteworthy intercollegiate athletic facilities in the United States

I have many other examples of recent accomplishments and special recognition for Missouri Western. My point is that we have not stopped moving forward, and these are highly visible examples of that.

With regard to resources, we are pursuing a number of avenues above and beyond our on-going struggle for funding fairness:

• We are exploring land leasing opportunities of our land in order to generate additional money.
• We are examining alternative energy sources for our campus.
• We are actively seeking grants from external agencies.
• Our advancement office has stepped up fund raising efforts and will shortly be preparing for our next capital campaign which will coincide with our centennial celebration.

Regarding our on-going struggle for funding fairness, we are getting significant support for this from our legislative delegation. In fact, there is an expressed willingness on their part to introduce legislation on our behalf. This will literally become a “campaign” for Missouri Western as we attempt to move this forward. I think we have successfully communicated our “need” to our various constituencies, now we are in the “action” phase.

Since the economic free fall in 2008, Missouri Western has experienced its share of additional financial challenges. It has not been easy, but we have continued to move in a positive direction. I believe we are now poised to move even further.

I fail to see anything to be jealous of. I am going to enjoy MU getting killed every single year in football by LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. If Missouri fans think that their team is going to be anything more than bottom-feeders in the best football conference in the country, then they are mistaken.

Don’t blame Kansas for not wanting to schedule Missouri. Why is the rivalry ending? Because Missouri went to a different conference. What would Kansas gain by scheduling Missouri? Nothing.

Will I miss the big border war game between the two schools every year? Not really. I have a newsflash for you: Kansas is basketball country. So when the Jayhawks Football team went 2-10 this season or when they went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl, it really doesn’t matter, and that’s just the way it is. When Missouri fans were celebrating a 24-10 win over KU at Arrowhead this year, Kansas fans were far more troubled by a loss to Duke in basketball that came three days earlier.

The notion that Kansas is scared to schedule MU in basketball is insane. It’s going to take a lot more than a 7-0 start against Nobody University for Kansas to dodge a school out of fear. Mike Anderson was a good coach, and MU was a very dangerous team under him, but he’s gone and in a year or two, all the talent he was able to recruit will be gone too.

Even if Anderson had stayed, there is no guarantee that he would have turned Missouri into a championship caliber program.  Quinn Snyder had the program on track to do great things, making four straight NCAA appearances and two Elite Eights.  Snyder defeated the rival Jayhawks in each of his last two meetings with them but them resigned following the Ricky Clemons scandal.

Frank Haith couldn’t win in the ACC with Miami, and he’s not going to win in the SEC with Missouri. Bill Self has a 132-7 in Allen Field House, a winning percentage of 95, and when he says “Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri,” he’s right.

Some people claim that Kansas is great at basketball because Dr. James Naismith jump-started the program. Naismith is the only coach in Kansas history with a losing record (55-60). The program took off under Phog Allen, who coached the Jayhawks for 39 years and led them to 29 regular season championships and a National Championship.

Kansas has the most winning seasons in Division I basketball history, the longest consecutive streak of NCAA tournament appearances, the most first team all-Americans in history, the second most wins all-time, three national championships and eight consecutive Big 12 basketball season championships. When I walk into Allen Field House, I see the jerseys of legends like Wilt Chamberlain, JoJo White, Danny Manning, Jacque Vaughn and Kirk Hinrich hanging from the rafters. The best thing that ever happened to Missouri was a Chase Daniel, a chubby backup quarterback for the Saints.

Explain to me why I should care about a rivalry with Missouri. The Tigers’ last regular season conference basketball championship was in 1994 and the NCAA stripped them of their Elite 8 appearance, vacated their season and forced them to repay $97,000 because a player took things from agents.

Kansas is an elite basketball school. Our rivals are other programs who consistently compete at a high level and win National Championships. Schools like Duke, North Carolina, Connecticut, Syracuse and Kentucky. Yes, the same Kentucky that will beat down Missouri twice a year, every year. So instead of losing to Self and KU, they get to lose to Calipari and UK. Great move.

I loved a good Kansas vs. Missouri brawl in the parking lot of Arrowhead just as much as the next guy, but really I could care less. The hatred for Missouri will still be there for me whether Kansas and Missouri play or not. I will still take pleasure in watching them get squashed in the SEC for years to come. I’ll still find great joy in watching the Gary Pinkel DUI video on repeat. If Missouri wants a game with Kansas, all they have to do is win a few games in the NCAA tournament, and the two schools will meet up.

Writer’s block

When it happens to me, if I’m home, I get a glass of brandy and a cigar and say to myself “What would Hemingway do?” The answer is always the same, he would write about it. So here goes.

Writer’s block happens to all students at one time or another. You stare at a blank screen or page and have many things to say but the words won’t come. You have had 15 weeks of instruction about a topic you’re expected to regurgitate onto a paper or final exam and nothing is happening between your ears.

Students have many things going on in their busy lives. The last thing they need as the intense holiday season approaches is an instructor who is convinced that they don’t have a life. There is shopping, family gatherings, socializing, and a host of other things that distract and fill the brain at the same time.

What we all need is time to think, work, study and write. Finals couldn’t happen at a less opportune time. The key is planning and prioritizing your time. You have to be able to tell your friends and family no. If you tell them you can’t devote time to anything but school they should understand.

But, you have to follow through and use the time you have set aside wisely. To properly focus while studying here are a few things that might help.

Study in an area that is quiet. Having some music on is not a bad thing but make sure you don’t know the songs because your favorites could distract you.

Keep the room a little cool. If the room gets too comfortable you could go to sleep while studying. You also can save a little energy here.

Try to find an area where others are studying such as the library so everyone has the same goal and objective around you. They are less likely to disturb you with loud conversation and other noise.

Lighting should be bright enough to read without eye fatigue. Having the lighting bright also helps keep you from sleeping.

Try to use a desk. Studying in bed is a no-no. Don’t sit or lay on the floor because the pressure points will cause muscle fatigue and limit your ability to continue studying in those positions.

Another great key I have often used is thinking about what I don’t want to do the most. That is a pretty good indication of what I need to do first. Then, when it is out of the way I become energized to continue with new-found strength.

What ever you need to do to keep focused do it. You didn’t come this far to lose your intensity now.

The list includes things varying from corporations “perpetuating colonialism at home and abroad,” to corporations’ use of the military to prevent freedom of the press. I’m interviewing Nick Brothers soon, who has been involved in this movement locally since the beginning. I really hope he can explain some of this document to me.

Now for a little self promotion….You can see the interview on Griffon Today. Just go to www.thegriffonnews.com and click on the Griffon Today tab. If the video is not there yet keep trying.

I told you I was going to Washington D.C., and I really enjoyed it. Everything seems fine in Washington, and maybe that is the problem. I couldn’t help but notice a sense of denial that there is an economic crisis. I promise I’ll get back to the Occupy topic soon, but let me share a quick D.C. observation.

Almost everywhere you go in Washington D.C. you can see large buildings covering entire city blocks and several stories tall, totally vacant. These building have 48 foot billboards on each side announcing the buildings availability for sale or lease. In the middle of all this available office space is our government, who has started construction of a new office building for members of homeland security. Stop chuckling, you are paying for it.

The local Occupy people are not like the ones I saw in Arlington, Va. They were occupying a park close to “old town” Arlington. It is the type of area where most Americans would have trouble living. A small apartment is thousands per month, and a condo will run well over a million. The area has, in my opinion, some of the best food on earth.

Anyway, in the middle of this “rich” area is a civic park about two city blocks in size where all you can see is tents and bodies. Some tents failed to hide some of the bodies. I think I experienced more live sex in one night than most connoisseurs of that sort of thing see in a lifetime.

Being the journalistic type, I couldn’t help but kick my way through the trash and ask these people some questions. I wanted to know why they were occupying the park. The answer was “to protest.” The question of what they were protesting received a different answer every time, which always seemed to include at least one five syllable word I hadn’t heard before.

Making my way through the entire park I met a quick-witted police officer. I asked him for his opinion of when he thought the protest would end. He looked at his watch and said “around five below.”
More later.

I’ve been asked to help get out the “student vote” and work to get more students registered. I’ve been thinking about that a great deal lately and I hesitate to encourage some students to vote. Stay with me. I’ve been doing a little research about the youth and students of America in an attempt to see what makes them tic.

I find myself to some degree agreeing with Christian Smith, one of the authors of Lost in Transition: The Dark side of Emerging Adulthood. He said in his review of the book titled A Generation Detached, “Frankly, I don’t want the youth to vote. They don’t own property, they don’t pay taxes, they don’t have kids to send to school. They have no financial stake and little moral stake in society and, until they do, I’d prefer they stay the heck away from the polls.”

One of my personal convictions is, if you have served this country in the military you have earned the privilege to vote. Smith goes on to say that sociologist report that what we used to call adolescence has extended into 20 years or more. Young people are not committing to anything. The statistics place the median age for marriage for men at 28 and women at 26. It would appear that the youth of today are more interested in themselves, their needs and delaying adulthood. Students seem to lack a sense of community and good citizenship.

These students are not unintelligent. They just don’t ask questions about morality, or what is important to live a good life. When it comes to politics they seem to have a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. They don’t want to admit that they have not been educated properly about their government and have little clue how it works. In turn, they don’t talk to friends about political topics.

All of this lack of information leads to believing anything. Uninformed people usually vote for the most popular candidate. After all, everyone wants to be on the winning side, right? Recent history has proven again that the popular vote may not win the white house and the most popular candidate may not be the best for America.

You have less than one year to get ready if you plan to vote. You have been trained to listen to well-informed people. Most students have learned to do research. We have all the tools and professors on campus that we need to educate ourselves. Voters have to ask themselves, what are my convictions? What is important now and what will be important in my future?

The first step in learning is admitting you don’t know something. Educate yourself before voting or just stay home.

Let me start by stating, I am a Tea Party Patriot and a local coordinator for the group. As you read this column, on its distribution day of Thursday, I am in Washington, D.C., receiving training. To say the least, I’m biased. I would like to think that as a journalist I could get above my convictions about politics, but whom would I be kidding.

I can find common ground with some of the ideas in the declaration. I agree that there needs to be term limits on career politicians. I also agree that corporate America has controlled politicians for far too long with large campaign contributions. Those contributions are, in some cases, followed by favorable legislation for those corporations. This is wrong and must be stopped.

Let’s not single out corporate America too much though. Large union organizations and other not-for-profit organizations also donate large amounts and have been receiving favorable legislation and cash payments for years. They screamed obscenities in Wisconsin loud enough for the world to hear when things didn’t happen the way they paid for them to happen.

STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS

I’ll bet that got your attention. I was afraid I was losing some of my readers so I figured I would get to the point.

Item 10 of the 20 topics in the declaration is labeled the same as this subheading, and it got my attention. Most students leaving college today take about $24,000 of debt into the real world of a dwindling job market.

The declaration states that the poor job market is “due to financial collapse directly caused by the unbridled and unregulated greed of Wall Street.” I don’t agree. Wall Street is regulated. Just take a minute and think of all the people that lied during the 1990s and cooked the books to satisfy greedy stockholders. Many are doing time now.

The financial collapse happened when someone decided to make the American dream of home ownership the American promise and started giving mortgages to people who could not afford a home. The unbridled greed came when the “have-nots” were given something the “haves” have worked for for most of their lives. That created an artificial real estate market that ended with bad loans that collapsed the financial market. That, in turn, made the banks stop lending, which caused corporate America to hold on to what they have and do nothing.

Who can blame them? They see no end to government regulation and growth. They see no clear answers on Obamacare or where employment and other taxation will be going. The President is in campaign mode and refuses to recognize or resolve any of today’s problems.

But, let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, that they are right: Wall Street has somehow run amok, and it’s to blame for the lack of jobs. Does it make sense to tax Wall Street corporations enough to forgive all student loans “as reparations for their [Wall Street’s] conduct” as proposed in the declaration?

I think, first of all, you could not get the $1 trillion student loan total paid in full without taxing some corporations out of business. This would dwindle the job market even more. When greedy corporations get taxed enough they take the money and leave the country. That doesn’t help.

I’ll be analyzing this document more in the future. I welcome your comments.

Then I predicted that after the vote “they” (the smoke Nazis) would not let it be the final vote. I predicted they would beat the topic to death till they get their way. Now, again, I’m hearing a rumor. They are planning some sort of action. They are acting like a bunch of spoiled children who think if they keep asking to get their way the answer will somehow change. No means no.

There are no smoking problems on this campus. There are, however, some behavior problems with some smokers. Western’s administration needs to make some changes and campus police need to enforce the rules we have that already address these behavioral issues. Smokers need to keep their butts in the ashtrays and their smoke to themselves.

Allow me to propose some ways to solve this issue and try to make everyone happy. I propose that all ashtrays need to be removed from doorways and non-smoking areas. Designated smoking areas need to be better identified. Students wishing to smoke should go to those well-identified areas and stand there to smoke. If a smoker is outside of Downs Drive circle then they are allowed to have free smoking privileges, but when inside the circle smokers need to share the space responsibly with other students who do not smoke.

It is not difficult. Put your cigarette out before leaving your car. When inside the Downs Drive circle, smoking is only allowed in designated areas and only while you are standing in those areas.

We have to come to some compromises, which allow smokers the privilege while keeping non-smoking areas absolutely smoke-free. It can be done with the help of administration, campus police and smokers.

Another great reason to compromise — if they get their way on this issue, they will soon come after fatty foods on campus. There could be a ban on vending machines with their sugary drinks and high-carb snacks.

To endorse a healthier lifestyle, we would have to disassociate ourselves with The Chocolate Factory and there goes those bagels everyone gets in line for.

Don’t be fooled. They aren’t really interested in your health. If they were they would be talking about a ban on sex. Sexually transmitted disease is the number one health issue on campus. There is a reason the Esry Student Health Services hands out free condoms at the front counter. You will notice they don’t serve nicotine gum.

These are just people who believe that it is OK to force their will on someone else and limit the behavior and privileges of others. Don’t let them get away with it. Keep our campus free!

I was sitting in my room while one of my roommates was channel surfing. He happened to stumble upon “Tosh.0″ and thus changed my new perspective on America’s cyberbullying problem.

You see, it didn’t actually start with Daniel Tosh. In 2002, a video was uploaded of a high school student swinging a golf ball retriever around as a weapon. The Canadian high school student thought, at the time, it would be fun to play “Star Wars” with one of the school’s video cameras.

Let me level with you. We’ve all had these moments. You know, those moments where you’re just jacking around without a care in world — being yourself. This kid made the unfortunate mistake of filming his shenanigans. Those peers that posted the video online made a mistake too, a mistake that nearly cost them $250,000.

According to court documents filed in 2006, this student “had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large.” The documents also say that he will most likely have to undergo psychiatric help for the rest of his life. In case you’re wondering, this is cyberbullying.

When I first saw this video, I didn’t laugh. Now, it may be entertaining in the fact that this kid is just having a good time, doing whatever pleases him. Let’s face the facts though, people find this funny because there’s an obese 15-year-old swinging a metal stick around playing pretend. I wonder if anyone would laugh at his face.

You see, this is why Daniel Tosh is even a comedian. He’s like the other million cyberbullies on the internet. They can hide behind keyboards and LCD screens and be malicious to innocent people.

On the episode that night, Daniel Tosh had somehow acquired a video of some kids dare-deviling on bicycles. What was supposed to be funny about this was an overweight child went off a small ramp with a bicycle, fell and broke his arm. As Daniel Tosh replayed the kid crying over and over, he paused to make snide comments about the kid’s weight, how he was crying for his mother and how he shouldn’t have been on the bike at all.

My statement stands: Daniel Tosh is a dick. I can handle bullies on the Internet. They will always exist. When Rebecca Black’s “Friday” came out, someone commented on her YouTube video that she should go kill herself. Good and bad, the internet has given everyone a megaphone.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve laughed at YouTube videos. Antoine Dodson and Rebecca Black are two of my favorite Internet memes, but those are conscious decisions to broadcast on the Internet or elsewhere. Dodson could have refused to interview, or he could have acted like a normal person. Rebecca Black didn’t have to pay someone $10,000 to Auto-tune her voice, especially when she already has a beautiful one. The fact of the matter is, those people put themselves in the public light to be ridiculed.

Most people don’t take Internet memes to a personal level either, but Daniel Tosh does. What he does is nothing short of a verbal attack. By taking someone’s weakest moments, broadcasting them on television and then battering them with insults is an affront to innocent children everywhere.

Daniel Tosh sets a standard for other people. His show is what has made cyberbullying socially acceptable. It’s okay to take the private lives of other people, put them out in the public and them make fun of them.

Comedians have been mocking people forever. Impressions are hilarious. Making fun of public figures is entertaining and sometimes calls to question social issues.Daniel Tosh does not that. If he wants to make light of the fact that childhood obesity is a problem in the US, don’t do it at the expense of a crying child with a broken arm.

Voting responsibly takes hard work. Maybe that’s why most of Americans either don’t vote or choose the “rock star” as Matthew Hunt described President Obama in his article on this page. Voting without doing the work is not voting responsibly. Don’t just take the easy road. Everyone wants to be on the winning team, but that team may be winning because they have enough money for the advertising. That money can also hide an agenda that you may not agree with. You must do diligent research and make up your mind about what is important to you and which candidate best fits with what you feel is important.

One of the reasons voting is hard work is trying to see the forest in all of the trees. Most candidates avoid real issues. The best way to run a campaign is to claim to be for old people and animals. Most candidates stay away from strong moral or political issues. If you search the internet and only look at the candidate’s websites you will find why each is strong on issues that may not concern you. After a while, all of the candidates start looking the same. When there are no real positions or issues the vote count becomes very close. Remember Florida during Bush’s second election?

To really find out where a candidate stands on an issue visit the website for sure, but don’t stop there. Read all about the candidate wherever you can. Ask questions on their website specific to your concerns. If possible, go where the candidate is making a public appearance and ask questions directly. Listen to the news and read articles in current magazines. Remember though, not all media is fair and unbiased.

Walter Cronkite is dead and so it seems to be any pundit who can deliver an idea of his own in a fair and balanced way. I know it can be painful to your ears, but watch that news program that you hate sometime. They will show different sides of the candidate that you may not know exist. If you disagree with a news program’s political position you may still find common ground with what the program exploits as a candidates problem.

Whatever you do, question everything. Don’t repeat everything you see on the internet or received in a social network post without checking it out first. Responsible voters find most of the radical-sounding things they receive on social networks are unfounded.

Whether you fall into the much-worn adult position of the Tea Party who pines for the way things used to be, the cry babies in the Occupy Wherever groups who aren’t happy with their government, corporations, capitalism, banking, police or what they’re getting from their government, or somewhere in between, educate yourself and vote responsibly.

People drop from Western for many reasons. Those reasons are diverse but generally fall into very few categories. Some have health issues and can no longer attend class. Legitimate health problems happen to well-intentioned students. Those with health problems are easily excused. Others have the noble excuses of family or career changes that no longer permit them to attend class.

Some have no excuse at all. They just give up. Maybe they were disillusioned about their expectations of college life or feel the burden of a full-time class load. Before giving up, there are several things students need to consider.

First, they must consider the financial ramifications of leaving school. As stated above, the time for full or partial refunds of tuition has passed. People leaving now can’t expect to get a refund. They have already paid for the classes, so the best advice is to attend on the off chance they could learn something. Also, they might change their mind after the emotions they are experiencing temporarily have time to pass.

An exit interview is mandatory if students want a transcript of what they have completed at Western. They could start the interview process now with the instructor of the classes they are finding difficult. Instructors don’t always tell students what they want to hear, but they always have advice on ways to improve.

More importantly, students may have to pay back part or all of the financial aid they received immediately if the funds are Title IV financial aid. Title IV funding includes Pell Grants, FSEOG, ACG, SMART and federal subsidized loans such as Perkins loans and PLUS loans. Students could put themselves in a very large hole and it could take some time to work their way out.

Whatever the reason to quit students may be contemplating over the next few weeks, they need to be sure they know the facts before just skipping class. Walking away may seem like the thing to do, but things go wrong automatically.

First the campus is required by law to inform those who assisted with tuition cost that the student has left. The funding agencies will start the collection process automatically.

When students leave without complying with the exit interview requirement, they can’t get a copy of their transcript to enroll again later or use what they have accomplished to get a transfer.

Walking away can be the worst thing to do. Sometimes it is just better to push through. Students that complete the semester can find new respect for themselves while enriching their minds.

What used to be the behavior of children on the playground has now entered the high-tech world. Cyberbullying is well defined in our Student Handbook as harassing, teasing, intimidating or threatening another person by sending or posting inappropriate and hurtful email messages, digital pictures, images or web site postings, including blogs and social network systems.

The Wired Safety Group at wiredsafety.org defines it further by stating it is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child. The website also reports that children have killed each other and have committed suicide after having been involved in a cyberbullying incident.

By getting involved as a cyberbully, you can lose your ISP or instant messaging accounts because cyberbullying is a term of service violation or breach of contract with the software provider. Parents are the best defense to correct this behavior and are in the position to make the most difference if their child is the perpetrator or victim.

Schools that try to get involved are often sued and lose the case on the basis that they are trying to exceed their legal authority for actions taken off campus. Students also have the constitutional freedom of speech to help defend their actions, even if their freedom upsets another person.

Wired Safety Group recommends that a provision be added to the school’s acceptable use policy reserving the right to discipline the student for actions taken off-campus if they are intended to have an effect on a student or they adversely affect the safety and well being of a student while in school. This makes it a contractual, not a constitutional, issue.

If it feels like this column is talking about children and not college students it’s because most of the time cyber bullying activities involve children. What needs to be said is that these actions are childish. It is actually a shame that our student handbook even needs to cover this topic. Using electronic devices to anonymously harass people is cowardly.

The best advice to follow if you are a victim according to the Wired Safety Group is to “stop, block and tell.” First, stop. Don’t do anything. Take a few minutes to calm down. Next, block the cyber bully or limit all communications to those on your buddy list. Then tell a trusted adult; you do not have to face this alone. You can also report cyber bullying experience to wiredsafety.org if you are a victim.

Factor in two season-ending injuries - T.J. Fannin and Marcus Thompson - how should Western fare in the second half of the season?

Although Jerry Partridge said he would much rather be 5-0 at this point, three wins out of the “more challenging” part of the season isn’t too bad. The Pittsburg State loss is all of a sudden looking less devastating after it handed No. 1 Northwest Missouri State its first conference loss in six years.

Not to say that Western would beat Pittsburg if the two squared off this Saturday instead of opening weekend, but maybe the first game should be overlooked. Yes, Pittsburg was playing its first game of the season as well, and the Gorillas were the road team, but they knew what they had in Zac Dickey and caught lightning in a bottle with transfer Jon Brown.

Western, on the other hand, saw Travis Partridge start his first game and its defense go up against an offense that is averaging over 37 points-per-game, as well as a Pistol Gun set that drew attention away from Western’s defensive line and standout players Ben Pister and David Bass.

The next three Saturdays, Western has a date set up with teams that have a combined record of 4-11; two of the games are at Spratt Stadium. These games are definitely not chalked up as wins just yet, especially since they are all conference games, but winning the games would set the Griffons up with a 6-2 record. Last year’s 8-3 record sent Western up to Maryville, Mo. for post-season play. Will the committee be so kind this year?

Highly unlikely, considering the MIAA doesn’t receive that sort of superior credit — Pittsburg, Washburn and Northwest are all in front of Western, and don’t forget about the Mules: they’re still around. Three of those teams will probably receive a bid. Four, well, maybe; all five — no. So how about this: On Nov. 5, when Northwest comes to town to play Western, the meeting between the Bearcats and Griffons could actually have a playoff contention scenario, and so that game might actually mean something. Wait. It always means something.

What went wrong?

Senate Bill 389 was supposed to limit increases of student’s tuitions to only the amount of the consumer price index. It was a good piece of legislation at the time. Universities across Missouri were increasing tuitions to offset costs at what seemed to be an alarming rate. The bill was very popular at the time. No one saw or thought about the future.
After Senate Bill 389 universities including Western eased up on tuition increases. For many years when Western could have increased tuition justifiably they didn’t. When they did increase tuition they didn’t actually charge students the increase that was approved by the board.
Meanwhile the cost of operation was going up everywhere. Things such as utilities and insurance were jumping as much as 20 to 30 percent. The number of students entering Western every semester was setting new records. That placed higher demand for faculty and classrooms.
It soon became obvious that we could not continue this course. Western’s administration proposed and the board approved a tuition increase higher than Senate Bill 389 allowed. As Western was about to be hit with a large fine for ignoring Senate Bill 389 the board lowered the increase to just what was needed for the campus to operate. The fine came any way from the state in the form of lower appropriations and then they cut even more for good measure.
The real twisted part of this tale is that Gov. Nixon stated that he approved of these cuts because he was concerned about students and their tuition costs.
Western’s reaction
Missouri Western is operating now with no more faculty than in the early nineties with increases in student numbers going off the chart. Look around you. Faculty and staff positions have been eliminated and combined to the point that efficiency is at an all time high.
Class sizes are larger, and demands on instructor’s time is beginning to result in fewer office hours and less access to students. Students may also notice other services and conveniences such as trash removal from some areas is not being done on a daily basis. The lawn has more weeds than usual and some of the maintenance of buildings is being deferred.
Informed students held a rally during the summer months to protest the severe cuts which resulted in the “You can’t keep a Griffon down” slogan. Some have started a petition to voluntarily pay an additional fee to help offset the cuts. Others have signed a petition to the governor to protest the loss of funds.

The future

Western is looking for grants and funding from other sources. Students are paying more now and are likely to pay even higher tuition in the future. Things might get tough but things may get even tougher on Western if Governor Nixon’s new “performance based funding” is not fairly implemented.
If he is going to base funding on the number of entering students versus the number of graduating students than we are set for even more cuts. That will not be fair.
Western serves a unique student base such as me. I have gained in my personal and financial life by the education I have received from MWSU. I have attended off and on since 1978 and have yet to get a degree. I am not alone. Many students are here to learn something. We are not here for the degree. If serving that type of student lowers appropriations Western may not be able to keep its open enrollment policy.
Gov. Nixon needs to realize that not all students are degree seeking students, and I am the poster boy.

But once that fan looks at the numbers and notices the competition was not the best, then they begin to question how good this Griffons team will really be.

The first part of the game was a slow start – not a lot of action for the offense – but the defense and special teams were making plays to keep the fans into the game. It seemed as though Western had the field goal kicker out there on the field more than the offense.

The defense made some excellent plays to keep this game a shutout from the beginning. Three interceptions and three fumble recoveries were plenty to keep the momentum going for the team, and with the help of special teams, it was only a matter of time before the offense would take off and begin to put up numbers.

Going into halftime with a strong lead was not good enough for the Griffons. In the third quarter, 21 points were added to the score to boast the differential to 40. The team was beginning to function well on all cylinders. Running the ball became the main strategy for Western. The scheme was working well, so they stuck to it throughout the quarter. The Griffons completed every one of their possessions in the quarter, where in the first half 4-7 possessions resulted in field goals.

Michael Hill had an average game. Nothing stellar took place, but he was a constant worry on this Langston University defense. Hill averaged 4.6 yards a carry, moving the ball in for three scores throughout the game showed his hard work had paid off, even though his numbers were nothing to boast about. Hill ran for under 100 yards and received another 13.

One standout player who kept popping up through the game was CB Isaac Collins, who was making plays on special teams and on the defensive side of the ball. With a blocked punt and the recovery taken all the way to the Langston seven yard line Collins was able to set the Griffons up for their first score of the game.

Early in the fourth quarter Collins was able to make a great interception in a very timely manner. It was the deepest Langston had made it into Griffon territory and while knocking on the door of the red zone, Collins was able to snag an opportunity away quickly.

For the most part, the team did look stellar to this 2-0 Langston team, but the one part of the team that looked weak to everyone was the Griffons quarterback. Travis Partridge seemed to be having problems making smart plays from the get-go of this game. Partridge seemed as though he could not throw on the run, nor could he complete a pass to a player in motion.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, a 53 yard reception was made by Tarrell Downing. On paper the play looks like a great score, but in reality the receiver had to stop his momentum to come back for the ball, then make a great turn up the field for the score. Partridge never looked completely confident in the pocket. During scramble situations it seemed as though he was unsure of what choices to make.

Throwing for a 50 percent completion rate was not a great showing from this young quarterback against a team of Langston’s quality. With the 18 offensive plays in the third quarter, 11 rushes and seven passes were attempted. The third quarter was such a large success due mainly to the running scheme brought together by the coaches.

This Western team has the ability to have a great season, but with QB questions already being brought up by fans and players, it makes one question: What will happen? If the accuracy questions are brought to light and fixed for this Thursday’s game, then the team will have nothing to worry about except making a run for the playoffs.

Eboni Lacey, Online Editor

Who would ever think that in the year 2011 discriminating slurs and obscenities would even be a problem. Today there are more minorities in every profession and attending college then ever before. Diversity  has become encouraged, as most people want different faces representing their companies and their schools.  And with the economy being so terrible, nobody wants to jeopardize his or her career based on one ignorant comment.

However, many cases have been reported of stupid, ignorant altercations being made within the last few months.  The University of Alabama had a huge altercation when students were writing racial slurs like “nigger” on the sidewalks of the campus. In San Francisco, the chief of the Oakland Unified School District’s police department was placed on administrative leave while district officials looked into allegations that he repeatedly used racial slurs against African American and Asian American officers after a day of drinking at a charity golf tournament. These two examples just remind me of how stupid people can be at both work and school when they open their mouths around the wrong people.

For the last few decades, society has taken numerous stands against discrimination, racial slurs, and improper professional conduct. “A fair opportunity,” is what is said to be granted to every employee and every student before they even start working. Yet, what is not said nor granted are the elimination of gossip, talking behind peoples’ backs, rumors and unprofessional conversations. Is it fair that a person can say whatever they want about whoever they want as long as it’s in private conversation? And since it is in private conversation, is it ok to let racial and unprofessional comments slide?

Absolutely not! It only takes one customer, one by-stander, or one professor to hear a comment that should be conducted in “private conversation,” before judgment begins taking place. As professionals, students, staff and workers must make sure that the dialect remains on a professional level. It’s a problem if a student or employee is so comfortable with their peers and coworkers that they speak to them in public as they would at home; with profanity, racial slurs and dialogue that can be perceived as discriminating. Where is the level of professionalism drawn?

I encourage every employee and student to really take a hard look at what you  are discussing when you are on the job or in the classroom. If what you are discussing can be offensive to any race, color, creed or sexuality, then maybe it’s best to leave those conversations outside of the professional doors.

Dave Hon, Editor in Chief

Now, being 20 years old, I won’t try and pretend I’m a driver of the capacity of, say, Speed Racer. I drive a 2001 Chevy Malibu, which is far from the Mach Five. I think what makes me a better driver than most is the fact that I know that I’m not the best driver.

Yes. Conundrumed, I know. But I know the problem that a lot of drivers have is that they are over-confident of their reaction impulses. You see, if you’re less than a car’s length away from another car on the highway, going 70 miles per hour, there is no way you’re going to stop in time if things go wrong. I don’t care if you’re a goal keeper for Manchester United, no one’s reaction time is that fast.

The biggest problem I have with drivers on the highway is the lack of abiding by speed/car length ratio requirements. You see, if you’re traveling 70 MPH, you should be at least 7 car lengths away from the car ahead of you. Now, in cases of heavy traffic, this is impossible. But on the open stretch of road between Platte City and St. Joseph, there is no excuse.

For those of you with the same frustration as me, I have a solution: slow down. If someone is ‘tailgating’ you, decrease your speed to the minimum 55 MPH on the highway, and watch what happens. In most cases, the driver will quickly swerve into the left lane, without using their blinker.

When they pass you, two things could happen. You might see the driver on their phone, oblivious to the fact that they are driving a ton of metal down an asphalt path at 70 MPH. You see, they are too hung up in their pointless conversation that is has consumed their concentration. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll talk on the phone and drive, but if it starts to impede my ability to focus, I’ll hang up.

Besides someone being on the phone, the other thing you might witness is a look of disgust. This gaze will say, without any words spoken, “How dare you drive THAT slow on my road.” As if they are the only one on the road. Furthermore, the fact that they supported a political candidate and want to adorn that statement on their bumper, gives them the right to drive fast.

For those of you that are reading this and feeling their ears burn, I want to remind you of something. The left lane is called the “Passing Lane” not the “Fast Lane.” Just because you’re in the left lane doesn’t mean you can go 80 MPH.

For any law-enforcement professionals that are reading this, please crack down on aggressive drivers. In my opinion, an aggressive driver is more dangerous than a driver going five miles over the speed limit.

At first, I figured that people only attend events that actually interest them, which is why attendance stays so low. Nobody is going to go to something that they are not interested in. Who wants to be bored? Yet, my thoughts changed when I attended a very “different” event. At the 2011 Drag Show, which was held Tuesday, April 19^th in the Fulkerson center, I was extremely amazed at how many people I saw. The show accumulated over 300 in attendance, with the crowd mostly composed of students. I say people of every race, every age, every gender and every sexuality. Never have I seen such a thing. This really made me think. What in the world did the Pride Alliance organization due that many other student organizations fail at year by year?

After seeing how emotional yet fun the show was, I realized that the show’s significance is what gave it its appeal. The show was accepting of all- not rejecting the different, the insecure or the obscure. Its promotion was about unity and diversity, which is something every one can relate to. When you have an event that engages support of all people and desires all walks of life to attend, then you will have a great attendance.

I challenge everybody that plans events for all campus, to think and act as Pride Alliance- and welcome and accept all people. Perhaps it means a Fashion Show with more then skinny models, or a dating show that has both black and white, straight and gay contestants. Once our campus embraces all, then our attendance will soar.

The other challenge I give is to promote beyond these campus buildings. Tell the community, the alumnus, the faculty; tell anyone who will listen. Go to the Yearbook office and the Griffon News and tell us what you plan to host. Post your events on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Goldlink and have press releases given out. Tell students why they should come. During the Drag Show, it was expressed numerous times how many homosexuals commit suicide. The reason for the show was to spark self- confidence and make not only homosexuals, but everyone, feel that their lives are worth living. So I What message will you send to students in our next campus event?

learned new things, travelled to new countries, experienced much and gained much experience.

There is only one complaint I have about this school, and I suppose you could call it a ‘minor’ one.

It’s that Missouri Western does not offer a Journalism major.My preferred area of study is actually a concentration of

English.

That’s what it says on my transcript – Major: English with a concentration in Journalism.

It’s really like I’m minoring in the thing I want to do with my life.

People who want to major in Public Relations, Botany, or Zoology will run into the same problem.

These subjects are only offered as concentrations of much broader areas.

And yet students looking to major in French, Spanish Convergent Media or Music Education have definitive majors.

Western also offers the traditional Pre-Med, Pre-Law, Nursing, History, Chemistry majors etc. So why not Journalism?

While Journalism concentration majors spend most of their time taking classes on literature and textual analysis

along with their reporting, publishing and photography classes,I’m sure other media majors aren’t bogged

down by reading a language awareness. And we’re stuck into such a wide category.

English majors can minor or have a concentration in quite a few subjects.

But there isn’t one large Language major that encompasses all the French and Spanish students.

Don’t get me wrong here – I have NO problem with any students or any majors.

It just feels frustrating to people like me (and probably the PR and zoology kids) who are

spending our time studying things we may not need, and then maybe getting the job we want but

never being able to say, “Yeah, I was a journalism major.”

The spring concert only had 783 students in attendance. Murals for minds had around 100 people in attendance and not all of those where MWSU students. As I go to different events on campus I realize we students have no pride in our school.

The students who get involved get involved in a lot of activities and that is great, but what about the rest of us who go to class and then go wherever and do whatever it is we do.

 I came to the conclusion that we have no school pride at Missouri Western. I realized that our actions reflect on the campus and also the community surrounding it. I began to think of how much we could do for the community and how much we could do for our alma mater.

If every student gave one dollar we would be able to donate over $6,000.00 back into the community in some way. If 1/6 of the student body showed up to help paint a mural that would be 2000 hands to help create something. As a campus of over 6,000 we can make a difference in our community.

In high school we all took a yearbook because we were in it. Here they try to give students a yearbook that they have already paid for and they don’t want it. Why, because we aren’t in it. Get involved and be in the yearbook.

This problem is said to be caused by being a commuter campus, but I think that is a cop out. The reason we don’t get involved is because we are too wrapped up in our own lives. Yes we have students with families already, yes we have nontraditional students and yes we have to work. But those are all excuses. Why can’t we find time to participate and make MWSU a place every student would want to come.

We as students need to be involved in Student Government, Greek life, sports, sporting events and all the other wonderful things that are brought to this campus for us learn from or to have fun at. The convocation every fall has empty seats and MWSU has once in a life time speakers come. We students need to take advantage of what or school offers us before it’s not offered any more.

I challenge every student on this campus to put on their black and gold be a Griffon and get involved even if you have to take a class to do it. I know without my newspaper class I would have never got involved, and now that I am involved with activities offered on campus I won’t ignore a gold link invitation anymore. GO GRIFFS!

As this year approaches its end I can’t help but feel excited for change and new beginnings. On April 18 I will take my oath of office and the new SGA administration will commence. I am ready to lead and with your help and support your Student Government Association will work with you and for you. From day one I plan on getting to work right away and working hard and throughout the summer to establish a solid footing for SGA to stand upon.

I invite you to attend Jacob Scott and my inauguration on April 18, 4:00 p.m. in Blum Union and I invite you to give us suggestions or ask us questions after the ceremony. Our first meeting will be afterwards at 5:00 p.m.

We will have three meetings before summer begins held Monday April 18, 25, and May 2 at 5:00 p.m. in Blum 220. We will establish our new budget, senators will confirm the appointed directors, we will make our plans for summer and establish a date for our retreat.

If you are interested in becoming a senator or an associate senator it is highly encouraged that you attend our first meetings. If you are just curious about our meetings or want to stay current with MWSU issues the gallery is always open to anyone.  Also our meetings will continue to be held on Mondays but, the time will change to 6:00 p.m. starting fall 2011.

I encourage you to always have an active voice and never feel as if your opinion doesn’t matter because it matters to me and it matters to SGA.  I want to know what you think and I want you to take a step toward leadership whether you join senate, WAC or another organization on campus take the steps to be active and make a difference.

I look forward to next year and working for you and I hope to see many of you in the meetings to come.  I hope you will never hesitate to come to SGA for help. Our doors are open and will always be open.

I will continue to keep you current on what SGA is accomplishing, what issues we are facing, and how you the student can get your voice out there.

SGA
Blum Union 220

Dear Western students,

As this year approaches its end I can’t help but feel excited for change and new beginnings. On April 18 I will take my oath of office and the new SGA administration will commence. I am ready to lead and with your help and support your Student Government Association will work with you and for you. From day one I plan on getting to work right away and working hard and throughout the summer to establish a solid footing for SGA to stand upon.

I invite you to attend Jacob Scott and my inauguration on April 18, 4:00 p.m. in Blum Union and I invite you to give us suggestions or ask us questions after the ceremony. Our first meeting will be afterwards at 5:00 p.m.

We will have three meetings before summer begins held Monday April 18, 25, and May 2 at 5:00 p.m. in Blum 220. We will establish our new budget, senators will confirm the appointed directors, we will make our plans for summer and establish a date for our retreat.

If you are interested in becoming a senator or an associate senator it is highly encouraged that you attend our first meetings. If you are just curious about our meetings or want to stay current with MWSU issues the gallery is always open to anyone.  Also our meetings will continue to be held on Mondays but, the time will change to 6:00 p.m. starting fall 2011.

I encourage you to always have an active voice and never feel as if your opinion doesn’t matter because it matters to me and it matters to SGA.  I want to know what you think and I want you to take a step toward leadership whether you join senate, WAC or another organization on campus take the steps to be active and make a difference.

I look forward to next year and working for you and I hope to see many of you in the meetings to come.  I hope you will never hesitate to come to SGA for help. Our doors are open and will always be open.

I will continue to keep you current on what SGA is accomplishing, what issues we are facing, and how you the student can get your voice out there.

SGA
Blum Union 220

I do think there are certain times when there should absolutely be no cell phones allowed out; like on the day of a test. But on a daily basis when there is only lecturing going on, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. I can think of several things that are more disrespectful and disruptive to the professor and the rest of the students in the classroom. For example people chomping their gum, clicking their pens, and here’s a big one: listening to their iPod’s in class. Texting seems like such a big deal but I think someone who has an ear bud in one ear with the volume on their iPod high enough that it can be heard by the person 5 seats away seems more disruptive.

If your professor has a problem with you texting in class, listen to them and put your phone away. If you really need to check your phone then simply walk into the hallway for a moment. As of right now this is still just a debate and you should respect your professor’s wishes. Yet until a professor makes it clear that they feel texting is extremely destructive, then I say text away. Obviously the conversation is worth the words missed during lecture.

The University of Connecticut beat Butler on Monday to win the national title. This victory was a great win for Uconn, but it finished up college basketball for the year; so the season ended in a bittersweet moment.

The other major sports that stopped a while ago are the National Football League and college football. These two sports ratings were through the roof every week, along with the controversy that followed. The NBA started a month after these two sports began and also college basketball.

America watched all the major sports at one point this year but slowly the major sports were ending. Now the only sport that remains that is on the top of everyone’s watch list is the NBA. The NBA is another sport that will be ending soon, leaving baseball as the last major sport to watch.

The game of baseball is very complicated for a lot of people to grasp, so it is boring to a good number of people. Not only is it hard to understand, but the game is very long for many people to watch throughout the whole game. 9 innings along with each team getting a turn in that inning, can mean the game could go more than 3 hours each game. Those other major sports that I talked about earlier have an easier concept, and it is not as hard to learn. Baseball has many different categories, not just home runs, but that is the only category someone people know who don’t watch the sport. People who don’t even watch football and basketball get the sport more than any other sport because of the simplicity. In basketball you score points in the basket, and steal the ball and block shots. In football you score touchdowns and intercept the ball. My point is that it is easy to understand these two games, so people are more inclined to watch.

The game of baseball has rich tradition with some of its players like Hank Aaron (the former home run king, and Babe Ruth (the original home run king). The game today has evolved from having a rich tradition, to questions about its many athletes who are now accused of using steroids. This in itself has turned away many people, even the die-hard fans. The negativity is too high in baseball right now, and Barry Bonds (the current home run king) is now in a legal battle because he has been accused of steroid use. His battle is now in a court room to clear his name. Even if his name is cleared, people have already made up in their minds that baseball will never be the same, fan or not.

The reason it takes a two-thirds vote is because it would remove a privilege (notice that I did not say it was a right) that some students enjoy. It should require that type of majority to remove anyone’s privileges. Don’t believe those statistics that non-smokers push about second hand smoke. If you do a little research, you will find that the information comes from studies in a laboratory.

They are not conclusions based on individuals, just machines that smoked cigarettes backwards without the filter, and guess what? Those fumes are toxic. It’s the same as the smoke from almost anything that burns.  Usually animals in a brush fire and people in a house fire die of smoke inhalation long before their bodies burn.

And don’t think for a minute that the SGA or administration is concerned about your health. If they were they would be more concerned about the number one health problem on campus. What’s that? Sexually transmitted diseases. If you think I’m wrong, just ask the Esry Student Health Services workers. Ask them if you are more likely to die with a sexually transmitted disease from sexual exposure on campus or dying of second hand smoke exposure on campus. If smokers would obey the rules and administration would enforce the rules, then there would be no second hand smoke exposure to anyone but smokers.

I wonder how far students would go to ban sex on campus. Sex is a choice and a God-given privilege. I’ll bet that two-thirds vote seems right to everyone about now.  Enforcement may be tough, though. It is the same with smoking or anything you like to do. I prefer food that is bad for me, soda over water, and my recliner to my treadmill. Some choices I make are bad for me. It is my privilege to make that choice. Students can still buy food that is bad for them, purchase soda in every hallway, and there are far more chairs and couches on campus than exercise equipment.

What really bugs me is that the losers in this case claim that they will try again until it passes. That isn’t right. Why can’t SGA simply tell administration and themselves that they tried and there just weren’t enough votes to change the policy? For some reason government today on all levels uses this type of one-sided tactics.

If a school tax levy doesn’t pass they simply put it back on the ballot and spend more tax dollars campaigning for it until it passes. It is sort of expected that the smoke-banning people will continue to try to get this thing passed but after it passes there will be no more voting.  The opposition to the smoking ban doesn’t get a second chance. The thing will just become law if it passes. Why can’t the NO vote be final?

I first want to say thank you for voting for myself, Alison Norris, and Jacob Scott as your new SGA President and Vice President. We are honored to be serving you. I realize that we were the only candidates on the ballot this year, but I assure you that we will do the best job possible and with our experience and good work ethic, we are the best candidates for the job.

Allison Norris is a Convergent Media Major. She will be graduating in the Spring of 2012. She has played numerous roles at Western such as Lifestyles Editor and Editor-in-Cheif for the Griffon News and Communication Director of SGA.

Throughout our campaign we met with many organizations and student groups that gave us many great suggestions of things they want done. We have kept this list of suggestions and will be using those to determine what we will be doing next year. We are already formulating our plan for next year, but we will continue to listen to your suggestions throughout our term and continue to get your feedback.

Our administration will not just work for the students fall and spring semester, but throughout the summer and winter breaks because Student Government requires year-round vigilance.

I will be emailing applications for new SGA Director positions soon. The positions that will be open are: Director of Communications, Director of Student Relations, and Director of Finance. We will be hiring dedicated students that are leaders on campus and off campus. I encourage all students to apply. Our Directors will be held at a high standard and we will hold ourselves and our directors accountable.

I am excited for the changes and challenges of next year and I am ready to serve the students. My office will always be open to all students and I would like to encourage all of you to bring any issues, concerns or suggestions to me because I will always be happy to listen.

Sincerely,
Alison Norris
Incoming SGA President

Many of us are aware of the dangers involved in social networking, but I wanted to take the time to remind everyone and hopefully bring it to the attention of those who don’t.

It is important to realize that any potential employer could easily view your profile, this is why anything you post like pictures, messages and status posts should be kept sensible and appropriate. For those going into politics or other areas of special interest should definitely keep it real because anything you do or say on these sites could end up haunting you and ruin a promising career.

You can’t “take back” the online text and images you have entered. Once online, “chat” as well as other web postings become public information. Almost all of these sites are “cached” by search engines, and photos and text can be retrieved long after the site has been deleted. People have been denied entry into schools and don’t get hired for jobs because of dangerous, demeaning or harmful information found on their personal sites or blogs.

Most sites and services ask you to post a “profile” with your age, sex, hobbies and interests. While these profiles help you connect and share common interests, potential exploiters can and do use these profiles to search for victims.

People can be anyone they want on the internet and that is a real danger. Users posing as someone or something they are not can take advantage of this-and this aspect of social-networking profiles-to reap havoc on anyone they choose. No one is safe from those who want to find you for whatever reason it may be.

It is easy to put your friends at risk as well. Protect your friends by not posting any names, passwords, ages, phone numbers, school names or locations. Don’t post plans or upcoming events on your site. Certainly be careful posting pictures that could reveal sensitive information. Look at the backgrounds of the pictures to be sure you are not giving away identifying information without realizing it. The name of a mall, the license plate of a car, signs or the name of your sports team could all reveal your location. Never post sexually provocative photos of yourself or your friends.

Sometimes you may think you are being clever, releasing only bits and pieces of information about yourself or friends, but smart fraudsters can easily put this information together to know more about you. They could go as far as claiming to be an old school friend to gather more personal information on you.

The key point is that nobody really knows who they are talking to on social networking sites, so think carefully before you post information about yourself or others. Always remember what you post online are not private. Parents, teachers, coaches, employers and admissions officers may go online and find out things about you-from your profile, or from someone else’s. People have lost jobs, admission offers and scholarships.

Going in to the beginning of this new semester when we all will be social networking, keep these things in mind and play it safe.

Until the state budget is finalized in the spring of 2011, we will not know the true extent of our budgetary challenges. All indications are that we will receive a fairly substantial cut in our state allocation. I have heard speculation that such cuts could be anywhere from 8 percent to 25 percent. Obviously, we are hoping to be at the lowest possible end of this range. Furthermore, we have tried to educate the commissioner of higher education and the Department of Higher Education about the unique financial circumstances and recent, rather remarkable accomplishments of Western. Lastly, we are making similar efforts with Governor Nixon and our legislators. My sense is that our message is getting through.

In addition to our efforts to educate the public and the decision-makers about Western’s financial picture and accomplishments, we have taken other measures. We have done a significant amount of belt tightening, and we are planning for even more. You are probably well aware of some of these measures, which include frozen salaries and wages for the past two years, a 20 percent cut in operating budgets, and a suspension of or a major cut in a number of university’s initiatives-just to name a few actions that have been taken. As such, I think that we are doing just about as much as we can to prepare for the financial uncertainties ahead of us.

With all of this said, Western has an impressive list of extremely positive indicators for the future:

We have experienced six consecutive years of record enrollment. We now have 6,134 students, which are 400 more students than just a year ago. According to the Governor’s office, we are currently the fastest growing regional university in the state.

We have a noteworthy 72 percent retention rate. This is virtually unheard of for an open enrollment university as the national average for open enrollment universities is 55 percent. Also, it represents a 15 percent increase in our freshman to sophomore retention rate in a mere four-year period.  I believe that our enrollment increases and our current retention rate represent a very tangible “vote of approval” from our students.
We have some very impressive new or newly renovated facilities on campus, in particular, Agenstein-Remington Halls, new Athletic Facilities, and the new Residence Hall.

Our accreditation outcomes have been universally positive, most recently including prestigious AACSB International accreditation for the Craig School of Business.  

On a daily basis, I am made aware of meaningful student, faculty, and staff accomplishments. Moreover, the testimonials that I hear from people who hire our students make me very proud.

Finally, our community is tremendously supportive of this university. I cannot tell you how many people from this community make a concerted effort to tell me that Western is a huge, transformational factor in this community.

In closing, no doubt we face some financial challenges. However, we need to continue to build on our considerable strengths, our important goal of educational access without compromising academic excellence and our unique mission of applied learning. If we continue to do this, I am convinced that we will transcend our hopefully temporary financial difficulties and have a very bright future.

I lost count of how many instructors complained about budget cuts while we built the G.I.S.C. and a Spring Sports Complex. Western’s investment into those projects was minimal and the result of a student approved fee, the Chiefs and proactive people. Thanks, in large part to the Max Experience fee and the $5.5 million bond it funds, we got the Chiefs. Thanks to the Chiefs, we got a $3 million Spring Sports Complex, an improved football stadium, and a $10 million indoor facility that will pay for itself and then some.

Western got all of that for $1.2 million in student fees. I am one of multiple students that found summer work through training camp. I was also one of several that were fortunate enough to secure an internship with the Chiefs. Without a proactive Athletic Director that got more attention for an arrest than the money and positive attention he brought to Western, none of us would have had those once in a lifetime opportunities.

If you look at it in the most negative sense, the Max fee is an athletic tax. What other tax allows everyone that pays it to, at their discretion; reap the benefits of the tax? Any student that paid a Max fee can benefit directly from what it provides.

What other student fee has brought national attention to our campus and benefited students and the community? The $105 I paid this semester because three of my classes were in computer labs did not get me an internship. Did the $300 full-time students pay yearly for Facilities Access generate over $13 million in facility improvements in one year? What exposure, job opportunities and revenue came from the $100 full-time students pay a year in SGA fees?

A full-time student pays $120 for Max over a school year. If you never took advantage of the concessions or bringing family members to games with Max, you could get your money back in 12 games. If you don’t have time to make it to 12 games over the course of the year, you probably don’t have time to be a full-time student.

If you can’t go to games or just aren’t interested then look at what improved athletic facilities do for a university. When the athletic department went to students and asked them what they could do, the students said that athletic facilities played a major role in their college choice. It’s also no secret, that successful athletics attract more private donations to universities and increase exposure. Do you think many employers in Kansas City knew about Northwest Missouri State before their football team started popping up on ESPN every year?

Like it or not, high-quality athletics brings more money to a university, which benefits everyone. If sports are good and the facilities are attractive, more people want to donate and more students want to attend. Ask officials at MU, who saw their biggest increase in applications ever after the success of the 2007 football team, what athletics can do for a university. I bet none of them are whining.

Western’s Convocation on Critical Issues is one of the best programs our campus offers. This year’s speaker, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will likely continue the convocation’s tradition of presenting different opinions and ideas on the issues of the day, as he should.

But, free speech functions best when engaged by others who see the world differently.

Considering what Gingrich has said in recent months, it seems appropriate to enter the fray.

In May, 09 he called Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor a “racist,” urging her to withdraw. Her sin: suggesting that judges interpret facts and circumstances, drawing on their background of life experiences–the “wise Latina woman” remark. Shocking!

Too much for Gingrich, who said her words made her unfit to serve and a “racist.”

When former Justice Sandra O’Connor said something similar years earlier, there was little controversy. She is a white, conservative Republican.

Gingrich’s travels since have been equally enlightening. He called President Obama the most “radical” president in American history (see: To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular Socialist Machine); compared supporters of an Islamic Center near ground zero in New York to Nazis; said President Obama holds a “Kenyan Anti-Colonial Worldview,” calling it “the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior;” and just last week at a college in Iowa, Gingrich said: “The other thing you have to do is figure out how you’re going to take on political correctness in universities…They only recruit people who are nuts. You end up with people who are so far left that they are literally not in contact with reality.”

Oh really?

Sure, “red meat” and Iowa are important for wannabe presidential candidates like Gingrich, but he still ought to be challenged to explain these extreme views.

If Obama healthcare (which is not government-run healthcare) is “socialism,” then what about Social Security, Pell Grants, and federal disaster assistance? What is public money for the Chiefs training facilities? What is the Bush bailout of Wall Street?

Equating supporters of an Islamic culture center in New York to placing a swastika near a synagogue is a hateful smear. This coming from someone who endorses greater property rights, but evidently not when owned by Muslims.

Just who is the real “radical” here? And the “Kenyan worldview”? Does anyone believe these comments have nothing to do with the president’s skin color, his father’s ancestry, or another pathetic effort to inject racial fear into politics?

Call it what it is: coded speech that Obama is a Black Muslim from Africa and not an American. And finally, the “nuts” in universities comment, a larger conspiracy I presume, to fully indoctrinate students? I’ve never been on a faculty search committee where a candidates’ political views were discussed or asked. McCarthyism lives!

Gingrich is not the first (nor the last) politician to exaggerate, confuse, and frighten.

We live in a world dominated by the superficial, short attention spans, and less interest ing thinking about public affairs and useful solutions, and Gingrich is not the first (or last) politician to exaggerate, confuse, and frighten. Far better to demonize people, their ideas and backgrounds.

What’s disappointing most about Gingrich is that he can appear to be a man of ideas, intellect, and genuine curiosity, who in the end succumbs to the debased poison of politics.

Maybe he’ll come to Western and try a new approach, but don’t hold your breath. One can only hope to see a few microphones in the aisle at the convocation, providing an opportunity for others to engage and challenge Gingrich.

That would make this year’s convocation even better.

These people are not heroes; they merely read lines from a script.

Some of these actors do admirable things off the set, but if I adopted a child from overseas, would you want my autograph?

Speaking of autographs, what a stupid thing to want, somebody’s signature on a piece of paper.

People hang pictures signed by actors and sports players on their walls.

When I wad into a house that has an autographed picture hanging, I lose all respect for that person.

The first pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s baby were sold for 18 million dollars; that shows the stupidity of the American Public.

I’ll gladly sell pictures of my first born for 18 million. I have spiked hair and a six-pack, but nobody wants to see them because I’m not the star of Fight Club.

I don’t know this person, why would I want anything from him.

I wouldn’t even care to converse with him unless I’m getting paid for my time. If I had a napkin signed by Brad Pitt,

I would blow my nose with it and sell it for double the price.

I don’t put anyone above myself.

I have self-confidence and I’m secure with myself. I don’t feel the need to idol worship.

I know a girl that aspires to be Paris Hilton; what a wonderful idol. She has money, no brains, and sexual escapades posted all over the Internet.

What’s the world coming to when people are admired for being completely clueless and having no common sense, Is this a part of the American Dream too?

I consider myself to be fairly intelligent and I honestly feel like I lose a few thousand-brain cells every time I watch that whore on television.

I think if someone is going to worship an idol it should be someone they know with some common sense of right and wrong.

Someone that has sacrificed themselves for the good of mankind or saved a life is considered an idol to me.

We need to teach the nest generation to look up to people that actually make a difference in this world.

I would rather meet a surgeon that has saved thousands of lives than the girl that takes the male organ well on the Internet, like Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton.

I want my children to look up to doctors, teachers, and philanthropists.

I don’t want my kids running around looking like idiot’s, trying to get the autograph of a sexual deviant.

Many people blame the Islamic religion and the Muslims for 9/11, but that’s just not so, 9/11 was committed by fundamentalist passions of a small group of lunatics. The term fundamentalist is widely misused in the media to refer to terrorists who happen to be Muslim. Calling a Muslim a terrorist is completely inaccurate because fundamentalist Islam is simply a conservative wing.

Muslim fundamentalists are devout people who stringently follow the teachings of Mohammed and encourage Islamic law as the law of the state. Muslim fundamentalists view the United States as secular, ungodly, self-indulgent and obsessed with sex; which they believe is ruining the world.

Jones is the leader of a tiny, unintelligible church in Gainesville, Fla., who sparked world-wide anger over his wannabe five minutes of fame. Even though Jones had announced on NBC that he would not burn the Quran, the wrath he seemed desired to stir had already taken shape.

Ignorance like this is cause for more bloodshed. Furthermore, it puts our troops still in Iraq and Afghanistan, in immediate danger.
Jones is not the only American with this kind of mentality toward the Islamic religion and Muslims. No one should speak with hatred of a religion, it creates more hate, violence and unnecessary killing.

Terror is the opposite of religion. It is brutal, merciless and calls for bloodshed and misery. People with a fascist, communist, racist or materialistic outlook on life should be considered terrorists.

“Islamic terror” is a mistaken concept that distorts the message of Islam. The religion of Islam by no means supports terrorism and terror is considered a sin in the Islamic religion. Muslims resent these kinds of acts and are only concerned about bringing peace and justice to the world.

We can thank the media for implying there’s a relationship between terrorism and Muslims. Almost every report on 9/11 and thereafter, used the words “Islam”, fundamentalists, “Muslims” and “terrorism”, all in the same breath.

How about their media? There’s not much to it and what little information they do get isn’t U.S. friendly, making it easier to generate falsehoods about the American people.
Jones is a jack-ass and simpleton with very little knowledge of what he speaks against.

This one man has taken an already tense situation and created a larger scale of worldwide hatred toward Americans.

Are we still wondering why we are hated so much?

However, on Sept. 10, that is exactly where you would have seen two of the top 8-man football teams in the state. St. Joseph Christian and Stanberry started their game at St. Joseph Christian’s campus, but by late in the second quarter, sever weather had forced the game to be delayed.

Instead of waiting for the weather to pass to finish the game, the two teams and their fans, loaded up onto buses and into cars and headed to Missouri Western. The game would be finished under the lights of the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.

In Missouri 8-man football, the field is 80 yards long and only 40 yards wide. Therefore, they had to make some adjustments to make the field the same as the outdoor field they just came from. There was no sideline on one side of the field and the 20-yard line was the goal line at the east end of the field.

Now, the question becomes, how can two 8-man football teams play a game on the field, but Western’s own students aren’t allowed onto the field?

Students pay fees to have access to the Looney Complex and the Baker Center each semester and the two facilities arguably don’t suffer much in damages.

If the administration is afraid of the facilities being damaged, they can simply allow students to only use the field and not the other areas like the training rooms and conference rooms. Most students on campus are mature enough to know that if you want to be able to use something, then you have to show that you are responsible enough to take care of the facility.

Another solution would be to increase the fee to use the facilities to cover maintenance and general expenses. Students would most likely accept paying just a little bit more in fees to be able to go spend time with their friends at the indoor and relieve some stress by playing a game of football or soccer.

On the other hand, it is also understandable that the administration, as well as the athletic department, don’t want brand new facilities being torn up or damaged. The Chiefs use the facility when they are here for training camp and only use it when there is inclement weather such as rain or heat.

According to an interview with KQ2, Athletic Director, Dave Williams said there are ideas floating around that a rental fee may be instituted to allow groups to rent out the field area to use whenever available. Student organizations can reserve the indoor complex, but it is unclear

However, this also doesn’t apply to students who don’t belong to an organization because the figure that is being thought about is around $1,500. Not many students have an extra $1,500 laying around to rent out the field to get a few friends together to play football or soccer for a couple of hours.

As of right now, the indoor complex is an auxiliary budget that is just sitting unused by the bulk of the students on campus. The football team uses the indoor complex for practices and various other things, but this is only a small percentage of the students on campus.

Western’s Student Government Association will be hosting an open house today from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. to welcome students to the indoor complex.

However, this seems hypocritical because of the fact that students aren’t allowed on the field after the open house is over.

See the PDF version of The Griffon News for a visual layout.

Going to Western, you could say that I took the road less travelled. As much as I hate Cliché’s though, I feel like Robert Frost was a Griffon.

Sure, I could have gone to Mizzou, walk a mile to sit in a class with over 200 students and all the professor knows is my student ID number. If a college degree were a product, then would a degree from Mizzou be worth less in the real world.

I mean, there’s more of them floating around. But, everyone reading this knows that college isn’t about that piece of paper that Dr. Vartabedian is going to hand us. It’s about more, something that can’t be written on a piece of paper, even this one.

What I’m saying is that at Western, my education is unique. I have gotten more out of my first year here, than I would have at any other school. I certainly have achieved more, but it’s not because I’m an extraordinary student.

At Western, there’s just a lot of room to grow. I mean, the campus is literally surrounded by green pastures and as campus grows, so do the students.

Western is in a unique period of change, Pax Griffona you could call it. We are in such a peaceful and prosperous era that the campus is constantly changing. In my first year I’ve seen 3 buildings pop out the ground.

Now, for a journalist, this time is very exciting. Any period of change is a wonderful opportunity for us to examine and report. But it’s also exciting for all students.

At no other school could you not only take the road less travelled, but you have the freedom to make this education your own. Take what you want from your classes, because not at all schools could you do that.

Like all good things though, they must come to an end. I fear that on that day; western will have become another Mizzou. With slightly bigger class sizes, more dorms, and even more students, the best of both worlds closes to a finish.

What does this mean for The Griffon News and you, our readers? I can’t tell you that The Griffon News will do everything to help facilitate growth, or even hinder.

I can’t tell you that we won’t miss some of the details. I can promise though, that our front page may as well be a front row seat to the best show on campus. So, all I can ask is that you keep reading.
Have a wonderful semester.

If you’re like many students, group projects make you anxious and downright frustrated. Why do professors assign these dreaded projects? Well, I get why; they want us to learn what it is like to work in a group, like in the so called “real world.” It’s a great concept and if all team members had the same goal it wouldn’t be so bad but here is the biggest problem. All the professors have assigned them at the end of the semester! With your class schedule, work schedule and life schedule, who can meet around four to five other student’s schedules? It’s like trying to coral a bunch of three-year-old kids into a straight line; it just doesn’t work and if it does it can only last for a short moment.

Not to mention you always have that one person who just doesn’t seem to care about his/her grade, therefore you pick up the slack because you do.
Real world group projects are different than those in the classroom.

First of all, you’re getting paid. Don’t get me wrong, our education experience is our payment, trite but true.

Second, in the real world you are working with people who value their jobs and are skilled in what they do; making the team flow as a unit instead of as frantic students just trying to finish the semester.

Third, if you are working on a project through your job you can all usually find time to meet during business hours, so to not interrupt your already chaotic schedule.
Fourth, projects in the real world are not typically assigned by three or four different managers and due in the same week.

So, I know the “group project” is not going to go away but I just ask that professors consider not assigning all of them at the end of the semester, which can have an even greater outcome if they don’t. If you do your “group project” in the beginning, you can actually get to know the other students earlier in the semester; rather than when it is almost over.

Sure, I’m a nice guy and always willing to make a new friend, and yes, I just said most people suck, but it’s true. It’s like society is nothing but a giant popularity contest. Look at the social networking going on. Face book has a nicest person contest, how ironic.

Just a few minutes ago a couple of girls were talking. I don’t know them real well, but they are as familiar with me as I am them. It’s Monday, and one of them said, “I can’t wait for this week to be over.” I was trying to give thoughtful response by saying, “Hey, cheer up it just got started and something great is coming your way this week.” One of those girls gave me the dirtiest look ever and both of them walked away without even acknowledging me. WTF! On more than this one occasion I can think of numerous outcomes like this.

I’m not real sure what’s going on anymore, but I know the world would be a better place if people would lighten up a little bit. I’ve stopped trying to fit this “social norm” thing. As a matter of fact, I’ve denied it completely and gone out of my way to be the opposite.

No one has a better relationship than I do. My girlfriend and I live a life of self entertainment. We do things just to make others talk because it’s so much effing fun. For example, one day we went to the thrift store and I decided to walk with a cane I had in my car. I didn’t need the cane I was just being silly and she went along with me. I was limping on the cane around the store looking at stuff when she walked by me real fast and kicked the cane out from under me. I faked a fall to the floor and started muttering things like, “You damn kids have no respect anymore.” There was an older lady close by just looking on in disbelief, but my girlfriend and I never cracked a smile until we left the store. Then we laughed so hard we were crying.

That doesn’t compare much to the time I wrapped myself up in a garbage bag by the curb and jumped out of it when the garbage guys came to pick it up. Everyone should try stuff like this and stop being so serious all the time. I can guarantee a memorable relationship. We still have great conversations and laugh about things we did a long time ago.

So go ahead, keep living with your pants in a wad trying to fit in this so-called perfect world. While you talk about how stupid you think we are being, we will be laughing about how much fun we are having not worrying about what you think.

There has been one great lesson that has stuck with me this semester. I took a special topics English course for my literature requirement. The theme was “People, Place and Power” which, unintentionally, made me focus on my remaining time here. The class focused on the relationship between the three ideals and it posed the question to me about my place here at Missouri Western.

I’ve been comfortable here. I’m known amongst the students. I’ve worked in so many different aspects here whether it be with my fraternity, SGA, the Griffon News or my photography work with the local music scene. I’ve carved out a niche that I am proud of.

My grades weren’t always there and there were times that I wavered, but I always remembered my place and the power that I’ve got from here. That was my motivation. I always wanted Missouri Western to be as proud of me as I am of her.

Fellow students and future alum, I leave you with the following words. Enjoy your time here. Get involved with things that YOU want to get involved with. Find your place here and make sure that you feel comfortable with it. This is your orientation for the rest of your life.

After a fun-filled weekend of camping and hunting, George Henderson (John Lithgow), his wife Nancy (Melinda Dillon) and their children Ernie (Josh Rudoy) and Sarah (Margaret Langrick) make their way back to Seattle, only to accidentally run over the legendary Bigfoot (Kevin Peter Hall). Bringing him home, the Henderson’s fears turn to compassion for the surprisingly gentle beast. But with the authorities, not to mention crazed hunter Jacque LaFleur (David Suchet) looking for him, the Henderson’s work with renowned Bigfoot expert Dr. Wrightwood (Don Ameche) to return “Harry” to his rightful home before society gets their filthy paws on him.

For a 1987 comedy, “Harry and the Hendersons” is a rather sweet hearted piece of filmmaking and one of the best family films to come out of the decade. Much of the credit can go to William Dear, director and co-writer alongside William E. Martin and Ezra D. Rappaport. Forgoing the harder, cynical edge akin to the 1980s, Dear and his collaborators have crafted an emotionally powerful designed to pull on your heartstrings and make you genuinely care about Harry, who bears virtually no resemblance to the fanged, bloodthirsty beasts akin to such films as the pseudo-documentary “The Legend of Boggy Creek” and the crap-tastic Canadian horror film “The Untold.”

While Dear, Martin and Rappaport may have laid down the foundation for the character, much of Harry’s effectiveness can be credited to the actor, Kevin Peter Hall, and the makeup creator, Rick Baker. Standing 7’2” tall, Hall was certainly the right choice for the role from a physical standpoint, but is in his acting that he carves a niche for himself. Watching the film, it is clear that Hall is actually putting thought and creativity behind his performance, capturing Harry’s innocence, frustration and compassion equally well. For further proof of his acting talent, look no further than “Predator,” with Hall dominating and intimidating as the head-hunting title character.

While the name might not ring a bell, Rick Baker’s work is iconic. “An American Werewolf in London,” “Men in Black,” “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” and “Star Wars” just to name a few. For all his work, Baker has thus far won six Oscars and reportedly considers “Harry and the Hendersons,” one of the six winners, to be one of his proudest accomplishments. One look at the suit and I can see why; not only does it look incredibly realistic, but the mechanical effects used to create Harry’s facial expressions are flawless, creating a visual image that, in my opinion, is far more effective than 90% of the digital effects from the past 10 to 15 years.

While the previously mentioned are the key players, everyone else brings their A-game to the film. Lithgow, one of the most underrated actors in the past 20 years, is perfect as the harried family man stuck in the most unusual of situations. To see him go from utter fear of Harry to genuine affection is emotionally satisfying. Dillon, Rudy and Langrick are fine with what they have to do, Ameche helps to ground the film in reality and Suchet provides camp laughs as the cruel Jacque.

In terms of flaws, the film has a few. For starters, the family’s change of heart towards Harry is initially a bit hard to swallow, especially given the massive damage he does to their house. Certain elements of the film, particularly the side characters and authority figures, are rather juvenile and detract from an otherwise intelligent film, while the sentimentality occasionally veers into campiness. It should also be noted that by family film, I refer to a film that both children and adults can watch and enjoy. With that in mind, the film does contain a considerable amount of profanity from most if not all of the characters, including Rudoy’s eight or nine year old character. While I find nothing wrong with it, parents may want to pre-screen the film and decide for themselves whether or not to show it to their children.

In conclusion, “Harry and the Hendersons” is a wonderful, heartwarming experience that is not to be missed. While part of my love might come from my childhood memories of sitting in the living room laughing incessantly for the nearly two hour running time over and over again, I tried to be objective upon revisiting the film for the first time in years. While I did identify some minor flaws, overall I found that the film more than lived up to my memories, sporting a solid cast, tight direction, impressive writing, and fantastic special effects, not to mention a great score by Bruce Broughton. I only hope that, if I am ever blessed with children, I can show them the films that I grew up with, and this one is definitely on the top of that list. Highly recommended.

In the five semesters that I have been an opinions editor I have practically begged to hear your voice in these pages and at most I got one or two letters to the editor a semester.

Oh, sure, people love to gripe and bitch when they are gathered in smoke circles and around the water cooler, but when given a chance to make their voices heard in way that might make a difference, suddenly mum is the word.

Well for me, the bird is the word and that is the bird I am flipping you all for your apathy and laziness. It is not like I haven’t shown that I will print nearly anything in the two pages I have reign over. I have rambled on an average of 2000 words a week and you have sat silent. I have professed a litany of things both profane and outrageous and you have played the mime.

Despite what people told me couldn’t be done, I did. I printed the word “Fuck” and the word “Cunt” and have made references to killing Albert Pugol and smashing infant heads with a hammer and sodomizing you with all sorts of common household implements. Yet still the silence carried on.

I was inspired in my first semester back to school as a non-traditional student by the words of Bob Bergland when he said that college newspaper writing would be the most free place I could find as a journalist due to the fact that we are not slaves to our advertisers. The first amendment being what it is, this meant I could write and print whatever I wanted. So I did.

It was you, the student body, who let me down. This could have been a great forum where intellect and dissent came together to find solutions to real world problems, but it didn’t.

I blame you. I know I certainly busted my balls bringing you the truth as it occurred to me, but instead of taking part you just sat silent.

That is why I hate you all.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Well, I hate to say it, but I’m pretty damn sure there’s a whole lot of fear floating around in these United States, 2010 edition. The people are worried, losing faith, and waiting for the Doomsday Clock to reach Midnight. We are also currently at a “Yellow” threat level, elevated, that is. On all domestic and international flights, the threat level is set at “Orange”, a color which easily radiates feelings of high insecurity.

Personally, I do not fear the terrorists. I fear the people in charge who decided that it would be best to label any organization with an ideology contrasting their own as a group of “terrorists”. What’s that? Oh, they’ve only gone so far as to extend that detrimental label onto Middle-Eastern extremists? Guess I’ve got nothing to worry about here, eh? The United States certainly doesn’t harbor any terrorist groups, using fear and mass confusion to dig their stakes into society, crippling them from within to instill control and gain power. Wait, what? Honestly, I’ve never heard of a more terrifying group of fear mongers than the United States government, using positively every tactic they can to keep people scared of the outside world and dependent on their corruption.

I really couldn’t believe that the so-called “threat level” was still stuck at elevated when I checked the Department of Homeland Security website today. It’s been years since we’ve fallen victim to a domestic attack, although there apparently have been attempts at destruction made by some of what I call “classic terrorists”, fooling around with their shoes on airplanes and such. Luckily, nothing those attempts amounted to nothing in the end. America has been very secure, for the most part.

September 11, 2001 proved to be the best tool to get people to cower in the basement, looking up to the strong government for a helping hand. What the people got instead was a list of crap they should go out and buy for protection, a steady stream of anti-middle-eastern news, and a color-coded chart to determine how scared you should be on any given day. It was as if the government was screaming “You know where you are? You’re in the Jungle, baby! Now you’re gonna diiiiiiie!”

The scary part of the government’s liberal use of words relating to terrorism is that they don’t pin down a certain group or organization as the enemy. It’s simply the “terrorists”. With a broad enemy label like that, anyone the government doesn’t like or any group that has conflicting viewpoints with those in charge could eventually be labeled terrorists. Don’t believe me? I remember a few years back, a bill entitled “H.R. 1955” or the “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007” was going to start targeting United States citizens that could prove to be a threat against the status quo. Suddenly, if you expressed an opinion that asserted a distrust of the U.S. government, or maybe even just had a thought process like “Maybe I should get ready for when Uncle Sam turns the tables on us” you could be called a terrorist, arrested, and thrown into prison. The bill wasn’t reported on as much as you might expect, which simply reflects the power of government over the media.

If enough people knew about such a thing and cared, there would be a full-scale riot across America. Luckily, I don’t believe it passed, if that even matters. Regardless of if a bill like that was passed, it wouldn’t stop the CIA or FBI or whoever from kicking down your door in the middle of the night with a sleeper crew to keep your ass quiet.

Fortunately, that expresses the double sided coin of what Thomas Jefferson was saying about fear and the government. Clearly, the government is scared enough of its own people that it’s making moves to keep them down and out of the game. On the same token, the government fears this because the people are living in fear of the government. Apparently, based on Jefferson’s assumption, we are living in a sordid mixture of tyranny and freedom. Both sides of the conflict, the government itself and the mass of citizens can smell the terrible changes coming.

The funny part is that the government wouldn’t have to watch over its shoulder for an angry mob if it hadn’t cultivated all the excess fear in the first place. What I love is that those government employees who live among the public are also coming to distrust their bosses. A growing group of current soldiers, policemen, fire-fighters, and veterans are banding together in a group called the “Oath Keepers”, who pledge to uphold the Constitution, and disobey orders that they feel are unconstitutional or work against American citizens. Groups like this really illuminate the shit-storm we are heading into, but God bless them for it. I just pray that they last long enough before being thrown into prison for being “homegrown terrorists”.

This wasn’t unexpected, my grandmother fell recently—she was 93-years-old and her health had been failing her for some time now. Still, it isn’t easy when someone you care about gets to this stage of life.

My family and I packed up the car that night, so that we could leave early in the morning, that didn’t happen.

I rented a car using Travelocity for pickup at 7am on Saturday, hoping to get to the Atlanta, GA, area by 9pm local time.

I am sure many of you are unfamiliar with renting a car because many companies have policies restricting use by people under 25. Let me educate you on the main policy that applies to most people—they only take credit cards, not credit-branded debit cards (sort of).

You always need a credit card, with available funds, not funds that you think are available. I made a payment to my Discover Card hoping to use it for this trip. Nope. The $200 payment was put in limbo, I found out later, because the payment was made after 5pm Eastern, that’s a great policy for Discover card holders in California, way to go Discover. Anyway, I made the reservation and went to pick up the car at 7am, like I had scheduled. No again. Long story short I called Discover and they authorized a force charge on the funds that I needed to rent the car and provide me with an authorization code for the required amount.

In steps Alamo, they are willing to work with me the entire time, bless them. I end up waiting for almost two additional hours as three people try to force the transaction through their wonderful computer system. Every one of them tries and fails repeatedly. Frustrated as he worked the third person finally says, “You don’t have another card do you?”

“Only my debit card,” I said.

And after all that time and frustration, he tells me that he will just use the debit card and explain why he is using it in the notation field. I know I stood there in stunned disbelief as the first person returned to finish the transaction. It turns out that many rental car companies have gone to a policy of selectively allowing debit card transactions. Alamo’s official policy is that you need to show an itinerary for air, boat or train travel, weird.

Three hours after we started, we finally got on the road for a, roughly 14 hour slice of heaven in the mid-size Pontiac Vibe.

The trip was haphazardly planned and packed for, got off to a bang and ended up being a whirlwind 60 or so hours long, about 30 of that was spent in the car—with a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old both of whom handled the trip very well.

It was my grandmother so I know I was short with them several times and I have since apologized.

The highlight of the trip was probably spent in the bathroom of a Chick-fil-a restaurant. My little girl needed to go potty; it was my turn to take her. We went into the men’s room, which always starts a line of questioning.

When we get in there, we’re alone. Sophie is sitting there and a man comes in the room.

“Is that a boy Daddy,” she asks.

“Yes, that’s probably a boy,” I say.

“Is he going potty,” she asks.

“Yes, he’s probably going potty,” I say.

“Is he gonna hold his hot dog,” she asks, loudly.

As I am stifling laughter I tell her that yes, he will probably hold his hotdog to go potty as I hear him quickly leave.

Three-year-olds have a natural ability of saying things, without trying, to make you laugh even when you weren’t in the mood.

Near the end of March, it was announced that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, having already achieved cinematic gold with “The Dark Knight” and “Watchmen,” have secured the rights to Godzilla from Toho, the studio responsible for 28 G-flicks from 1954 to 2004. Suffice to say, a flood of fan fury has swept the internet.
In preparation for this article, I intended to jump into said flood but, realizing that millions of others would have already polluted it, decided to be a bit more rational. Instead of a profanity-laced rant, this lifelong fan of the Big G will develop a five-point wish list for the new film, in the hopes that the Hollywood execs in charge might actually care what the fans want and will try to satisfy them.

The first point to be made just happens to be the most important one; don’t mess up Godzilla. Anyone who remembers the fallout from the 1998 remake knows that the one thing that bothered people more than anything was that Godzilla was a powerless CGI iguana easily killed by the military. If Warner Bros. wants to avoid a repeat of the past, they’d be wise to keep Godzilla as a radioactive, fire-breathing dinosaur portrayed by a stuntman in a rubber suit stomping around miniature sets.

Point number two is that the film must stay true to the spirit of the original series. As created by Tomoyuki Tanaka in 1954, Godzilla was a physical representation of the horrors of nuclear power and mankind’s obsession with power. While the sequels kept that metaphor going to varying degrees, Emmerich and Devlin tossed it out the window completely, along with Godzilla’s heat ray and invincibility. Let’s not let that happen again.

My third point is as follows: People love seeing Godzilla kick the unholy crap out of other monsters. The new film would most certainly earn some goodwill with the fan base by bringing other monsters into the equation. If the filmmakers were really smart, they would avoid making new monsters and just stick with the classics: the three-headed death dragon King Ghidorah, the cyborg Gigan, MechaGodzilla, the alien-Godzilla hybrid SpaceGodzilla, and the mutated pre-cambrian monster known as Destroyer.

For point number four, I implore Hollywood to not Americanize the film. Godzilla is to Japan what Apple Pie is to America; the two are inseparable and to try and change that defeats the whole purpose. Emmerich’s remake replaced the likes of Akihiko Hirata’s Dr. Serizawa and Megumi Odaka’s Miki Saguesa with Matthew Broderick’s worm guy and Hank Azaria’s goofball cameraman. Nothing against Broderick and Azaria, but American actors don’t belong in a Godzilla film.

Finally, I will make my fifth point, which is that this movie must be made by real filmmakers. Now, I’m not saying that Warner Bros. must hire someone on the level of Martin Scorcese, but whoever is hired to make the new Godzilla has to be able to make a good movie with three-dimensional characters and strong storytelling, a fun movie with plenty of monster face time and destruction and, above all else, respect the series and its millions of fans. By that logic, Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers and Paul W.S. Anderson must be kept as far away from this movie as possible.

Now that I have made my points, the question still lingers; does this movie have the potential to be good? Personally, I am not particularly optimistic about it and with good reason. Even 12 years later, the 1998 remake still fills me with rage. I can’t help but be cynical. However, with “The Dark Knight” and “Watchmen” under their utility belt, not to mention “Clash of The Titans,” the tag team of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures has a solid track record of making great films and satisfying the fan base. If anyone can pull it off, it’s these guys.

In closing, I hope that what I have shared with you faithful readers will shed some light on why this franchise has been going strong for 50 plus years and give you the right criteria by which to judge this new film. At the very least, there’s one thing I know certain. Even if the new Godzilla films turns out to be unfathomably bad, it’ll still be better than that 1998 clusterfuck.

None of the above is true. April Fool’s!

On April 1, 1990, the universe played the biggest joke on me that it had ever played in my 18 years of life. I moved to St. Joseph, Mo., on that day. After that I started to see a special significance to April Fool’s Day that I had not seen before. I also realized that life’s sense of humor was indeed a dark one.

Don’t get me wrong, before 1990 I had loved April Fool’s Day. I was the first to step and pull an outrageous prank like planting ketchup packets under the seats of every toilet in school, or filling my friends convertible with popcorn. To this day I still call into work every April 1 to tell them I quit just before I show up and say “April Fool’s” with a laugh and a smile. This could be my favorite holiday just behind Halloween. Let’s face it, pranks are fun.

Also, this is a special day that glorifies the fool. Unlike America, where glorify the fool every time we turn on the T.V. Much of the world leaves that for this one special day. I have always loved the fool as a concept and it is probably my favorite tarot card. I, myself, love being a fool because it means that I can always keep learning. Besides, fools really know how to laugh; loud laughs, not the nervous snicker that the rest of society pulls off. I think the fool truly does deserve his day.

So this year, step up the prank pulling. Remember this for a day that may have sprung for the tales of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and has spread across the world. It is the day to slap the April Fish on your buddies’ backs. On this day in history the Aleutian earthquake hit 7.8 and the Royal Air Force was created. It was the day when Day Light Savings time was introduced in the U.S.S.R and the day when the Netherlands legalized same-sex marriages. It is the birthday of rapper Method Man and Chief Justice Samuel Alito. It is the day that Marvin Gaye died. It is right at the beginning of spring and the world is giving you another chance at another year. It is great to walk the world like a fool with no cares and no worries.

So go be a fool.

Pull a prank.

Happy April Fool’s day

Up until the late sixties, women in comics, even the super powered ones like the Phantom Lady or Liberty Belle, were often only portrayed in positions of weakness. Thousands of panels and pages of ladies bound to train tracks or saw machines were created so the male superhero had someone to rescue. Every hero had a Lois Lane, a girl with great courage but not enough sensibilities to keep her out of danger. Even the heroines needed a ‘him’ to complete the picture, which is sad, considering that Wonder Woman found her way into the world’s imagination in 1941 and was in constant need of her non-powered paramour Steve Trevor to be there to save her.

With this being March and therefore, Women’s History month, it is a good time to stop and look at the great girls that have made it into icons in the medium of the superhero mythos. I have selected six super woman to present to you, the reader, as a way paying tribute to female furies of the funny books. They are superheroes and they are women. Hear them roar, see them soar.
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The simple fact is that women are the mothers of man. That alone makes them more noble than any machismo laden act of daring performed by man. In the dawn of humanity we showed a much more spiritual reverence for the matron of our lives. We lived in caves and worshipped the earth mother who kept us warm and safe from the monsters outside. Back then, a woman’s wisdom meant something greater than we understand today. Back then, being blonde put you in the company of Aphrodite and Athena.

Now we live in the dying days of the patriarchy. For such a long time the world has been run by the thinking that although you saved the women and children first they were not as important as the man. Women have been disregarded and made to play the role of victim throughout literature and all of history. Though there have been the Joan of Arc and Jane Austen types, the last two thousand years have seen a bit of dark ages for the ladies of the world. It is sad really.

We still live in a world where half the folk think the other half are the weaker sex. We still live in a world of sex slavery and the cliteroctomy. Women, themselves, still believe everything they are told by a beauty industry that hates them. We should be living in a world where the woman is worshipped as the life giver that she is.

If I can get down to the crude science of it then I might suggest that the female of the species is the biologically superior creature when it comes to complex biological systems. It all comes down to number of holes. The simpler an organism, the less holes it has for things like respiration, digestion, excretion and reproduction. Simple life forms like the hydra have one hole which they do the whole shebang through. Earthworms have an entrance at one end and an exit at the other end. Males of the higher mammal order have a hole for eating and drinking, one hole for solid excretion and one hole that handles both liquid waste and reproductive materials. The female has all that and a separate tract for urination and reproduction. The female therefore is the more evolved and biologically complex organism.

Yes, I may be a man and many of my gender brethren may be calling me traitor right now, but it is time to cast off the foolish notion that boys are better than girls. It is time to say “word to you mother.” I know that if I were stranded on an island I would rather be surrounded by women than men. In fact I think that would be alright. So here is to the ladies. In the words of another great lover of the ladies “giggity, giggity goo!”

I’m still learning the ropes here at MWSU, as this is my first semester here. It almost seems like a different world since the last time I started college. Before all I did was roll out of my loft, pull a brush through my hair, brush my teeth and grab a coffee and zombie walk to class. I am now awoken at 8 a.m. every morning, whether I like it or not, to fix myself and Ayden breakfast, get a quick shower in, get dressed and then get Ayden dressed. Then hustle to the baby sitter and get to class by (on most days) 10 a.m.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg it seems. With Ayden, checking my e-mail has always been…a challenge, to say the least. She sees a button…it’s got to be pushed. Guess what? The same holds true for writing any other document. Come to think of it, any time the laptop is even sitting open. If I have a book open she always wants to read it and if it’s sitting on my lap, she’ll sit on the book if I don’t read it to her. She has the “If I ain’t reading ain’t nobody reading!” mentality and she’s a toddler. Fabulous, she’s already sassier than most adults. I love when she helps but somehow I don’t know that she can help me with my paper, seeing as how she can’t read. Lucky for me, she’s asleep right now.

If you know me at all, which most of you probably don’t, but if you do, you know Ayden is the sweetest little girl around. She loves to play and she’s generally a happy kid but just in the last week has had a pretty stellar double ear infection. She never cries like that unless she’s sick and I knew something was wrong the minute she started in. I think they call those “maternal instincts.” On top of that, I have been battling bronchitis myself so it’s been a rough week, to say the very least.

I know I’m certainly not the only mom on campus. I can think of at least three off the top of my head right now. No shock there, people have kids and go back to school. That’s why we’re lucky MWSU is so considerate of non-traditional students to have, from what I hear, a pretty nice daycare facility on campus.

Something I would have utilized had not been so lazy over Christmas break and gotten around to making a couple calls. This isn’t my way of saying “feel sorry for me.” I’m simply telling you how it is for a single mom…did I mention that? Yeah, it’s just me. Luckily, I have an awesome family to help out.

One thing this town loves is a new eatery. If there is some place different to grab a bite of a new kind of grub then that is the place to be in old Joe Town. It is refreshing to see that after a bombardment of soulless chain restaurants multiplying across the belt highway a local small
business can still put out the best taste in new dining opportunities. It is great to know that at the corner of Patee street and 10th you can find the culinary delight of the Salsa Dog.

Photo | Dan Donan

“I retired from the post office almost two years ago now and I have owned the building for 18 years,” Wilson said.

“I let it sit vacant and rented it out and never knew what I was going to do with it,” Wilson said. “I never knew why I held on to it. I guess this is why. Through the Food Channel and food shows I tried to cipher from my knowledge what St. Joe had and didn’t have and what it needed and this is what I came up with.”

This is the kind of place that could save the economy. With six part-time employees it could grow into a chain to feed the city. Wilson is man with ideas and a vision of growth.

“I am looking at several options,” Wilson said. “Maybe expanding this building. I am also looking at some other locations on the belt or other high traffic areas.”

I suggested they come to the college.

If you are a quality consumer of the tube steak like I am, then you should know this is the kind of place you can go to get a classic Chicago Dog. Or I might suggest their latest creation. “The latest one we have come up with is called the Alamo Dog and I think it is by far the best hot dog we have,” Wilson said.

Tabby King, manager, has a different favorite. “I like the St. Joe Dog.” Wilson said.

“It has the homemade chili and the homemade salsa on it.”

King has been delighted by the reactions of their customers.

“They love it. I haven’t had one bad remark ever,” King said.

While I was last there I even disturbed random customers to get their opinion of what they had eaten. Turns out that Salsa Dog is already drawing customers on a regional level.

John McNally, an out-of-towner, made the drive north to try these delicious dogs. “We are from Kansas City,” McNally said.

“This is the first time we have been in here. We have a friend in lives in St. Joe and she recommended four places I had to eat here, and this place was one of them. I highly recommend the Alamo Dog.”

I even force-fed a few fellow employees at Plaza 8 just to spread the gospel of the greatness that is Salsa Dog. Justin Peacock, senior at Western, had a large dog with nacho cheese. “It was good!” Peacock said. “The actual hot dog was good. I see myself eating there again.”

Kenzie Hampton, Western freshman, had a small dog with nacho cheese. “It actually is really good and I normally don’t eat hot dogs,” Hampton said.

Brandon Hankins, Central High senior, consumed a large dog and some chips and cheese. “It was amazing. I love it,” Hankins said.

Western sophomore and fellow staff writer, Nick Merrill, actually ate the Alamo Dog and a side of baked beans. All he could say afterward was “Salsa Dog got me.”

With a growing client base we can hope that Salsa Dog is here to stay because the day of the dog has come. Already, Wilson knows they have impressed some names on the local market. “Johnson Control, St. Joe Distributing, Boehringer, those have been some of our major customers,” Wilson said. “They all have quite an order when they call and they appreciate us being able to come out there and deliver.”
That’s right. They deliver .

So what are you waiting for? Get some.

Last year around this time I tried to delve into various forms of media submersion and psychedelics in an attempt to try and tell what 2009 had in store for us. Wasn’t that far off, but I wasn’t right either.

For 2010, the year of the tiger, I will not be so haughty as to try and predict the immediate future. However, I will say that we are clearly in a time of change and choice, and the choices we make now will affect changes that will be tremendously felt further down the road. So this year I will predict the outcome of two paths that end in the year 2050. These are the paths of the far left and far right.

On one hand we have a path before us that runs to too far right. But where does it end? I am not certain where it ends; most likely in nuclear devastation when you consider how much firepower is out there. But here is where I see it taking us by 2050.

The great wall of America stands 100 feet tall and stretches across all of the southern border and most of the north. The National Citizens Registry tracks all its accounts through peoples’ headphones. There is no privacy anymore. In fact, the word privacy doesn’t even exist. There are little taxes but the national government provides no services outside of national defense. The military machine is mighty. The free market reigns over all and the human soul is traded like stocks and bonds. Anything you want can be bought but if you don’t have the cash, no one cares.

The road on the far left still passes the 2050 milepost and here is what I think that looks like; the one world union has stripped people of the idea of competition nationalism and fat people have been eliminated through years of a regimented eugenics program. The government takes care of your needs for sustenance and everyone has a place in the great machine. Bad words have been eliminated and so has free thought. People no longer think of themselves as individuals and work for the great hive mind. Conformity is the essence of life.

In both of these futures, one thing stands common: the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

I say screw both the left and the right and blaze on forward into the center of the future.

I think it is time for us to look at the choices we have before us and realize that this bi-partisan bullshit is not working well. We are too big of a country now for just two ways of working. And no matter if we are ready or not, change is coming and the question has to ask if we as a people want to have our future set for us by two dueling cocks in the capitol.

It seems absurd and just unreasonable to me to be so opposed to finding a middle ground. I’ve seen these kinds of splits happen in many different forms throughout my life, through divorce, friendships and really any other type of relationship I’ve ever been a part of. Never have I witnessed it solve anything, because, it is easy to let a small split in opinion grow considerably without even knowing it. For example, a clash of opinion with your significant other regarding creationism versus evolution can balloon into a complete deterioration of the relationship.

You may think two minds so set in their beliefs may never be able to find a reasonable solution. Not true, real feelings become lost in a blind ignorance of one life-long belief. It’s not about God or evolution anymore, it becomes more about pride in your belief, not who is right or wrong. When such disputes do occur, no matter how small or big, it is imperative that you take a step back from pride, and use logical reasoning as well.

Does it really matter to you that someone shares a differing opinion than your own, or is it simply the principle of the matter ? (That you are right and they are wrong). Does that mean you shouldn’t associate with them at all? Well let me tell you, I have buried a parent, my grandparents and friends all with some type of regret or overall feeling of stupidity due to something petty I may have disagreed with them over. My father and I rarely agreed on much, however, after he passed away, I realized that just because I didn’t agree with what he said, did not mean HE was wrong and I was right. Instead, I found there is no right or wrong, his opinion belonged to him and mine belongs to me.

Opinion is one of the only pure forms of expression still left, and to let it break apart relationships instead of build them is no longer acceptable to me. Everyone at this school or anywhere else in the world holds differing opinions regarding just about everything, and my goal with this article is to help you understand how important it is to discuss these splits in opinion openly and without projecting judgment. Rather than letting opinions repel you away from one another, let them propel you closer. After all, you can learn much more from a person who communicates opinions opposite of yours. So spread your figurative wings and explore new ideas. Even if you don’t agree with the person, it is important to respect their voice in our society.

Opinions no longer hold any value in the afterlife, but they hold a tremendous effect while we are still stuck here on earth. Do you think God will judge us for voting republican or democrat? Naw, I don’t think so, so why do we think it is okay for us to do? Campus is full of varying individuals and we should treat them as such, for they are not wrong and you are not right. Perhaps instead of reacting in disgust and disbelief that someone may not agree with your views on society, or anything else for that matter, I ask you to accept that opinion, as just that, a mere opinion, and I hope you would try and understand why there could be such a split between ideals.

I ask you to state your opinions freely but also to take others opinions as they are, do not assume, do not judge and do not force a split between the two beliefs. It is imperative to me that we shrink this imaginary gap of varying notions and bring all types of people together not for having the SAME opinion but standing together just for simply HAVING an opinion. No longer should right or wrong ever be considered in a view point, except, listen and respect others.
After all, they do say opposites attract, so let’s erase this invisible split and meet one another in the middle so to speak. I’ll be kicked back with my feet up waiting for you all to meet me there. For real.

The artists, musicians and actors of Potter Hall might be known for getting down quite passionately but do it in a small elevator, one of the smallest on campus. When you step into it, first thing you might notice is that it takes a long time for the door to close. Like the act of opening up to you, or shedding the clothes, deserves applause even before the performance. Which once that begins, you feel the movement immediately, it quickly responds, makes a rushing noise and then it is over. Seven seconds and it is over and it takes another six seconds for the door to open, once again, it makes you feel like it is waiting for applause. At least it is very clean.

If the elevators are any indicator, the athletes of the Looney Sports complex are quite eager. Doors open right up and close right away. That elevator is ready to get down. You feel the drop and the hustle with a little bump at the end. It is the quickest ride on campus.
Wilson building has a tiny little elevator that takes 10 seconds to open the doors after you press the button.

There is no sound or movement at all, just a slight hiss and a little shimmy at the end.

The scientists of the Agenstein building might be the elevator with the most personality. The doors jump right open, it rattles and its big. It promises 4 floors but only takes you to three. A slight bit of motion, a strong fan, a squeak and shake and one final bump and it is over. It takes a while for the door to open like a lover that does not want to let you go.

The Blum Student Union has a smooth opening door, clean and new on the inside. It varies in the riding style with a little bump and slight motion, a shuffling feeling to begin with, and a big bump and a small bump at the end.

Spratt is newer and fancier and has the largest capacities. Door closes with a creak. The ride is very smooth with slight inertia. It rumbles at the end. Popplewell is really slow. It is slow to open and slow to make its move. It is tiny and old. There is no lifting feeling but a slight roar with a big bump at the end.

Murphy is newer and clean , gives a hiss and a grind with little feeling of movement and the final bump is small with a creaky door to let you out. The Hearnes center makes grinding noise with no post bump, a little rattling and looks the rattiest. Eder hall is big and old. You feel the shuffle, and there is one final bump as it slows down, you can feel the deceleration.

This was a significant historical event that should be honored the world over. This is not just a day that Germans should be concerned with. This was a day when history was rewritten, and the map was redrawn.

Kids these days don’t remember the influence the cold war had on daily life. In the modern world of terrorist extremism, most people forget the power of the red spectre that haunted so many nightmares.

Most people my fathers age, those from the ‘Duck and Cover” generation, were raised with the menace of the Red Scare and appreciate the falling wall for what it is worth. They remember a time when people whispered, “Better dead than red.” Kids today have no sense of history.

It makes me want to gouge their eyes with dirty syringes. If we fail to learn from and appreciate history, we risk losing what little culture we have left. You would think in a time of such grand globalism that we might make a holiday of the fall of the Berlin Wall but no, we have national Speak like a Pirate day and National Coming Out Day.

When I was 11 years old, I had a chance to see the wall while it was still strong. It was massive and dark and made me feel worried that I could pass to the other side and never get a chance to see my family ever again.

I peeked through the gates and saw a world of grey and depression. I saw a world without hope. Today, that has all changed, and I think it is sad that we don’t celebrate it.
Cheers to the fall of the wall.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that 37,000 Americans die of normal influenza annually, yet only 10,000 worldwide have died of the novel swine flu. With a global death toll estimated at anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000, that makes the normal flu at least 25 times more deadly than the swine flu you’ve been programmed to fear so much.

More than thirty years ago, Americans were encouraged to get jabbed en masse for a coming outbreak of swine flu. Known officially as the 1976 swine flu outbreak for a time, it’s now referred to as the “swine flu debacle.” At least 525 people that received the swine flu vaccine developed the paralyzing Guillain-Barré syndrome, and at least 25 of them died from the disease. But the benefits outweigh the risk—right? Well, the swine flu only killed one person back then, making the vaccine at least 525 times deadlier than the disease itself.

So why are swine flu shots being pushed again? There’s an old Latin saying, “cui bono,” which is the next question. The people vaccinated in ‘76 sure received no benefit, unless never having to work again because you’re wheelchair-bound for life counts. But, I’m sure the pharmaceutical company that made the swine flu vaccine made some good coin though. I wonder how much cash they’ll make from their next swine flu debacle.

I’ve heard it said in the news that the vaccine will be safe this time though. Europe and other countries have already begun giving the swine flu vaccine just weeks before we did, and they have assured their people of its safety. In fact, the U.K. Department of Health called it “extremely irresponsible” for people like me to suggest otherwise, and a spokesman noted that “40,000 doses of the vaccine which the swine flu vaccines are based on have been given without any safety concerns.”

I know some may think it sounded like the British health department was assuring the safety of the current swine flu vaccine, so I should probably translate the spokesman’s newspeak into plain English. If you look closely at his cryptic newspeak, you see he was actually speaking of a different vaccine that’s nowhere close to the vaccine you’ll get this Fall—and that the only guinea pig they’ll test that particular vaccine on is you.

And notice the fact that they say the vaccine was “given without any safety concerns.” They’ve just told you right to your face that they don’t care if their vaccine is safe—and I’m the one that’s “extremely irresponsible” am I?

Walking Dead was meant to be an ongoing story of human survival. It is all that and more. It is a masterpiece of human tragedy and triumph. It has tears and fears and thrills and chills and zombie children and even a few laughs, like when two American men talk about the NFL 6 months after the fall of society. This book is so brutally honest about the spirit of mankind and the horrors that we can survive that I want my 10-year-old son to read it when I think he is ready.

The most remarkable thing about this story and the thing most relevant to Halloween is the ongoing theme of the line in which a man becomes a monster. On Halloween, people put on masks and run around often portraying their true natures. In daily life, we put on masks to hide the scary and unpleasant thoughts from the world around us. In a time when the dead walk and mankind has fallen, people quickly become the monster inside.

When the veneer of society and civilization fall away what will you behave like? A man? Or a monster? When it comes down to protecting you and yours, how far would you go? Would you bite off a person’s nose? I would. Would you rip out their throat with your teeth? Would you become a monster to protect what you love?

The Walking Dead might just be the best thing I have read since Y the Last Man on Earth. I think I want the world to read it so much that I am going to run around biting people until everyone has read it and asked themselves the questions it begs you to ask yourself like; am I really living now? Or would I go that far? Would I survive?

Halloween is among us once again. The Great Pumpkin is walking the night with Sam Haine and a chill is creeping through the air. The spooky things have come to play and we love it. It is time to celebrate. It is a great time to treat yourself to a good read. If you like zombies and human drama and sad endings and real people and lots and lots of horrific violence, I would suggest the Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. Read it with horror and wonder.
Happy Halloween, folks and better yet, trick or treat!

My son is not a liar and neither have I ever beat my child. To question my parenting skills and pull a stunt like that was contradiction in its own skin. How can a homosexual question my parenting skills when it is obvious he will never be a parent? Do the math. One penis + one penis = a reproduction level of nil. I’m glad he is proud to be gay and I have nothing against gay people. However, I do have something against all the racial slams on audience members he was dishing out. He bashed blacks, Mexicans and Jews. I have a problem with both comedians using the “F” word and the “MF” word in literally every sentence of everything they said.

It is not necessary to make someone laugh. Talk about inappropriate, Ant made comments to audience members like, “Shut up, or I will come down there and stick my balls in your mouth.” Gee, that’s hysterical. Could you call this sexual harassment when he made this comment to a male audience member on more than one occasion? I was very disappointed with the way Ant belittled our university. He made several comments that it must be easy to get into our school considering we were all stupid. He disgraced our state flag by making fun of it. His crotch grabbing and simulation of oral sex with the microphone was disgusting and uncalled for. Quite a few audience members walked out on this performance and with good reason.

It may have not been the best decision on my behalf to have taken my kids to this comedy show, but I wouldn’t change a thing. A lot of the subject matter turned into conversation and questions with my kids at home allowing me to appropriately address these issues. I know for a fact that I was not the only person who found the material distasteful. There are so many things to laugh at in the world. It doesn’t take a cuss word in every sentence, and it doesn’t have to be so nasty. Ant? More like piss- ant if you ask me because he certainly pissed some people off. That is not funny.

I would like to note I made my son donate the twenty to breast cancer.

Look at the kids today and you can see it happening. No one is interested in the classics anymore, much less reading in general. History has become a thing of the past. Most teenagers cannot sit alone in their own thoughts for longer than a few seconds before they are reaching for their phones to fill the empty silence of their heads. At schools today kids are taught how to use tools to put the information in their hands but not how to figure the information out on their own. What happens when all the tools break?

Doesn’t the notion of becoming a nation of mental midgets terrify anyone else but me? Because I am scared. I am hiding behind locked doors, armed with pig flu and ready to take offensive against a country that is going rapidly retarded.

With dropping scores in science, math and reading, America is quickly falling out of its position as top of the world. These days we produce more leisure management and physical therapy majors in college than we do nuclear physicists. We are quickly replacing the Polish for being the butt of stupid jokes. We have even developed a perverse pride in our own stupidity. We love shows like America’s Dumbest Criminals and Jackass.

The true shame should be in the fact that everyone here is so much more privileged in the amount of information they can receive than the rest of our global brothers. You practically have to work not to learn in America, but somehow we still have so many that seem to do just that. The trouble becomes when the rest of the world decides they want to follow in our footsteps as they inevitably always do. Soon a “global dumbing” occurs that leaves us with a planet full of nitwits. How can this end well?

Something needs to happen to celebrate real intelligence in this country. Out on the internet is a post that invites you to challenge yourself by taking an eighth grade exam from 1895. I would fail. Most college students I know would fail. This can’t be a good sign.

I get that all you have to do is Google or KGB the answer these days. But what happens when the lights go out or when power fails? One thing more people might understand if they were better educated is the concept of entropy. All things break down, even the mighty world wide web. When that happens, wouldn’t it be nice if the kids of our country were able to know what to do without asking someone else? Keep in mind that the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow and the ones who end up getting to pick out your nursing homes.

Jesse West | Staff Writer

Case in point, let me bring up the last film I saw in theatres. “Pandorum,” the story of two astronauts awakening on a spaceship overrun by tribal aliens. If you’ve seen any sci-fi horror films in the last twenty years, nothing about “Pandorum” will surprise you. Astronauts waking out of hyper sleep to find something amiss? “Alien.” Creatures that hunt in tribes and have a system of honor? “Predator.” A lead character who goes crazy and turns on the others? “Event Horizon.” I could go on and on. “Pandorum” is a combination of all the films previously mentioned, but lacking the iconic characters, cool creatures and unforgettable moments that made those films classics.

Just five years ago, audiences were given “Saw,” a film that was a breath of fresh air with a very unique concept and a kind of villain no one had really ever seen before. It should’ve been great: a modern day classic that would be talked about for years to come. What went wrong? Perhaps more than any film in recent years, “Saw” and its sequels are the epitome of a pathetic phenomenon known as torture porn.

Let me be frank for a minute. I am by no means a prude when it comes to violence in horror films. I love watching Jason, Leatherface and Chucky stick cleavers, party horns and practically anything they can get their hands on into unsuspecting victims. The problem with “Saw” can be broken down twofold. First of all, these movies aren’t about crafting a genuinely scary movie; they’re about nothing but utter carnage and brutality relying on pure shock value to get business done.

To be fair, that pretty much describes the “Friday the 13th” films as well. They’re not the least bit scary. Now, here’s where the second problem with torture porn emerges. The people who made the “Friday the 13th” movies tried to have as much fun as they could which is why those films remain popular. Say what you will about Jason, but at least he knows how to have a good time. Jigsaw, on the other hand, is just depressing to watch.

Finally, let’s cut the crap and get down to the main problem plaguing the horror genre today. The overwhelming majority of them really, really suck. Take your pick. “Rob Zombie’s Halloween II,” the film that has Michael Myers seeing visions of a white horse. “Monster,” a monster movie that doesn’t even let the audience see the monster. “Prom Night,” the PG-13 remake in which none of the killings even take place at the prom. The list goes on and on and on to the point that it makes my brain want to explode like that poor bastard in “Scanners.”

Now, let me tell you what makes me even more furious. There are good horror movies out there. Just in the past few years, films like “Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon,” “[REC],” “Let The Right One In,” and “Laid to Rest” have all been fantastic films. I’m willing to bet none of you have even heard of these films before and for good reason; they don’t get theatrical releases. Despite being far and away better than 90 percent of what does get dumped in theatres, these films go straight to store shelves at Best Buy and Blockbuster where they tend to get ignored by the masses.

What can be done about this? Let’s send Hollywood a message. Don’t go out and spend ten bucks on “The Stepfather” remake that comes out this month; go to Best Buy and buy the 1987 original on DVD. Don’t let “Zombieland” bomb at the box office and then help “Saw VI” break box office records. And for the love of god, when April comes rolling around, don’t waste time on the new “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Get yourself a real horror film: something that’s slowly becoming more and more rare with each passing year.

See, this is how it starts; a big brained business man realizes that he wants to make every dollar he can and, therefore, not lose a single customer. Soon, the customer realizes that the business wants to go out of the way to win his wallet’s worth and then he becomes harder to please. He knows that he can he can get what he wants with bad behavior because some ass hat once came up with that silly slogan; the customer is always right. I wish I could find the originator of that piece of sycophantic rubbish and horrifically sodomize him with a high powered staple gun.

Customers now believe that they can get free stuff simply by making a big stink. I have seen some of the worst behavior rewarded with complimentary dinners. I have been berated for the lowliness of my station and watched the offending orifice end up with free service. Only the fear of the law and losing my job kept them from getting the reward they really deserved.

It comes to down to greed because businesses just don’t want to lose a single dollar. There comes a time when it must be said: “Your business is no longer needed. I have made enough money.” When I first started working in 1987, it was common to see a sign in a store that said, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” You just don’t see those signs anymore. It is a shame really.

Jobs that pay minimum wage are hard enough to want to keep without the rest of the world deciding that they will heap their disdain upon you just because you are on the bottom of the barrel. I hope and pray for a day when the mass mind of human consciousness sends a signal to the service industry that it is time to stand up and say, “Get off the cell phone while I am waiting on!” Long live the service industry revolution. Let the heads roll.

The simplest proof of this is in our front yards. A good neighbor is still determined by how neat and trim they keep their yards. In California alone, there is a massive use of water going to the sole purpose of watering the grass in yards that shouldn’t exist in such an arid environment anyway. Once this grass reaches a certain height, the owners of said property go out and mow it down. What was the point? If we really were interested in greening the world up, then we would just let the damn grass grow. But that would be unsightly.

When it comes down to it we are really too concerned with comfort and aesthetics to embrace a truly green lifestyle. Think about cars. We love cars, and while we may be finding ways to make cars more green, we avoid the idea of using animals to get us around again. Horseback takes a long time and it is hard on the rump. Zeppelins take too long to get from point A to point B and have a habit of bursting into flame. The fact is technology and progress just are not green things. No matter how we work to make them green, there is still some impact that is made on the environment around it.

It is all about how much compromise we can tolerate. Cars kill more people every year than swine flu, but we are not making people give up their keys. If a medicine had the same death rate as automobiles, then it would be yanked from the market. But no, we want our wheels. We are willing to turn our heads and accept a little sacrifice.

The truth is that to live green, we would still be running around playing “me Tarzan, you Jane,” while wearing loincloths and picking the flees from each others hair. The strong would survive and the weak would be wiped out. We wouldn’t have houses or game-stations or toilets or old people or cars or beds or phones. I am cool with that. Are you? I would miss the old people.

Look around campus: especially between Eder Hall and Murphy Hall. There are no more cigarette butts littering the ground because on Sept. 26, 2009, a few of the strong, proud non-traditional students and their kids got together on this Saturday morning to clean up the mess. There were even a couple of student spouses who don’t attend Missouri Western State University who got down on their hands and knees and picked these butts off the ground by hand.

Not only did it look terrible but it was also an attempt to protect our smoking rights on campus. Smokers should appreciate this effort and do more to respect nonsmokers.
It took almost three hours to clean these messes and it should be everyone’s responsibility to keep it that way. Several jokes were made between us about how littered the ground was with butts when there were ashtrays right next to the messes, how ridiculous.

This idea came from several concerned students and discussed within the Non-Traditional Student Association as a cleanup project. Former president of the NTSA, Amanda Daly, was the only active member involved in what was truly a productive movement in the better interest of the school for smokers and non-smokers alike.

Student Senator Mark Linebaugh and his wife Tanya were both deeply involved in helping. Mark has been a strong voice in trying to protect our rights.

Daly is largely responsible for putting everything together. She got the supplies and gave her best effort recruiting help for the project. Her kids were of great help as well.

It had rained the previous night so working conditions were awkward but everyone knew the importance of what was trying to be accomplished.

Deanna Sedlock is also a student here at Western and she got right down in the mud, along with kids, and gave it hell.

We took our personal time on a Saturday morning to do this. We have kids, jobs and other responsibilities that most other students do not have, but we did it for the sake of everyone at Western whether you smoke or not. We made the sacrifices in our personal lives to make this happen. We would appreciate everyone to be more considerate about where his or her spent cigarette butts are being disposed of.

We did our part to help protect the interest of others and ourselves.

Be courteous to non-smokers and show respect for the rights you temporarily have, because, if things keep going the way they are, you can say goodbye to smoking anywhere on the Western campus.

What is a student to do in such a situation? Starve? The cafeteria was open, but only with odd hours that weren’t convenient for everyone. If I couldn’t make it to the cafeteria in time, the food court and commons are closed then what? I am screwed. The only other option is to go off campus.

Missouri Western is known as a commuter campus. Everyone commutes because there is no food on campus during the weekend. The commons store was built for convenience. It would be convenient to get some snack food, laundry detergent or other items I might need on the weekend. The commons store is closed so I’ll have to go off campus or wait until Sunday night along with hundreds of other people.

I have wondered whom to blame on the lack of providing food on the weekends. Students can complain to Aramark, but, in order to solve the problem, there must be a solution. I understand that the weekend is the time to sleep in and be lazy, so no one wants to work. People need to eat on the weekend. How can we resolve this stressful problem? I know that no wants to hear it, but maybe students are to blame. Hear me out; students could work on the weekends. Earn some extra cash, eat some food and save on gas from leaving campus.

Now many of you may think, “What does health care reform have to do with me?” and that’s understandable. Why should you worry about rising health care costs and whether or not you’ll be able to afford it when you finally take your first step off campus onto the big stage we call life? You’re perfectly comfortable in your false sense of security and health and you want to continue in blissful ignorance. Who am I to tell you otherwise? I’m just another idiotic freshman trying to champion a cause, but let me lay a little knowledge onto those of you who are still reading.

According to Kaiser Permanente in 2007, the largest managed care organization in the United States, 20 percent of adults aged 19 to 29 (13 million) do not have healthcare and guess what? When you finish up your degree, you won’t either. You lose that nice, cozy cloak of health insurance which up until that last credit was either free or cheap. So you better keep your eyes open because if you happen to fall down a flight of stairs and break a rib, take an ambulance to the hospital emergency room, be treated and sent home, you are likely to receive a bill in excess of ten thousand dollars. Also for the added benefit of not having health care, the hospital will actually charge you more.

If you haven’t read a newspaper in the last year, then you may not have noticed that our country is in a recession and a recession means that we have fewer jobs, increased employee payment share and overall rising health care costs. For the class of 2009, companies expected to hire 22 percent fewer graduates according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Conditions have not improved for the class of 2010. Obama’s health care reform will make it possible for these graduates to have the health care that they need, that you need.

Obama’s plan takes steps to reform our system by expanding coverage, improving quality, lowering costs, honoring patient choice and holding insurance companies accountable. To keep people healthy and provide more efficient treatment, the plan promotes smart, preventative care. The Obama plan also stresses making critical investments in electronic health records technology that can reduce errors while insuring privacy and saving lives. No plan is perfect, but it’s certainly preferable to the current health care system.

Health care reform is and has been needed for a long time. We are finally on the precipice of affordable health care for all. As college students, we have the privilege and duty to fight for our futures and the futures of our families.

I have heard it said before that money is the root of all evil. I don’t buy that, even at a discount. Money is just a tool for measuring wealth. It is a tool just like a hammer, drill or a cement mixer. Tools are neither inherently good or evil; they simply are. The good or evil is in the hands and hearts of the people who use them. I can build a house or bash a baby’s skull with a hammer.

The evil that is often associated with money is simple greed. People simply want too much money. There is never a point where there is enough money to keep someone happy, not if they know that there is some more out there. Famed Indian activist, Mahatma Gandhi, once said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” If you think about it, there is enough money out there that we can all have a fair share if the top ten percent shared a small fraction of what they have.

Oh, no. I just made a statement that sounds like another evil: “Socialism.” That is certain to get everyone scared. I actually don’t think the law should do anything about the few greedy pigs who hold all the cash. Ethics should never be legislated and neither should commerce. But people should realize what an act of greed and selfishness it is to not want to share. People like that are bad people. If you piss off enough people, you tend to get what’s coming to you.

There is an American Indian proverb that goes something like this: “A Native American grandfather talking to his young grandson tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and hatred. “Which wolf will win, grandfather?” asks the young boy. “Whichever one I feed,” is the reply.””

We have so much, and the system that supports tells us we want to have more. If want is all we are feeding the wolf, then one day the wolf will only know want. On that day, I hope he bites us. Maybe then we can come to our senses and appreciate how much we already have.

The fact is that the American lifestyle of excess and ultimate comfort is making us greedy, sloth-like and spoiled. If something is not done about it soon ,we may end up as the metaphorical ass of the world. It starts with you. Ask yourself how many shoes do you really need? How many cars? How many houses? Because somewhere in the Sudan is a little boy happy to just have a roof.

It is not just at Missouri Western that this phenomenon is occurring, look at the big daddy of respected universities, Harvard, and you will find that since 2001, 15 of the 24 top administrative positions have had at least one change of who the person in power is. It is almost as if our television induced, 20-minute attention spans have now infected our powerful people’s desire to stay in one place, working for one company or supporting one idea. Say what you want about the immoral practices of the Mafia, but at least they have a concept of loyalty.

One of the things that I respect about the new university president, Vartabedian, is that when I have spoken with him about his plans, I can tell he is thinking about the big picture for the school and he has long-range plans. You don’t make long-range plans if you are planning on skipping out in a few years. When I talk to handsome Bobby V., I get the feeling that he is here to stay and that makes me feel secure.

The best sense of security I had was learning that Jeanne Daffron has been named the new Provost of the university. Now here is a person that has shown she can be depended upon to stick around and see things through. In fact she would get mad at me if I actually said how many years she has been working for Western, but believe me when I say it precedes the year that the Berlin Wall crumbled to the ground. She has played many roles in her time here and learned more than a few ropes. She knows who to talk to about what, and has a way about her that makes you want to smile. She has been on campus so long now it would not surprise me in the least to learn that she even cares about the brick and mortar in the walls as much as she cares about the student and administrative body.

The human body can only survive a heart transplant so many times, no matter how good the new heart is. Missouri Western could use a heart that sticks around for a while and from what I have experienced of Daffron, she is all heart. May that heart beat long and strong for many years to come. If Daffron is the heart for the tin-man of Western, then Vartabedian is the brains for the scarecrow, and you, the student, are the curious girl and her little dog, too. Lucky for you, I have the courage of the loin when it comes to writing the truth and I am here to roar for you. It is starting to feel like Missouri Western is finally ready to follow the yellow brick road.

I learned old fashioned table manners mostly at Granny’s table. She would react so quickly to a display of poor manners; you would wonder how you got to the living room, without your dinner, in such a flash.

Granny was serious, we had strict rules to adhere to, or we would be excused from the table. It wasn’t just my family either; almost everyone I knew had the same etiquette instilled from early childhood. I should probably mention that this was in the sixties and seventies, a generation ago.

Children of my generation learned proper table behavior at home and at school. Teachers ate with their classes and students displaying poor manners were sent to eat alone.

While the methods of teaching have changed over the decades, some things have been completely lost. Elementary schools should still teach proper etiquette and junior and high schools should enforce some mealtime rules of etiquette.

People today seem to have forgotten basic table manners. Go to any restaurant at dinner time and you too can be disgusted by the lack of respect some people have.
I do not understand why a person thinks everyone else wants to see their food while they’re chewing it. Listening to someone chew is just as gross. I don’t want to hear it or see it. Granny would have approached the disrespectful diners and explained how she would be ashamed if someone at her table were to eat like that.

Some of Granny’s rules are better left forgotten. Like making sure we separated the gristle from the end of the chicken legs and thighs for Jr., the Siamese cat. Jr. had better table manners than some people I see eating in public places, where other people eat.

Parents should go back to Granny’s way of teaching manners, because whatever method being used now is not working.

My grandchildren may not have great manners elsewhere, but at my table, they are polite, respectful and pleasant. Be it at my house or in a public restaurant, or even at family get-togethers.

Whenever anyone eats with even one other person, he or she should remember being at Granny’s table and behave as if they are. What is the golden rule of table manners?

Never eat in a way that might turn someone else’s stomach.

On Oct. 31 I was moved from Heartland hospital to Living Community of St. Joseph for extensive physical and occupational therapy.

I was greeted and admitted into the facility by people that I knew. One was the mother of a friend of mine and a chaplain that was a friend of the family. I knew immediately it was where I was supposed to be.

I remember that on each floor there were caged birds and I would have someone wheel me in the wheelchair out to see them when I first arrived.
It was here that miracles happened.

When I was first admitted two ladies had to use a hoyer lift to get me out of bed and into the wheelchair.

When I left, I was walking with a walker. I entered with a nice woman having to feed me and I left holding the fork myself.

My physical and occupational therapists cared about me and wanted to see me walk again. They went above and beyond what they had to do and spent a lot of time with me, some even off the clock. Every time I would be able to do something new they would get as excited as I would.

I became friends with several other people who lived there.

Several of the older people gave me their phone numbers to keep in contact. One of the lady’s daughters would pray with me in the morning. In December the family members of some of the people there bought me Christmas presents.

I enjoyed their company. The patients were always encouraging and they all told me I would get better.

I consider myself an independent person. Before this, if I wanted to do something or go somewhere, I just got into the car and drove there.

It was hard not to be able to do what used to be simple, everyday things. It is so easy to get angry in that situation and I am sorry to say I did get angry.

What calmed me down was what a chaplain at the hospital told me. She said that it is a gift to help others and a gift to receive that help.

I grew spiritually during this, even when I was angry, because I felt this condition was not fair to me (or anyone else) and that I was not strong enough to go through this.

Living Community had Mass every Saturday and worship service every Sunday which helped me quite a bit. I went to nearly every service, even during the week that was the darkest for me.

I can see now that I am strong enough to deal with this and that my God never left me.

The support of family, friends and those that started out as strangers has made a world of difference to me.

I have a new outlook on how caring, compassionate and loving people can be. But there were people at Living Community that did not get as many visitors as I did.

I can not stress enough how important it is for family and friends to visit people in nursing homes. It does make a difference in their lives.

The rats began to get freaky.

Scientific American wrote about it in article called Crowding into the Behavioral Sink.

The idea is that when overpopulation is reached bad things happen to the behavior of people. With rats, the results can vary from failure to breed or nurture the young properly, increased mortality rates across the board, infant cannibalism and abnormal sexual patterns. With people when they reach the population peak of any given area things result like increased transmission of diseases, and proliferation of mental disorders. Hyper -aggression is a factor in both humans and rats. The only working defense against the effect pull of the behavioral sink is in reducing the intensity and frequency of social interaction.

That being said, it should be noted that Missouri Western State University had an eight percent increase in campus population. Perhaps the question should be asked of if there is a need for new student housing?

Sure it seems that there is more than enough right now. We even have super singles rooms. But how long will that last? And do we really want to wait until the last minute to fix this particular problem? It seems like it would be the wiser choice to be ahead of the ball on this one. Missouri Western needs need student housing before the behavioral sink overflows. Before Beshears Hall becomes home to rampant crime, drug use and sodomy, housing must be built.

Already, there has been rises in crime rates and transmission of STDs. How much farther must the students of Missouri Western live on top of each other until someone opens the pocket book to buy new student housing? Must we get to the point of mothers eating their babies before we stop spending money on Chief’s training camps, incubators and statues, and start fixing the living situation on campus.

The little griffons are in a cage and the cage is full. It is time to let them spread their wings. After all are we not teaching them to fly? One might get the idea that we are just teaching them to stand in line. We are making more cogs for the machine with the bug in the system.

My first advisor was a professor in the Communications department, and she was fantastic. She helped in ensuring that my freshman year was varied and I took a wide range of subjects and core classes that made for a very interesting freshman year. She also helped start the process of deciding which major to choose. I had her in class as well and she was an interesting and thoughtful teacher. To this professor I offer my deepest thanks.

I switched advisors my sophomore year to a professor in the English department. I met her while she was teaching a class and enjoyed it so much I took another of her classes the following semester. This advisor has been instrumental in helping me decide my career path, and in the process has become a valued friend and mentor. She also encouraged me to participate in MWSU Study Abroad programs and thanks to her advice I was able to spend a great many months in London, England. To this professor I offer my deepest thanks.

At the end of my sophomore year I decided on becoming a Government and Public Affairs major and all the members of the department, including the head of the department have been a great help and value to me. These individuals have taught me well and have me love a subject I once thought nothing of. I have learned a great deal from them and hope to put my degree to some form of good use. To these professors I offer my deepest thanks.

In closing I urge all students to seek out their advisors and ask them for guidance! That is why you are assigned one. I think that most students tend to not realize the importance of having the help of these men and women who not only teach us but also have the ability to guide us through picking classes, majors and ultimately what we want to do with our lives.

Set in an alternate version of America circa 1985, the film opens with the murder of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a former costumed hero known for his brutal, often vile tactics. Sensing a plot to eliminate the Watchmen, the deranged vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) sets out to recruit former comrades Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) in order to find out who has it in for the Watchmen and why.

First of all, kudos to everyone involved; it’s clear from frame one that the people making this film all had a tremendous respect and admiration for the source material. This was clearly a labor of love and much of the credit must go to Director Zack Snyder. With only two previous films to his credit, Snyder is proving himself a creative force to be reckoned with. The visuals are appropriately stylized and well-done, with the most iconic images from the book kept intact.

Furthermore, the script is quite good. Although the book, clocking in at 12 chapters, has been understandably condensed, screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse wisely stick close to the material, but at the same time do add their own touches of dark humor and deeper character moments that makes the film a genuinely creative interpretation rather than just a static copy of the book. Furthermore, the writers maintain the book’s key questions: why do heroes exist and what they would really be like. Without spoiling anything, the Watchmen aren’t law-abiding boy scouts. Whether it is attempted rape or mass murder, they cover all the bases and then some.

Speaking of which, the cast is spot on in portraying their characters. Ackerman, although clearly over her head, does an admirable job and looks great in leather. Goode, with his posh voice and dashing looks, is perfect as Ozymandias and actually manages to improve the character as he was in the book. Wilson, despite playing the most straightforward hero, keeps Nite Owl II interesting and charismatic. Despite being relegated to a voice by CGI, Crudup’s cryptic voice is an appropriate fit for Manhattan. Extra congrats goes to Morgan, who is not only dead on accurate as the Comedian, but also makes him a more human, complex figure.

Finally, there is Haley, who deserves the most praise. The task of portraying one of the most popular comic book heroes of all time is not an easy task, but Haley is more than up to the task. Every minute he’s onscreen Rorschach is a quietly disturbing presence, projecting an intense, deranged fury every time he opens his mouth. Combined with his Oscar-winning role in Little Children, Haley has made a fantastic comeback and his performance as Rorschach is right up there with Christian Bale’s Batman, Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Heath Ledger’s Joker as one of the all-time greatest performances in a comic book film.

As far as any negatives, there are a few. First, the dark, mean-spirited edge of the book is slightly dulled down. As a result, some key character moments are either lost or weakened. Also, scenes that use songs such as “I’m Your Boogeyman” and “Hallelujah” clash with the serious, gritty tone. Furthermore, the condensing of the story does open some plot holes, especially with regards to the finale, and some bits of backstory and history from some deleted scenes are forced elsewhere into the film. In all fairness, the fact that the filmmakers pulled off a film far better than it had any right to be makes up for these minor flaws.

Although not the revolutionary piece of work that the book was, the film version is certainly a worthy adaptation that remains faithful to the material while at the same time offering a different spin on the subject. The film should satisfy not only the die hard fans, but also the casual moviegoers in providing them a much harder-edged superhero tale than what they’re used. Along with “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight,” “Watchmen” completes a trifecta of comic book films that show a different side to the battle between good and evil. But in the world of the Watchmen, the concepts of good and evil aren’t so different.

I understand that if I weren’t calling in then that would be worse on the bosses because they are expecting me to be there. But it doesn’t make any difference at work; the people who have to pick up the slack will have to do the same amount of work whether or not I call in. And if you are a college student, the instructor will count you absent if you have passed the two free days you can miss. Now both of these will give you some slack if you bring in a doctor’s note.

I’m an adult; I shouldn’t have to bring in a doctor’s note.  This isn’t grade school anymore. If I miss it doesn’t matter if the note is there or not. But the system we live in has to have their notes.

First off, our parents always tell us that when we are adults we can do whatever we want to: LIARS! We can’t do whatever we want to. No, we have to be semi-responsible adults. Well you know what responsible adults do: they don’t act like they are in grade school; instead we take responsibility for ourselves. Well if you have a kid then you do have to be responsible for some else, but that is the only exception, Ever. If I call in sick, or just call in to take a day off, then my word or absence should be good enough.

Secondly, what I’m doing with that time is my business. If I’m spending it giving the porcelain idol yesterday’s food shine, then you don’t have to know that. Just like you don’t need to know if I called in, or skipped so I could go fishing or hanging out with friends or whatever it is I want to do. Instead, I keep expecting my instructors to say, “Time to get your moo juice, it’s nap time”, or ask me, “Where’s your doctor’s note?” We have a better responsibility to ourselves then to anyone else, unless you have a child.

Work and college are nothing more than grade schools for people that don’t have an education. We think are getting one when it’s called schooling. Well we aren’t, that’s the Problem, we aren’t educating anyone.

What we are getting when we are in college is a degree, not an education. That’s probably why Missouri Western gives all graduating seniors an exit test. That’s right you have to show the campus that you’ve learned something. Don’t look at my test scores and grades from all my classes that I’ve been working so hard in. No, you can’t tell anything from those. It would be sacrilege if that did occur.

I woke up at 8 in the morning with the ringing of my cell phone alarm clock and almost instantly my back felt like it was cramped. I stood up thinking maybe I was having trouble with pinched nerves. I did not have a clue as to what was really going on. I got out of bed because I thought it would help it go away. It did not help. When I laid back down, I got this feeling of nothingness in my arms and legs. It was not a pins-and-needle feeling, it was nothing. But instead of getting upset like most people would think would happen, I thought I was feeling better and just needed more sleep. I did fall asleep. When I woke up a few hours later, I could not move myself out of bed.

Thankfully, my mom was home and I told her before falling asleep that I did not feel right. She felt something was seriously wrong and called my dad. He came home. When I woke up, they were both there. My dad is a chiropractor and when I told him I could not move because of my back, he did a body balancing technique on me. It helped me a great deal. By the time the ambulance arrived, I was able to keep my upper body in a sitting position, as long as my dad sat me up first. When I got to Heartland they took a ton of blood and I was in the MRI machine for three hours. Each MRI scan took half an hour. After the MRI I was sent back to the emergency room to wait for the results. My dad made some comment about how my face looked red and I said it was because they microwaved me for three hours. Everybody laughed.

A doctor leaned over my bed, smiled, and told me I had transverse myelitis. I did not know what that meant so I asked her if I was going to die and she said no. She then left and I met the neurologist who, as I understand it, said this is inflammation of the myelin covering of the spinal nerves which interferes with the communication between the brain and body. This condition is rare and they do not know why it happens. Nobody in my family has had it. I was put on an IV form of a steroid for four hours for five days. The steroid would help reduce the inflammation of the nerves. I then took the pill form of the steroid for a period of time.

I ended up being at the hospital for 10 days. During that time I was paralyzed from the neck down. I met wonderful people. All the nurses were caring. The physical and occupational therapists had a good sense of humor. My social worker worked hard to get the paperwork straightened out. I am especially grateful for the support from my family, friends and professors. There are too many people who have helped me to name here. The smallest acts of kindness meant so much to me throughout this experience. For example, a male nursing student came in to feed me breakfast because I did not have the ability to grip a fork. His compassion and conversation meant a lot.

I was then sent to Living Community of St. Joseph which is a skilled nursing and therapy facility. I was there for two months. I will talk more about that in my next article.
I am blessed and thankful to God to be able to say I am doing much better. I walk with a cane and I was able to type this paper myself. I am expected to recover even more.

The reason I mention this is because I lashed out in certain ways to get attention. No, it was never the cops or drugs or anything. I challenged authority, much like most anarchists do. But I don’t really consider myself an anarchist, I think of myself as an antagonist.

I’m the person who fits into normal society, but either pushes buttons or doesn’t do anything at all. For me there is very little middle ground on most subjects. Of course middle ground, in my mind, isn’t the same thing as the gray area we always think of when we talk about life. Middle ground is that area where we all become comfortable with certain things and try not to rock the boat.

The reason we normally don’t try to rock the boat is that we don’t want to get wet ourselves, deal with a bunch of angry people and especially deal with the consequences of what we have done. That would have to be the biggest piece of fiction I have ever seen: don’t rock the boat.

Of course you want to rock the boat; we only listen to what’s going on when we have no other choice. Take a look at the economy. It’s rocking the boat for us right now and things are changing. When the boat is rocked, like with the economy, we try to find that comfortable middle ground we all love so much. We will sit down and discuss the best course of action, when we have no other choice.

So I say rock the boat, and rock it hard enough for us to tip over an aircraft carrier!

If you don’t believe me when I say we need to rock the boat as hard as we can all the time, just look at the unemployment rate in this country. It’s the worst it’s been since the great depression, and we need to do something before the unemployment rate is that comfortable middle ground.

That’s why President Barack Obama signed the stimulus package. He’s trying to get everything back to the way it was before the economy was dragged down by the housing market, with infrastructure, education and several other things, all of which do need to be fixed or changed, but never got the change they needed until the economy went bust.

Anyway, it’s the fact the boat is now rocking itself that is bringing about all the change we are seeing. The sad thing about this is I don’t think Obama would have been elected as President if the boat wasn’t rocking itself. Which is a shame, because we should have had more than one minority President by now, but the boat wasn’t rocking hard enough back then.

Only time will tell if he will be a good President or not, just like every other President we’ve had.

We are only as good as the antagonists that we have alongside us in our lives. These are the people that challenge us in ways that we could never hope to see, the people that make us look and either agree or disagree and defend our point of view, ethics and morals.

Antagonists are the real leaders in the world,follow their example. Go out and push buttons, just not that big red one. Nope, that one we need to leave alone.

I look at things differently and in a new perspective. My confidence level has dramatically grown and I’m developing social skills that I never knew were lacking so poorly until I stepped into college.

I have a more positive outlook on things from politics to personalities and it is easier for me to accept things for what they are.

My life has become manageable and I care about myself and other people more than I ever have.

I am certainly more organized than ever before. I still have some room for growth in this area but my organizational skills have been toned by college life.

I have noticed myself working a day planner and recognizing how much it can help manage my life, especially when setting goals.

Taking little steps each day has led to big things for me. I have accomplished more in these last three years in college than I have my entire life wandering around trying to figure it all out on my own.

I smile more and my thinking is clearer. I have above average reasoning skills and amazing powers of observation.

There is not one day that goes by that I’m not learning something new. Learning has a way of making me feel stupid sometimes because I am the only one in class who didn’t know the answer, but I will next time.

Everyone has different ways of learning. Personally, I’m a visual type of learner and a hands-on kind of person. Whichever way works for you is how you should approach it.
I have met some really cool people in school and my instructors have all been inspirational to me. They say you become a product of your environment and if this holds true I have faith in where I’m going.

Being a student here at Missouri Western State University has changed my life completely, and has reshaped every aspect of my ability to focus.

Not only am I getting a quality education but I am also getting to know myself better.

Family and friends have commented on my growth. I have been told how much smarter I sound when I talk and that my attitude is impressive.

Sure, I have a long way to go but this only kills the theory that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

I’m 40 years old and I could have easily given up after being hurt on the job, but I decided to go to college. I do regret not doing this sooner and the old saying “If I knew then what I know now,” applies here. However, it’s better to know now than never I suppose.

The best advice I could give to younger students is to pay attention to what the older people are telling them because they can save you a whole lot of time and heartache.

When I was younger I didn’t listen very well but now that I’m older it’s easy to look back on what I was being told and ask myself; “What was I thinking?”

I am not alone.

On the coasts of the left side of this country, they whisper omen of the great spreading fat virus to spread from the middle of the Bible Belt. Look around you and you spot at least one fat person within eyesight.

There are fat people everywhere.

Obesity has become a real problem in our country, and on our campus. It is kind of scary because when something becomes this big of a problem, the attempts to solve that problem often become extreme. It is hard to solve a problem when no one even really is sure of the causes for certain.

Surely it is our diet and lack of exercise that is the root of the problem, or is it? After all, what is the root of our diet and lack of exercise? Who is the bad guy here?

Certainly not the fat people themselves. I am one of them, and I know I am not a bad person. Is it my fault that someone has been handing me soda-pop since before they invented sippy cups? I was strung out on sugary syrup before I knew my left from my right. In my life time I have seen that diet soda drug dealer called the vending machine infiltrate our infrastructure to the point of being at least one on every square city block.

I have a radical French socialist friend who once told me that my country was drowning in the black waters of capitalism. He meant Pepsi-Cola. Maybe he is right.

It could be an economy driven on two job families has left no time to eat anything but the drive-thru drudgery that is certainly drugging us into complacency. The dinner time ritual has been sacrificed on the alter of big business and now we are all pumping up the pounds.

So who really is the bad guy? And how can we beat a problem when we cannot even pin the blame on the donkey. At this point, is the best we can hope for an understanding of this global growth of girth?

No one likes fat people too much, they breathe too heavily, they pant and sweat too much. They simply are just not that pleasing to look at. How long will it be before someone thinks of shipping us off in cattle cars on the way to fat camps?

Already there are talks of adjusting the prices that fat people pay for seats on planes. If it weren’t for smokers, fat people would probably be the number one cause of high health care costs. It is only getting worse.

It makes me think about the old Jewish stories I used to hear about the seven deadly enemies of mankind. It makes me wonder if Sloth and Gluttony have gotten married.
Obesity is a real problem.

This is just another day for a non-traditional student with kids. Waking up very early is routine. There are showers to be had and breakfast to be made. Not to mention any early morning fits to be dealt with at times. Some parents prefer to prepare lunch for their kids as well.

Recently my daughter was having a pre-teen crisis and put my parenting skills on high alert. I had to miss a couple of classes and focus on my home life and personal issues. Everyone knows that missing just one class can set you back forever, but the daily needs of children can never be put on hold.

After missing class and getting things at home settled down I pulled myself together and started to focus again. I set out on my way to the library to do some research for an assignment. I’m sitting at Belt and Fredrick waiting on the light to change and my car dies. I cranked and yanked and even screamed at the motor for mercy but got no reply. I had no other option but to call a tow truck and have it towed to a garage. It cost me almost the exact amount of money I had left to my name. So now my car is broke and so am I.

My youngest boy has a doctor’s appointment the next morning and now I’m wondering how I’m going to pull that off. To complicate matters even further he comes home with a note from the school nurse telling me he has to see a dentist soon for a decaying tooth.

My daughter’s teacher calls the very next morning and informs me that she has been lippy towards her and is not turning in her homework. I give her the old father and daughter talk and see her to the bus stop.

Now I find myself scrambling around calling friends for a ride to school. I get lucky and my day is saved. I have a good day at school but I realized that I had missed some work piled on top of new assignments and just a dose of stress washed down with anxiety.

I get home from school that day shortly before my kids get off the bus. I’m always excited to see my kids and I waited patiently for them to come home. My youngest boy comes crashing through the door and slams it. He’s shaking and crying. One of the kids on the bus picked a fight with him and as he was explaining to me what had happened my daughter comes in with a black eye ranting and raving about how she stood up for her brother and got punched.

Now I’m on the phone with the school and the bus company trying to get to the heart of the matter.

It is very hard trying to be a good parent and keep up with college life. My duties are overextended. I’m tired, frustrated, and stressed. I’m a non-traditional student here at Missouri Western State University trying to better the future for myself and my children no matter what the cost.

After a long day and the kids are in bed I quietly open the bedroom door and see them soundly sleeping. I cherish the moments when they tell me they love me. I have wonderful times of laughter when they say, or do, silly things.

I work harder and play less, but having my kids and putting in the extra effort is worth more than anything else to me.

Despite the presence of a Non-Traditional Student Association which works hard to support the needs of students with children, Western could easily take a few steps to accommodate any child that happens to need a restroom on campus.

As pointed out by a petition being circulated by students, just the installation of a changing table in several of the restrooms on campus would make a difference.

According to a campus announcement issued by the Office of Disability Services, the petition was spurred by numerous incidents of a similar nature. An intern witnessed students changing diapers at tables that also served as lunch tables and changing diapers on the restroom floor. Basically students were changing diapers where ever they could in the absence of a place designated to serve this need.

I took the liberty of researching the cost of a “commercial changing table,” so I Googled the term to do some comparison shopping. I found that I could locate various models for as little as $180, or as high as $400. But I’m a bargain hunter, so for my research I settled on a “Rubbermaid Commercial Sturdy Station 2 Changing Table” based on brand recognition and cost. It looked like the Cadillac of changing tables (you’ll note that I didn’t compare it to a Porsche, those were the ones in the $400 range. I’m trying to be fiscally responsible and realistic).

The changing tables go for $189.99 at www.reliablepaper.com but I’m going to round my figure up to $200 even though tax and shipping tends to be more.

In determining the cost of outfitting each of the ten main buildings on campus, we must factor in the need for two changing stations, one for both the men’s and women’s restrooms. So, at $400 per building, multiplied by the ten buildings—we’re looking at about $4000. Go ahead and call it $5000 when you factor in added costs and installation, then consider the investment.
I think the benefits outweigh the costs. I’d be more than happy to get started on bake sales, but I don’t think that would really do the trick. What we need is a wider arc of student and administration support.

Which brings me back to the petition; in order to support the cause, the Office for Disability for Services is offering the students an opportunity to “sign” the petition by emailing Micheal Ritter of disability services at mritter@missouriwestern.edu.

Not only would this help students with children, the installation of changing tables could be a benefit to faculty, visitors and prospective students. It would convey to parents that we are a university that accommodates the needs of a diverse campus.

Spoken language is something we monkeys are wired to pick up from birth; while written communication is something that has to be learned, something that isn’t quite so natural, but is an extension of that nature to speak. In today’s society the Internet has taken that oral part of brains, digitized and streamed it into YouTube.

We can now use Webcams to talk face to face from across the world, search YouTube for music videos, poetry readings, just about anything else you want to watch. We can stream it right into our living rooms from someone else’s in three minute clips.

We have been speaking our stories for longer than our memories can seem to stream.
Stacia Bensyl said that we have been doing poetry readings far longer than the Internet has been around. Which is true, we have been. It’s only just now that we can beat the 30 person capacity of a building, and not leave our comfortable messy homes everyone gets to see to hold our poetry readings.

We also get to have easier access to foreign languages in the classroom or in the home. It’s no longer challenging to find some clip of another language to use. “I think it’s easier in that it gives students a more direct view of that language and cultural aspect. It’s easier for them to grasp,” said Susie Hennessy.

No more VHS that only has specifics on it; now we can search for the specifics: a French poet to start off class or an entire class from a French student in France or Montreal, or whatever language the students want to learn.

There is more authenticity in learning a language now over YouTube, in seeing a person’s facial expressions over Webcam, instead of just hearing their voice over the phone. We can’t help but get back to the fireside.

The only thing we have to type in anymore is our passwords. No one has to leave their house to have a face to face meeting with their boss, board of directors, a class or even a conversation with a friend. We get to see their body language not just their voice.

This revolution in YouTube and other video sites and video conferencing has only taken place over the last few years. Gutenberg’s Printing Press didn’t take off over night either; it took years for people to learn how to read so they could get more printing presses built in other parts of the world. Now we can bring the world to us.

With everything so easily accessible from the Internet, we have become an agoraphobic culture locked in our houses and afraid to come out. When if we did step out, we’d gain understanding of the cultures of others in ways computers and the Internet will never be able to give us.

Really, I had better stop myself before I end up offending someone and getting the mobs with pitch-forks and torches to start howling for the blood of the Griffon News.

It just wouldn’t be politically correct to go on.

I have no patience for politically correct speech. I think the whole concept is another step for mankind’s descent to hell.

Are we, in this country, really so foreign to real hardships that we have to make speech into something more powerful than it is?

When I was a child, my parents and the teachers at my schools would tell me this little rhyme to put things into perspective; sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Has everyone forgotten that little ditty? Say the wrong thing these days and it can hurt so much worse than rocks or rods.

It can hurt your job, your wallet, your reputation, and even your freedom.

I bet Don Imus would have rather been beaten with a stick than had to go through the media circus gauntlet he had to go through.

Encarta defines Politically Correct as “deliberately avoiding offense: relating to or supporting the use of language or conduct that deliberately avoids giving offense, e.g. on the basis of ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”

But that is not all that it means.

For Stalin’s Russia, it meant saying things that don’t go against the party line.

Take a page from Mao Tse-tung’s little red book and you can find the origins of PC.

Political Correctness is just another form of censorship.

I get the concept; some words are offensive, like “cunt,” it is a terribly offensive word. I am not sure why it gets credit as the nasty of the nastiest, maybe it is the hard C at the beginning and the hard T at the end.
Maybe there should be someone to protect us all form that horrible word.

Maybe sparing people from the horror of hearing bad words should be the government’s job; after all they know what is best, right?

But doesn’t the First Amendment say something about free speech, even if it is bigoted and hateful?

Okay, so we let Big Brother tell us what words can hurt people. Cool.

It starts in the media and throughout the way people speak, next thing you know, people are burning Mark Twain.
Right-wing icon, President Ronald Reagan had a few cool things to say; one of those things was this: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

I wonder what words my child will be allowed to say by the time he is my age?

I hope he is still allowed to cry for help.

I hope he is still allowed to speak the truth.