Curtains

I was talking with a friend of mine about our surroundings inside at Ithaca College. The walls are all one color in at least every building I have been in. I understand why they do this, who would take the time or the money to paint them different colors. This is easily fixed in a dorm room. Buy some tape and stick some posters on your wall, then not only do you have some color, but you have character and home to your room. The one thing you cannot change are the curtains. I like a lot of light in my room and i would love to have the windows and curtains open all the time, but no matter what you do to these curtains they are still covering half of your window, that is a lot of light that I am missing out on.

Laundry

I have had the same laundry routine since I got to school. I get up at about 8 every Tuesday morning, go from the first floor to the third floor, put my laundry in the washer and go back upstairs to go back to bed. Then I get up a half and hour later and repeat. I choose to get up at 8 instead of fighting off everyone else in my dorm who choose to do laundry at a normal hour. There are three floors each with two wings that hold at least 19 students. Thats 114 students in Eastman hall who share two washing machines and three dryers. No wonder a friend of mine does her laundry at 2 in the morning and i get up on my day to sleep in. I think there should be a laundry room on the first and third floors and leave the kitchen to the second. Maybe only put on washer and two dryers in one of the rooms. No matter how they choose to do it, I think the laundry rooms need to be reevaluated.

Re: Why bosses are always right

This is in response to Chris's blog. I agree with Chris that working for someone and confronting them is very difficult. My boss is very very forgetful and my friends and I always have to tell her things over and over again and then write them down so that she remembers them. And even then she often doesn't get it right. We have had several occasions when one of us asked for the day off and that was the only day that week that we were on the schedule and then of course it was our job to find someone to cover the shift. How are we expected to respect her or want to work there if she runs her business like this? It is really sad because it is a great place to work and I always have a lot of fun. I just wish she were a little more approachable and organized.

Re: Registering for classes 2008

This is in response to Jordan's blog about registering. I agree that there should be tighter registration periods. However I do not think it should be done by credit. I worked very hard in high school and took the harder classes. But they were not AP courses. I graduated with 23 kids. My high school was to small and did not offer AP courses. So I didn't transfer in with any credits. I would have if my high school had offered. But it didn't. I think that organizing it by semesters completed would be better. No matter how they organize it someone is going to get screwed out of a classes. The same as housing, people are going to be mad if they don't get what they want, and it is very hard to get everyone what they want.

http://theithacan.org/am/publish/editorial/200803_Closing_doors.shtml

This article in this weeks Ithacan is about choosing the colleges new president. President Williams is leaving very soon and we are not even close to picking a qualified president. The article briefly talks about the two candidates for IC president. Neither have the experience or the liberal outlook one would choose to run a college like Ithaca. The article proposes picking the best of two evils for our president or extending the search. I really hope the committee chooses to extend the search. A president of a college is a very important position and we do not want to rush into a decision. It is much better to take longer and pick a better candidate then to choose blindly from two bad candidates just to get the search over with.

Locked Out

Unfortunately several times this semester a friend of mine has had uncontrollable asthma attacks and we have had to take her to the health center on campus. These asthma attacks have all occurred at night. Why is it that we have to buzz in to the health center, explain why we are there, stand at the door for a nurse to mossy on over, explain again what we are doing there, and then be let in? I am very disappointed with this system. On a college campus, where the night is the most likely time to need health care services, the students can not get that help very easily. My friend Diana can not take the trips to the health center alone because she would not be able to stand on her own, buzz in to the nurses, and explain why she is there over and over again. It just isn't possible, she would pass out. Luckily I have been available to go with her each time. I think that the Health Center should reconsider this "after hours" system.

Attendance policy

The writing department and I'm sure others on this and many other campuses have an attendance policy. I understand the appeal of making students go to class. That is what we are here for. However, I think that is should be a professors policy, not a departments policy. I have mono and I have been to every writing class because I don't want to use up my three absences. Because this is a department policy I don't have leeway on my attendance. If it were my professors policy then I could have a discussion with them and most likely get excused absences like I have in most of my other classes. I feel like in college we are in charge of how we learn and if a student can go to class for the exams and to turn in the homework and they can still get an acceptable grade then attendance shouldn't be mandatory. And if attendance is mandatory it should be the professors call, not the departments.

Shingles

One of my friends is really stressed out at her college. She has a very tough work load, she lives in a triple that should only be a double, and she doesn't get along with one of her roommates. Just before she left for spring break she noticed that her shoulders were really starting to hurt and she was getting a little bit of an unexplained rash. It went away a little bit over break but as it got closer to her going back to school, the rash started to creep up again. She went to the doctor the day she got back and found out that she has Shingles. My friends roommate that she doesn't get along with hasn't had Chickenpox yet, and Shingles is a form of Chickenpox, so my friend has to take all of these cautionary measures to ensure that her roommate is feeling alright and she doesn't get Chickenpox. This is causing my friend a great deal of stress. More then she had before. I do not agree that her roommate can make her do some of the things that she is asking her to do, like change only in the bathroom, and try to stay away from her. These are ridiculous measures that don't seem like they are going to make any difference. If the roommate has a real problem or she feels like she could get something from my friend then she needs to do something to make herself feel more comfortable and not demand all of these crazy things from my friend.

Re:Probation affecting Studying Abroad

This blog is in response to Chris's blog about study abroad. I am planning on study abroad in Ireland spring semester next year. I would be really angry if I were put on probation and couldn't go. I understand putting people on probation, but it isn't always a just thing. A few of my friends have been put on probation because they walked into a room where there was drinking, and one of them has never had anything to drink in her life. There is no way to know who is really doing something wrong in these situations. Being on probation sucks enough, but to take away the right to go abroad because of something that you might have been involved in is really harsh. I agree with Chris, I don't think that probation should have anything to do with the study abroad opportunity.

Re:Abstinence

This blog is in response to Jordan's Abstinence blog. I agree that teaching abstinence does not work. Although sex ed doesn't always work. My high school had a terrible sex ed course. It was one quarter long, the teacher wasn't very good or respected, and no one payed attention to what was being taught. Schools need to work harder to teach students about protection. The number of pregnancies in my high school was very high. I graduated with 24 kids and three of them were pregnant and one is again. I honestly believe that this wouldn't happen if our sex ed class had been better. This is a subject that really needs to be addressed very soon.

Re: Project 1

This blog is in response to Sean’s Project 1 blog. I agree with Sean. Having to write this paper made me read some things I wouldn’t have read if I hadn’t needed to write it, Mitt Romney’s withdrawal speech for example. I learned a lot about my own beliefs and the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. I knew about the differences between the two but reading speeches from the two parties is so much better then reading a text book that says this is what this party usually believes and this is what this other party usually believes. I was very happy with my ideals and myself after reading these speeches and writing this paper.

There is nothing wrong with being gay.

I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show a few days ago and she told a very disturbing, very sad story. A 15-year-old boy named Larry was killed by his classmate Brandon for being gay. Larry had asked Brandon to be his valentine a few days earlier and he killed him for it. Where do the signals get crossed that make a kid like Brandon think it is ok to kill a kid like Larry? Being gay is not wrong. If you don’t already, start paying attention to how often being gay is the punch line in everyday language. All the time I hear people calling things gay when it doesn’t make any sense. Just today I heard someone say that having an exam on the Friday before break is gay. Does that make sense to anyone? I don’t understand. Is your professor a homosexual? Is the test somehow a homosexual? Or are you saying that it makes you very happy to have a test on the Friday before break? I think not. It is not ok to make gay jokes. It is not ok to kill someone because they are gay. It is however ok to be gay.

Re: Are you getting enough sleep?

http://wkyu816.blogspot.com/

This blog is in response to Waimon's blog. I agree completely with what Waimon said about not getting enough sleep at college. One of my close friends had such a hectic schedule last semester with an 18 credit course load, field hockey and going out on the weekends, she rarely got more then four or five hours of sleep a night. Her ability to speak and think and work really suffered from this lack of sleep. I have to force myself to sleep each night so i get enough to function the next day, and even then i often drink two cups of coffee to get myself through the day. What are we doing that keeps us up at night and how do we stop it?

Re: Using handicapped parking passes that aren't yours, unethical?

This blog is in response to Rebecca's blog. I agree with everything she said. People should not use other people's handicapped passes. Its not the illegal part that I have a problem with, why would you take something away from someone who really needed it in order to be a little closer to the mall or grocery store. This society is getting more and more lazy, if we are lazy enough to take something health oriented from someone who really needs it, there is a serious problem. People should start thinking more about how their actions effect people before they do certain things.

Why I Don't Hate Britney

This blog is in response to the Evaluation argument we had to read for class, Why I Hate Britney. This article is written by a woman blaming the way women dress on celebrity figures such as Britney Spears. The woman argues that she does not want to have children for fear of having a girl and not being able to shield her from the terror that is sex. I will never understand the fear many Americans have of sexuality. Travel anywhere in Europe and you will come face to face with constant and appropriate human contact. Sex is everywhere and if we just learn to teach our youth about it and embrace that it is a part of life, it will become less of an issue. In the article the woman admits that it should be the parents, not celebrities, who teach their children morals and appropriate behavior. However, she immediately goes back to blaming celebrities and the media for showing the public sexual images and singing lyrics about sex. If parents and teachers start to teach the youth things about body image and sex, not abstinence, we will all be better off. I graduated in a class of 23 kids and two of them were on the stage with huge pregnant bellies. I honestly believe that if we had been taught about sex and what the appropriate approaches are to it, my girlfriends would have been baby free at the time of our graduation. Yes some people drop the hat and make mistakes but the way America approaches sex is all wrong. By being open and accepting the fact that sex happens whether Britney Spears is wearing some telling outfit or not our country and the world will be much better off.

Re: Gender Blind Housing

http://amry-amandas.blogspot.com/

I really like Amanda's blog about the Gender Neutral Housing. I am very happy that Ithaca College is going to offer such a new idea on on-campus housing. This college prides itself on the new business school being ahead of most campus buildings. IC is farther ahead with recycling and sustainability then many campuses in the United States. And it is refreshing that we are going to advance our acceptance of LGTB on campus. It is one thing to say that our campus is accepting, but it is even better when there is something to back up that claim. The Gender Neutral Housing is just that. I am proud to say that I am on a sustainable campus, but I am even more proud to say that my college is offering such an important right for people to be who they are no matter what.

To move or not to move?

One of my friends was recently approached by her roommate about moving out of their room. The unhappy roommate (roommate number two) told roommate number one that she was unhappy with their rooming situation and wanted her to move out. Roommate number one, being overly passive, agreed to move out, but said that she was going to wait for a room in the building that we live in. Roommate number two agreed to the terms but has not stopped pestering roommate number one about getting out of the room. I do not agree with this situation at all. I think that if roommate number two has a problem then she should be the one to move out, or be happy that roommate number one agreed to actually leave, even though she doesn't want to, and let it take as long as she wants it to. We signed roommate agreements at the start of first semester for this reason. Roommate number two can ask roommate number one to move out but politely and expect that when roommate number one agrees it will get done. But she can not be rude to her while they are in the room alone or leave hurtful remarks to her posted on the internet. People need to learn to respect other people and if they have a problem they need to be adult about dealing with it and not leave nasty remarks in their away messages.

Borrowing or stealing?

I just found out that my roommate has been using my computer without asking me. Whenever I am out of the room she goes on my computer and uses my Microsoft and my printer. When I confronted her about it she told me that I was overreacting because I had let her use it before, when she was in a hurry to get to class with and needed to print something out fast. I told her that using my computer when I am in the room and have given her permission is totally different then using it when I am not in the room and not giving me a heads up before or after she uses it. There are free labs on this campus and I know she knows where they are. I do not understand why she feels the need to use mine. She has not offered to by inc or paper to refill what she has used and I am not sure that I believe that she is going to stop using it. But she doesn't know how to affectively exit out of word... It's tricky on macs, so I guess we will see how it goes.

Tuition Scare

My roommate is new to Ithaca College this semester. She recently found out that a loan she needed to stay at this school was not going to come through. She found out when she got a letter from the bursars office saying, "You have ten days to locate the owed amount or you will be asked to leave Ithaca College." She didn't receive the letter until day two of her alloted time. I do not understand how Ithaca College can let something like unpaid tuition go unattended until my roommate only has ten days to get over seven thousand dollars and not get the letter to her until she only has eight days left. They did not offer her any advice or assistance. She was all on her own. I think that this issue needs to be addressed. If I am paying $40,000 a year and so are the other 6000 kids at IC there are no excuses for not offering struggling college kids help with financial aid and if IC really can't come up with that sort of support the least they can do is give her the full ten days, and not take up two of those days sending the letter 100 ft to our mail box.

In case anyone was wondering she's still here.

In response to Ryan's blog. I agree that we what we put in our bodies is our choice. I also agree that there are worse things out there then red bull and gatorade that are much harder to stay away from. I often find myself having this same argument when people tell me that a certain thing causes cancer I seem to always respond the same way, "Everything causes cancer." But I choose to live my life regardless. This is also the case when my parents used to tell me that I couldn't do something because I might get hurt. Like the time I climbed out of my window onto the roof of the porch... no it's not flat, and it probably wasn't a very good idea. My sister told my mom and they both ran outside to yell at me. They said I could have been killed and I said... "I get in the car with you don't I?" No one wants to live in fear. I choose to do risky things so that when I do actually die, whether I fall of the roof or get cancer, I can say I had a good time.