Snowballs of Fury

Snowball fights are usually a fun activity when guidelines are set. There’s typically a “don’t go for the head” or “only below the waist” memorandum. However, no such rules existed this past week on the SMU campus. All throughout the day on both Thursday and Friday students pelted each other with icy cold snowballs. Those who leisurely made their way to class were prime targets. Out of excitement, I too threw a tightly packed ball of snow in the direction of an older SMU football player. I watched my first snowball sail through the air and then suddenly realized that it was in fact headed for his face. A split second later he was on the ground with both hands covering his eye. I couldn’t believe it. What was supposed to be a gesture of fun enthusiasm turned into me giving him a swollen black eye and a bloody nose. Of course I ran over to him to apologize profusely and help him to his feet. - But it was then that I realized that with the onset of snow, our SMU campus had turned into a dangerous warzone. So I have to ask, were you as frightened as I was when trying to navigate your way around campus last Thursday and Friday?

Narcissism at its Finest

In Don Tapscott’s book “Grown Up Digital,” professor Jean Twenge claims that the twenty-first-century-teen lives in a narcissistic society. With an emphasis on technology in everyday life, various websites have caused an influx in attention-seeking behavior by teenagers. Popular websites include: MySpace, Youtube, and Facebook. Their names say it all. – These sites fullfill the purpose of having a self-embellished space where one has the ability to exhibit to others an elaborate personal profile.
As a twenty-first-century-teenager myself, I would have to agree with Twenge’s seemingly farfetched claim. For those who have not made use of the websites previously mentioned, it would be undenaibly difficult to imagine how self-indluged the majoity of teenagers in our society have learned to become. Daily and even hourly “status-updates” take place on Myspace and Facebook. Teenagers have essentially grown to think that their present emotions and whereabouts must be constantly projected on their personal profiles. Many teens would consider an obsolete online profile to be social suicide. Twenge's claim might not seem so farferched now - huh?

Sharing Is Caring

While I am a firm believer of the idea that “sharing is caring,” I cannot stand it when people take advantage of my generosity. I tend to offer other students a pen when they forget to bring theirs to class, but when I realize that they fail to return the object of my kind gesture, I become very aggravated. Each month I make extra trips to CVS to restock my pens - which I know will eventually end up in the book-bags of several SMU students.

In my residence hall, my next-door neighbor tends to think that what’s mine is also hers. I will literally see her walking around campus clothed in my attire. It’s not even so much the fact that she doesn’t ask to borrow my things that bothers me, but the fact that she completely fails to return my belongings that irritates me. Because she uses my things without asking, I can only wonder what is missing from my closet and drawers. This neighbor is a dear friend of mine, so any sort of intervention to collect my belongings is not an option. While I have the patience to wait until the end of the semester to get my belongings back, I just wish that people were more conscientious of how their failure to return other’s items is not only a nuisance but also a form of disrespect.

Birth Control is Out of Control

The number of girls that I have met at SMU who use a form of contraception has continued to astound me. Out of the ten girls in my hall, seven of them take a birth control pill each morning before their classes. Five of these Freshmen girls have already been sexually active at SMU, whereas the other two take the pill because they were sexually active in high school. As for the remaining three, they have chosen the route of abstinence. The aspect of this scenario that makes me cringe is the fact that all seven of these ten girls have not told their parents about their decision to use birth control.

Although I believe it’s smart to take advantage of contraceptive methods if you choose to be sexually active, I’m having trouble pinpointing a time in one’s life when it is appropriate to participate in intercourse. It’s almost as if an overwhelming number of Freshmen girls have distorted college into their sweet escape from parental supervision and have made regrettable decisions as a result.

I can’t even begin to imagine what their mothers would think of their daughters if they knew that they were sexually active. I mean, come on! We are at college to get an education - not to have intercourse on the weekends and weekdays we go out.

Not so Giddy About Giddy-Up

SMU’s nighttime shuttle service, referred to by students as “Giddy-Up,” is a key component to the safety of the SMU campus. While I have used this complimentary service on numerous occasions, I will not hesitate to say that Giddy-Up has really disappointed me.

Giddy-Up is scheduled to begin at seven o’clock P.M. and shut down at three o’clock A.M. every day of the week. Yet last month when I called at 9:00, 9:15, and then at 9:30 P.M. only to receive five rings and a voicemail from Giddyy-Up’s supervisor, I began to grow very frustrated. There was no good reason for Giddy-Up to not answer their phone during peak business hours.

I decided that I would indeed walk alone across the dark and chilly campus to get to the Student Learning Center. I then saw two Giddy-Up drivers parked next to each other on a grassy patch of lawn just laughing with each other as they chatted. I thought to myself: “They’re getting paid for this?” What if I had been calling over and over again for that half hour because I was legitimately endangered?

The fact of the matter is that it wasn’t comforting to witness the one service that I have been told to depend on as a safety precaution leisurely lounge around. They acted as if they had nothing better to do. If this had happened on one occasion I would have thought nothing of it. But because I have experienced the same dilemma several times since the first incident, I’m beginning to think that our campus isn’t as safe as the students perceive it to be.

Is it Time to Rush Rush?

Although the majority of SMU’s Freshman class anxiously awaits Rush Week, there is no doubt that most of us are nervous wrecks regarding the matter. But I mean come on, when we are constantly warned that sorority girls are spying on us, there’s no question that we’re going to get a little nervous.

That’s when I ask myself: “Do I really want to be a part of the Greek System?” Technically speaking, we’re all supposed to just “be ourselves” until we are asked to join a House. But let’s be realistic, that’s not all it takes to be able to join a sorority.

Spur of the moment coffee meet-ups occur at least a couple times a week. Senior, Junior, and Sophomore girls will ask for your number and text you as if they’ve known you their whole life. Oh, and when they invite you to their sorority’s ice cream social or cook-out, you really can’t say no.

It’s as if every day is a phony cycle of smiles and bubbly encounters. No one can truly tell who is being genuine and who is putting on an act just for the purpose of recruitment. Maybe it’s time that SMU designated the Rush process to take place at the beginning on the school year. Until then, expect the spurious social interactions to continue for months on end.

Persuasive Paper Topic

I plan to write about the idea of making school uniforms mandatory. If this were so in elementary schools and high schools, parents would save money, academic performance would increase, students' socio-economic standings would not be apparent, gang-violence would decrease, and it would be just that much easier to get ready for school in the morning! This is a great topic because there are a number of comparisons to be made between the schools that do and do not require uniforms. I wore a school uniform starting in the fourth grade and wore it until my high school graduation. I am therefore able to relate to those who have and have not worn uniforms because I have experienced both circumstances. When writing about this topic I would be persuading parents of elementary and high school students. As I read about making uniforms mandatory at public schools I was shocked by the statistic I found that stated that since Long Beach Unified School District implemented a system-wide mandatory uniform policy, assaults decreased by 85 percent. The label below discusses some of the common disputes between requiring a uniform and it lists incredible statistics similar to the one I have just shared with you.

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