Smoke free campus

Many people are bringing up issues with the tobacco free campus USI offers. As for me I do not see a problem with this restriction because I do not smoke or use tobacco. However I could see where this could be a disappointment for many. Overall I feel as if USI took a positive step with this decision and I hope to see this continue. When going out in public, most restaurants are smoke free or have smoke free sections which are a good thing. For me nothing is more annoying than inhaling second hand smoke. It causes me to lose my appetite and begin to cough. When I learned USI was a tobacco free campus, I didn’t think much of it at first, but now I realize how thankful I am for that. Not only is the second hand smoke harmful to everyone, smoking pollutes the air. Another positive outcome from banning smoking on campus is littering. Almost anywhere you walk in public you can find cigarette butts. If people had a recyclable storage unit to put these butts in after use then it wouldn’t be a big deal. However most people choose to stomp them out and let them lay. Another form of tobacco that is banned from the campus could be chewing tobacco. This comes in a dip form or a pouch. Many people try to argue and say this doesn’t have those same effects as smoking in harming the environment or people. In most ways that is true. However if people were to spit the pouches out those do not disintegrate. Therefore, the pouches are left to lie along with the cigarette butts. I feel as if having tobacco free campus is a good thing because the majority of USI students do not use tobacco. I also feel as if people can smoke in their cars before class, or after they get out. It is not necessity during classes.

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My mother and I butt heads more than we should. One of the main issues is because I like to shop. I have a part time job at a tanning salon; I make around 140 dollars a week plus commission. With this money I have to buy groceries every two to three weeks and put gas in my car every week. I am good at always putting money into my checking account, however when I see something I want, I get it. To my mom, this is a problem. She says I need to save more money for when I have to pay for my books for college or if I need it for an emergency. I agree with her sometimes, but then again I disagree. I’m not that high maintenance to where I have to go out and buy Coach purses and UGG boots and other designer brands all the time. In fact most of the time when I shop I have some kind of coupon or discount. I hardly ever buy anything full price. Thanks to my mom, I’ve learned that you can save a lot of money by doing that. To my mom, I feel as if she thinks I’m shopping all the time, but this is not true. I might go shopping here and there or about once a month. Even then, I don’t spend a whole paycheck. My mom has a good point that I need to save up, because I am paying for my own college. However from my point of view I’m only young once, so I’m going to treat myself here and there every now and then.

The Siren Song of Energy Efficiency

In this article David Owen talks about energy efficiency. What most of us do not realize, this is a wakeup call for everyone around the world. We rely too much on the earth’s resources and I do believe at one point or another, whether I’m here to witness it or not, the world will run out of resources. The cheaper we continue to get the resources, the faster we are using them. The majority of these resources are using so much more energy than before. I feel as if most people know what’s going on, they just don’t care. If we don’t start recycling, reducing, and reusing our resources we are not going to have any to survive off of. In today’s society we have the media that is related to this issue, one being the book series the Hunger Games. This series of books is about our future and how we have to compete to live because the resources for the world are limited. Is this a little far-fetched? Maybe, in some ways it is. However I think we need more education on this. Today, we are coming out with better and newer technology. The technology world is taking over and this uses more energy. We all have to start with saving electricity. Some ways we could start reducing energy are turning off TV’s, computers, and other electronic devices when they’re not being used, unplug cords from outlets when the devices aren’t being used, turn off the lights when no one is in that particular room. Sure everyone hears about it, everyone knows that we should start saving, but does anyone ever listen or do it? Another rising issue is fuel prices going up. As students, parents, employees, etc. we need fuel to get to places. In our economy, the demand for gas is high. In other words, if the prices at the pump are going up people are going to pay because they have to get from place to place. This is going to start taking money away from people spending. This will cause our economy to decline and unemployment to incline. We cannot have something that we need to cause our country to fail. We need alternatives, people who live in the city need to start walking or riding their bikes more. Another way to save fuel is by carpooling. I do this every day with my boyfriend. We take turns driving every other day and it really does save us money. I also feel as if the government needs to research into drilling on our own U.S. grounds for oil. We have it we are just not taking full advantage on it. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m 100 percent “green” every day, but every chance I get to help out my environment I do it. I think everyone should too.

A Hero

Wednesday February 22, 2012 a local hero died. The 18 year old, Jeremy Tighe was killed in a vehicle accident. He would’ve turned 19 February 23. Jeremy was a volunteer fire fighter for McCutchanville. Brandon Cason was driving the fire truck late that night, Tighe being the passenger. They were returning from a run they had recently finished. Approximately being a quarter of a mile away from their station, with an unknown reason the truck hit a pole and flipped. Landing in a ditch on the passenger side, Jeremy was announced dead on sight. Brandon made it out okay, with minor wounds. I work at Island Rayz Tanning Center which is located inside of Bob’s Gym on the north side. Every day at some point the McCutchanville fire fighters would go workout. Most days they would come in and either tan or just sit inside and give me company while I was bored. Drew Brinker, also a volunteer, graduated with me from high school and was a good friend. So as Drew came in, the others did as well, including Cason and Tighe. I got to know them pretty well. Guys being guys, they would always come in and give me a hard time about my boyfriend and how I should “Lose the zero and choose a hero”. This was their little joke about being fire fighters. They always made me smile or laugh every time they came in. They were all definitely a good group of guys. I was at work Monday and I had seen Jeremy that day at the gym, I waved at him as he passed through the doors and went into the gym. I would’ve never thought that would be the last time I’d ever see him walk through those doors. Not being his best friend or family, it hit me so hard when I found out the news that he was no longer with us. I was bawling when I got the text. He had graduated the same year as me and was so young; he wasn’t even able to celebrate his 19th birthday. I didn’t understand any of it. I was angry and so sad that this happened. Then I thought about Brandon, and what he must be going through and feeling. The last thing I hoped for was that he blamed himself. It was a tragic accident and it could’ve been or happened to anyone. Then I thought about his family and it just hit me hard. His parents must be in so much pain. A part of me and my heart continues to hurt every day for Jeremy, his family, Brandon, his friends, and all of the fire fighters that were like brothers to him. It just proves how short life is and how fragile it can be. That’s why you should never take a moment of time for granted, and live every day like it is your last. No one knows when their time is to go. Now you can know that Jeremy is in a better place looking down on everyone who loved him and loved being around him. He is watching over his ‘brothers’ at McCutchanville. May you rest in peace, Jeremy.

Biology 122

I am currently taking Biology 122, anatomy and physiology two. I am taking this class due to my major as becoming a nurse. This course is however, far from easy. I have a lecture class for it three times a week for 50 minutes at each setting. Along with the lecture is a lab class that meets once a week for two hours and 50 minutes. Most people who are going into the medical field have to take this course. My best advice, don’t slack off. To receive the best grade possible you have to study and know the material. My professor knows what she’s talking about and teaches very well. However, just listening to the teacher will not help you learn everything. Every class we take notes off of the power point slides. This information is what the chapter exams cover. That is one of the best things about this professor. She makes her exams strictly off of the notes which come from the textbook. She doesn’t switch it up and throw information here and there from lab or homework. Speaking of homework, that’s another thing. There is only one homework assignment for lecture, which is a three page essay over a disease you have to research. For lab, there are pre-lab assignments that you have to complete before your class meets which are on a Web site. There are four exams along with a final exam. There are no quizzes in lecture. However in lab you have a quiz every time you come in about the previous lab you’ve had. This is a way to test your knowledge and refresh your memory about what happened the previous week. Also with lab you only have two exams total. This can be frustrating if you do poorly. However it all comes down to studying. You have to find out what methods help you learn best since every professor is different with their courses. If you put in the hours of studying like you should, this class can be a fun class to take. Also, learning about the human body is interesting. There is so much information to take in when you’re learning that you won’t remember everything when the exam rolls around. The good thing about this tough class is, there are tutors. You can go to meetings called SI sessions. This can be very helpful because a USI student who has taken the course and knows what they’re doing takes the same notes and has quizzes and exams to practice with. These meetings can be very beneficial to your grade. With all of the help you can get and knowing if you study a lot, you can pull of this class with an A.

Western Literature

I am in an English class right now; it’s called Intro to Western Lit. When I first signed up for the class, I just picked it because I needed an arts credit and the class fit into my schedule perfectly. The first day of class was so boring; I kept thinking to myself I’m going to have to drop this class if it doesn’t get any better. However it did get better. The class meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-10:15. I have learned to love going to class. Don’t get me wrong, the work in there is a lot to do and sometimes just flat out sucks. We read chapters at a time for every time we meet. Then we either discuss the stories in groups or as a class. The part I love most is my teacher. She’s great! Every day she comes to class with such positive energy and always greets us as soon as she walks in. The energy that she has to teach with is amazing. When she talks to the class she interacts with us by relating situations to our situations. She asks us questions. Reading random stories because I have to is not something I enjoy to do, but she makes the readings fun. I’ve read several stories and I did not comprehend what was going on at first, such as Haunted House and Barn Burning. However, she took the time with all of us to go over the story. I really appreciate teachers like this, who make sure their students understand what is going on. In college everything is so straight forward and to the point, which is only preparing us for the real world. Although, sometimes it’s nice to still have that explanation and the fundamental of learning things in creative ways. The next thing we will be learning is poetry. This is going to be more of a challenge for me because poetry is not the hardest thing to understand. I try to go into everything with a positive attitude so I have a better work ethic. If you want to be successful you have to work hard at the things you do and be open minded to almost anything.

Grace Under Pressure

Novelist Ernest Hemingway once defined courage as “grace under pressure.” There has been a time in my life in which I have witnessed a family member show this kind of courage. It was summer of 2011 and some gossip had been going around that my sister’s husband had been cheating. At first, it was all kept quiet. My mom, other sister, and cousin didn’t want my oldest sister to know we were talking about it just yet without getting more information. My cousin being a hair stylist, she did everyone’s hair and knew all of the gossip from everyone. The rumors that we were hearing were true. It had been going on for a few months. The hardest part was finding a way to inform my sister about this, she was unaware of it. My cousin ended up telling my sister at her house, it was devastating. We weren’t there but my cousin told us what happened. She was angry, sad, confused, and hurt. The part that was the most confusing to me was that she was so quiet every time I saw her after that. You could tell something was obviously wrong; she wasn’t her normal happy self. However she acted as if nothing was wrong with her relationship with him. I couldn’t wrap my head around this. None of us could understand why she would even consider staying with him. However, they worked out their problems and are currently now going to a counselor to help their marriage. It was a hot summer day in July, about a month after finding out the news. We were at the baseball field watching my nephew play baseball. My sister’s husband was the coach so she sat next to us in the stands. (We had found out weeks before that the girl he had cheated with was a sister to one of the mom’s from the baseball team. She was 21, making her seven years younger than him.) It was that day that sent me over the edge. We were sitting on the bleachers when the girl he had cheated on with, walked by. I was so shocked that she even had the nerve to show up to the game. The first thought I had when she walked by was, this girl might be going to the hospital today. I’m not trashy, nor have I ever been in a fight. For her to come to this game knowing he would be there along with his wife, it is not anywhere close to being okay. My sister could tell I was just waiting to get up and go over there. She stared at me and shook her head. Then she mouthed the words ‘Don’t do anything here.” On the spot, this made me stop and stare at her. I didn’t understand how she was being so calm. I respected her attitude and didn’t say anything to the girl, but I wanted too. I respected her for handling it maturally, although I would've easily confronted the little witch for her.