The University News

Smoke signals

Editorial Board • September 14, 2007

Clean air is a wonderful idea. Sadly, because of pollution, it is an idea that has little possibility of becoming a reality. That is not to say that there should not be a push to reduce pollution in the atmosphere, merely that until we can focus on the large polluters, perhaps it is not worth trying to micro-manage the polluters who may be small in stature but not in their contribution: smokers.

Adolescence lost response

Ashley Moses • September 14, 2007

As a student who entered college at age 15, I would like to comment on some of the statements made in the article "Adolescence lost" that appeared in the editorials section of The University News (Sept. 7, 2007). To start off with, the article claims that students entering college at such a young age are "blatantly out-of-place.

Advent of the Internet killed the academic star

Patrick McShane • September 14, 2007

I watched The Colbert Report a few nights ago, and author Andrew Keen was a guest on the show. Keen is the author of The Cult of the Amateur, which is a book about how the Internet is destroying our culture. He postulates that websites like Wikipedia.org are dumbing down our civilization.

Breathe easy

Michelle Hasan • September 14, 2007

The circumstances under which I write are unfortunate, however, this must be said. As I am walking to my classes, I cannot help but be hit with huge clouds of cigarette smoke. I do not understand why students feel the urge to smoke in such close proximity to their peers and pollute their air.

Is APEC only an excuse for awkward photos?

Patrick McShane • September 14, 2007

This past week, the world of international politics, was highlighted by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Australia. This conference, which brought together several leaders from 21 nations that surround the Pacific Ocean, was called to conduct business that might concern one or more of these leaders.

Smoke.Free.SLU

Ryan Cantwell • September 14, 2007

I support Smoke.Free.SLU and wholeheartedly think that SLU has the ability to have a better, smoke-free campus. Ryan Cantwell Freshman

Getting through 330 pages of pressure

Samiksha Tarun • September 14, 2007

I sat staring at the book in front of me, and its 330 pages sat there, staring right back; Heroic Leadership sat staring at me. Over two months of summer, I managed to convince myself that the summer reading assignment wasn't really homework-it wasn't going to be graded, and there was no penalty for not doing it.

Spotlight on Insight: Hope is the hot new thing

Andrew C. Emmerich • September 14, 2007

There comes a point in every person's life where, suddenly and without warning, you can't breathe. Everything in life begins to come together in a whirlwind that can minimally be described as hectic, and then it hits you with the force of a hurricane. Experiences, deadlines and the schedules that encompass your life often seem to overwhelm you, and there seems to be no way out of this tunnel of stress.

Regarding the ancient and lost art of eating

Roberta Singer • September 14, 2007

The Tower Grove Farmer's Market ripened in mid-June. Local farmers displayed the fruits of their labors under white canvas tents: zucchini and summer squash and tomatoes pregnant with juice, crates of strawberries and the asparagus from one last harvest before the heat of summer.

24-hour food

Editorial Board • September 7, 2007

College student live in a world of constant activity-be it exercise, classes, Greek meetings, or organizations on and around campus. College students are not yet a part of the nine-to-five world of heart attacks and lunches eaten in cars. Students on campuses everywhere are 24-hour creatures, and it is high time that Saint Louis University recognizes this and submit to popular demand for 24-hour food.

Why am I here? A postcard from sunny Hawaii

Allison Reilly • September 7, 2007

"You're really from Hawaii?" "Really!" "And you came here?" "Yes." "Why would you come all the way over here?" After the initial surprise and awe at the truth of my hometown, the reaction quickly evaporates into confusion. Why I would travel 4,000 miles away from the beaches, beauty and bountiful sunshine of Hawaii to spend nine months out of the year studying in a place that-some would say-has none of the three? If my decision concerned the weather, I would have transferred home a long time ago, to no longer fretting that my nose will fall off in the bitter cold.

Adolescence lost

Editorial Board • September 7, 2007

A story that has been in the news lately is the University of Pennsylvania's acceptance of a 15-year-old into their Ivy League halls. Brittney Exline, one of this year's freshman-class members at the northeastern university is, certainly, entitled to enrollment at a university well in advance of her peers, but such early academic prowess begs the question: What happened to adolescence? The point is not that Exline, and other students her age, should be discouraged from attending universities earlier than their peers, but rather that such young students will be entering into a social strata for which nothing but life experience can prepare them.