At the end of spring semester, I told myself I was going to take a step back and learn to relax for a little while. During the summer I had planned to do yoga, read lots of books, enroll myself in an anger management course, look at graduate schools and just breathe.
These past summer sessions at MSU have been somewhat eventful compared to the slow pace of those in years past. With changes happening across campus, ranging from road construction and residence hall renovations to the elimination of undergraduate programs at MSU Dubai and the assault on student savings to pay for increased tuition and possible parking tickets, MSU is not the same campus it was in early May.
What has been dubbed quite incorrectly by conservatives across the U.S. as the “Ground Zero Mosque,” finally has, amid protests, been approved. As soon as those three words are combined, they create an immediate inflammatory reaction in the average American.
Two recent reports released by Washington, D.C.-based organization The Education Trust place MSU in the top 25 of public universities with the greatest differences between the graduation rates of white and Hispanic or black students.
Oh man, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional a few weeks ago. I wasn’t surprised. A few months ago, I read that conservative lawyer Theodore Olson would take up the banner for gay marriage and immediately thought, “So, this is a done deal, right?”
Sharing and working together are elementary behaviors taught during our early years in an effort to get us used to the ideas of life’s great compromise: We can’t always get what we want. MSU has taken an opportunity to teach legislators something they can’t learn in a classroom or on the pages of a book, a basic how-to guide on balancing politics with various personalities.
Wow! The summer of 2010 is just about in the history books as a done deal. What have we accomplished? I always ask this question as a new school year approaches. I seem to forget that for some of us, the previous school year never ended. If one came back to campus to take summer classes, much of what others considered “summer break” was little more than business as usual.
It is not often we are able to use the word “magnanimous.” But with the recent philanthropy of a few billionaires, there aren’t many other words that immediately come to mind. Among those individuals is MSU alumnus Eli Broad. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? If not, you can find his name on MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business or alongside his wife’s name on the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, set to open in 2012.
It seems we live in a paradoxical society. Our two-party political system has let fall issues — on both sides — that contradict the logicality of their respective philosophies; perhaps that’s why most civilized countries maintain a multi-party system.
The first time Kande Ngalamulume bowed out of the race for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, it was unsurprising to say the least. Initially, his candidacy was met with the political equivalent of “meh.” Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of political newsletter “Inside Michigan Politics,” said, “Nobody knows who he is (and) he has no money. He’s basically the classic sacrificial lamb. It will take a near miracle for him to beat (U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton).”
I recently returned from a six-week MSU study abroad program in Russia. As part of that program, we spent a few days in Moscow. As we rode about the city on the underground subway, there remained a residual fear and uncertainty in the air from the twin suicide bombings carried out by two women, at least one of whom belonged to a group of female suicide bombers known as “black widows” — women who have lost loved ones in the insurgency in the North Caucasus.
Now that the primaries have ended, the real fight for governor of Michigan can begin. And even though the headline on The State News website is “Angry Mayor vs. Tough Nerd,” it looks more like “good governance vs. less government.” Sure, it isn’t as catchy, but when looking at the paths the candidates will walk in the future, the tale of tape is pretty clear.
A new piece of summer reading has become smashingly popular throughout the past week. I’m not talking about a new Stephen King novel or the latest spy thriller from Tom Clancy, but rather the 91,000-page leak of classified military documents detailing nearly every military action in Afghanistan 2004-10.
It only was last week The State News published a series of articles covering the changes the city of East Lansing has undergone throughout the past few decades. In keeping with that spirit of change, city officials are looking to renovate the 35-year-old Amtrak station at 1240 S. Harrison Road.
If now is not the time to “go green,” I do not know when it will be. On July 26, an oil pipeline owned by Enbridge Inc. ruptured near the city of Marshall, Mich., about 40 miles southwest of my hometown of Portage.
The gubernatorial candidates The State News endorses — Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder — were chosen with an eye toward what they could possibly bring to students through their policies. Not all the positives and negatives are discussed in this editorial, but some of the more central issues are brought to light.
Whenever we turn on the TV, surf the Internet or open a newspaper, we are bombarded with stories about something negative happening because of oil. For months we sat and watched as BP tried to cap its mess, cursing the people who were to blame and hoping nothing like it would happen again.
As I have said in the past, I am for the smoking ban. I don’t feel it infringes on the rights of property owners because if secondhand smoke is dangerous to others, it can be regulated in situations where smokers and nonsmokers mingle.
Given the occasional spats between students and the city of East Lansing, it is nice to see a relationship between both parties that is mutually beneficial. On Tuesday, the East Lansing City Council approved a special parking permit program proposed by MSU’s Council of Graduate Students, or COGS.
If we are not friends on Facebook, don’t expect the opportunity to check out my default pictures. If someone enters my name in a search engine, there is a better chance he or she will come across my stories before the tweets I’ve written. If one types in, “Toscano, Cristina” in the MSU “Find People” box, he or she probably won’t know much more about me beyond my e-mail address.