This summer was an odd one, it was full of unique and different things that happened both around the world and right here on Long Island. For starters we had two natural “disasters” in one week. We were all able to experience a hurricane and an earthquake in one week.
There is a lot to be said about the hype and the response to the hurricane. Many people feel that the hurricane was over-hyped and feel kind of angry about that. I feel however that it’s better to over-hype something than be caught off guard by some crazy storm.
The sight must have been funny to those living in Florida; to see New Yorkers emptying shelves in their local stores over one rare category one storm whereas they have to contend with multiple larger storms every year.
I think overall however us northerners did pretty well with Hurricane Irene and that our state governments deserve some credit for getting ready and not waiting until the last minute to prepare for something that could have been devastating.
If only our state had shown this much proactive energy before last winter’s major snow storm which completely caught us off guard and slowed all of New York City and Long Island to a crawl. Last winter there was no salt even spread on the ground even though the warning of a snow storm had been ringing continuously for a few days. This year we also will have to further deal with the extensive budget cuts that face the SUNY system. Our classes are being cut and students are struggling to fit classes into schedules that resemble something sane.
One can’t help but wonder why there is so much beautification and construction going on about campus if the school cannot even afford to carry out its basic academic responsibilities to the students. Maybe it is time for the school administration to shift some funding from the ridiculous amount of construction going on to actually providing classes that students can take. That’s just a thought though.
Switching over to an international perspective, this summer saw a huge amount of activity around the world. The Libyan conflict all but came to a close militarily as the rebels there stormed into Tripoli in a surprise offensive and came that much closer to possibly securing freedom for themselves.
It is, however, in the wind as to whether these rebels will stay true to their advertised message of peace and democracy or whether we will be contending with another country that is the same enemy with a different face.
When it comes to our own country, however, students here seem to care little about what is going on. The largest protests in recent history that I can remember about a political issue were over the cutting of organizing rights for workers in Wisconsin in favor of the companies.
These protests lasted for only over a week or so and did little to change the outcome of the issue, which is currently tied up in the courts. Protesting peacefully and showing their dissatisfaction is the primary means left to the people to change their government. It is obvious that the government will not do anything to help our nation and will only help themselves and the interests that have their hands buried in their pockets. Still, it doesn’t seem that we the young people seem to care that much anyway; I suppose it will be left up to those with specific interests to choose the path that we all take.
The money being spent on construction in Stony Brook versus classes that we all need is an example of this, even though most students would most likely want to be able to take classes they need to graduate over having a new recreation center you never hear a single voice about the issue.
On that slightly pessimistic note, I wish you all a wonderful new school year and hope that everyone has a great time as well as does awesome in their schoolwork.
