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Show -- WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 20ir DIXIESUNLINK.COM 12- a TT As the A ' freshman that I am, stepped , 'J. So much for those child- BY STEVIE DUTSON Staff Writer K 31 I onto the Dixie Jt ' i State College campus this fall with the total confidence of a high school ; to hood lectures about looking before leaping. Not that 18 credits would be too much for someone used to a college-level homework I am not somebut load, one used to that much work. Fortunately I dont have to work while going to school. I cant imagine e what working freshmen must deal with. How they manage it, Ill never know. Since the fall semester started my feelings of complete college readiness began to melt away. Oh, did I say melt? I meant wash away in full-tim- graduate. I had survived the past four years of high school and smugly looked forward to college. After all, I was a graduate and could handle anything! So I signed up for 18 credits my first semester. As for my high school hauteur, Im sad to say it has taken a dip. Like a jump into the Grand Canyon kind of dip. No longer can I go around bragging about my high school senior rank to little freshmen and sophomores. No longer do I proudly strut down the senior hall. No longer do I rule the school. I am a freshman. Again. I now wander about campus, looking like a little lost turtle in my over- stuffed backpack. Ive received more than one funny look as I hobbled across the diagonal which to my next class I naively scheduled the second after my previous one ended. Im beginning to sus- pect that the people giving me funny looks place bets on how many seconds it will take for my heavy backpack to make me topple over. al- Theyve probably ready nicknamed me the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Despite my egos unfortunate drop, I cannot say my transition to college has been a totally bad experience. For one thing, being at DSC has greatly improved my health. I easily get my speed walking time in by crossing the campus as I go from class to class. in on time. Procrastinate, my most favorite hobby is, unfortunately, no longer an option if I havi And I have no need to lift weights because I lift my bulky backpack many, many times throughout the day. By the end of the year Im sure to be as Ive never been any intention of getting good grades. And Im sure that Im not the only freshman fac ing challenges. College definitely different from high school, and it will take some getting used to But I have confidence us, fellow freshmen. The odds may not be in our favor, but we will survive this first year. And maybe by May, I will have built up enough muscle from packing around textbooks that I will actually be able to win at arm wrestling. one to use sleeping medication, but now I have absolutely no trouble falling asleep at night. Im so tired that by the time my head hits the pillow, my brain is sailing away on rainbow seas through lollipop land Seriously now, this first semester at college has been a real eye opener to what life has in store. I now actually have to put forth a good deal of effort to get assignments ,s Taking charge, creating your own love story is possible They met and were immediately taken with each other, and they ended up having many more con- BY MCKOYE MECHAM Staff Writer All my life I have t t i , versations after leaving the theater that night. As my great grandparents relationship grew, he informed her he would soon be leaving on an assignment as an aerial photographer in Burma. They promised each other they would write and continue their relationship while he been a sucker for a good love story, Growing j up I had the opportunity to listen to my great grandparents tell their love story. No matter how many times they told it, it never got old. I just want to share a version of that story and apply it to love stories j was away. On Feb. 27, 1945, my great grandfather and his crew were forced to jump from their plane due to today. My great grandparents first met at a movie theater. He was a World War II Air Force soldier and she was a small town girl. engine problems. My great grandpa was injured, but as luck would have it a Burmese soldier saw them bailing out and came to help. In order to get my great grandpa out of the trees, the Burmese man had to cut the parachute in half. My great grandpa used that half of the parachute to stay warm. Back home my great grandma was in school when she received the news her soldier's plane had gone down, and her boyfriend was missing in action and could possibly be dead. Although she was heartbroken and worried sick, she soon came to the conclusion that everything would turn out all right. Not long after the event, my great grandma received a package from her rescued soldier. In the package was the half of the parachute that had saved his life. In it was a letter that asked her to sew a wedding dress out of the parachute. I think that its important to have faith and trust in any relationship. My great grandma had faith that everything would turn out alright, and she trusted my great grandpa enough to take on the challenge of sewing a wedding dress out of a parachute. But she did it, and her dress had more meaning to her and her posterity because that material played a role in saving her true love's life. If we have faith in our partner, trust and listen to himher, then that will make our love stories that members and friends relationships with their significant others, gives me hope. I believe everyone story worth telling. Maybe yours hasnt happened yet; I know mine much better. Just as my great grandparents met in simple place like a movie theater, its possible your own love story could start anywhere. My great grandma wasnt going to a movie to meet a handsome soldier who would eventually become her husband, but thats what happened. The point is, dont go places looking for love. Let love find you. It seems to me that divorce, infidelity and zero commitment are the norm these days. And with all those factors its sometimes easy for me to think true love really doesnt exist. But looking at my great grandparents story, as well as my family has-lov- hasnt. But I encourage you to not give up hope Your love story will ha- when its meant to happen, but you have to put in the effort. With the homecoming dance coming up, I challenge you boys out there to ask out! girl and go on a date. Even if you arent look ing for anything serious, you can still just go and have fun. What is thereto lose? And who knows, could be the start of yom love story worth telling ppen it Comparing presidents: then and now MCT-201- 0 Perjury. Impeachment. Sex with an intern in the Oval Office. Parsing the meaning of "is." Apparently, those were the good old days for people responding to the most recent NBC NewsWall Street Journal poll. They rated former President Bill Clinton as the most popular political figure in the land, with 55 percent viewing him favorably compared to 23 percent who had an unfavorable opinion of him. By comparison, President Barack Obama's SPIRIT continued from page 1 1 not for the students the teams would not have support. It is the students' job to get out there and be as loud as they can while X-Cl- showing their school spirit. This year has started out O? 1 f time even though the dotcom bubble was getting ready to burst. Clinton's favorable numbers may also reflect his ability ity for empathy that seems all too absent in the currem ing crop of political whose Obama, ability to maintain his coo leaders-includ- Approval ratings Presidential popularity after comparable periods of time in office: George H.W. Bush George W. Bush Barack Obama Bill 1 74 71 2 45 Clinton Ronald Reagan j ; 43 r 41 Jimmy Carter favo- with crowds that are not only loud but also decorated. Kudos to you girls who have the guts to wear skin tight spandex in a public place and to the for bringing the school spirit to the football games. Keep it up, and I will be in attendance at many more sporting events. fond thoughts of Clinton in these poll respondents. More likely, they're thinking about how much better life seemed in the days of 39 rable-unfavorable 1 numbers were and Sarah Palin's were Of course, the Monica Lewinsky scandal probably isn't the wellspring for the 47-4- 30-4- 2010 MCT Source: Graphic: Tom Reinken, Maxwell Henderson, Los Angeies Gallup Times 8. LIE continued from page 1 1 permanently because she thinks thats what you like. For girls who get mad at their boyfriends (and vice versa) for lying about looking good, youve got a double review. First of all, you need to see things through your significant others eyes and realize the white lies being told arent meant to hurt you but to make you feel better about yourself. Secondly, you have to spend the remainder of the semester watching nothing but Americas Next Top Model and Project Runway so you can learn to dress yourself. That way you wont have to be lied to! OK, so flat out lying may not be the answer. But budget surpluses and an economy that appeared to be humming along at the to convince large numbers of Americans that he truly did feel their pain, a capac can come across as ness. holding back a harsh truth may be just what the doctor ordered in most cases. hard fans of telling the truth. I believe these folks are few and far between, but they do exist. I think theres a way to eliminate lying for those of you who actually think telling the truth is a good idea. Eliminating being lied to begins with yourself, not others. If I would have taken the time to show my best friend in the whole wide world my weekly articles, then maybe he would have known what "The Skewed Review" actually is. If you are a very angry person and you are quick to react, people may be lying to you in order to avoid your outbursts of anger. If you are in a position of authority and you happen to be punish-happ- horrible dresser then yl are most likely being lied to because someone care' enough about you to waito For example, in the case of the snarling sewer monster, perhaps her boyfriend could find the one thing (if it exists) that looks beautiful on her and compliment that. Then, in'a kind voice so he doesnt enrage the beast, offer a suggestion as to an improvement on the look. This will open the door to getting her to shed her hideous attire and replace it with something decent. This will be good news to the neighborhood children. All of us lie. We lie to ourselves, and we lie to others. People who say they dont lie are lying. Our whole society is built on lies (and many truths, of course). But there are those die y, youre probably being lied to in order to avoid sanctions. If youre aloof- a to make you feel good. you have been known to treat someone better because he or she did something amazing, then a person may lie to you in order to seek your ap- H proval. Or in my case, you might have assumed people know youve accom- plished something, but because you didnt make an effort to show it, your friends didnt know. Tho; friends will either have to, lie to you to make you fec better or simply tell the truth and crush your feel ings. So the next time you at lied to, you had better asl yourself: Isjhis lie my fault? p |