Happy Holidays

For many kids today is a great day, because it means only one more day till Santa Claus is going to be delivering presents to all the boys and girls of the world.

This poses me to ask the question when we were little kids what did you guys have as your Christmas traditions, was it a big family meal at one house then with some present opening? Was it relaxing the day before the sleeping and waiting for Santa to come to your house? Did you go to sleep on Christmas Eve early and wake up early on Christmas morning to open presents?

What did you guys do then and what do you guys now? Is there any difference and what traditions do you truly enjoy during this holiday season.

Dreaming of a White Christmas? How about Green Grass and Sunshine

Many people romanticize about the idea of having a white Christmas. This year seems to be no different. This year snow will be on the ground in Connecticut on Christmas morning.


Which is fine, and great, but right now as I write this piece I am currently snowed in with no where to go. My car is in the auto body shop from an accident I had on Friday coming home from school after taking my last final (thank you so much CCSU administration and President Miller). Not having a car is painful, not that I would be going anywhere today most likely but not having the option is gnawing at me.


Having snow on Friday was fine, it was nice to wake up and see snow on the ground giving us a change from the grass that was covered in frost.

Today though, I have had enough of the snow that is continuously falling outside. I am sick of having to shovel my driveway and sidewalks it’s just frustrating. I am sick of not being able to drive because the roads in Hamden are not drivable right now. Lastly I am sick of everyone saying how nice it is that we are having snow for Christmas.


People its nice that we have snow on the ground for the holiday, I get it, but give me green grass and sunshine on the days leading up to Christmas because that way I can do things with my friends instead of being stuck at home watching the New England Patriots versus the Arizona Cardinals because there is no other sporting even on T.V. right now.

You can say I am not into in the holiday spirit, that maybe true but you try having to do nothing for the third consecutive day and tell me it wouldn’t be wearing on you.

Central Lets the Students Down

Did any body else find it negligent and uncalled for that the students of Central had to take their finals on Friday?

With every meteorologist calling for a massive amount of snow on Friday that would make the drives home for the students and many others treacherous, Central a commuter school for the most part decided that we students should still have our scheduled exams.

The school decided it was in the “best interest” of the students to take their finals, rather than be able to pack up and early drive home to beat the weather that was soon to encompass the state.

Why did we have to take our exams when the governor sent the state employees home because it would have been unsafe for them to drive home at the time they normally would have had to leave from work, while almost every school district in the state was closed for the day? The smart decision would have been to postpone the exams to keep the students from having to drive home in the snow. Central though decided that we students should take our exams.

What options could the school have come up with rather than make the students take their finals on Friday.

Option 1: The school could have moved finals back until Saturday, Monday, or until after the winter break.

Option 2: If they really wanted to have us take our finals the school should have let us stay in our dorms until Saturday morning instead of kicking us out by 3 o’clock on Friday.

This may be a trivial issue to many of you who were either out of school already and were safely home, but for those of us who had the unfortunate adventure of having to brave the highways to get home from school this was not a fun experience.

President Miller and the rest of the school should be ashamed of themselves for making the students take exams when the weather was so bad outside or was just getting bad when we had to make our trips home, when there were two very solid options at the schools disposal.

I will close this by saying shame on you President Miller and Central Connecticut State University; you guys decided that the exams scheduled for Friday were more important than those of students who pay a good amount of money to attend your university. Professor Matthew Warshauer was right in suggesting the faculty senate propose a vote of no confidence in you last year. I now feel the same; I have no confidence in you or the school to protect the students.

Television: A Cause of Teen Pregnancy?

Gossip Girl, 90210 and One Tree Hill are only few among today’s popular television shows on prime time television that have influenced teens across America with infectious messages of glamorous drugs, binge drinking and unprotected sex in almost every episode telling teens that its ok to be promiscuous.

Teenagers who watch a lot of television programs that are rich in sexual content are twice as likely to become pregnant according to a November 2008 study by the journal Pediatrics. The journal Pediatrics was reportedly the first study to come out with a real correlation between television and teen pregnancy.

From 2001 to 2004, about 2,000 adolescents from age 12 to 17 were surveyed across the nation by the RAND Corporation, nonprofit research cooperation about their television habits and their sex lives. The survey focused on 23 television programs popular among teenagers such as dramas, comedies, reality programs and animated shows having sexual content such as discussion or depiction. After three years, the teens were surveyed once again and 700 out of the 2,000 admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse by the third survey. According to the study, about 1 million adolescents become pregnant each year in the United States.

The study found that the 90^th percentile of teens was the ones who watch the most television on a daily basis and were twice as likely to have unprotected sex and become pregnant. The teens who watched the least amount of television, the 10^th percentile, were half as less likely to engage in sexual behavior at all let alone unprotected sex. The study also found that teenagers living in a proper parenting home with structured lives and rules had a lower chance of becoming pregnant as a teen.

Teens are being brainwashed by media that sex is ok at any age really, at least that is what Serena and Blair are telling young girls who watch Gossip Girl every Monday night after they finish their homework.

Speaking of Gov. Blagojevich

I think people are justified in seeing Gov. Rod Blagojevich for what he really is, and going a step further, pointing it out to a lot of people. He's a man who has made a pretty serious bunch of mistakes, but I'm amazed at how many people are still linking this to President-elect Barack Obama, and then allowing ridiculous amounts of word wars to ensue. It became a contest to see who speaks with the accused governor less frequently. 

The point is that one, obviously Blagojevich and Obama have had some interaction, having been part of the Illinois government, but two, it doesn't mean that Obama is somehow a tainted character because he spoke to the man.

Anyways, the thought just came to me after something about the Illinois governor was on in the 10 o'clock news and my mom threw up her hands and proclaimed "well that bodes well for this presidency!" 

Note: The number of comments on the Politico blog post is 449.... Really?

Deadly Crash

I'm sure everyone has heard about the F/A- 18 Fighter Jet that crashed into a San Diego home the other day. The pilot was forced to eject from the plane as both engines were lost. Unfortunately where it occurred led to the plane crashing into the home in the University City neighborhood killing a mother, her child, and the child's grandmother.

The whole ordeal is terribly sad and it got me to thinking about how bad the pilot must have felt. He lost both engines and was put in a life or death situation over a populated area when he was just supposed to be training. That must have been ridiculous. What would you do in that situation though? If you don't eject you go down with the plane and would probably end up crashing into the same home anyways? Would there have been enough time for the pilot to have steered clear of the home if he had stayed in the plane longer before ejecting? Would you risk your own life to possibly save others that may or may not be in the homes below. There is no way the pilot knew that people would even be in their homes at the time or that the plane would end up crashing exactly on a house rather than in a yard or something? I was just wondering what people think about the accident?

How many of you hate left lane drivers who never seem to MOVE OVER? I was recently reading on the internet how some states are starting to enforce the law and give tickets to those who stay in the left lane and are holding up traffic for others. Afterall the left lane is for passing only isn't it? I think this is a god send! Please pull them all over! I do a lot of high way driving and nothing makes me more upset than those who stay in the left lane and block a line of cars behind them. In many cases no one even drives in the right lane, especially on a three or four lane high way. Traffic would move much more smoothly especially during rush hour and make 84 and 91 through Hartford a little more bearable to drive through.