Archive for November, 2012

Sandy Leaves Her Mark

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

If you’ve been in the New York area or pretty much anywhere on the East coast, the past couple of weeks have been very hectic due to Hurricane Sandy. As a student of New York University, we’ve just begun getting back to schedule due to the hurricane. We lost a week’s worth of classes, and it has been very hard on teachers who needed to either cut some coursework out or pack a week’s worth of lectures into what little time we have left until Thanksgiving. Downtown New York lost electricity for over four days, including the financial district, resulting in over four billion dollars lost in productivity.Photo courtesy of CNN Wall Street was closed for two days, making that the longest time its been closed since the blizzard of 1888. There’s been a lot of news about the hurricane, but as this is my first year in New York (I’m originally from Los Angeles), I didn’t realize just how much damage Sandy did until I read the news. Some parts of Jersey and greater New York still don’t have power; a friend of mine who’s from Long Island still didn’t have electricity, so I lent him my room so that he has Wi-Fi and a hot shower. My residence hall lost power, but only for four days. Other people were hit much harder. In today’s Wall Street Journal, a front page story was about rebuilding in Jersey. This hurricane did a lot of damage.

But life goes on, and we go back to work. We get up and rebuild. If that’s not enough, we go on to do better things. We reelected Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of YahooObama won over 300 electoral votes (270 is required to win), and the joy that I felt was reflected in the faces of many others. A landslide victory that night, despite the hurricane which was only a week before. People filled the streets of New York, cheering the reelection and our democracy. Aaron Sorkin, writer of West Wing and The Newsroom, perhaps captures it best: “America’s darkest days have been followed by its finest hours.” Sure, we’ve had the hurricane, and we lost lives and billions of dollars in damages, but our ability to spring back, and rebuild, are examples of our tenacity.

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Election Day: Purpose or Propaganda?

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

It’s no secret that today is Election Day; it’s all that people can really talk about. I even got yelled at this morning for telling someone “I’ll vote after I get out of work.” One thing’s for sure: politics needed much more attention and it has definitely gotten just that…although the intentions of some citizens can come into question.

Let’s go back to the guy yelling at me. He went on to say, “If Romney gets elected he’s gonna cut welfare — I need my welfare.” Really…really sir!? Do you even care about the issues or is your brain only big enough to focus on one? My point is (and this might sound a bit exaggerated) that about 60 percent of Americans don’t even know the issues and are voting based on race or religion or some other non-factor that really shouldn’t matter when you’re voting. I couldn’t help but feel like 2008 was a “black vs. white” election and this year seems like a lot of the same thing.

Now, I’m not saying that we are all uneducated voters, but with proof like this you have to wonder what people are really voting for.

Yea…I know, right?

Now there are three options this Election Day (there are really more than three but for argument purposes I’ll keep it limited). There’s Obama, Romney, or not voting at all. Obama and Romney supporters are strong, but no one is stronger than those refusing to submit a ballot. Now, you may be thinking “How is that so? It just seems like arrogance and lack of confidence in one’s opinion.”  To counter that, I ask you, Is it really? If you ask me, it takes an EXTREME amount of confidence.

The Electoral College’s votes have the most value and they’re counted after our votes for a reason.  I think the fact that there was no clear cut solution (or at least something that sounded remotely like one) during three elections says a lot. I read a tweet from a Twitter follower that stated: “Red=Offense Blue=Defense OF THE SAME TEAM! #2PartyDictatorship.” As a matter of fact, here’s a meme that needs no introduction.

There’s clearly something bigger going on in this country.

Regardless of what you may take from this article, I DO believe voting is important. At least you’ll feel like you’re changing the shape of your country, and I intend to do my part. I hope that you all do the same but remember, even if you don’t vote, you’ll still have to abide by whatever the government has in store for us. If that’s the case, you might as well pick the lesser of two evils, whoever you feel that might be.

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Carlos L., Monroe College. Read my blog!!  Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

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Sandy Recovery

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

It’s no secret that we’ve just experienced what could arguably be one of the worse natural disasters in our city’s history, and even though we’re almost a week past the event, it’s still all anyone can really talk about.  That’s mainly because we are still suffering from Sandy’s wrath and will possibly be for the next couple of months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By “suffering” I don’t mean we’re at the mercy of devastating winds and arctic rain, I mean it in almost every other aspect besides the most literal. The level of damage done to public transportation is still unknown and parts of the city are still without power.  Trains are running on a “limited service” schedule anywhere in the city…above 34th Street. If you’re headed anywhere else in the city, you’re going to have to walk.

Brooklyn commuters may have it worst of all. With substantial amounts of damage done to the borough and parts of Lower Manhattan, getting into the city seems like an almost impossible task. A simple 20- to 30-minute commute may end up taking almost three hours at the height of rush hour. We can only hope that things get better soon, but it will take weeks and maybe months to get the subways running the way they used  to (hopefully even better.)

 

A line to catch a bus into the city, the only way to commute into Manhattan from Brooklyn.

There is a slight positive to all of this madness. With all the difficulty that comes with the commute, the MTA has granted free train rides for the next two days. Here at Campus Clipper we’re all about “free,” so this was really great news for us to hear. Although it did take me about 2 hours to get into work today, I have to admit that not paying definitely made it a little bit better.

All of us here at Campus Clipper hope everyone is okay and doing their best to return to normalcy. We can all use a little “normal” after the week we’ve had.

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Carlos L., Monroe College. Read my blog!!  Follow me on Twitter and Facebook

Click here to download the Campus Clipper iTunes App!

Follow Campus Clipper on Twitter or keep current by liking us on Facebook.

Interested in more deals for studentsSign up for our bi-weekly newsletter to get the latest in student discounts and promotions  and follow our Tumblr and Pinterest. For savings on-the-go, download our printable coupon e-book.

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