The Campus is The World

After being recently able to get enough pages to print our Nation & World page — which is something I absolutely adore — I've been struck with how truly limited my world view is.

Big news on campus that could potentially affect every person here would mean nothing to a refugee. The refugee probably doesn't even know where Cincinnati is. But we know of the refugees. We sympathize with them and hope for the best for them. Their biggest problem isn't so much waking up and passing a class and graduating. It's not being killed.

I find it strange, really. To think that, right now, there are countries that are struggling in an attempt to reconcile government with society and living in strife and a state of instability many of us can't even imagine.

So, if you have time, read the Nation & World page. And learn! LEARN!

-Gin

Oh The Joys of Work

So, there's something funny going on here. A lot of people are moving on — I don't really know what's up with that. People getting married, getting jobs and, well, people doing other things.

That being said, it's strange to think that our lives aren't really just subjects of stories and what not. When news broke that Congresswoman Giffords was shot, news spread fast. News, man!

But while I was glued to my phone refreshing my New York Times app trying to find every new detail as they occurred, I didn't think about something. Giffords isn't a politician who was shot. Well, I mean, she is, but she's also a person. Who was shot point blank in the head with a pistol. Which is messed up.

I don't want to sound twisted or jaded or hardened or inhuman, but, for some strange reason, something in my head told me that, as a politician, Giffords' shooting was, well, acceptable, if that makes sense. Not acceptable, but expected? Not her specifically, but with all the turmoil in the world, such as the assassination of Salman Taseer by a member of his security outfit and the seemingly counter intuitive reception he got ... things are strange.

But it's nice to be able to step out of the role of someone so desirous of news. Going from one end of the spectrum saying "That's a hell of a story" to "That's the most tragic thing I've heard in a long time."

In a way, removing yourself from the personal aspects of something allows you to analyze things from an objective point of view but also allows you to step into a personal perspective — fully. Perhaps more so than people who skim newspapers for headlines and cutlines.

It's an interesting world we live in, I tell you. Hopefully no comet will come and destroy us all in a year so I can at least delve into some of all the crazy events happening around.

-Gin