opinion >> FROM THE CROWD
APPLAUSE TO...
Justin Timberlake, for being able to sing, dance, and be funny (and be good at all three); Spring break, for giving us a breather before we finish this semester; St. Patrick’s Day, for being jolly and green; Melting snow, for making room for spring; The new Pope, for being a pretty chill guy so far; Lil Wayne, for not really being dead; Curiosity, for discovering that Mars once had conditions that supported life; Kickstarter campaigns, for bringing old TV series back.
HECKLES TO...
Sketchy airplane pilots; Cold season, for keeping us coughing and sneezing well into March; Cruises, for not getting themselves together after the first fiasco; Second semester, for not being over yet; Summer jobs, for playing hard to get; Potholes, for ruining our tires; CNN, for placing football above basic human rights; Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, for grossing us out.
theSaint 2012-2013 E D I T O R I A L B O A R D Stephanie Giluk Laura Farrell Paris Close
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Adviser Dr. Dan Brooks *** Please note that the views expressed on this page are those of their respective author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of The Saint as a whole.
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THE SAINT | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013
Information by the people, for the people By Chuck Hyde The Saint Reporter Aaron Swartz was a developer that helped build several websites, such as Reddit, that are still around today. He was also a passionate activist: he campaigned for publiclyfunded articles to be made available to the public and for privately held articles to be made more easily accessible. Knowledge is something that everyone should have access to, not just those who can afford a college education. College research papers can be difficult. Whether they are scientific, historical, or anything in between they require hours of work: looking up sources, finding sources that are actually available, interpreting said sources, and then finally writing the paper. This, of course, is assuming that the paper that you want to reference is actually available. There are tool like inter-library loan that can
help with that sometimes, but not always. If someone that didn’t attend a college like Aquinas wanted to access these kinds of articles or journals, however, it would be much more difficult. Lofty fees for each and every article would be required, sometimes even for pieces that are funded by the tax dollars that everyone contributes to (at least in theory). Public knowledge is severely limited, even when it pertains to the government. Swartz took steps to alleviate this problem by downloading countless articles from JSTOR (Journal Storage, an online database) and distributing them freely online. He faced a federal trial that became too much for him. He committed suicide on January 11 of this year. I think that Swartz will become a martyr for a cause that shouldn’t have had to be fought for. Even though I am lucky to have access to many databases and journals through Aquinas,
I still believe that others should have that ability with or without a college education. I am all for knowledge being made readily available for everyone, especially research funded by our dollars. And the White House finally responded to the people. They are taking steps to make tax-payer funded research freely available to the public within a year of its publication. Additionally, Congress is reviewing two bills named after Swartz that will lessen the severity of punishment for online breach of contract. As I have written before, the internet is far too policed by the government and corporations in many cases. Information should be just as free and open on the digital space as it is in the public sphere. SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA all failed. Hopefully this is now a step in the opposite direction, toward a more open and free system of information for everyone.
Letter to the Editor
Raising awareness about fracking in Michigan
Hangovers, for not being jolly but sometimes being green;
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By Kait Carmody Guest Writer We have all seen the commercials that are as ubiquitous as political ads before an election. They tout “clean” and “safe” natural gas. They show smiling engineers in front of green fields. We are told that hundreds of thousands of jobs are “created” by oil and gas extraction. We are assured our environment is their top priority. The trouble with those statements is this: they are all lies. Fossil fuels are not the saviors of our future and they are the remnants of our past. We are at a tipping point now, and it is time for fossil fuels to go the way of the dinosaurs. Fracking is one of the newest ways to ob-
tain fossil fuels. EPA sparked a firestorm in December last year when it released a draft report suggesting that the use of hydraulic fracturing or fracking to extract natural gas had contaminated groundwater near Pavillion, Wyoming. The EPA also found high pH levels that could be explained by potassium hydroxide, which was used as a solvent at the site. The agency analyzed the evolution of the pollution plume to determine that groundwater seems to be migrating upward, suggesting that the source of contamination came from the gas production zone rather than the surface pits. Three Kent County environmental groups are sponsoring a community forum on Monday, March
25, to discuss fracking of oil and gas wells. Sponsored by the Citizens for Responsible Resource Management, Kent County Water Conservation, and Mutual Aid of Grand Rapids, the forum will feature a presentation by Maryann Lesert, an associate professor of environmental studies at Grand Rapids Community College and a leader in the anti-fracking movement in Michigan. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Rockford High School, 4100 Kroes Road NE. The community forum is open to the public and intended for all audiences, according to its sponsors.
Graduation and the never-ending questions it brings By Alissa Muller The Saint Reporter Spring break is over and some of us are heading into the last eight weeks of our undergraduate careers which bring a wide range of emotions and an influx of questions. The questions started the first day of senior year, or even before, but they are increasing now that May is closer than what we think. These questions come from everyone: parents (obviously) to distant relatives to coworkers to doctors to acquaintances to grocery store check out employees. “Oh so you’re graduating?” “What are you doing after college?” “Do you have an internship lined up?” “Have you been applying to careers in your field?” “Are you heading straight to graduate school?” I’m fine with answering these questions to a certain extent, but when they start coming from everyone, even people who have no real connection to my life, I begin
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to think that maybe there is a right way to answer these and I should be micro-managing my life. With each slight upward inflection, each question mark, it echoes the last semester of high school when everyone asked you what you were doing post graduation. If you were going to college, you likely received smiles, and congratulations and everything was at peace in the world. If you were not, you received looks of astonishment, confusion, and disappointment. God forbid you decide to take a few years off and work. Now that I am graduating college, a feat that our nation highly regards and not everyone accomplishes, I figured I was free of the questions and strange looks. On May 4, I will be donning a cap and gown and walking across a stage to receive my diploma. But as this year has proved for many, myself included, that the questions are out in full force. Even my dental hygienist was no exception. Luckily there were tools in my mouth so the most my answers could be were some sort of
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moan or groan. But it’s a little much when your dental hygienist starts asking about your personal life post graduation. No, I have not applied for any careers. Yes, I will be doing an internship, but no, I am not getting married. What’s it to ya? I’m going with the wind. The way I see it, I am young and come what may. To make things clear, I am not bashing having a set plan after school. For all of you out there who have careers lined up or are going off to graduate school: feel good about it. You are entering into the next phase and whatever that is, embrace it and be proud. There is no right answer to the millions of questions we have received and I’m tired of feeling like there should be. Bottom line: We are graduating college and wherever we go next, no one can take that diploma away from us. Just don’t let the questions get in the way of your heart.