Opinion
6
Wednesday 04.23.14
Editorial
Preparing to co-habitate with your parents the issue After graduation many former students will move back into their parents homes.
our take The Editorial Board has created some tips to help recent graduates readjust to life at home.
With less than 30 days until the handing of diplomas, graduating seniors will grab their gowns and mothers will wait to welcome them home with baby blankets and cheekstaining lipstick love. According to Pew Research Center study, 36 percent of young adults ages 1831 will return home to live with their parents, the
highest share of post-college, parent-quartering in at least four decades. Whether for financial reasons or real-world denial, coming back to the home that built you is a challenge of college debt loan proportions. A few tips for the post-college parent-cohabitation. Remind mom you are now an adult whose taste
palate has matured above Cocoa Puffs, like cold pizza for breakfast, hot pizza for lunch and probably nothing for dinner, because pizza and profits are gone and so are Bean Bucks. “Cat’s Cradle” has been on a loop since you left, so humor Dad by accepting his invitation to learn how to ride your bike. For the second time. For the love of your mother, separate your darks from your white laundry. YouTube how-to videos and learn to fold shirts like a GAP employee and show mom and dad the education a college degree has served you. No one at the din-
ner table is going to care about Sally Mae from Pi Pie Pi social club getting engaged. All they care about is why you are not. Your head hasn’t hit the pillow before 2 a.m. for four years. So be in bed by 8 p.m. and mom can do her obligatory, tuck-you-in. Appreciate the mom muscle for five minutes then struggle for 10 to untuck yourself from the suffocating swaddle. If siblings are still at home, retire the tonguesticking-outs and grant them shotgun on car rides. Instead, remind them their student debt loans will take twice the time and cost twice the price of yours.
Also, volunteer to babysit the youngins so as to carry on that nap time tradition college made into a concrete appointment. Invest in a goldfish pet or utilize Skype so as the parents won’t worry about your deteriorating post-college social life. Ready those resumes. Dad will take copies to work the way he once guilted coworkers to buy fundraiser tubs of cookie dough. Refamiliarize yourself with your birth name. Long gone are the days of nicknames, last-name summons. You now answer by that wretched four-syllable name, or “darling,” “hon-
ey,” “baby,” “sweetie,” etc. Avoid being made to eat your vegetables at dinner by telling the family you adopted a fleshitarian diet over the past four years to protest the mistreatment of plants. As you return to the driveways where you once first learned to drive, ready your patience and relinquish the privacy college once granted you. Mom will be waiting on the porch every night chanting, “I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as you’re poor unemployed, you’ll call me mommy.” contact The Optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
DAILY doodle dosage
Column
Ben Todd
A quick lesson in college life DAILY DOODLE DOSAGE BEN TODD CARTOONIST
It’s hard to believe that just a year ago I was hanging out with my high school graduating class during our spring break trip at the beach. Since that point, I’ve graduated, moved my life across the world, made new friends, gained new experiences and learned a lot of lessons. Here’s a list of things I’d tell my past self if I had the chance in regards to my freshman year. A quick way to make friends is to jam to some 80s music, and look around to see if anyone else is bobbing their head or jamming on their air guitar. The best way not to gain the freshman fifteen; don’t go for seconds. Just eat everything you have on the first plate. Also, take advantage of the Rec center; make it your second or third home. Have the healthy assumption that as soon as you arrive in America, you are an adult that can take care of yourself and no one is going to help you. That way when people do help me do my laundry, move my stuff, drive me to church or lend me spare winter underwear, I consider it a big deal and accept it with the upmost gratitude. Speaking of winter underwear, don’t forget to pack some winter clothing. The only justification to lie is when you’re keeping a surprise engagement party a secret from your sister. Situations go much more smoothly when you admit your mistakes rather than deny them. Nobody wins if you deny your mis-
“
Look up from your screen; it will still be there after you enjoy the company of the people around you. Those people won’t be there forever.
takes. This technique got me out of tight social situations more than once. Listen more than you speak. Let your actions and words speak. That is how people will see you, no matter what you tell them you are on the inside. You might tell yourself you have a kind heart, but we won’t believe you if you’re dropkicking puppies every Saturday night. Girls may be getting the talk about staying pure, saying no and protecting yourself. Let’s acknowledge that those lessons apply to guys too. Being in a relationship with someone opens a Pandora’s Box of possibilities. It can be great, but it’s a double-edged sword. Look up from your screen; it will still be there after you enjoy the company of the people around you. Those people won’t be there forever. Lastly, there is no time like the college time. I highly recommend writing your experiences down so you can look back on the memories you’ll make. Your brain won’t stay sharp forever. contact Todd at bat12A@acu.edu
Column
Training for the adulthood marathon by no means easy. But, no matter what, it’s important to push through. Because, before you know it, you’re in, you’re past the second mile marker. Responsibilities come, they store up and leap at you. Like a stitch in your side, they’ll slow your stride but that is no reason to stop. If you do, they’ll overwhelm you. They’ll stop you halfway through and leave you gasping for breath, stretching your sides and batting away disappointment. Everyone starts somewhere. Each person experiences their own pain, their own limitations to growing up, but no one has to stop short. We are capable of so much. Our bodies were designed to be strong, to
I’M SORRY, MS. JACKSON
BRITTANY JACKSON MANAGING EDITOR
Running is a lot like growing up. It took me years to want it and to realize it was what I needed. You see, running starts off as an ideal, like being a grown-up. It’s good for you, you know. It helps you breathe. It helps you live. Growing up isn’t easy. Before you do, it’s like lounging on the couch, begging the nagging feeling to go away. But your life doesn’t give up on you, and neither do your muscles, or your mind. They call you to more, they’ll call you to run and to
exercise every part of you. You can feel it, can’t you? The muscles straining as you climb up the Administration Building’s stairs, your thoughts pleading with you to challenge yourself with a tougher curriculum. For me, the first mile is the worst. No part of me wants to continue. My eyes blur and my breath feels like a mixture of fire and ice in my throat. Getting your foot in the door is like that too. Learning how to grow up and manage things. Accepting responsibility and taking blame. It is
hashtagACU
April 20 6:22 p.m.
April 20 8:27 p.m. April 17 1:37 p.m.
“The boys at ACU wanna get married, like, yesterday.” #ACUprobs @overheardACU @acuoptimist
@Macie_Liptoi
Reading about all the traffic on 20-W makes me even more glad that I stayed in Abilene this weekend.
@joshsmith_93
April 20 8:01 p.m.
So...I have a professor on snapchat now? #wut #JustNo
@Pocolocoelijah
OMG can i plz just graduate without changing my ACU password again. PLZ.
@Sh4zam
@DarciHalstead
contact Jackson at bkj12a@acu.edu
April 20 4:03 p.m.
It just brought immense joy to my heart watching a freshman walk from Mabee to the side doors of the library just to realize its closed #LOL
April 19 4:44 p.m.
carry us through this life. All we have to do is believe in them, believe in the process, believe in ourselves. Keep running, power through and create yourself. Because you’ll never be more than you are at this moment if you don’t get up and allow yourself to grow, to break that mold around you. To stretch it, to bend it. If there’s one thing about running and growing up, it’s that you keep learning, you keep teaching yourself. After all, we’re all just training to be more, to be infinitely more, than what we are today. So good luck, get going and don’t forget to trust yourself.
Hola to the Moonie that definitely caught me jamming to Jason Derulo alone in my car.. Can’t wait to awkwardly see you around campus now
@addiefs
April 21 9:29 a.m. April 21 9:50 a.m.
“I think the most dangerous thing about being an accountant is dying of boredom” #COBAproffs #acuprobs
@audge2011
I formally apologize to everyone who saw a few Kojies screaming and running with water guns this morning. I promise we’re not crazy.
April 21 10:04 a.m.
April 21 12:36 p.m.
Royce Money is the coolest person alive.
@the_thundersonn @nikkiwilsonn
editorial and Letter Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration. Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university. The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing
personal attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy. Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.
published by the department of journalism and mass communication editorial and management board
E-mail letters to: optimist@acu.edu
April 21 11:33 a.m.
Oh yes, PDA is what I want to see in the library.
sports desk (325) 674-2684
April 21 10:08 a.m.
The real reason that GSP is at the top of my list is their crawfish rush.
@SoyTophu
Marissa Jones
Kirsten Holman
Shera Niemirowski
Jarred Schuetze
Kenneth Pybus
editor in chief
Copy Editor
sports producer
faculty adviser
Brittany Jackson
Staff Photographer
Maggie Marshall
JP Festa
managing editor
Copy editor
Video News director
Rachel Fritz
Visuals adviser
Melany Cox
Page 2 Editor
Matt Sloan
Jamie swallows
opinion page editor online managing editor
Sports Director
Staff Videographer
James Eldred
advertising
Deanna Romero
Daniel Zepeda
Laura Benson
Sports Editor
Staff Videographer
Allison Brown
Collin Wieder
Rachel Smith
Assistant Sports Editor
Video Projects Editor
Linsey Thut
rachel smith
Paige Otway
newscast coordinating producer
Staff Photographer
Ben Todd
chief photogrpaher
Alikay Wood arts editor features editor
newsroom (325) 674-2439
@EthanAlex0
@briclose
gabi powell
Address letters to: ACU Box 27892 Abilene, TX 79609
I don’t like it when the ACU recruitment tours drive near me on my way to class. It makes me feel like a Safari animal.
photo department (325) 674-2499
advertising office (325) 674-2463
Staff Writer
cade white cara lee cranford
Staff Writer Features Writer Cartoonist
multimedia desk (325) 674-2463
subscriptions ($40/Year) (325) 674-2296