By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 5, 2014
A brief introduction
The week before reading break is always difficult. It’s not because courses are starting to get harder, or because professors are starting to assign more, but because the looming freedom of a week off is incredibly distracting. One half of the brain is dreamily considering what it will do with an entire week off. The other half is scrambling as it tries to calculate if the whole brain has done enough work this semester to actually merit an entire week away from school.
One half of the brain warring against the other half often results in nothing getting done at all. Reading break, I can tell you right now, will neither feel like a break nor feel productive in the slightest. Ironically, it might be more like Spring Breakers than anything else: you’re expecting something sexy and awesome, and instead get James Franco in corn-braids in some kind of art movie.
While you ponder that image, here are all the thoughts that came to mind when faced with the task of creating an editorial this week, sorted under handy sub-headings. Apparently I’m unable to come up with any cohesive ideas either.
Referendum: the grieving period
As some of you might know, The Cascade was at referendum at the end of January, asking students to approve a $1.50 raise to the newspaper student fee. I was pretty confident that it would pass; that’s the kind of spare change you can dig out of your couch cushions.
But it didn’t pass. It failed.
It failed, in fact, by seven votes.
The numbers are 141 students in favour, and 148 against.
This sucks, because it was so close. But it could also be a lot worse, because if we can convince four of those “no” students to become “yes” students, we can pass a referendum.
No matter how you feel about it, feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear your rallies both for and against The Cascade.
Either way, we’ll be back with a new referendum sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.
Once upon a reading break…
Two years ago I spent my reading break in Austin.
Austin is a pretty interesting cultural hub hiding out in the misshapen pie piece that is Texas.
Three of us went altogether, and although it sounds like a relaxing trip to take over spring break, our reason for going was enough to raise the border guard’s eyebrows both on the way there and on the way back: we went to read.
The three of us were enrolled in a directed studies course, and we found out the University of Texas had a special collection of manuscripts, drafts, and personal library of the author we were studying.
It was a pretty cool week, but the coolest part was that UFV was 100 per cent behind us: we were awarded a grant through UFV financial that paid for the flights, the drive, bus passes while we were there, and food.
Sometimes we take UFV for granted, or only talk about it to complain that the cool parts of the cafeteria are only open for three hours a day.
But UFV has your back. Maybe they’ll help fund you to do something cool, be it a study trip to Texas, a conference in Seattle, studying overseas, or presenting your work to students across the country.
Radio killed the newspaper star
Did you know The Cascade has a radio show? It plays on CIVL radio 101.7 FM on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5 p.m. If you hate reading but still want to hear about what’s in the paper, this is the show for you.
Last week we talked about Bitcoin for a really long time before remembering there was an entire paper we were supposed to be showcasing.
Finally, a joke that is somehow less funny now that I have an English degree
How do you get an English major off your porch?
Pay them for the pizza.
