Illustrations: Brittany Cardinal
The sandwich finds its package
For the longest time, the Fair Grounds cafe in the Student Union Building could not figure out how to package their breakfast sandwiches. Every day I ordered one, it would come wrapped in something different: a compostable container, a paper bag, a napkin, the bottom half of a compostable container, two napkins …
There was no consistency!
But since the new semester started, it’s come in that cute little paper bag. Congratulations, Fair Grounds! You have found yourself! Your ability to identify a problem, however tiny, and solve it is utterly inspiring. I didn’t even know student-run organizations could find consistency after going without it for so long. Some of us could learn from your noble dedication to self-improvement and your courageous refusal to defer blame.
Also, those sandwiches are tasty. Keep up the good work.
Alex Rake
Hospital parking fees are sickening
One night during Christmas break, I drove a sick friend to the emergency room. Hospital waits are notoriously long, and it was an hour before she was admitted to triage, another hour before she was brought in for treatment, and almost two hours before she was deemed healthy enough to be sent home.
For those four hours, I shelled out about $12 in parking fees. I ran out to reload the metre twice during our visit, each time scanning my windshield anxiously in case there was a ticket tucked under the wipers, then rushing back inside to make sure my friend didn’t need anything.
It’s unbelievable that a hospital, of all places, charges for parking. Maybe you’re hoping, like I did, that out of the warmth and compassion of their hearts they don’t actually ticket violators — but another friend found out the hard way that they do. She had dropped a kitchen knife on her foot, severing a tendon, and was rushed inside for stitches. When she came out three hours later, a ticket was waiting for her.
People at hospitals are suffering, or watching people they love suffer. Sometimes they’re watching them die. Worrying about getting a ticket should be the last thing on their minds.
Valerie Franklin
Wi-Fi can suck it
This is going to sound weird, but I have this metal tooth, and it picks up wifi signals like an old sandwich picks up mold. Have you ever heard a wifi signal? It’s like a robot beatboxing through a megaphone directly into your ear. It’s really distracting when I’m trying to study.
So I spend a lot of time in the SUB, where wifi signals are at such minimal levels that I barely notice the sound at all! I think SUS deserves a huge pat on the back for making the SUB a wifi-free zone for students like me, who actually prefer not to have access to these noisy, annoying signals.
I’ve heard a lot of complaining about the lack of internet access, but I would argue that internet access on a university campus is pointless anyway. We have a library here, people. Open a book for once! Spare me and my poor, metal tooth of your senseless blips and bloops.
Reyanne Doio
I’m no Superman
There is nothing like wanting to save the whole world all in one day. Every day we wake up and learn about another disaster, or another conflict that is happening in our communities, locally and worldwide. Some people decide to be ignorant and live in bliss while others make ambitious efforts towards change, one social issue at a time. I, at the best of times and at the worst of times, happen to fall in the latter part of society. Every morning I wake up and learn about the latest events and wonder if there is anything I could do to save the afflicted people and their communities. Being part of a few community-based organizations, I always try to integrate some of my “save the world” goals into what I am doing. The problem lies when I end my day knowing that there is still another person that is disadvantaged in some way. Of course I am aware that I am not humanly able to save every living being on this planet, but sometimes I wish I could just snap my fingers and everyone would have a day of peace, wholeness, and security. Is that simply too much to ask for?
Sonja Klotz
