Senior column: I’m learning to let go of the things I can’t control
By Isabel Soisson | Apr. 30, 2020Well, I’m here.
Well, I’m here.
It is no surprise to anyone that the longer this pandemic goes on, the more people are going to anxiously await the day life can go back to the way it was. Believe me, I get it. For the last four years, I spent most of my time living hundreds, even thousands of miles away from my family. I had all the freedom of young adulthood, and now I’m back home in a full house depending on my family to support me. I lost my job when the University closed housing. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do this summer, let alone next fall.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine began, millions of thoughts have been running through my head.
I spent weeks thinking about what I wanted my senior column to be about. I imagined it to be some sort of SHU swan song; I’d talk about my favorite parts of campus, the friends I made, the mentors I had and the things that I learned over the past four years. But that initial idea changed because it’s hard to ignore everything that’s going on in the world right now.
In 1993, Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer for Joe Biden, alleged that Biden inappropriately handled her. Now, Reade has alleged that Biden sexually assaulted her, according to Newsweek.
I was extremely lucky that I got to finish my senior season as a swimmer a week and a half before the cancellations of professional and collegiate sports. With everything going on in the world right now, the cancellation of NCAA competitions may seem like the bottom of the list in terms of importance on the world scale. However, for many student-athletes across the United States, losing the end of your senior season can feel as devastating as losing a loved one.
Can we all take a minute and breathe?
Coming into college, I had absolutely zero interest in Greek life or anything surrounding it.
Take the SAT, graduate high school, go to college. High school dropouts are losers. Gap year takers are flighty. Community college transfers are uneducated. This is the narrative that is fed to young students across the United States.
Last week, Americans raced to enter their votes for the Iowa Caucuses, and many reacted to the confusion that ensued when it came to tallying votes electronically.
On Jan. 30, the world health organization declared Coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern after an emergency committee convened in Geneva.
When I came to Seton Hall my freshman year, I was excited.
Reflecting on the people you surrounded yourself with throughout your childhood can be an eye-opening experience.
Coming into Seton Hall as a freshman, I was adamant that I wanted to be involved in as much as I could.
I started my hunt for an internship after watching “The Carrie Diaries.” For anyone who has seen the show, you know that Carrie Bradshaw’s New York internship experience was nothing less than glamorous.
“Oh my god! Seton Hall is third in unhappiness for colleges? I knew I hated this school. Why did I ever decide to go here? This school makes me so sad.”
In a world constantly buzzing with social interaction, proper communication is essential in daily life. We communicate everyday – whether it be through face-to-face interaction, social media messages, body language, you name it. We are a very social civilization.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of the biggest issues in America right now is how we deal with social issues, like LGBTQ rights and gun laws. Anyone can type a rant in 280 characters or less. It takes a different type of dedication to call legislators and force them to get a bill passed. [caption id="attachment_28833" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Photo via Wikipedia[/caption] I used to be uninformed when it came to politics because the jargon can be off-putting. Here we welcome the filibuster, an antiquated facet of our government that undoubtedly staunches progress in politics. The Congressional Research Service defines a filibuster as any tactic aimed at blocking a measure by stopping it from becoming a vote. In recent Democratic Presidential Debates, we hear about the amazing bills that each candidate will sign if elected. The unfortunate part of that is none of the bills are likely to pass because they must go through the Senate. Arguably, the biggest recent bill passed through the Senate, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was almost a decade ago. Gaining the necessary 51 votes to pass a bill in the Senate is nearly impossible due to increased partisanship in today’s political climate. Many advocates for the filibuster say the original idea is what the Founding Fathers wanted it to be: the “cooling saucer” that forces the two parties to work together. The risk of getting rid of the filibuster means that the side you agree with will not always be in power. Abolishing it would make it easier for everyone to pass things. For example, it would no longer be possible to filibuster judicial nominations, most recently seen in the 50-48 Brett Cavanaugh ruling. I think it is a risk worth taking. While it is good to give the minority party a voice in the Senate, it should not come at the expense of getting something passed. You can argue whether you agree with a bill or not depending on which end of the political spectrum you fall on. What cannot be argued is the lack of progress being made on either side because of the filibuster, along with other issues that plague our government today. While we cannot reverse the use of technology and use of social media, we can do something that has a stronger impact than a post. Call your representatives, have your voice heard and do your small part in advocating for justice. Evando Thompson is a senior journalism major and German minor from Atlanta, Ga. He can be reached at evando.thompson@student.shu.edu.
I grew up in a household where my father would come home from work, turn on the television and flip back and forth between FOX News and CNN until he decided it was time to call it a night and go to sleep.
As of Sept. 27 of this year, 18 transgender women have died according to The New York Times. The violent deaths of these women and the lack of attention their deaths have received are a reflection of a society that does not care about transgender women of color.