Let the ‘Great Satan’ Be.
Significant portions of the world’s Muslims consider America the Great Satan. Significant portions of Americans seem to consider Muslims little Anti-Christs. So?
This posting is intended not as a rebuttal to what Nathan Harrison wrote in the opinions section of this week’s Whitworthian, but as an opening to fuel more discussion. Nathan wrote about Dinesh D’Souza’s lecture. He thought D’Souza had some good points.
I have issues on a few grounds.
False impressions, and resolving them
In our culture, it is encouraged to look past the prejudice and bigotry that mark how some of us view other cultures. Grouping Muslim people together and calling them women-abusing terrorists is generally discouraged. Yet when we’re faced with the reality that Muslim people are not, in fact, women-abusing terrorists, it becomes clear that if we simply make the effort to learn about another culture, we will emerge more understanding and tolerant from that experience.
Why should we expect Muslims to make a cultural effort to cure the false impressions of our culture’s bigots? The Islamic world just might be better off asking us to learn the truth about them.
I believe it goes both ways. Why should we make a cultural effort to cure the Muslim world’s false impressions about our culture? Maybe we should expect them to take the effort to learn the truth about our culture.
Core 250 Rhapsody
Many of you are reading this blog instead of studying for your first Core 250 test. *Tsk tsk tsk.* Fortunately, I’m here to help you study.
I thought to myself, what if I wrote a song that would perfectly outline all various ideas philosophy and psychology, all sung to a cruelly infectious tune with rockin’™ guitar solos?
Then I realized: Queen has already done that for me. Thank you Queen!
In their masterpiece, “Bohemian Rhapsody” Queen details the various philosophical, psychological, and religious forces tugging on a one, who when you really reduce it down, was just a poor boy from a poor family.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Descartes. Hume. Subtle allusion to most masterful philosophical work of our time, The Matrix.
Little Blue Bins
If you haven’t ventured into the library or Weyerhaeuser in the last few weeks, you might have missed the plethora of receptacles for people’s recycling now. We now have containers to segregate glass and plastics from our garbage. There are even three different types of bins for paper.
Though I still have the sneaking suspicion that all of that is going to end up in the same dumpster behind the plant come garbage day, I think that the school is moving in the right direction in promoting recycling. The problem that I do have is with the choice of containers.Â
Before, paper was discarded in huge potato sacks that could easily hold a day’s worth of discarded Core reading packets and solicitations from our mail boxes. Facilities would drive their red truck through campus and collect the overflowing bags and take them out of sight (to be tossed). Now, we are using bins slightly larger than the box that my last pair of shoes came in.  Granted, my big feet require larger shoe boxes, but that’s not the point.
The smaller bins actually seem to be a discouragement to recycle. By noon, the little blue bins in the library will already be filled with hundreds of essays forgotten on the printer. When the papers start to litter the floor, the next logical choice for disposing of our unwanted is the trash can placed conveniently just to the left.
The very first day that these bins showed up, I talked with one of the facilities service staff about the issue. We both thought it was asinine to have a little tiny box for hundreds of students when the giant sacks worked great in the past.
These little blue bins already seem to be a waste in time and resources.Â
My scorecard will now be sporting a big negative for being counterproductive.
Agents of Orange
Yesterday, you may have noticed more than 100 people walking around with day-glo orange shirts on. The shirts said “orphan,” alluding to the depressingly large number of African children who were orphaned because of AIDS.
Now, I’m all for stopping AIDS. So is most of America. We spend a considerably larger per-victim number on AIDS research than we do many other more deadly syndromes (cancer, heart disease) I think such effort is noble.
But my question is one of pragmatics. Each orange shirt cost $5 (let’s assume that they’re selling them at cost, it’s hard to get shirts cheaper than $5.) 112 were sold.
That’s over 560 dollars spent on T-shirts. Part of me wonders whether that money wouldn’t have been spent better if it was sent to some organization that helps AIDS orphans, instead of sent to the T-shirt company. If their purpose is a matter of advertising, T-shirts are one of most expensive and least effective advertisements, in my view. I’m not saying that I haven’t spent money on a various amount of trivial things.
But if the purpose is to help AIDS victims, it seems that there’s a better way. Money put towards a cause should be used in the most effective way possible. Obviously, it’s easy to play armchair accountant. And I’m not trying to wag my finger or condemn people for trying to make a positive difference.
I’m just asking: Is there a more effective way to do that?
Could Whitworth Faculty create their own Whitworth Forum?
One of the coolest things about sites like this are the way it allows people to express their ideas without a filter. It’s far more real when people aren’t assigned a specific topic. When they can simply honestly lay out their views for all too see.
Which is why I would love to see a site like this, but for the Whitworth Faculty. I’d love to see President Robinson respond to Forrest’s thoughts on philosophy, or see Soden honestly opine on campus issues. Many of the best and most famous blogs are run by professors. It’d be nice to see public disagreement between the highly-honed minds of
Is that something that would be smiled upon? Would Whitworth faculty be willing to actually express their real views publically? To disagree with their superiors? To have honed discussion in an unfiltered environment that any student could log on and read?
Or is there a subtle self-censorship that the Whitworth Faculty are expected to adhere to? Does the value of the illusion of unanimity and “community” stand higher than the value of honest intellectual discussion? I understand the need for positive PR, but I can’t help but think that sometimes the views of the faculty are being subtly censored.
 For the greater good, of course.
But besides the inherent unlikelihood of a Whitworth Faculty Forum happening, it’s something that I’d like to see. Actual disagreement between faculty members, for the students to see, understand, and learn from.
Put it on my Whitworth University Christmas Wish list.
Freshman Foresight
I remember my freshman year of high school and being in a state of “Wow, I’m finally in high school! I feel so mature!!â€? I was, of course, interested in the cool new memorabilia, like school sweatshirts, letterman’s jackets, and Advanced Algebra books–pretty much anything that proved I was in high school.Â
Then as I got to my junior and senior years, high school quickly transformed into an insanely busy all-you-MUST-eat buffet of things to do. I would listen to underclassmen complain about their three page paper they had to write in only one week, and softly sing, in a cynical, half-awake voice, “The worst is yet to come…�
My business was all thanks to the International Baccalaureate program I was involved in. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it basically entails selling your soul to the I.B. Lords and sacrificing your sleep to write papers).  I liked my classes a lot, but I never had any room in my schedule to explore what really sparked my interest—acting and journalism. I was too busy jumping through the hoops to notice where I was going…
But once I knew where I was going to college (and knew how much debt I was going to be in) I decided it was time to STOP! Collaborate and listen.Â
Now, I had a pretty strong sense of what I wanted to do—but I know a lot of freshman are unsure of what job they want six years from now. If that is the case, I strongly suggest acquiring some useful Freshman Foresight. Realize that now is the time to sample different flavors before you decide you want a double scoop Psychology and History cone.Â
The Whitworth Forum Mentioned in The Whitworthian
Check out this article in this week’s Whitworthian. I’m especially inarticulate in it, and it refers to posts as “blogs,” but it’s cool to see this site mentioned. (Unfortunately , the print edition fails to mention the url of the site)
I wanted to clarify something else in the article. It mentions that we get “a thousand hits a day.” That’s technically true, but a little deceptive. Every time this blog loads a graphic, it counts as a hit. So each time I load the site, it might get around seven hits.
Hopefully we’ll eventually get 1000 unique visitors a day. But we don’t have that yet.
In case you’re curious, despite the fact that I’m the Opinions Editor of the Whitworthian, the only way I was involved in the article was as a source. The first time I read it was after it had already gone to print. Doing otherwise, obviously, would be a conflict of interest.
IT [used to be] COMMUNITY BUILDING DAY!
Community Building Day has always been one of Whitworth best ideas. It’s one of Whitworth’s biggest PR coups.
It has a dual meaning, obviously. It’s meant to build the community around Spokane, but also to build community at Whitworth.
That’s why it’s disappointing to learn that, as of last year, Whitworthians were set into groups according to their Freshmen Seminar Group, rather than their dorm.
Personally, I think it’s more important to build Dorm community than Freshmen Seminar community. CBD used to get freshmen a chance to get to better know each other, their leadership, and any returning students from that dorm who came along.
And there’s a sadder loss. I’ve always felt the most important part of CBD was not the painting, cleaning, or building. It was the morning of. It was the running around room to room, playing bagpipes and blaring trumpets, all the while yelling “IT’ S COMMUNITY BUILDING DAY!” Or, in some cases, “ES EL DIA DE COMMUNIDAD!”
Ed: Changed CMD to CBD
Love Bonds: The Word is Not Enough
Think of someone you love. If you’re a freshman, the cute boy you’ve noticed for a week and never talked to does not count. Seriously, think of someone you know you truly love. Now think of the last time you hugged that person. Many children’s studies show that children need to be hugged on a regular basis, so that they know they are loved. I think we, as humans, do not grow out of this need. Yet, we stop providing this vital embrace that keeps us going.
Now I have never been big on hugging—I’ve always thought of my hugs as something very special, not simply a way to greet a friend I see everyday.
Frankly, people who hug their friends all the time kind of annoy me in that it seems like hugging has become this meaningless collision of bodies, no emotion attached at all.
I feel like a lot of Americans are in the same boat as me—secure in their enormous personal bubble, never physically communicating love. Instead, we rely on words to do the trick, or worse, just assume others know we love them.
I’ve always thought my anti-hug attitude put me above those careless huggers who didn’t even think about the meaning that putting your arms around someone could have. But I think being pro-hug is actually a healthier choice.
In fact, I’m pretty sure our lack of hugging is behind the increase of depression in
I think it is time to pop the super-sized American personal bubble, and start meeting all of our basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, water and hugging.
Now, granted, I’m not suggesting you leave 30 minutes early for class so that you will have ample time to hug any and everyone you see, nor am I encouraging you to walk with your arms permanently outstretched, turning yourself into a human net, forcing the needed hugs on anyone you catch…
I am however suggesting you take on this mission: think about the people you love, and ask yourself ‘Do they need a hug?’
The Most Progressive Person at Our School
“Saga sucks.”
Does it really? I definitely used to.
I lived on campus 2003 through 2005 and I distinctly remember the “chicken fried steak”. It was fish. And it was only one meal having an identity crisis.
Things have changed: now, we have vegan selections, meats from actual animals (they cut it in front of students!), smaller trays to reduce waste, biodegradable utensils, fresh cooked Chow Mein, fair trade coffee (from Thomas Hammer), breads from local bakers, organic produce and real desserts.
Sodexho has expressed that they’d cooperate with a campus wide composting program, so that what food we do waste, and the spudware, will be recycled on our campus. Sodexho is personally invested in preserving and improving the earth. I heard Jim O’Brien takes all the milk cartons Sodexho uses home to be recycled because they aren’t being recycled on campus (though they will be soon).
Also, Sodexho just harvested their first crop of mustard from the back forty.
Their sustainability has not gone unnoticed. According to Jim O’Brien, other schools are watching in hopes of modeling their programs after ours. Where once we students wished we were like Gonzaga, now schools want to be like us.
Bravo Sodexho, bravo Jess, Dan, Paul, Hope, Loretta, Dee and all the students who help. And especially, bravo Jim O’Brien.