Category: Perspectives

The real world is a complicated place. It is often exceedingly difficult to disentangle the causes of phenomena, such as the increasing rate of childhood asthma, from the spaghetti-like mass of possible contributors. Was a new pollutant or irritant added to our air? Did something disappear from our air? Are children today exposed to more allergens at an earlier age than their parents were? Or less exposed? Do these exposures affect susceptibility to asthma?

For years, scientists speculated that there was a link between increasing asthma rates and the pollution generated by burning gasoline in cars and trucks.

WOULD YOU LIKE CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE, ERIN?

To the Editor:

I’m not even sure where to begin with your letter concerning your grade in chem., but the bottom line is, you didn’t make the cut. Anyone who has taken real chemistry finds the chemistry nursing majors take to be Pablum.

Trends never reach me in their prime. By the time I got a Furby for Christmas, it was so ridiculously on sale that the decaying glue of the REDUCED sticker had alloyed with chunks of pink fur.

So while most people would have discovered MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) around the advent of the Internet, they’re still a novelty for me.

Howls and other unnerving sounds echo through the dormitory halls late at night. Drunks are constantly prowling with loud, awkward footsteps, always on their way in or out, slamming doors each time they pass either way. Worse, even if one is angered to confrontation due to being disturbed from sleep by these louts, these same louts have breath so foul (think rotting grains — a large part in beer) as to make them unapproachable.

Geoffrey Bohannan

Junior

Psychology

“An on-campus polling center would dramatically increase student voter turnout.”

Keita A. Whitter

Advance standing, graduate

Social Work

“I believe it would increase voter turn out significantly.”

Ideh Rohani

Sophomore

Nursing

“Undoubtedly.

For the Celtic people who inhabited Ireland, the UK, and Northern France over 2000 years ago what we now know as Halloween was called the Samhain festival. This festival rang in their new year, which began on Nov. 1. Their new year began with the end of the harvest and they believed on that day the barrier between the worlds of living and dead was thinned allowing spirits to easily pass through.

Much of Maine’s forested landscape is described by some as “working forest.” This same land area is viewed as an industrial fiber farm by others. On the coast, communities are taking steps to protect their “working waterfronts.” On both fronts, people are finding it increasingly difficult to find work themselves.

What exactly is the economy? And how come it’s doing so badly? I know that those of you majoring in economics could probably help me with these questions, but I want to try to figure this out by myself.

From what I hear it sounds like just about everyone these days has less money.

Activity fee inquiries

Before anyone votes YES for an activity fee (TAX) increase there should be a critical look at how much of the student activity fee goes to WMPG and how much of that money actually goes to the benefit of students of USM.

Another area to look at is the salaried staff paid for by the activity fee.

With a presidential election coming up in a little over a year, political analysts will soon be hard pressed for material. Why is this, you might wonder. You see, since it will soon be time for people to vote, the issues that matter most for the wellbeing of this country will be cast aside.

Name: Anthony Kline

Year: Freshman

Major: Biology

Answer: Yes. Maine is in need of veterinarians. It’s a wonderful place to live on top of that.

Name: Amanda Huff

Year: Junior

Major: Computer Science

Answer: Yes, because my family is here, but I may commute to work out of state.

Lately my early morning routine of turning on newsradio WMTW has had me shaking my head in disbelief. It’s those gross pro-casino ads. They attempt to appeal to consumer/voter emotion by urging Mainers to support their fellow citizens. If you care for other Mainers, they insinuate, you’ll vote yes on question three, because if there’s one thing Maine needs it’s more jobs.

One of the countless blessings I know in this life is the ability to put my feet to the ground and propel my body over the earth. It was not until an accident temporarily took away my ability to walk that I fully realized that my legs and their movements were not promises but blessings.

I usually look forward to my turn on the Staffer Speaks column but I’ve been trying to track down my schoolwork all week and now I have a few hours to finish editing my stories and write this column. Usually I can cobble together some kind of amusing, scatological rant in an hour or so, but this time I’m coming up blank.

The political gun control scene has been tied up for years in a constant succession of tie votes and the lengthy recount votes that follow. You are fed up and decide that this time you are going to make a difference just to finally end this grim ordeal.

–If you vote to pass “Gun Control” legislations, progress to paragraph -C-

–If you vote to ban “Gun Control” legislations, progress to paragraph -D-

B- The gun homicide rate grows so large that law enforcement becomes irrelevant.

Kelly Coyne

Freshman

Environmental Science

“I believe that a casino will economically benefit Maine as well as giving Mainers more job opportunities. However, most of the profit will go to Las Vegas and I think Maine should get more of the benefits if the casino is allowed.

Last week The Maine Campus (UMaine Orono’s newspaper) reported that their student senate created a resolution which was “a thinly veiled attempt to affect the content of The Maine Campus.” The resolution would’ve required The Maine Campus to hire a faculty adviser, which they haven’t had for three years.

Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring and The edge of the Sea, spent summers in Southport, Maine from 1951 until 1963. A tidal salt pond in nearby New Harbor was a cherished spot. Thanks to the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, which Rachel helped found, this beautiful tide pool is now part of the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Preserve and is open to the public.