The Bucknellian

Riley Schwengel
Contributing Writer

It seems that communication through text, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and online chat has taken over our culture and become the primary mode of communication, decreasing face-to-face conversation. People seem to be interacting more via keyboard via speech. While it may be easier to send a Facebook message than to interact with someone in person, it’s dehumanizing. We are social beings, meant to share information and emotions through tone, hand gestures and facial expressions. Instead, we are limiting our correspondences to messages flying through the air and landing on someone’s computer screen or phone.

Yet, it is important to note that the technology we have provides wonderful tools that have made things we never dreamt of possible. We can now reach loved ones and friends that live thousands of miles away with a simple click and can share pictures, videos and audio with them. The problem is not the technology, but instead, how we use it. These tools are meant to enrich relationships, be they familial, friendly or romantic, but are horrible for creating these bonds. True friendships and romances are based around shared experiences and personable encounters, two things that cannot be duplicated on the Internet.

We have been using such resources as a crutch, instead of the pillows they were meant to be, because they’re easier. Take the example of asking someone out on a date. You have to walk up to them, with a big ball of anxiousness building up in your stomach, and then look them in the eye and blurt out the question, all the while wondering how they are going to react.

It’s miserable, and it’s a huge load off one’s mind to simply send a message across some sort of medium asking the same question. However, the personal encounter is so much more memorable than a simple text message. If you go up to someone and ask them out, it’s a unforgettable experience for them and they are probably going to respond positively to it. A message, on the other hand, is easily dismissed as unimportant and probably will be deleted by the receiver. Although media is more convenient, verbal contact is much more rewarding.

With all the technology available to us, we have increased the number of acquaintances we have, but decreased the number of meaningful relationships. We need to stop relying on instant messages and chat rooms to talk with people. There is no alternative to meeting them in person and sharing experiences with them. We need to start communicating like humans again and not like machines shooting text and information into the world and hoping someone reads it.

El McCabe

Contributing Writer

“Work hard, party hard” is the perfect motto for the campus community. It’s important to remember that the University was not only rated the 29th best National Liberal Arts College, but also the 7th best party school this past year. On weeknights, students buckle down and tackle hours of homework, but every Friday, Saturday and oddly enough, Wednesday, students dance and drink their worries away, often haphazardly. In an environment such as Lewisburg with not much to do, drinking becomes the go-to way to ensure a “good time,” or in the very least, ensure that something “interesting” happens in the minds of many students.

Personally, I find it almost impossible to escape the heavy drinking culture on campus. There is always some kind of drama associated with party-goers, whether it is that one friend who had too much to drink and needs to be taken care of or being woken up by the influx of drunken party-goers returning from their respective nights out.

Here, drinking is never just a chill night with your friends, and the extent to which students party is dangerous and definitely overwhelming. The heavy drinking culture creates a domino effect on social life and your party habits essentially decide who your friends are.

Now, while it is expected that others will drink in college, I believe the University’s party culture takes “the college experience” a step too far. It is not uncommon for Public Safety to have to be called on weekends here or to hook up with a total stranger and forget it ever happened. Some students would argue that these occurrences are all part of having a good time and as long as no one gets seriously injured, there is nothing to worry about.

But I ask you, where is the line? When do you realize your limits and take into account the long-term effects of your actions on your academic/social standing? Only time will reveal the answers to these questions, and as our four years at this University go on, each answer will be different for everyone.

My best is advice is to avoid doing things you are not comfortable with and take care of yourself. Trust me, you can have fun and go out without a trip to the emergency room, and staying safe will ensure many more fun nights to come.

Justin Marinelli

Writer

The Great Flood of 2011 may be nearing its first anniversary, but the effects of it are still around, creating a psychological divide between the upperclassmen students, this year’s first-years and all incoming classes from now on.

For those innocent first-years reading this, allow me to explain. Last year, when Hurricane Irene rolled by, it rained hard enough that the soil ended up saturated with rain water. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except a few days later, Tropical Storm Lee arrived. Because the rain had nowhere to go, it stuck around. As the rain poured, the water continued to rise. Eventually, local businesses had to close, professors found themselves unable to drive to the University and students living downhill had to evacuate to dorms on higher ground.

For most of us, it wasn’t too horrible. Classes got cancelled, we made new friends (I met one of my best friends here because he needed a place to camp and chose my hall’s common room) and we even got some cool shirts out of it. However, others were not so lucky. Zelda’s Cafe was shut down for months and many other local businesses suffered because of the catastrophe.

We now have a first-year class that has never seen 7th Street become a river, had to sleep in the field house or had the experience of getting drunk on a raft in the Smith parking lot and declaring it a pirate ship, as a few enterprising individuals did. They don’t carry the psychological scars that we do. They will never look up at an overcast sky and feel that same mix of fear, hope and nostalgia that deep down we all experience when we gaze at rain clouds. For them, the idea of a day off from classes is a quaint idea, not a harrowing experience.

This is not something we tend to think about too much, but it is still important to acknowledge. It is impossible to deny that there is now a lasting divide between the first-years and everyone else (and especially the current sophomores). Last year was my first year, and I can’t help but realize that when I’m a senior, my class will be the only ones to remember the Great Flood of 2011. That stuns me.

For the class of 2015, the flood was both an incredible bonding experience and a metaphor for how our lives are going to be: unpredictable and dramatic. It is events like these that  shape us into extraordinary people. We are defined by it, more than any other class, because it happened so early in our college experience, before we had even really settled in. We will always be children of the flood.

Spencer Ivey

Writer

The “freshman 15.” You’ve undoubtedly heard this phrase uttered in your presence at least a few times during your preparation for college, to which you probably responded with grim thoughts of your favorite clothes splitting at the seams. To be clear, the “freshman 15” is defined as the extra poundage–usually about 15 pounds–you gain during your first year of college. The main culprits of this phenomenon tend to be food, alcohol and lack of time or determination to exercise. Before you give in to the temptations of college life, take a minute to read my advice: control your cafeteria cravings, indulge a few nights a week and make an exercise schedule.

You are what you eat. The most important part of avoiding the “freshman 15” is to eat well whenever possible. Unlimited swipes to the cafeteria are certainly a dangerous situation. Portion control coupled with a sharp eye for a nutritionally balanced meal will be your key to success. One plateful of food plus a side of salad or fruit should be your goal.

As for the content of that plateful, aim to stay away from pastas and pizza and gravitate towards stations like Mongo Bongo and the egg bar. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, avoid sugary drinks and sodas. Drinking plenty of water will not only help with maintaining your weight but also keep you feeling well.

The key to having this will power to eat in moderation is to allow yourself one day a week when you are allowed to eat whatever your heart desires. The logic behind this practice is that you will get whatever junk cravings you have out of your system and be ready to resume your ambitions of living a healthy lifestyle the next day.

The consumption of alcohol is another indulgence that, if you choose to participate in it, should be moderated. Two nights of responsible drinking a week should be your absolute limit. Again, make sure you are drinking enough water, especially the night after an alcoholic adventure.

Finally, get your body moving. The contemporary belief regarding exercise seems to be that the more you get, the better. Unfortunately, we waste their time with extra gym sessions that provide us with little to no benefit. My suggestion is to get rigorous exercise three to four times per week.

Don’t just go to the gym to coast on the bike or ride the elliptical–push yourself! A few intense workouts a week are better than a week-full of mediocre sessions. Determine your exercise plan for the week before it starts and make sure you will be able to follow through. The hardest part is getting out of your room.

Implementing a solution is never as easy as reading and understanding one. You will struggle and you will want to submit to your lazy inclinations. However, once you get into the habit of a health-conscious lifestyle, you will find it easier to uphold your newfound routine.

Justin Marinelli
Writer

Now that we’ve had some time to adapt to our new roles, brothers and sisters, perhaps we should be asking ourselves whether rush actually works. While many of my compatriots are delighted with how all the proceedings have turned out, some have discovered they don’t feel quite so fuzzy about their new brothers and sisters and are already considering a quiet withdrawal. Because the overwhelming majority of people are immensely happy with where they ended up, I would argue that the process works.

For men looking to join a fraternity, the process is rather simple. You visit all the fraternities, and after a ton of free food and all the “bro-flirting” you can handle, you pick your top three you’d like to eat meals with. The fraternities also pick who they’d like back. The requests are matched up, and you eat lunch and dinner at the fraternities that you got meal bids from for the next three days. After that, you pick your top two fraternities, they vote on whom they would like to give bids to, and as long as everything matches up, you say hello to your new brothers!

I’ll admit, most of what I know about sorority rush stems from the article Siobhan Murray ’15 wrote last week on how the suspension of Pi Beta Phi sorority affected recruitment. That said, I will do my best to give a brief summary. It seems mostly the same as fraternity rush, except instead of doing it on your own, you do it in groups (for reasons never explained to me) led by a “neutral recruitment counselor,” and you apparently do a lot of singing.

After this, a mutual selection process whittles down the number of girls visiting each sorority until the girls pick their top two sororities, and the sororities pick to whom they’d like to offer bids. An interesting quirk of this is that while the guys get their official bids on Thursday, the girls have to wait until Friday to find out where they ended up.

Additional differences are present as well. Sorority rush apparently has taboo topics, set times when you can go to the bathroom and is generally considered to be far more stressful. Fraternity rush has far fewer guidelines and actually involves going to houses. The food, despite being free, is excellent. I had dishes like steak, lobster and ribs (although sadly not all at the same time).

Now, the big question is, does the process work? I would say it does. While I know some people that aren’t too happy about where they ended up, those are in the minority. For men, 226 were placed in fraternities (as of this writing, the official numbers for sororities have not been released). The overwhelming majority of people are immensely happy with where they ended up. That tells me the process works. It may not be perfect, but I highly doubt any process would be. Roughly half the campus is Greek, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t happy after having rushed. Rush works.