SEAC (Student Environmental Action Coalition)

Throughout the campus of the University of Tampa there are so many garbage cans, that it is a wonder why we see litter on the ground. Are students lazy to throw their trash out? Do they litter for a laugh from their friends? Does garbage come out of the garbage cans or other places by wind or other unintentional causes? These are some of the questions we ask about the state of the sanitation of our campus environment.

Judy Etzel, a graduate student attending the University of Tampa for chemical engineering, has started the Student Environmental Action Coalition in hopes of remedying the situation. The SEAC hopes to target specific occurrences such as the condition of recycling on campus. How many times have you seen a recycling bin in a dorm building? The scarcity of them is unacceptable and if more are implimented, we believe many people will use them religiously.

As the SEAC has just recently been founded, we are looking for more members. Not only would each member be participating in helping the environment, but being part of the group would look good on a resumé. Anyone who is interested in joining up with the SEAC can contact either Judy Etzel (President) at Jetzel@ut.edu or myself, John Dolan (Vice President) at jdolan@ut.edu.

Left Right Wrong by Julia Nunes—An album review by Hayly LeMond

In a world of over produced pop princesses and desperate record deal hungry bands, it is hard to find a genuine do-it-yourself musical sensation in the lime light. However, thanks to YouTube, many at home musicians can produce and present their songs to a world wide audience. Julia Nunes is one of YouTube’s most subscribed musical acts boasting more than 45 thousand subscribers and millions of views. Mostly a cover artist on YouTube, she has done songs from “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations to Spoon’s “The Underdog”, all on ukulele. Her first album Left, Right, Wrong is comprised of twelve original songs played on guitar. She self produced the record in 2007 on her own label—Rude Butler Music—pretty impressive for a nineteen-year-old college freshman.

Her music is simple; just her richly melodic voice accompanied by guitar. Nunes’s musical style is a balance between talented pop-guitar compositions and insightful lyrics communicating perfectly the awkward but intriguing feelings that come with post adolescent love. Nunes’s lyrics are clever and deep, sometimes self defeating, and easy to relate to. “Blushing Cheeks” is a straightforward anthem of an unrequited crush “please ignore my blushing cheeks, my ears are redder/and I’ll endure these lonely weeks ’til things get better/and I’ll be there for you/’til my heart rips in two” and “A Century” illustrates the inner dialog of a smitten girl hopeful but riddled with insecurity “Just shut up. He thinks you’re cute/ Well I wish I could just stay mute/ But I bet I mess this up again/ And he’ll think we’d be better off as friends/”. In Nune’s lyrics she shows her want for maturity but still holds on to her bright-eyed perspective of love; she writes like a teenager in transition between discovering the desire for a substantial, adult relationship but still wanting the simplicity of puppy love.

Her voice is not pitch perfect but rich and soulful enough to draw in listeners. Writing and producing her own music better transmits her emotion as if you can hear her smiling when she sings. On her YouTube videos she often overlays harmonies which make her songs rich with sound. Besides guitar she also plays the ukulele and melodica which are both sadly absent from the album. However, she promises that her latest record, coming out this month, will feature all the missing elements in Left Right Wrong including harmonies, the Uke, and even some drums and bass.

Overall Left Right Wrong is a solid first attempt by Julia Nunes to break into the music industry on her own terms and with her own style.

Score: B+ 87%

The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul—Review by Hayly LeMond

This much is true: you have been lied to-so reads the inside cover of Republican Ron Paul’s most recent book. The seven chapter manifesto is brief but enlightening to those who ready for a real change. Ron Paul, a doctor and ten term congressman from Texas, explains in straight forward terms how and why the government has lied about everything from the collapse of the dollar to the war on terror. Though the book was written during his 2008 run for President, Dr. Paul makes it clear that for us to have a real revolution requires more than just an position in office; we need a complete government overhaul. The book addresses the government’s abandonment of the Founding Father’s noninterventionist ideals, the recent administrations negligence of the Constitution, and the misguiding, false choice in American politics. As Barry M. Goldwater puts it “this book takes a wrecking ball to the political establishment”. The Revolution: A Manifesto is a blueprint on how to bring freedom and prosperity back to the United States and Ron Paul is the perfect visionary to lay the groundwork.

Cheating in College

I recently watched a program that discussed technology and how it is used by students that cheat in school.  Technology has changed cheating from writing the answers on you leg and hiking your skirt up for answers and writing tiny print on wide rubber band bracelets into less obvious and more easily “accepted” methods.  For example Texas Instrument 83 calculator allow students to download and save information  including formulas and answers to problems in the memory.  If a student is taking a math test, partial answers, if not all, are available to assist students in passing the test without thinking for themselves.  I’m grateful that my university consist of small classes.  Image students in auditorium sized classes with cell phones.  It is easy to text a friend for the answer to a problem without being noticed. I have several concerns with this issue.

My first concern is for the students that are cheating.  I hope that they are not medical students or accountants, because more that likely, they wont know what they are doing and the patient or client will suffer loss.

I’m also concerned for the students, like myself, who are not cheaters.  I spend hours studying and completing assignments to be a high achiever in school and a student who could care less about anything but a grade comes up with a creative way to get ahead, and on the surface, suceeds. Where is the fairness?  How can we judge merit in that situation?

My philosophy is to let them eat cake!  Eventually their deception will catch up with them.

Watch this video on cheating and blog what you think!

www.metacafe.com/watch/956273/cheat_professionally/