‘Education is more important than turkey and pie’
Megan Graves clearly hasn’t considered the implications of receiving a full week off for the Thanksgiving holiday (“”Give Me a Break!””; yesterday). If the UA were to close for the entire week of Thanksgiving, then two additional Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes and one Tuesday-Thursday class would be missed. This means that the last day of class would be Dec. 11, “”Dead Day”” would be Dec. 12 and finals would run from Thursday, Dec. 13 through Wednesday, Dec. 19. Commencement is on Saturdays, so that would be moved to Dec. 22. This means that everyone who wanted to attend commencement might have to shorten or even cancel their December plans – especially graduates, who might have to move out of their current residences the weekend before Christmas. Additionally, the winter break would be shortened for everyone, not just graduates.
College is supposed to be a time to gain critical-thinking skills and independence from your family. In other words, to become an adult. To me, this means that if your parents are willing to waste $800 on a plane ticket for you to be home for three or four days when you’re coming home in three weeks anyway, then you shouldn’t feel guilty about that. It also means that if they suggest you skip classes to be home for an entire week, you should stand up to them and say that your education is more important than turkey and pie. Finally, it means that if it’s your money, you should consider saving it by not going home at all and focusing on more important things – like the fact that there’s less than two weeks of class left and you should probably be studying.
-Georgie Miller
English doctoral student
Imagine no bike theft …
Everyone I know has had a bike stolen. Bike theft has reached the point of inevitability. It would be nice if the University of Arizona Police Department put half as much effort into protecting our bikes as it does trying to bust up parties every weekend. I don’t even want to know how much the “”Ghetto Bird”” costs. Even Police Beat portrays a campus where only drunk minors and trespassing transients are arrested. Imagine the difference the police could make by staking out bike racks on campus and actually start catching some of the people stealing our bikes.
-Jason Kuhn
optical engineering senior
Bush ‘beyond the pale’
When George W. Bush threatens Iran, a sovereign nation of 65 million people, with World War III, he’s guilty of high crimes and treason. This is not about a chimney sweep badmouthing Condoleezza Rice or Dick Cheney because he hasn’t received his food stamps. It’s about a man with extraordinary power who has gone way beyond the pale in his implied declaration of war, a power that properly belongs to Congress and to the people of the United States.
-Michael J. Beisch
Tucson resident
