The Root of Violence

Violence on college campuses used to be the rare exception to the norm, the lion in William Blake's poetry that people fear even though they're unlikely to ever encounter their dread. I'm not sure how it happened, but I feel like our society suddenly regressed and now we live in a world where violence on campus is everywhere.

The sixth victim of the Illinois College shooting died just hours ago and the eighth grader who was shot in Oxnard, California earlier this week was declared brain dead. Fortunately he was taken off of life support today, but nothing can erase the damage the shooter has done. Locally at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the latest rage is the lacrosse team violence and recent stabbings that have taken place in the past week or so. A year ago as an RA I began to see the violence rising as I was increasingly awoken to blood spattered walls resulting from pointless drunken, ego driven feuds.

These young people are supposed to be our leaders. They're supposed to be the increasingly involved voters in this upcoming election, and the ones who reverse the climate crisis. What is it though, that makes them so violent? More important, how do we reverse this trend of increasing violence? Is violence going to become the norm or is this something we can stop before more damage is done?

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On a more cheerful note, I found yet another modern British marvel. Let Scouting for Girls take those worries of violence away with their staccato sounding and youthful pop. Laden with handclaps and beautiful timing, this band is incredibly catchy.

Unfortunately the sound quality of this video is poor, but if the keyboard intro makes your heart flutter for a second then check out this group's Myspace page. They're a great time.

Today, I Live in a Slurpee

I woke up this morning to Monty the radio DJ listing off a series of cancellations. "Just about everything is canceled today due to this terrible storm," he said cheerfully over the airwaves. Then he mentioned UMass, which was only delayed until 11 am.

It had been snowing the previous evening and then the snow turned to heavy rain. I've never seen it pour so steadily in my life, but UMass was determined, despite all the adverse weather, to trudge through the slush. Determined to go to campus with the few brave and worthy students, I cleared off my car and drove to campus in what most closely matches the consistency of a Slurpee. Wet, icy, and uncontrolled, puddles of water with floating ice covered the ground unevenly. Snow is blocking the rain gutters and as a result Weather.com has been flashing with a series of flood warnings.

When I got out of the car the weather was initially a little treacherous. After repeatedly and inadvertently dousing my pant leg in a high puddles though, I realized avoiding total submersion in the water was probably impossible. So rather than complain, as most New Englanders like to do when it feels like they're living in a brown Slurpee, I decided to embrace the weather. You only live once, right?

I put my belongings in a safe, dry place, and allowed myself the type of pleasure kids only dream about. At first the water was unbearably cold, but after awhile my skin reddened with numbness and my clothes began to function as a wet suit. I slid, splashed, sped, and tumbled through the puddles with careless vigor. At one point my friends and I were half swimming through a particularly large Slurpee-like puddle and chortling uncontrollably. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have a care in the world. All my self imposed pressure to succeed was gone and every ounce of my body was filled with joy. Nothing mattered but the moment I was living at that instant, and it felt amazing.

As insignificant as it sounds to frolic through the rain, I think today reminded me of something important. Lately I've been tied to tangible results, success, and working toward achieving a series of specific goals. In all of that, I think part of me lost a sense of pure joy. It had been far too long since I had completely freed myself from what I expect out of myself. Nothing will ever prevent me from losing sight of my goals, but today I realized that no accomplishment really matters if it makes you lose sight of your identity and happiness. It's important to have goals, but it's even more crucial to make sure your goals don't replace who you are as an individual. So here's to living in a Slurpee, if even for a day. I think it was enough to remind me of the importance of letting yourself go with uninhibited pleasure.

I began applying my new perspective by wading through knee high water to help a stranger who was floating in a puddle in her minivan. I pushed her about 100 feet to a parking spot and although she was in a tough situation, we had a great time. Today has me on top of the world, so here's to living in a Slurpee.

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In honor of a sophisticated and feel good band, I'll recommend The Bird and the Bee today. They have an EP called "Too Many Hearts" coming out tomorrow for Valentines Day, so enjoy. This video is a little bizarre, but the song is brilliant, so check them out.

Clandenstine Talks: Edwards, Obama, and Clinton

For most Democrats the Clinton Obama decision is one of those tough moral and ethical questions. Would you save your four immediate family members if you know you would cause 50 deaths, or do you save 46 lives and watch your family die? Fortunately, the only deadly choice is Republican (Oops, sorry my conservative colleagues), but from the looks of things it seems like Edwards is having as much trouble deciding to who endorse as the average Democrat.

Edwards met with Clinton secretly on Chapel Hill and rumor has it that he's scheduled to meet at the same place with Obama on Monday. People have asked Edward's wife about her opinion of the meetings and it sounds like she's being about as secret as everyone else. Clinton sneaked into Edward's house undetected by the media, and now everyone is feverishly guessing who the poverty fighting Edwards will endorse. Whatever the case, I wonder what the two candidates think. What's Edward's plan? Perhaps Monday will reveal more, but for now it sounds like we'll have to play a little Clue with Edwards, Obama, and Clinton. Will it be Edwards with Obama in the library, or Edwards with Clinton in the drawing room? Your guess is as good as mine.

Instead of offering a campaign song for your listening pleasure (as is extremely tempting) I'll send one of my favorite pop songs in your direction. Check out Sara Bareilles. Her current hit is "Love Song" so if you haven't heard it yet then check it out below. This isn't the official video because Sony BMG has requested bloggers like myself refrain from reposting the video, but here's the song itself.