"News is the first rough draft of history."

The Voice of the College at Florham

"News is the first rough draft of history." - The Voice of the College at Florham

Tag Archives: student voice

Student Voice: Sometimes the blues is just a passing bird – the end

JOHN SAAVEDRA JR.
Student Voice Editor

Two years ago, former Editor-in-Chief Melissa Hartz made the bold decision to give me a column in The Pillar. The subject: my life, the people I’ve met, both weird and way too normal, I drank with the best of them, so that I could wake up in the morning and tell you all about it.

I’ve thrown myself into fountains full of freezing water, so that I could no longer feel my body. It’s wonderful to hit golf balls off balconies, your target held in place by empty wine bottles that shatter. The sound of destruction has kissed my ears. Once, and only once, I cried myself all the way to the fifty yard line just to stare up at the sky, hoping that my soul would float away from me because there’s a story in everything we lose.
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Personal essay: Finding ways to make the intangible tangible

ALEXIS CAMARENA
Senior Editor

Sophomore year of college, my roommate Hillary Brewer and I decided to take our relationship to the next level… and get a hamster.

It seemed like the perfect kind of a pet for the broke, irresponsible, still-wet-behind-the-ears college students that we were, and the kind of lifestyle that we were living.

A lifestyle that I can’t share all of the details of, but that I will say included copious amounts of gin and seltzer (flavored). The Roots. Samantha Reba. The phrase “Cheers, Gov’na!” Beds pushed together. Legs crossed, Indian style on the floor, on beds, on the grass. Leah Heffernan. Chinese food. Laughter. College sweatshirts with the hood up, indoors. Empty water bottles. Rosy cheeks. A whole lot of love.
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From the editor’s desk: Graduating seniors ready to do great things

MELANIE ANZIDEI
Editor-in-Chief

One of my editors asked me, “Do you think that our newspaper is a good one?”
I hesitated a moment before I answered.

In that moment, I knew exactly where he was coming from. How could we, as a staff, be proud of the newspaper that we’re not sure other people even recognized? Of course people know we have a newspaper, but it’s hard to tell with the overflowing issues that are piled in the NAB.

In that moment, which probably only lasted a second or two, I realized that this idea of being proud of this newspaper is something that reflects my entire four years at this university.

For four years, I crept in shadows.
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Opinion: How history will judge former President George W. Bush

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

With the opening of the Bush presidential library in Texas, the presidency of George W. Bush has been revisited by the media. According to observers of politics in the U.S., George W. Bush was one of the worst presidents in American history.

Independents disliked much of his second term agenda. Even Republicans are weary of some of Bush’s policies – mainly relating to economic issues and fiscal policy. But, how will history judge President Bush?

I think that history will remember President Bush as a good president, but not a great one.
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Opinion: Christie re-election, rally around the flag effect

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

From the outset of the 2013 campaign, GOP Governor Chris Christie has seen polling numbers showing himself well ahead of the presumptive Democratic nominee, State Senator Barbara Buono.

Some may argue that Christie’s spike in approval ratings following Hurricane Sandy have been the contributing factor to his re-election. To them, this was inevitable; however, in reality, that is not the case.
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Opinion: Tax reform crusade to promote Fair Tax Act initiative

JORDAN T. CHESTER
Contributor

On April 14, I had the opportunity to attend an event in Bergen County where Tea Party activists, Second Amendment advocates and constitutional conservatives joined together.

Personally, I am not a “Tea Party type.” I was not there as a Tea Partier, but as someone representing the Fair Tax Act.
My friend, and fellow columnist, Tom Strowe, is a board member of the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Fair Taxation and invited me to join him in attending the event.

Together, Tom and I handed out brochures and spoke with people about the fair tax. Tom even gave a speech, which was well received and drew people to our table to discuss the fair tax.

This event in Bergen County was the start of my tax reform crusade.
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From the editor’s desk: Change might distract some, inspire others

MELANIE ANZIDEI
Editor-In-Chief

In the words of one of my favorite bands, Envy On The Coast: “No, I’m not afraid, at least not to die. I’m afraid to live and not remember why.”

EOTC couldn’t have put it any better. And, quite frankly, that verse from their song “Lapse” has become a phrase I’ve learned to live by.

We all know that life has its purpose.

Some of us find that purpose a lot sooner than others and it’s a damn shame that others may go their whole lives not knowing what that purpose was.

I’m convinced that the only thing standing between us and our purpose in life is ourselves. We stand as our own ironic distraction to our own happiness.

Too many of us are afraid of the inevitable, of the obstacles that get in the way of finding our purpose. Sometimes, we get so distracted by letdowns and setbacks that we forget an obstacle never means the end of the world. It might just mean a different world where we start seeing things differently – and that’s okay. Change is constant; change is good. Like obstacles, change is inevitable. So is death, and we can’t be afraid of that.

I don’t think we should be afraid of anything, but if we were afraid of something it should be living our whole lives not knowing that life’s worth living. And we can only know that life is worth living when we find our purpose – when we realize exactly what it is that keeps us waking up every morning.

This thing I call purpose changes. What made our lives worth living at the age of 2, 10 or 20 years old will be different from the thing that makes life worth living when we’re 40, 60 or even 80 years old. For example, when we’re toddlers, everything makes our day: playing with a toy truck; blowing a dandelion; speeding down a slide. When we’re that young, it’s hard not to find something that fascinates us. It might just be that the world is a large place that we’re progressively discovering and the route of discovery is a child’s purpose.

As we grow older, unfortunately, our world seems to shrink. Things that once amused us don’t anymore. Some of us, in a sense, become jaded along the way. Others start finding purpose in other things. Maybe it’s something we love to do like playing the guitar, playing soccer or even going to school. We stick with that thing we love, and for a while it becomes our purpose, too.

This purpose keeps changing. One day it can be getting into our dream school or making the winning goal in a soccer game, and other days it could be seeing the smile on our niece’s face. One day it will be seeing the smile on a newborn’s face or our future wife or husband. Our purpose changes, and it’s supposed to.

The truth is that life is filled with exciting chapters that we should be excited to write. We should be grateful to even be able to turn that page.

My point is that we can’t go our whole lives pretending to be happy. We have to find happiness in whatever makes us… happy. Some people seem to complicate happiness and try to force it. But, you can’t do that, either.

Those 17 little words from EOTC could mean 17 different things to 17 different people. But, to me, they mean one thing. They mean that you can’t live your life on autopilot. You should always be doing something you love, and if you’re not, then change it. The only person standing between you the thing you love is you.

Change is inevitable, but we can control it.

Short story: Conclusion to a dystopian nightmare in Aklava

CHRIS BEDELL
Columnist

Woman after woman lined up and put their heads on the podium and then subsequently lost their heads.

That night when I was back in my bedroom I was restless since the image of the women lining up and then having their heads chopped off still haunted me.

The next morning after my Dad went to work and my Mom went to the market to get groceries, I heard a knock at the front door and I assumed it was Julian.

Boy, was I wrong.
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FDU science majors take lead at undergraduate research symposium

GOPI PATEL
Contributor

Many FDU non-science majors often wonder what biology and chemistry students do when they say, “I’m stuck at the lab.” Well, once a year, William Paterson University gives science majors an opportunity to show off their hard work done “in the lab.”

The seventh annual WPUNJ Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on April 13 in Wayne, N.J. With many other colleges from the tri-state area also participating, you can imagine the competition that we, 15 science majors from FDU, had.

This year we hit a record-high in FDU student participation.

The range of subject matter has expanded over the years and now includes the behavioral, ecological, environmental, health, as well as the original areas of biology and chemistry.
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