Bravo to the first-ever farmers market on the Tempe campus. Local vendors selling fresh fruit and healthy snacks lined the street between the Memorial Union and the bookstore Tuesday as part of Wellness Week. ASU’s push for environmentally aware and healthy food opportunities is something we can all get behind. The farmers market not only provided yummy eats (who knew gluten and soy-free cupcakes could be so tasty?) but also awareness of the local businesses ASU students can support. With luck, the farmers market will become a regular event — we’re looking forward to eating more desserts … we mean health food.
Boo to the monsoon season. We’ve always known with certainty that when it rains, it pours, but before this summer, we didn’t quite know what happened when the opposite was the case. Now we do: When it doesn’t rain, it … sucks. And by that measure, the Valley’s 2009 monsoon season, which officially ended on Wednesday, brought a whole lot of suck to the table. According to the National Weather Service, it was the 10th driest and second hottest monsoon season (measured June 15 to Sept. 30) on record. It showed — in the excess of gross back-sweat lines, in the lack of heat relief and in the lack of super-awesome haboobs (dust walls — what were you thinking?) rolling through town. So, thanks for nothing, monsoon season. With the possible exception of preparing us for any future middle children any of us may have, bearing witness to your disappointing existence did us no good.
Bravo to intergalactic mindsets. On Tuesday, astronomer and self-proclaimed alien hunter Seth Shostak spoke at ASU about his search for life on other planets. In a world that is becoming more and more globally interconnected, Shostak’s work reminds us that we may have to start expanding our outlook even further. Forget thinking outside the box — start thinking outside the galaxy. This isn’t such a stretch for some. Shostak said 7 to 8 percent of Americans believe they were abducted by aliens, and he gets calls from people who think they are aliens and want him to research them. All the cool characters on Star Trek might not be so foreign to us after all. So, when the alien invasion comes, don’t get all flustered. Just remember to greet everyone with a friendly “live long and prosper.”
Boo to Facebook. Aside from booting us from our profile page and forcing us to start over with a fan page (Shameless plug No. 1: Become a fan of ASU State Press on Facebook at Facebook.com/thestatepress), the social networking giant and procrastination capital of the world changed the name of the ASU network from “ASU” to “Arizona State” sometime this week. Really, Facebook? Was it not clear enough that our University pretty much has the “ASU” moniker on lockdown? Alaska State University doesn’t even exist, and Alabama State University and the Arkansas State University systems have about 23,000 students combined. Our College of Liberal Arts alone has about 20,000 students … not that anyone is counting. We’re just saying it seems the people at Facebook have it in for ASU this week, though maybe we’re just a little oversensitive about having to start from scratch with our fan base (Speaking of which, shameless plug No. 2: Want State Press headlines in your news feed? Go to Facebook.com/thestatepress and become a fan today).
