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(06/11/13 5:55pm)
No matter where you go on the planet, young people will tell you that they feel like a major global or social shift is approaching; and if they don’t feel like it’s coming, then they’ll at least tell you that they want it to. Is everyone feeling a bit anxious and uneasy lately? I’m not talking about the "normal" anxiety regarding graduating college and trying to start a career. I’m talking about the I-can’t-put-my-finger-on-why-I’m-feeling-so-tense feeling. I’m talking about what keeps us up at night; about our collective future — as citizens, as a nation, as a global society and as a species.
(04/15/13 12:00am)
It’s easy to forget that you’re even in a classroom while on the edge of your seat, ears perked toward the professor delivering what might as well be the most amazing TED talk you’ve ever heard.
(04/02/13 12:34am)
Sitting down to lunch outside the Memorial Union building, I’ve found a table all to myself on a beautiful, sunny day.
(03/20/13 12:00am)
This semester I’ve noticed cell phone usage in class has skyrocketed more than ever before.
(02/27/13 1:00am)
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the state of the union — not President Obama’s recent speech, but the actual state of the country. I’m talking about its infrastructure: bridges, sewage systems, electrical grids and other boring things no one cares to think about. These are not hot-button political issues, but they’re in dire need of attention, upgrades and repairs. Our country is literally crumbling beneath our feet while thousands of Americans are in need of jobs, and all we can do is scream at each other over our rights to keep an AR-15 in the closet.
Half a century ago, in his State of the Union address, John Kennedy stood before a strong, modernized nation and a people gleaming with potential. He informed them that their country was poised to send a group of human beings to the moon. Today, the fraction of the U.S. federal budget allocated to all of NASA’s activities is only a half of 1 percent. Is that how we thank our country’s most brilliant minds for putting us on top? We were doing so well, truly setting an example for the rest of the planet. But now, only a few decades later, Obama took to the podium to tell America that its infrastructure is failing. Power a rocket to the moon? We can’t even keep the lights on in a football stadium.
Arguably the most publicized and scrutinized media event of the year, the Super Bowl was a tremendous embarrassment. That shameful incident let the entire world know that we’re hurting, we’re weak, we’re outdated and we’re vulnerable. It’s no secret that our nation’s power is failing.
According to the Laborers’ International Union of North America, “26 percent of all bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. A third of major roads are in mediocre or poor condition and 36 percent of major urban highways are stretched beyond capacity. Each day, 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water is lost to leaking pipes. The American Society of Civil Engineers predicts we will lose $1 trillion in business sales, $324 billion in exports and one million jobs annually by 2020 if we don’t act." Bill Richardson, former energy secretary in the Clinton administration, says that America is “a superpower with a third-world grid.”
So let’s recap: We’ve got an economy circling the drain, a dilapidating framework, and thousands of Americans aching for jobs? I would call the situation hopeless, except that it sounds so familiar — we’ve faced the same problems in the past. The New Deal and the Works Progress Administration employed more than 8.5 million people and sparked America’s golden age of capitalism. It was the Americans who launched the Marshall Plan and plucked Europe out of its war-torn, antiquated state after World War II. Our country has plenty of experience with these issues, so why are we playing dumb? Why has it taken us so long to notice the state of the union today?
The stakes are high, but opportunity is ripe. If the president plays his cards right and truly acts on the recent infrastructure repair projects he has proposed, he could become our next Roosevelt. The conditions are prime for Obama to make a name for himself, but if he doesn’t turn us around soon, we could sink past the point of no return.
Reach the columnist at jwadler@asu.edu or follow him at @MrJakeWAdlerWant to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
(02/14/13 1:00am)
One of the biggest reasons I chose to go to college after high school was that I felt like I hadn’t learned enough. When I was really young, I’d look up to high school seniors and think, “Wow, when I’m that old, I’ll know so much about the world.” Imagine my disappointment when I reached the end of my senior year and realized that the public schooling system hadn’t taught me nearly as much as I hoped it would. I’d only skimmed the surface of world history, let alone American history. I passed chemistry class without knowing much about the elements, and at the end of my high school career, I’d read just one of Shakespeare’s plays. Most importantly, I wasn’t prepared in the slightest to become a real person in the real world.
Besides expecting a mostly complete education in arts, sciences, mathematics, history and politics, I’d always assumed that by the time I graduated high school, I would be a whiz at paying bills and balancing a checkbook. I’d learn what a mortgage was, how health, life and car insurance worked and maybe even be able to articulate my home country’s economic policies.
I received my diploma and moved the tassel from one side of my cap to the other, feeling like an idiot. “This is it?” I thought. “I’m supposed to be ready to embark on the arduous, oppressive and vulnerable journey through life?” To this day, I don’t understand how anyone with a mere high school education is expected to be able to navigate through this world fraught with hurdles, bureaucracy and rejection. High school barely prepares a person for college, let alone post-graduate life.
Nearing the end of my undergraduate career, I am peering over the lofty, jagged cliffs of uncertainty yet again, feeling that I am nowhere near ready to enter the system of authentic "personhood."
I got sick last week. “How do I find a doctor?” I asked myself. “How will I get decent health insurance after I’m 26 and kicked off my father’s health care policy?” I stopped at the bank about a month ago to make a simple paycheck deposit and the teller asked me what I had been doing to earn credit. The teller's facial expression turned dour, and her eyes reeled with pity when I replied, “I don’t know. I guess not too much; I’m only 20.”I can’t help feeling that the rest of the world knows something that I don’t — that my time spent locked up in the ivory tower of academia has handicapped me more than strengthened me.
All students at ASU are required to take that preposterous freshman orientation seminar during their first semester. The administration argues that it’s essential to the success of any new student. Why aren’t there any seminars which teach us how to manage our lives post-graduation? Where are the TAs to help me understand my credit score and to go about refinancing my mortgage? Where’s the required seminar which teaches students how to buy a car, how to change that car’s oil or its tires when necessary? I was shocked to discover that none of my classes have taught me anything compulsory for a secure and content adulthood. I’ve learned a lot, but nothing that will save me.Reach the columnist at jwadler@asu.edu or follow him at @MrJakeWAdlerWant to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
(01/29/13 1:00pm)
"Hipsters" have overrun the nation, and Tempe is no exception.
(01/17/13 1:00am)
The news feed on Facebook is a maroon and gold blur of people tailgating. Traffic lights are useless against the bumper-to-bumper cars in the middle of intersections. Fireworks boom and pepper the sky, while people howl on the patios of bars and restaurants around Tempe.
(12/09/12 11:57pm)
Picture yourself 19 stories above the city of Tempe. You’re staring down at the plebes like they’re ants on the streets. You’re looking out from your private balcony, sitting within your own outdoor hot tub. From this perspective, it’s hard to stress out about exams or internship applications. Maybe you’re sipping on a margarita. Maybe you’re spending some quality time with a cigar. Either way, you resemble Al Pacino in “Scarface,” and you’re thinking to yourself, “I’ve made it.”
(11/26/12 12:26am)
There’s something about sex that makes politics more engrossing.
(11/14/12 12:33am)
The stigma around marijuana is getting old.
(11/07/12 1:37am)
I like to be alone.
(10/22/12 11:33pm)
As a white male writer, it’s inherently problematic for me to write about feminist ideas. It’s hard for me to overcome the history of oppression perpetuated by my race and gender. Some call it “white guilt.” After a long internal struggle, I’ve had an epiphany: The best thing to do is shut up and listen.
(10/08/12 11:46pm)
I left my apartment the other morning and found the latest edition of the illustrious Tempe12 calendar laying at my Vista del Sol doorstep. I hadn’t ordered it. I looked up and down the hall, I saw that all my neighbors had received a calendar as well.
(09/24/12 10:22pm)
Whether it’s my co-workers, acquaintances I’ve met in class, or even my very best friends, everyone I know in my age group has some type of chronic anxiety or panic disorder.
(09/10/12 11:42pm)
Is it just me or are we more exhausted than usual?
(08/27/12 10:47pm)
I’ve been waiting patiently for the day I’m finally able to cast my first vote in a presidential election.
(04/08/12 9:46pm)
The current boom in technology has had a profound effect on our generation. It has shaped the psyche of today’s youth in ways no one could have ever predicted.
(03/29/12 12:40am)
As we raced through our childhood years, there were those inevitable moments when we stared up into the face of an adult and answered a question that has become all-too common: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
(03/08/12 2:17am)
A new bill has been stalking the Tennessee House of Representatives. It’s been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Pushed into the halls of legislation by State Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenweld, the bill aims to limit sexual education in public schools to "natural human reproduction science" from kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade and bars educators from providing "any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality."