Opinion
The price of change
NEIL PETERS
Change is terrifying. It is
even more terrifying when you
are stripped of the friends. pro
tection of parents and other
constants that gave your life
structure. Nothing does this
more effectively than college.
The point of college is help
ing you grow, and it does so by
cutting you off from your old
life and routines and forcing
you to grow. This sets the
freshmen and transfer students
up for a trial by fire, and as my
old football coach said. "Wel
come to the Thunderdome.
bitch."
I will admit it. that last sen
tence sounded pretty harsh.
But I am not going to sugar coat
it for you; change is a scary
thing. I know this because I am
going through the same thing.
I am currently transferring into
my junior year to a brand new
school and I am terrified.
I spent two years forging
treasured relationships and
carving out my own place in my
little world. I loved my campus
and the people there. But after
I tossed my statics book across
the library and exclaimed. "I do
not give a damn about this
crap," I realized that it was time
to do some personal reevaluat
ing.
After a whirlwind of crap. I
found myself enrolled some
where else and scrambling to
throw together a half-relevant
schedule.
I would tell you that it all
worked out, that I immediately
found a group of awesome
friends and am currently madly
in love with my soul-mate, ho
I met at orientation.
However, I am still working
out the ending. I am a mentv
year old man, vet I still feel like
a child going to his first clm of
school. I ask myself questions
like:
Will I make friends?
Will the other kids he nice to
me?
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the ghk, there talk to
Will their lunches suck?
I am in the same position I
was in two 'ears ago, only I am
not lucky enough to he living
on campus and forced to make
friends. But even though I was
forced to leave my old school
hehind, I still did my job as a
student. I learned quite a bit
and I plan on utilizing it.
I will not lie, lam damn
scared about stalling over at a
new place with nothing and no
one to back me up but my
crappy Honda Accord and the
poor bastards on my Facebook
friends list who will soon be in
undated with passive aggres
sive cries for attention and
sympathy via status updates,
hut I will not let that fear crip
ple me from continuing to
grow'
This semester, I will he mak
ing a point to get involved and
try new things. It will be kind
of like Russian Roulette, but in
stead of possibly receiving a
bullet to the face, the risk is
that I will just have to awk
\\ ardly sit in on a "Students
Against Squirrel Kickinrmeet-
Mg. the same coach who cor
dially welcomed me to the
hunderdome, and then pro
ceeded to insult my masculin
ity, also told me that there was
difierprice between bravery
tii(l
He that being brave is
~intpl~ nut being afraid, but
eau, being smart
enough t() he afraid, but press-
in toi . \\ mtv\A - ay.
\Vliile I did not like being lec
Hired \\ hitr defined intelli
gence rom a man who once
tepexedly misspelled the word
I)h k kir (111 erent ways in
(au . i)la\ book that year, his
words still i(—,onitted with me.
I \Oil not stop just because
I in a hit Witened and inse
( Luc. and I \vould hope that no
tine rvading this would either.
( ()liege is scary, but so is the
ilternati\ (it stagnating your
Of(
Beacon?
300 words.
If you turn on the radio or the
TV, you have probably heard
the hit single by Rihanna and
Eminem "Love the Way You
Lie."
The amazing mix of vocals
and great beat made the song a
quick hit, but the song is caus
ing a lot of controversy. The
lyrics portray an abusive couple
going through what seems like
a continuous path to destruc
tion.
If the lyrics were not proac
tive enough, the recently re
leased video then takes it to the
next level. The video features
Megan Fox and Lost's Dom
inque Monaghan, in a violent
relationship, bordering on abu
sive.
This video brings the idea to
a whole new light in the media
on a topic that is usually hidden
from mainstream society. If you
have not seen the video, then I
would highly recommend
watching it. Not that I person
ally condone violence in any
way, but because it allows peo
ple to get a glimpse of some
Tiger Woods has been fea
tured on the news much too
often in the past year.
There's no problem with
hearing about how he golfed,
but there is a problem with
hearing about his divorce.
I don't want to see Tiger
standing in front of an audi
ence, reading a script that apol
ogizes for his actions. I don't
want to hear about how sad
Tiger's life has been in the past
year.
You make your bed; you lay
in it, and Tiger was in his bed a
lot - with other women.
Gym, tan, laundry.
It's the combination sweep
ing the nation. It is to college
students what peanut butter
and jelly is to elementary stu
dents.
Or, if you're a poor college
student, perhaps you appreci
ate both combinations equally.
Either way, Jersey Shore has
become a hit television show on
MTV, specifically towards our
demographic. With all the club
bing and fist pumping you can
handle, it provides an hour's
worth of entertainment that
can't be matched.
Perhaps it's the outrageous
ness of each character on the
show.
Or, maybe the vapors from
their spray tans and hair spray
are seeping through the televi
sion and warping our minds.
Shoot us an e-mail at psbopinion@yahoo.com
Rihanna's new song "lies" to listeners
ELESE MERKOVSKY
s o rts Mit()l
Save the news for newsworthy topics
BRANDON BOYD
Hpumn, cait(),
In fact, if you go through a
Jersey Shore: The best show on television
BRANDON BOYD
Opinion editor
thing horrific that happens
much more than it ever should.
Some may be surprised that
Between 600,000 and six mil
lion women are victims of do
mestic violence each year, and
between 100,000 and six mil
lion men, as said by the Ameri
can Bar Association.
This statistic may seem like
a shock to a lot of people, be
cause most do not realize how
prevalent this is. The trouble is
that many people are unaware
as to what the signs are of some
one who is suffering an abusive
relationship, or even those who
are in one of these relationships
do not know where to go if they
need help. The media has been
rather hard on the "Love the
Way You Lie" video because
they feel that the video sensa
tionalizes the issue rather than
bringing up the main issue, that
physical violence is prevalent
but does not need to be occur
ring. Unfortunately, many of
these relationships do follow
these high and low points as
seen.
Domestic violence is one that
singer Rihanna knows all too
well. The public became aware
book listing girls names and
point to one, Tiger likely slept
with someone with that name.
And now that his divorce is fi
nalized, you would think we
would get a break from all
things Tiger.
Instead, we get to hear Elin
Nordegren say that she has
been "through hell."
Question: Why are we hear
ing about what Elin Nordegren
has been through? Couldn't we
surmise that ourselves?
Seriously, if her husband
cheated on her with over 100
women, it's not she's going to
be smiling from cheek to cheek.
Chances are, she'll be
crushed.
It's one thing to mention
Regardless, Jersey Shore is
the best thing on television. It
doesn't just deserve two
thumbs up - it deserves two fist
pumps.
For those of you out of the
loop, here's the scoop: Jersey
Shore is a reality television se
ries on MTV that follows eight
housemates spending their
summer on the Jersey Shore
(although Season Two is lo
cated in Miami).
For those of you who don't
like the show, this question
comes to mind:
Are you crazy?
Sure, they might be a little bit
"out there." Yes, Snooki can be
quite annoying. Yes, Pauly D's
hairstyle is ridiculous. And, yes,
Ronnie's constant cheating is
shameful.
But each character is just like
us, just in an extreme way.
Let's start with my favorite:
Mike, better known as "The Sit-
of her abusive relationship with
singer Chris Brown after the
pictures of her bloody and
bruised face appeared all over
TMZ and the Internet.
The shocking fact was
Brown's side saying that Rhi
anna had to have done some
thing wrong, and brushing the
blame from Brown quickly
stood many fans of the singers.
This is outrageous that today's
society even at a young age are
able to blame the victims.
Being hit or pushed or hurt in
any way is never okay in a rela
tionship, no matter what the
reason.
These relationships are also a
problem due to the fact that
they are not usually just a one
time thing. As Eminem says,
"next time there won't be no
next time, I apologize even
though I know its lies," shows
that these acts of violence are a
continuous pattern.
The song also hits on a point
that these relationships often
go from very high to very lows,
and the pattern is hard to quit.
The victim often feels alone
with no choice, and still feels
love towards the attacker, mak-
M ' , ! ! E f i
LEM
~.. ~ _
what she says in a brief second
on a news program - it's an
other thing to devote hours and
hours of television to Tiger
Woods' saga.
If divorce rates are truly on
the rise, why don't we hear
about the average couples that
divorce? If Joe Schmo and Jane
Doe divorce because Schmo
cheated on Doe with 100
women, why don't we hear
about it?
Because it's not Tiger Woods,
that's why.
Personally, 1 don't care if it's
Tiger Woods. While what Tiger
did was despicable, many peo
ple in America do much, much
worse every day.
Let's save Tiger Woods' di-
uation."
While it may seem like his
role on the show is to flaunt his
abs and hook up with women,
he provides the show with hi
larity and wittiness.
He also teaches us. After all,
how would we know what
"grenades" and "landmines,"
Italian-American slang for un
attractive women of various
weights, were if it weren't for
The Situation and the rest of
the Grenade Free Foundation?
Exactly.
Then there's J-Woww, which
is exactly what you say when
you see her. She's a gorgeous
woman who provides the show
with attitude.
Major attitude.
She describes herself as the
"praying mantis" of women
when it comes to relationships.
Vinny is a family guy and
could he described as the most
"normal" of the group.
BEHREND BEACON
August 27, 2010
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
ing it hard to do the right thing.
The right thing would be to get
help, and go to the police to
make sure that the person will
stay away.
People think that these vic
tims should just walk away
from this bad situation, but it
is very hard to understand how
the victim feels.
If you know someone who is
in a relationship like this, the
best thing you can do is be
there for that person. They
need support to know that it is
okay to go to the authorities,
and to know that they have
people there for them aside
from their abuser.
Those who are the abusers
know how to manipulate their
victims, and the victims need to
find the power within them
selves to step out of the pattern
of abuse.
As college students I feel it is
extremely important to be
aware of domestic violence. If it
takes a hit song from Eminem
to bring this topic back to the
public eye, lets look at it objec
tively and learn how to lower
the domestic violence rates.
5 f 4,
~: ~.~
vorce for Entertainment
Tonight and the gossip maga
zines. If Elin Nordegren has
been "through hell," let's put
her on the cover of OK Maga
zine, not in the lead of a major
news network.
Let's save the news for some-
thing newsworthy.
The proposed mosque stir
ring up controversy like a
spoon in a cup of hot choco
late?
Newsworthy.
The war currently going on?
Newsworthy.
Tiger Woods cheating on his
wife and getting a divorce?
Then again, if he actually did
sleep with over 100 women...
Sammi is referred to as the
"sweetheart," and she seems to
he a nice girl, although naive.
Pauly D is a DJ with a relaxed
personality.
Although I find her annoying,
Snooki is a fun-loving girl who
some people like. I'm not one of
them.
Angelina is downright annoy
ing. Luckily, she doesn't make
it through Season Three.
Ronnie is funny to watch
when drunk. That's possibly his
only redeeming quality.
All of this is what makes the
show so special. It's got people
you will like, people you will
hate, and lots of humor and
hook-ups combined effectively.
If you're a college student,
it's practically a guarantee that
you will enjoy the show.
And if you don't enjoy the
show?
Well, then we'll really have a
Situation
OCIPACMOI
AM .A3IiCACAMIIS COW,
ron,