The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 4, 2004 Page: 2 of 8
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Opinion
page 2 • February 4, 2004
The Collegian
Collegian OfuMlw
Viewpoints
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If 9/11
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Break scheduling causes conflict
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Letter Policy
Game represents pop culture
Staff
• All-American •
• Pacemaker •
I
As I see it
The Collegian staff welcomes letters to
the editor concerning articles that have ran in
the paper or on other subjects that may be of
interest to the general public.
All letters should be signed by the
WO
CHILDREN
ALLOWED
Rawly B ransom
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
or lost the game. Mine was when my
Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills,
starting their early ’90s domination.
For the average person worldwide,
the Super Bowl is simply a pop-culture
event to talk about for weeks.
While my football fanatic friends
and I talk about the New England Patri-
ots, others in the office will be talking
about the halftime show, which I have
never cared about. To me, it is always
“the latest trendy artist of the moment,”
and I have never been one to care about
that kind of thing. This year’s halftime
entertainment took on a controversial
twist when Justin Timberlake exposed
one of Janet Jackson’s breasts.
Of course, we cannot forget the
commercials. No commentary about
the big game is complete without dis-
cussing the donkey who wanted to be a
Clydesdale or even children being pun-
ished with bars of soap in their mouths.
Super Bowl commercials are the
most expensive commercials of the
year. This year commercials cost $2.25
million for a 30-second ad. That is a 7
percent increase over last year’s ad rate,
and only the final episode of Friends
comes even close, with average of $2
million for a 30 second ad spot.
Still, companies willingly pay top
money not only for viewers but for their
most creative advertising of the year.
Super Bowl ads are seen months
after the game because people just love
them. We all remember the cat herders
or the Budweiser frogs.
I understand my game is more than
just a game. It is a few hours a year
when the world sits down and watches
the same show at the same time.
Still, I wish more people were in-
terested in the game, which has more
drama and intrigue than all the commer-
cials and halftime shows put together.
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6
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Hadley explained that the master calendar was set
early this year to meet a printing deadline and to be ready
for early registration information.
The calendar goes through the office of admissions as
well as the presidents of each campus, and in the end the
calendar must be approved by the TCC Board of Trustees.
Lace explained that the schedule does involve input
and discussion from many different TCC personnel.
“It’s always risky,” he said. ‘We want to have spring
break on the same week as other schools.”
Hadley explained that once a schedule goes to print, it
is not easy to change because of the sheer volume of stu-
dents in credit and non-credit courses.
In the interest of the students, staff and faculty at TCC
who have children, the decision should be made later in
order to match public school schedules.
“Next time we will wait till we are sure,” Hadley said.
’Most of the time we line up.”
Hadley said that next year the Web site will have dates
posted before the calendar is printed.
“We will not adopt a calendar so early next time,” she
said. “We just flat messed up.”
Hadley expressed concern for those affected by the
schedule and said the issue pains TCC administration.
“Hopefully, the students won’t hang us in effigy,” she
said.
The risky business of putting together a calendar has
caused conflicts this year, but we hope time and the calen-
dar will change the situation next year.
TCC is an equal opportunity institution that provides educational and
employment opportunities on the basis of merit and without discrimi-
nation because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, vet-
eran status or disability.
mar, style and space and will ran as space is
available and at the discretion of the editor.
Letters should be addressed to The Col-
legian office in NCAB 1124A on NE Cam-
pus or by e-mail at tcceditor@lycos.com.
The Super
Bowl is over,
and now I have
months of try-
ing to find
other distrac-
tions to keep
my interest.
The Super
Bowl, however,
is not just the
championship
for my favorite professional sport.
Nor is it simply an American holi-
day that makes people who do not
watch one down of football all year stay
glued to every second of the game.
It has become a worldwide specta-
cle that makes even the game itself a
second-tier event.
Any football fan can tell you his fa-
vorite all-time Super Bowl or play. For
some, it may be a single kick that won
What do I want to do
when I grow up? This is a
question we have been asking
ourselves for most of our lives.
However, it wasn’t until re-
cently that it became really im-
portant.
In elementary and middle
school, it was fun to pretend
that we were doctors or air-
plane pilots. In high school,
we started to think about col-
lege, but most of us picked our colleges
based on price, location or reputation,
not their relevance to what we thought
we wanted to do.
A majority of the students at TCC
are here because they don’t know what
they want to do yet, so it’s cheaper to get
their required courses out of the way at a
smaller college. Now that we are in col-
lege, we eventually have to pick a major
so that we can begin preparing for the
jobs we will have when we get out of
college. But what if we don’t know what
we want to do?
Some people figured out what they
wanted to do at a very young age and
have been working toward that goal for
most of their lives. Some people, like
Shannon Harrison
FEATURE EDITOR
me,, jump from one fantastic
idea to another. Others have
no clue and never really fig-
ure out what they want to
do. I feel sorry for those
people because they end up
unhappy working in a pro-
fession they are not interest-
ed in and could eventually
despise.
Remember the computer-
ized job tests we took in
high school? You know, the one that got
you out of class for an hour. It’s sup-
posed to give you an idea of what you
would want to do, right? In my experi-
ence, it wasn’t very helpful.
How are we supposed to know what
we want to do? I’m only 18, and I have
lots of ideas of what I want to do, but
how do I pick one? I know what I’m in-
terested in, but is it really what I am sup-
posed to be doing for the rest of my life?
I don’t want to start out doing something
I love and then learn to hate it because it
was only supposed to be a hobby.
I guess my big question is this: how
are we supposed to know what we want
to do for the rest of our adult lives when
we are barely adults?
left their wives and families
for these widows. In retro-
spect, instead of one family’s
losing a husband, it was two.
These men, some after 17
years of marriage and five
children, decided they were
in love with the widows they
had helped. One man said he
fell in love .maturely, and it
had nothing to do with the
events of 9/11.
never happened, I am willing
to bet that this mature love would have
never happened. So the question is when
is enough, enough? I understand these
women needed help, and as with any
tight-knit family, the firefighters helped
each other. But the widows also received
professional counseling to help them.
So I ask myself if the fire department
should have done something about the
amount of time these men helped the
women. One woman said that she went
to the chief of the firehouse and told him
her concerns, yet nothing was done about
it. People saw her husband out with this
woman all of the time, and yet no one
seemed to care.
I know people fall in love, but to
start an affair two months after a spouse
has died is absurd. These women should
have had a longer grieving time. Maybe
that would have prevented the destruction
of another family. What is sadder is that
most of these women were friends with
one another, and they lost that too.
9/11 changed lives. But some
women who didn’t lose their husbands in
the terrorist attack have now lost them to
the women who did.
Because of the nature of
their jobs, firefighters are con-
sidered a tight-knit family.
However, some have taken this
concept a little too far.
Recently, some New York
firefighters have left their
wives for widows of 9/11.
When a fire department
loses one of its own, the other
firefighters help the family for
the first week with the funeral,
meals, children and companionship. This
devotion and assistance I can understand
because the families are close, and it is
helpful during a time of grieving for a
loved one to have support.
However, 9/11 was different. Not
just one firefighter died; hundreds lost
their lives. Some station houses had 24
firefighters, but only 11 survived. Thus,
11 men and women had to help 13 wid-
ows and their families.
With 9/11, bodies were missing for
several weeks, so the comfort these fami-
lies received understandably continued
much longer than the normal week.
However, not only did the firefight-
ers help, but counselors also were avail-
able for the widows and their children.
On the down side, firefighters were
spending less time with their families.
Months passed, and some of these men
were seldom home. At first, their wives
understood, but as time passed, it became
harder for them to deal with the situation.
These men were not only giving all
their time to the widows, but were escort-
ing them to parties and other events while
their wives stayed at home.
So, in the end, some of these men
A,
Some students are concerned. This year TCC’s spring
break is March 7-14, a week that does not coincide with
many area school districts.
The schedule conflict will cause problems for many
TCC students, faculty and staff who have children.
TCC’s policy states that children are not permitted in
classes or testing centers and should not be left unattended
on college property at any time. Therefore, parents will
need to find alternative care, forgo family vacations and
cancel planned family outings. For students who cannot
afford day care or babysitters, the alternative may be cut-
ting classes to stay home with their children.
The Fort Worth Independent School District has
scheduled spring break for March 13-21 as has both Ar-
lington and HEB ISDs, the districts most likely to affect
TCC students, staff and faculty.
Erma Johnson Hadley, vice chancellor of administra-
tion, said area school districts are looked at closely.
“Those are the dates they [area school districts] were
planning,” she said about the current spring break dates
for TCC. “For whatever reason, they [area school districts]
changed.”
“A big concern is older students with children. We do
try to match,” Bill Lace, executive assistant to the chan-
cellor, said. “It is my understanding that other schools
changed their schedules.” „
According to Lace, the district has a master calendar,
which students never see, that designates certain deadlines
for instructors and administration.
✓ *•*
r 1
writer, who should include his or her social
security and telephone number (the numbers
will not be published).
Letters should be typed and not longer
than 150 words. They will be edited for gram-
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The COLLEGIAN
The Collegian is a weekly student publica-
tion serving the Tarrant County College District.
Editorial statements and advertisements do not
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may be brought to The Collegian office (NCAB
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Rawly Bransom, editor-inihief • Diana De Leon, managing editor
Ashley Smicker, ne news editor • Frances Matteck, nw news editor
Sandy Stamper, south news editor • Amanda Leduc, se news editor
Shannon Harrison, feature editor • Robert Barowski, sports editor
Rhonda Cookus, Rita Langston, Violeta Rocha, reporters
Brandy Kelly, cartoonist • Keith Ludwick, photo editor
Chris Ryan, computer assistant
Chiquita Oliver, advertising director
Stacy Luecker, business manager
Eddye Gallagher, Diane Turner, advisers
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Frances Matteck
NW NEWS EDITOR
Growing up means
having to decide
NY Firefighters carry
compassion too far
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The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 4, 2004, newspaper, February 4, 2004; Hurst, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1315581/m1/2/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.