Snow Day

By Ben McDonald

There are many exciting things going on in the world but from my small scope of existence nothing has ever, and may never, come close to the excitement that still wells up in me when I hear the words “snow day.” The two seemingly ordinary words still gives me the same reaction it did fifteen years ago.

For those of you who think that the excitement is limited to students consider this. At the moment I am completing my student teaching at Collinsville High School and like many education institutions it was closed down for two days last week. Finally, I understand that it is not just the students who enjoy these fantastical days but almost all members of the faculty and staff become giddy with excitement at the possibility of an unexpected day off. Sure, they may end up tacking on an extra five days at the end of the semester but for those who live in the moment they can take the good with the bad. And what’s another five days when you are looking at the next three months off.

The rest of the world continues on while the school systems shut down for a holiday that beats out presidents day. When it comes down to it, snow days  are just one more reason to abandon the hopes of obtaining a high paying job after graduation and go into teaching.

Corruption, an Illinois Tradition

By Benjamin McDonald

It’s the beginning of a new semester and spring time is almost here. The flowers will be blooming and birds will be singing, but it seems like the usual embarrassment to Illinois came a little earlier this year. It is starting to look like Illinois is doomed to have some sort of corruption or allegations of corruption brought on every year about this time. Last year the Southern Illinois University community was hit extra hard when it was discovered that the President of SIU had plagiarized multiple times on both his Master’s thesis and Doctoral dissertation.

However, this paled in comparison when Glenn Poshard was able to escape without punishment. Not only are we telling the academic community that our alum plagiarized, but that when caught red-handed, we don’t care. After an internal board of review went over Glenn Poshard’s work and decided that the offenses were forgivable as long as he went through and corrected the mistakes. It is good to know that stealing the ideas of another scholar is forgivable as long as you correct it decades later. I’m so relieved that Poshard has done all he can to make it appear that my degree is worth all that I have paid for it.
It is also comforting to know that when indicted under federal corruption charges Illinois governors lack the common courtesy to step down from their position to attempt to save face for this great state. They would rather obtain national media coverage by trying to perform as many actions privileged to the governor as they can before they are finally kicked out of office and thrown in jail. Poor Roland Burris, pushed out in front as a failed attempt to smoke screen a failed governors’ actions.

But we shouldn’t blame Blagojevich for his misguided morals. After all, he is only following in his predecessor’s footsteps. Governor Ryan, proof that politician’s shouldn’t be too smart less they start embezzling, and Governor Blagojevich, proof that a stupid governor can be just as dangerous. This makes me wonder if we stay on this path, will there actually be a gang in prison ready to shank me compromised entirely of former Illinois Governors?

It is strange to think that while these gentlemen are supposed to set an example of honesty and moral clarity in a troubling time are actually who children and the elderly end up despising. It would appear that powerful men from Illinois are becoming the villains of the new millennium. The only solace I have about the president elect is that he was young enough and was not elected long enough to adopt the same moral compass.

At least we at SIUE can be comforted by the idea that out of the three before mentioned men, Poshard looks to be the only one that was able to weasel his way out of his allegations of corruption. At least we are apparently teaching one valuable skill in the SIU system, how to talk your way out of trouble.