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It was certainly a busy semester.
Let us see: smoking ban, torture doctors, budget shortfalls, chancellor's wife rocks, Halo 3, iPhone, Mizzou in the Bowl Championship Series, Benton-Stadler, leaking storage tanks, parking, Mansion Hills, Tritons, Rivermen, goodbye!
If you put this list and a few more newsworthy events to the tune of Billy Joel's hit, "We Didn't Start The Fire," it all seems to click. It is quite catchy. Even has a nice ring to it.
So, the question is, where were you?
This semester, we found out that one hiring, firing and then re-firing is worth a thousand complaints, but dissecting two healthcare proposals by opposing presidential hopefuls barely gets a glance.
Take away your cigarettes, and all hell breaks loose. Storage tanks leaking on recently purchased University property, on the other hand, not so much a problem.
Oh, and by the way, it looks like there were a few misplaced commas in one of the stories that made the front page. So, what is it that really seems to matter to you as readers?
It appears the stories with the most resonance have concerned the self-interests of select groups within the student body, such as smokers, for instance, and what reduces to gossip about the closest thing we have to local celebrities, namely professors, administrators and high profile student leaders.
Hey, believe me, I am just as eager to write up that story about Bryan Goers being caught studying for midterms while dressed in drag, as I am sure the student body is to read it. But Brutus is an honorable cat, and I just do not think it will ever come to pass.
It is no novelty that we would be most attracted to stories about change and the people that affect it so in our little bubble at UM-St. Louis.
However, we are still part of a much larger world and a lot is happening out there. If we walk through the Millennium Student Center and ask students at random to name four presidential candidates from each party, what are the odds that more than 50 percent could?
Even better, how many could point to Darfur on a map? Folks, I am finding it harder and harder to believe that journalism should take any of the blame for the quality of news these days. I think that blame belongs to the readership and viewers.
As far as our little corner of the news-scape at the University is concerned, I find it amazing that so many people are willing to tell us where our mistakes lie, but so few are busting through the doors of our office to make this paper the best it can be.
This is not just my newspaper, or the University's newspaper. It is yours.
So there you have it, folks. Much like my stance on voting, when it comes to The Current, if you do not participate, you do not get to complain.
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