What are you protesting now?

I walked onto campus today to the sight of graffiti on multiple walls proclaiming that there is a walk-out on May 1st. This is a great example of the stupidity of many college students. Sure, it may have started out as a good cause, but the way they go about showing their opinion is all wrong. Advocating for a wide-spread student strike, from what I've seen, involves almost no information about what the strike is for. The problem with this is that many undergraduates will go along with it and skip class, yet have absolutely no idea what they're protesting. News media has interviewed students in similar situations here and at other schools. Most don't even know what their "cause" is. On the off chance they do, they only have a shallow understanding of the general purpose but don't understand any details or big-picture repercussions of what they're protesting for.

So, as a result of this lack of understanding and blind following by students, walls are vandalized, traffic may be disrupted, campus operations are impeded, and other students are affected. I'm not arguing one way or the other about the merits of protesting, I'm simply saying that if you do, it should be an issue that you really care about (to do something as extreme as a strike) and you should definitely know what it is you're protesting for or against. And if you care enough about fighting for your quality education, you should care enough to go to class then dedicate your free time to your cause. I doubt the majority would be protesting if it wasn't an excuse to get out of class.

My favorite example of these blind followers who jump on the walk-out bandwagon is a few years ago when a major walkout was staged for some education issue. There was a picture in the paper of a student holding up a sign that said "Who's school? Our school!" I doubt many of the people in that picture knew what they were protesting, but even if they did, their time would've been better spent in class, brushing up on their grammar.

Here comes summer!

Summer is just around the corner.  Yes, I've been excited for summer since the last one ended, but the anticipation has recently started ramping up.  Part of that was because of last weekend.  There were a few districts of penninsula scouts at camp for their camporee last weekend.  Having a semi-full camp combined with near-summer weather really sparks that eagerness for the summer season to begin.  Camp has a different feel in the off-season (still great, just different) and that feeling is starting to shift as the weather gets nicer, projects near completion, more people start using camp, and as we start preparing program areas and campsites.

Even things that aren't as pleasant make me anticipate summer even more.  After so many scouts use camp, there are inevitably some plumbing issues that need to be fixed.  Usually they can be remedied with a few pushes of a plunger, but one we encountered on Sunday wasn't quite so easy.  In the end, it turned out that someone tried to flush an apple, but it took removing the toilet from the floor and flipping it over to figure that out.  I also got a pretty good-sized blister on the palm of my hand from so much plunging, which is still painful when I extend my fingers or get my hand wet.  That said, though, even the 1-2 hours of dealing with garbage and bathrooms made me even more excited for summer.  Could be because of my love of camp or hatred for school; probably a little (or a lot) of both.

The staff work party is coming up in a couple weeks, when we will be getting some campsites ready as well as reuniting with old staff members and meeting new ones.  It's always an enjoyable weekend and is sort of the pre-kick-off to summer, which I look forward to every year. 

Also coming up, my family is holding a work party of sorts to do some maintenance and renovation on our property in South Colby.  I'm glad we have a chance to get the whole family together like that for a weekend since I don't get to see as much of them during the summer as I did before I joined camp staff.  Our big project is to work on the foundation of the house my grandpa grew up in, which will involve a lot of digging in small spaces, some of which the local otters have recently grown accustomed to living in.  It's hard to believe this year has gone by so quickly (only 26 more days of school and 6 weeks until NCS), summer will be here before we know it.  And I couldn't be done with school soon enough!