… But UIC HATES you…
Over the summer the lights went out in CCC, plunging the Fitness Center into darkness. Now why would it be dark? Wouldn’t a major metropolitan college with an enormous student body have buildings that have safety features such as emergency backup lighting? That would be logical, but the University of In-Competence is far from logical. And it’s not as if this has happened only once.
It happened to me, personally 2 years ago while I was swimming in the CCC pool. I was happily working on my backstroke until I realized it was suspiciously dark. The only light coming in was from the windows. I floated around for a bit waiting for the emergency lights to kick in… a wait that would prove fruitless. I then saw a flicker of light… from a flashlight being carried by a staff member that told us to get out of the pool. There were two flashlights that went around, one to the men’s locker room and one to the women’s locker room. Those rooms are huge, shadowy, dangerous, and ripe for some raping and pillaging. Not to mention the floors were wet and slippery and the corners of the benches were pointy and shin-hurting. Armed with just ONE flashlight that we were given, we went in and said, “Let there be light…” and there was barely enough light power to see the lockers.
This was 2 years ago and with all the alleged campus improvement projects that have gone on; I’ve yet to SEE a campus improvement. While I do appreciate the added sofas around campus, it was a topic I wrote about a year or so ago, and the coffee shop improvements are nice. There’s no depth to any campus improvements. Just because the campus is beautified, we’re expected to forget about all its deficiencies?!? And just how CAN you beautify a campus that resembles a prison in all its window-lacking glory? Welcome back!
… Shoe Companies HATE you…
It’s the start of a new school year and of course, we all are in tune with the latest fashions, especially shoes. There are SO many variety of athletic footwear available nowadays. We have the hip new styles and the just as hip retro kinds. There’s your canvas, leather, or the occasional mesh. We can’t forget our high-top basketball shoes, made by every cool brand name on the planet. There’s the wide variety of running shoes, walking shoes, cross-trainers, and tennis shoes. There’s also bowling shoes that somehow seem to be getting popular. The only thing all these shoes have in common is that they’re expensive and people that buy them generally don’t use them for their alleged purposes except for the old people that do use walking shoes for walking.
We’ve been duped as a population by shoe companies to buy overpriced footwear for an image that most of us can’t pull off. We all want to be like Mike, Kobe, Allen Iverson, or whoever the flavor of the month happens to be. Oh yeah, it’s so cool to wear shoes peddled by our heroes. Maybe I can find a pair of bright red boots to wear, because Superman wears them. Maybe I can even fly too! Even little babies are wearing Air Jordans that cost what a pair of decent shoes for adults would cost! What kind of message is that sending to them? You’re practically telling them, “Expensive shoes makes you a cool baby, cool babies are loved. You don’t want to be the Payless baby down the street, do you?” Don’t you realize this is all a scam to take your money in return for a depthless image? You’re getting ripped off! Duh!
… And Religion HATES you!
The masses are so easy to be swindled and it’s pathetic. Ever wonder what religion really is? Some person, seeing how stupid people can be, decides to make up stories to explain why things are the way they are. And through the years, decades, centuries, and millennia those stories become a part of who we are. Or so we think. Some of us study the ancient mythologies of the Greek and Roman empires and to us it’s a bunch of stories that probably has its roots in some ancient drug-induced hallucination that someone had. But to them, that was their entire belief system. So when a new up and coming religion came to be, probably also created under the same circumstances, people flocked to that one and boom: old religion bad, new religion good. This is why I think the separation of church and state should exist, because once your religion is discredited, then so is the state.
So where am I going with this? First, I fear for the future of the United States, with all the recent attention given to gay marriages, the citation of religion has been prevalent by our powers that be. The Pope thinks gay marriage is bad, therefore our President thinks is bad. Congress is working on an amendment declaring in the United States, you have to be able to insert Tab A into Slot B to get married. This all comes about because our entire belief system is based on the stories that someone or some people came up with a long, long, time ago in a land far, far away. What about the belief system that our country was founded upon? What about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? What about equality and justice? Isn’t that OUR belief system? Why must we use religion as an excuse to retain the status quo because of a fear of change? As far as I’m concerned, religion just isn’t a good enough reason to discriminate.
And secondly, why can’t I just create a new religion? Why can’t I just make up an elaborate tapestry of stories to explain everything in the universe? All I need is a few people in on a plot to help convert the world to my ways. I mean, this IS how religions are started and yet we have so much faith in them. How would Zeus feel today looking upon a world that no longer worships him? He’d probably feel nothing, seeing as he probably isn’t real. I think it’s time for a change, anyone want to start a new religion with me?
