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It’s exciting and a little scary realizing that I have been writing for this column for a year and haven’t even scratched the surface of what I feel like I need to say.
There are so many topics to address! Too many problems to fix! There are countless rants and discussions that could be initiated at any given point in time, but therein lies the conundrum. For most of this year there seemed to be plenty of time to bring up all the rambling ideas in my head, but in reality it’s always dwindling. There was even a chance that this was going to be my last column ever and I’m not sure if I would have been ready for … Read More…
I think I may be getting old, because I have forgotten about the joys of hometown festivals, parades and eating copious amount of much-too-expensive carnival food. I think carnivals, especially the ones that appear in small towns, are like relics. They are the relics from our childhood and often once we get older, see those first few gray hairs appear, we begin to only look toward graduation and the life we will lead thereafter. We forget how important the little things can be.
I am about to graduate with a triple major in PTW, English and creative writing. “Finally,” I say. I am graduating ready for a career and with the opportunity to go on to graduate school, but the … Read More…
Do you know the different between an acronym and an initialism?
To put it simply: Acronyms are initialisms, but not all initialisms are acronyms. An initialism is any set of letters commonly used together where each letter stands for a word. An acronym is an abbreviation of something that can be pronounced as a word. Initialisms cannot be pronounced.
Here are a few examples of acronyms and initialisms as well as a few abbreviations that might clear some things up. Plus, I thought some of these were pretty interesting and figured other people should have this knowledge, as well.
If you’ve ever looked at a zipper and saw YKK printed on it, the initialism stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha, which … Read More…
You’ve seen these before, right? An editor’s last editorial—they’re maybe a little bit self-indulgent, a little bit therapeutic and a little bit sad (but only for the editor, of course).
I’m supposed to tell you how fast this year has flown by (“Wow, April already! It seems like just yesterday…”), how challenging and rewarding this job has been (“I’ve learned more about myself this year than I ever could have imagined!”) and what a long, hard road it’s been (“It’s been a long, hard road…”).
But don’t worry, I promise I won’t do that to you. I’m not that type of editor.
I won’t begin by telling you it’s all been easy, but I certainly won’t tell you it’s all … Read More…
There are some weeks where the world seems to strike us speechless, and this has certainly been a week that has done just that. A combination of both the news across the globe and personal events within my own life seem to have conspired to drive me to write a very uninspired or tragic article. However, that is not the kind of column I have any desire to write for you this week.
Instead, I want to make a personal call out to each and every one on this campus who reads The Valley Vanguard. I want to ask each and every one of you to make a change in the way you think about the world. I want each … Read More…
Dear Valley Vanguard,
My hopes are crushed and spirits are wavered as the Battle of the Bands from April 6 was omitted from the Valley Vanguard on now two occasions.
While we did receive a preview article that we greatly appreciated, we were surprised to find out that no follow-up occurred post Battle of the Bands.I’m not mad, just disappointed because the people in my organization did not get their curtain call for this event and they deserve one.
10 people collectively worked together and accomplished something great on April 6.
Steve Ingham, Landon Defever, Rebekah Wachner, Lucy Kalinowski, Will Yates, Scott Anderson, Wade Westfall, Laura Riley, Emelia Anspach and Jeff Neracher juggled their academics and other affairs on … Read More…
Information Technology Services (ITS) would like to thank Matt Ostrander for his April 15 Vanguard article titled: “Technology on campus has room for improvement.” As with anything, there will be opportunities to improve; and that is something ITS will strive for in its commitment to partner with the campus community to provide exemplary service and support.
Our commitment will be seen in new initiatives that will improve upon and resolve many of the items mentioned in Mr. Ostrander’s article. Here is a short list of commitments to the campus community:
• A new call center solution that will allow us to better track and address issues in a timely manner; as well as, improve communication about campus IT issues/projects/etc.… Read More…
Just about one year ago, I was digging through my parent’s attic on a rainy Saturday afternoon. With the cable being fixed and the Internet out, I needed to find something to occupy my time. Near the back between some old yearbooks and wedding photos, I found a huge stack of vinyl records that belonged to my parents.
While the idea of collecting vinyl had been somewhat appealing to me for some time, I never acted on seriously looking into it. A few of my online friends had recommended I check it out for numerous reasons, but it always seemed like a difficult hobby to get into.
For the most part, I looked into the reasons as to why vinyl … Read More…
The debate over whether or not minimum wage should go up or stay the same has been frequently discussed. The circumstances surrounding the topic now involve the attempt to pass a bill that would increase minimum wage from $7.25 to $10. During a time of economic instability when families have to ask themselves, “how will I pay this month’s rent,” an increase in minimum wage would theoretically help them. The long-term effect, however, could actually hurt the middle class instead of helping it.
If the proposed bill goes through and minimum wage does go up to $10, small businesses will struggle to pay their workers. While large corporations such as Wal-Mart will also have to dish out more money to … Read More…
The computer labs may be the most inconvenient and horribly frustrating place on campus.
I think that everyone who has had a class can understand the situation I’m about to explain. It’s ten minutes until your class starts, all you have to do is log onto a computer and print one page from your email. It is a seemingly simple procedure, one that should be quick and easy. But the unaware are quick to get angry because more times than not, the computer will fight against your attempts. With the constant barrage of technical problems, I’m surprised that there are papers that actually do get turned in on time.
For starters, the SVSU website has some major issues that need … Read More…
