Tangents and Tirades

by The Cowl Editor on March 7, 2019


Opinion


Slice of pizza.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

You’re Never Alone in Friartown

Midterm week is over, and all of the stress that came with it will be long gone in just a few short days when we’re on spring break. However, this past midterm week will be one that I will never forget.

On Monday of midterm week, it was windy. To call it wind is an understatement, as it was more like a series of repeatedly long gusts of wind.

I had just walked out of my English class and was on my way to my fourth and last class of the day, DWC. Our midterm was this day and although I felt prepared, I decided to carry my folder with me, so I could look some stuff over on the way to Ruane. It was windier than ever the second I stepped out of Harkins. I remember it being hard to walk, as it felt like I was about to get blown away. Before I could think about what was happening, a huge gust of wind came and took my folder with it. My papers and all the contents of my folder went 20 feet up in the air, everything flying in all different directions. I was in shock and in a rush to get to my midterm so I was just going to let my papers be lost.

Instead, everyone that saw my catastrophe helped pick up all of the papers they could see. I was so grateful for all the random acts of kindness and it really shows that you are never alone in Friartown.

—Katherine Belbusti ’22

 

Passing on the Pizza

Without a doubt, pizza has an unparalleled overbearing presence on the Providence College campus. Almost every activity or extracurricular function opts to serve pizza at their events. Such a decision is not only terribly unoriginal and boring but also poses an issue for those students who may have gluten or lactose sensitivities.

While pizza is often thought to be a universally accessible food, it contains two elements which prove problematic. The first is the dough, which typically contains gluten, and the second is the cheese, a clear dairy product. When it comes down to it, two-thirds of the basic elements to a pizza can easily exclude a number of individuals.

Pizza is also provided excessively here on campus, with its presence at numerous extracurricular events. Sure it can be enjoyable the first five times, but it loses its appeal shortly thereafter. Options from chains such as Wendy’s or even Chick-fil-A are far more appetizing choices and would introduce more options for those who have dietary restrictions while still maintaining a low price point.

Although these concerns about pizza are not the most pressing issue on campus, taking these small details into account will go a long way in increasing the participation in campus events, and, in the bigger picture, to building a stronger sense of community on campus.

—Joshua Chlebowski ’21

 

Stop Judging: Learn to Promote Empathy

The contemporary young adult population presents a disheartening deficit in empathy. 

At Providence College alone, during a walk around campus one may overhear innumerable conversations, many of which would include superficialobservations about the conversers’ peers—perhaps a girl’s “bad spray tan” or someone in their class’s stuttered seminar contribution, or someone who “hooked up” with someone else who was “way out of” said individual’s league. 

While these might seem like petty, insignificant remarks, they expose the thought processes of this generation and the superficialities that blind modern young adults from truly knowing one another. 

These excessively superficial attitudes can likely be attributed to social media platforms—the largest culprit being Instagram. 

As contemporary youths have grown obsessed with capturing the perfect Instagram picture in order to achieve the maximum number of likes, they have also acquired the proclivity to assert shallow judgements of their peers in the real world in the same way they scrutinize an individual’s Instagram profile. 

In order to correct our society’s present deficit in empathy, we must identify our superficial judgement proclivities and remember that in actuality there is very little one can truly know about an individual solely based upon the clothes they wear or their instagram posts. 

That said, promoting this social change may be simpler than it seems if each of us, before vocalizing that snap judgement about “that girl or guy” in our DWC seminar, ask ourselves: “What do I know about this person that isn’t skin deep?”

—Alyssa Cohen ’21