Tangents and Tirades

by The Cowl Editor on November 8, 2018


Opinion


Graphic courtesy of Behance.

Sharing is Caring: Sidewalk Etiquette

Sidewalks on campus are the highways of Providence College. Every day, students use them to get to and from their classes and appointments. And like any off-campus highway, the PC sidewalks are frequently congested with easily-avoidable traffic.

While sidewalks on campus can certainly function as social spaces, their prime purpose is to allow for swift travel between various places. When individuals walk two or even three across, it blocks traffic, and in some cases, prevents a student from making it to their class on time.

Inadvertent swerving is another prevalent walking behavior on sidewalks and in the dining halls, which inhibits others from getting to their destination. Taking the time to focus on one’s surroundings is the simplest fix for this.

Sure, it can be easy to get distracted and caught up in the humorous anecdote your friend just shared, but in the few seconds that were spent slowing down and stopping from intense laughter, several people had to walk around you. You became an obstacle in another person’s travel path.

It is important to remember that we are each one of 4,874 students sharing the Providence College campus. Each of those students occupies space and needs to be taken into account when traveling around the grounds of PC.

“Share the road” has become a popular slogan for driving safely across the nation. Adopting this policy when walking around campus will create a more considerate, traffic-free community at PC.

—Joshua Chlebowski ’21

 

Sports Culture at PC

The words of “Sweet Caroline” are much more bittersweet on this campus than they have been my entire life.

Growing up in Massachusetts, sports-loving culture is something you are born with; it comes naturally. The amount of pride we have for our sports teams is absolutely unreal.

Coming to Providence College and realizing that not everyone worships Tom Brady or loves the Red Sox was an adjustment I’m still getting used to.

Although PC is in New England, it’s quite obvious that not everyone comes from the area and therefore not everyone has the same interests, especially when it comes to sports.

To people from New England, it may seem that Brady can do no wrong. Unfortunately, the rest of the country does not feel the same.

This becomes a problem especially around playoff seasons, when New England fans are known to get even more obsessive than they are during the regular season.

What makes these rivalries and opinions even better is when a Boston team wins, which is often.

Boston takes pride in our teams and makes sure everyone knows how happy we are.

The air around campus was certainly split after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series this year; many students were ecstatic while others were rolling their eyes at the cheers of Boston fans.

    Although it was a culture shock, the air of competition around PC regarding professional sports affiliations adds to the fun and the constantly changing atmosphere of the campus.

—Julia McCoy ’22

 

Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

Growing up in a small, safe, suburban town, I was accustomed to going where I wanted, when I wanted without being concerned about any potentially dangerous situations.

At home, I often ran through the neighborhoods near my house, around local farms, or down the various hiking trails nearby. Other than the occasional unfriendly dog, I never felt unsafe.

But coming to Providence College, I realized that I couldn’t take the same liberties I did while at home. Running off campus seemed to be a daunting endeavor, especially considering PC’s location in general and with stories like Mollie Tibbetts’ in the back of my mind.

I suddenly realized that simply by being a woman, normal, everyday activities could potentially turn dangerous—walking through a parking lot at night, taking an Uber alone, or going for a run.

It’s not fair that this is the reality women contend with daily or that we have to cope with constant underlying anxiety and fear.

When I run off campus, I often feel a certain level of fear—fear that someone could yell something at me, fear that a car may stop and someone could get out and approach me, fear that if I run the same route too many times, someone could notice my pattern.

But what I have realized is that this fear can’t hold me back, and it shouldn’t hold any woman back. This fear drives me to take extra precautions when I run, but it also motivates me to live how I want to, and to not let circumstances beyond my control dictate my life, even when they are scary.

I’ve learned that this fear, while unfair, doesn’t need to be a roadblock. As women, we must acknowledge this fear, accept it, and choose to go on anyway. Because when we persist, we begin to dismantle fear itself.

—Andrea Traietti ’21