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“You look beautiful.” “You have a great ass.” “You’re hot.” “You should consider cutting back on the sweets.” “You don’t seem like the kind of person who works out.” “How did you manage to get into those jeans?” “You should probably tan." “Snow bunnies or no bunnies.” “Here, take an extra serving — you need it.”
I would say most people who were looking to attend college looked at a website’s ranking of the universities at least once.
If you’ve walked, driven or otherwise passed by anywhere near Jordan-Hare Stadium during the past week or so, you’ve noticed the new construction zone on Heisman Drive that’s been set up for the workers who will be putting up the new video board on the south end zone.
Everyone knows music plays second fiddle at Rodeo.
It’s Saturday morning, and I couldn’t be happier that the weekend is finally here. I would love to go visit my friend who lives off campus for maybe a movie day, catch up on how our weeks went, laugh a little about our awkward college experiences, but wait. I don’t have a car and neither does she. What a bummer.
Sometimes an interviewee says something that leaves me speechless. I was interviewing two members of an organization at Auburn. The organization was putting on an event involving a lot of people, and I was previewing it. After asking basic questions about the event, Person A mentioned safety concerns. I asked two questions about what they had done to ensure guests' safety. Person A gave two vague answers. I finished the interview because they wouldn't say anything. After I turned off my recording equipment, Person A stopped me. "Don't ask those kinds of questions," they said. "If you do, this interview is over." I had no idea what to say. After several awkward seconds of staring at each other, I stammered something resembling an apology. Person B watched us and said nothing. The next day, Person A emailed my boss and alleged that I hadn't prepared for the interview and had not gathered enough information -- both of which are false. Neither Person A nor B told me they did this. The whole incident baffled me because the questions I asked weren't even that difficult. Asking, "Why did you add these rules?" and "Were people getting hurt?" is hardly a cutthroat interrogation. This was an event preview story, not Watergate. I can't help but think the organization's real problem with that interview was that I did not ask the questions they wanted. Instead of running a safe, boring story that advertised their event, I wanted to find an actual story about the event's safety. From a journalistic view, this was the right choice. Investigating safety issues is journalism. Unquestioning event coverage is advertising. Advertising is public relations, and that is not our job. If you are an Auburn resident who wants to send a public message, student media organizations, such as The Plainsman and Eagle Eye are not your PR firm. Eagle Eye and The Plainsman staffers work incredibly hard every week to produce good journalism about Auburn. Giving someone -- anyone -- space to talk without challenging them is not good journalism. Good journalism checks facts, double-checks assertions and finds the truth, even when it's not what someone wants to talk about. Student journalists don't always live up to that standard. As intrigue editor, I've seen pieces run that were more advertising than journalism, and I regret that. However, failing to meet our own standards does not mean we should abandon them and let anyone use student media as their own personal megaphone. It means we in student media need to work harder to live up to those standards. Those standards mean that when Eagle Eye airs a package or The Plainsman publishes a story, viewers and readers know the content isn't dictated by outside parties. Student media organizations are not your PR firms. If you want advertising, buy an ad. We'd be happy to sell you one.
I remember everything about the news. I came in from school one afternoon as a 15-year-old to my mother crying in front of a computer screen. She told me the iconic Toomer's Trees have been poisoned and are projected to die within the year. The same trees that have been rooted for what was 80 years at the time that my sisters and I grew up throwing toilet paper in ever since we could remember. As a strong, defensive Auburn alumna, my mom, as well as every Auburn fan I knew, held the trees close as a reminder of the traditions we hold as an Auburn Family. All of the sudden, they were gone. Every Auburn fan knows the name Harvey Updyke and they shutter to hear it, remembering the phone call to the Paul Finebaum show that gloomy afternoon. But with the announcement of the trees making their long-awaited comeback this month, I can't help but want to explain what the trees really symbolize for Auburn. Some speculate that the trees hold a conspiracy for last year's football season. Two trees equal two miracles in Jordan-Hare; the Georgia catch tipped to Ricardo Lewis' hands for the winning touchdown and then the 109-yard punt return by Chris Davis to win the Iron Bowl. Once the trees gave us their two, we lost the national championship. The biggest tradition Auburn is known for is rolling the trees after a football victory, but that's not all the trees are for. Last year, the Auburn Family faced the loss of one of our most beloved tight ends, Philip Lutzenkirchen. We honored his life the best way we knew how; we rolled what was left of the trees at 4:30 p.m., representing his jersey number. Of course without these trees in place, the city of Auburn had to provide an outlet for fans to celebrate, or in Lut'z case, commemorate happenings in the community. In my opinion, I think they did a great job. There's not much that could be done, but the addition of wires strung over the Magnolia and College Street intersection illustrated a beautiful image when covered with toilet paper that hung down and brushed the streets. But to me, and everyone else who is as passionate about Auburn tradition as I am, knows that the trees mean so much more. I can't count the times I've heard "What's the big deal? They're just trees." Here's the big deal: these trees symbolize everything we are as a university: Strong, ever-growing, progressive, deeply rooted, spirited and connected with our community, and their comeback will be a refreshing reminder of these traits.
College football fans are not the most rational group of people in the world, and that's OK in most cases. From meaningless superstitions to screaming at your team through a television, being a fan spawns a number of completely irrational actions that, for the most part, are harmless and fun. Unfortunately, it's during this barren time of the year, when football recruiting efforts hit a peak before National Signing Day on Feb. 4, that the most aggressive fan actions becomes far too common: tweeting at recruits. I shouldn't have to explain that harassing 17- and 18-year-old high school students is a bad idea, but this is a new era we're living in. The anonymous masses have never had direct lines of communication with recruits quite like they do in social media today. All the most coveted recruits in America, from No. 1 Trent Thompson to No. 247 Zack Bailey, are just a few clicks \0xAD--or tweets -- away at any given moment. With modern recruiting coverage providing up-to-the-minute information on your favorite high school athletes' preferences, recruits are no longer a mystery to fans. They're full-blown celebrities, which is an entirely different issue to tackle. So it shouldn't be a surprise when the most aggressive fans abuse their newfound platform to try and influence kids in whatever way possible. It's natural, considering how powerless fans often are in deciding a game's outcome. I'm in no way excluded from having a few of my own irrational superstitions. But too many fans take it too far, expressing their anger and disapproval in public forums from behind the comfort of their own keyboard. There are few solutions to this problem other than the most obvious one: Just don't do it. Recruits read what is tweeted and written about them. It's impossible for them not to when their mentions are full of fans and articles are written about them daily. Even if it's only a vocal minority that is causing the problem, that minority can shape how recruits view an entire fanbase. Just take a look at Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr.'s Twitter page. The Cornhuskers' quarterback has never shied away from critical tweets he receives from angry fans. He has been quick to admit the flack he receives from fans does shape the potential recruits' perceptions about the program. So if you truly desire to make an impact on the future of a high school athlete, maybe your best course of action, to quote Walter White, would be to tread lightly.
We can connect with others with the tap of a button. Instagram, Facebook and other social media apps allow us to share information and pictures with our friends and followers. But in some cases, information is shared too frequently. Many of us have that friend who posts nine pictures on Instagram in less than an hour. Or we know someone from back home who posts 11 status updates about their trip to the gym. While it's great we have the means to share things through social media, it doesn't mean we should share everything at once. I'm just as guilty of over-sharing. Most of my Instagram shows pictures of my dog or cookies I've baked, and my Facebook posts are mostly shared articles from Buzzfeed and MTV. I'm sure my friends are sick of seeing the same things on a daily basis. There should be a balance with social media. Posting something every once in a while doesn't overwhelm your friends and followers with the same content. But posting an abundance of content or irrelevant information on a daily basis can cause friends and followers to stop looking. The best way to stop over-sharing is to find the right balance for posting. Rather than post several photos or statuses about the same thing or event, do it once and leave it be. Instead of posting several pictures of the same event, wait until after the event and post one good photo that sums it up. Another way to reduce your posts is to sign out of your accounts. It will cut down on the temptation to post several pictures a day. It will also reduce the amount of time you spend on these apps and allow you to focus on other things, such as class, and seeing friends. I think the reason why we over-share is because we're worried about what others post. We see how many likes someone else's status has or how many followers another friend has and feel like we have to compete. Stop worrying about what others post. Who cares if your friend posted a picture from the same event and got more likes? That doesn't make what you posted less relevant. It just means they have more followers. If you only post things to get likes on social media rather than to share with friends, then are you posting for the right reason? I've started posting once a week instead of once a day and noticed I'm not as dependent on social media as I once was. Rather than worry about who posted what on their accounts, I've been able to focus on myself and talking face-to-face with friends instead of relying on their accounts for information.
College can be an exciting time \0xAD\0xAD\0xAD\0xAD-- the anticipation of living alone, making your own decisions and meeting new people consumes most high school students' thoughts as they prepare to voyage into this vast, unknown place. For me, transitioning from high school to college was probably the most exciting and the most difficult thing in my life. My 17-year-old cousin, Anna, died my senior year of high school from leukemia, blood cancer. One minute, I was applying to colleges, signing my life away -- or what seemed like it at the time -- and the next, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Death is hard to accept and the process of grieving is even harder. I kept thinking I could cover it up, go out with my friends and forget it happened. But that's not the reality. When something bad happens, we just need to figure out how to cope. The hardest part of grieving for me was accepting it. She died. Even though it didn't seem like I could just go on living in a world where she wasn't, it had to happen. The earth keeps spinning. Next was denial and dealing with family members. The only thing that made this better for me was opening up to my family and telling them what I was feeling. The last thing you want to do is go on family vacations and get-togethers, where there is a lump in your throat the entire time. Instead of pretending like everything is fine, tell your loved ones what you're experiencing. Talk about the things that are consuming your thoughts, or at least jot them down in a notebook. We're human, and we can't keep all of our emotions bottled up just waiting to explode. In these situations, holding on to your family and friends and leaning on them for support is crucial. You can't do it alone. No matter the situation, express yourself. Everyone goes through tough times. Keep a journal to write in whenever you're down. It might help to get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Reach out to others who might be experiencing something similar. You never know what people have going on in their life. A simple "War eagle" might just make someone's bad day a good one. When life gives you trying times, express your feelings and talk to people about them. It helps, or at least it helped me.
College can be an exciting time \0xAD\0xAD\0xAD\0xAD-- the anticipation of living alone, making your own decisions and meeting new people consumes most high school students' thoughts as they prepare to voyage into this vast, unknown place. For me, transitioning from high school to college was probably the most exciting and the most difficult thing in my life. My 17-year-old cousin, Anna, died my senior year of high school from leukemia, blood cancer. One minute, I was applying to colleges, signing my life away -- or what seemed like it at the time -- and the next, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Death is hard to accept and the process of grieving is even harder. I kept thinking I could cover it up, go out with my friends and forget it happened. But that's not the reality. When something bad happens, we just need to figure out how to cope. The hardest part of grieving for me was accepting it. She died. Even though it didn't seem like I could just go on living in a world where she wasn't, it had to happen. The earth keeps spinning. Next was denial and dealing with family members. The only thing that made this better for me was opening up to my family and telling them what I was feeling. The last thing you want to do is go on family vacations and get-togethers, where there is a lump in your throat the entire time. Instead of pretending like everything is fine, tell your loved ones what you're experiencing. Talk about the things that are consuming your thoughts, or at least jot them down in a notebook. We're human, and we can't keep all of our emotions bottled up just waiting to explode. In these situations, holding on to your family and friends and leaning on them for support is crucial. You can't do it alone. No matter the situation, express yourself. Everyone goes through tough times. Keep a journal to write in whenever you're down. It might help to get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Reach out to others who might be experiencing something similar. You never know what people have going on in their life. A simple "War eagle" might just make someone's bad day a good one. When life gives you trying times, express your feelings and talk to people about them. It helps, or at least it helped me.
We can connect with others with the tap of a button. Instagram, Facebook and other social media apps allow us to share information and pictures with our friends and followers. But in some cases, information is shared too frequently. Many of us have that friend who posts nine pictures on Instagram in less than an hour or know of someone with a 60-second Snap story. Or we know of someone from back home who posts 11 status updates about their trip to the gym. While it's great that we have the means to share things through social media, it doesn't mean we should share everything at once. I'm just as guilty of over-sharing as those described above. Most of my Instagram shows pictures of my dog or cookies I've baked, and my Facebook posts are mostly shared articles from Buzzfeed and MTV. As much as my friends must love seeing those, I'm sure they're sick of seeing the same things on a daily basis. With social media, there should be a balance. Posting something every once in a while doesn't overwhelm your friends and followers with the same content. But posting an abundance of content or irrelevant information on a daily basis can cause friends and followers to stop looking. The best way to stop over-sharing is to find the right balance for posting. Rather than post several photos or statuses about the same thing or event, do it once and leave it be. Instead of posting several pictures of the same event, wait until after the event and post one good photo that sums it up. Or post a collage and let the content speak for itself. Another way to reduce your posts is to sign out of your accounts. It will cut down on the temptation to post several pictures a day. It will also reduce the amount of time you spend on these apps and allow you to focus on other things like class and seeing friends. I think the reason why we over-share is because we're worried about what others post. We see how many likes someone else's status has or how many followers another friend has and feel like we have to compete. Stop worrying about what others post. Who cares if your friend posted a picture from the same event and got more likes? That doesn't make what you posted less relevant. It just means they have more followers. If you only post things to get likes on social media rather than to share with friends, then are you posting for the right reason? I've started posting once a week instead of once a day and noticed I'm not as dependent on social media as I once was. Rather than worry about who posted what on their accounts, I've been able to focus on myself and talking face-to-face with friends instead of relying on their accounts for information.
The average bachelor's degree requires 120 hours to graduate, which is approximately 15 hours per semester. So why did the majority of freshmen I know signed up to take 16 or more hours last semester? I blame it on the lack of personal attention given to each incoming student as they registered for classes during their Camp War Eagle session over the summer. Instead of getting to know inividual learning styles and routines, students were scared into overloading their schedules. When I arrived at CWE, I was a bundle of nerves, as most freshmen are. For the most part, counselors do an excellent job of calming concerns and explaining how daily life will be as a college student, everything from where to park to where to eat. From my own experiences so far, everything I learned from that weekend was correct -- \0xADexcept for class loads. The climax of CWE is registration. You learn everything you can about life as a student first, and, the afternoon of your departure from camp, you finally get to do what you came for: register for classes. Neither the CWE counselors nor the advisers for the sessions directly help you with registration. One would think they would advise each student on a personal level to ensure they are not put into a class load too difficult for their first semester. Going from high school courses to college courses is one the most frightening transitions to make. So why would you thrust a student in 16 hours of classes or more their first semester of college? That equates to one hour above what is needed to graduate on time. I know one hour is not hurting anyone. The problem is not that one hour. The problem is the other 15. The CWE advisers recommend you take the harder class options when registering. A majority of these entry level classes are weed out classes as well. I see the evidence in my friend, an engineering major taking 16 hours who is barely able to keep their head above water. Their adviser paid little regard to the student's concerns when they were registering for classes and stacked their schedule with only math and science courses. That person's scholarship is at risk in a mere semester of college because of an Auburn adviser's neglect of concern for their abilities and wants. I realize Auburn only accepts students they believe can succeed in these types of class schedules, and there are many avenues of student help available on campus. However, it should be recognized that class, social lives, sleep and homesickness can affect students' freshman year. Advisers should take this into account.
When it comes to the New Year, losing weight, being less stressed, trying something new and saving money seem to stay at the top of the things most people want to accomplish. But those also tend to be the things that we give up on after a month or so. As the year goes on and life throws more at us, we tend to lose sight of the things that we really want to do. We fall back in tune with the rest of society -- procrastinating, complaining about how we have no free time and eventually completely overlooking our goals. So I would like to propose an idea -- why wait? Why wait until the New Year rolls around to start exercising? Or to start saving money? Or to set time aside to do things we enjoy rather than letting work or school consume our schedules? Instead of planning a strict exercise routine that consists of intense cardio and strength training seven days a week, plan out a more reasonable workout schedule that fits your already busy enough schedule, but will still make a difference. And instead of starting hot and heavy on the first day of the New Year, start today. Start small and build up your workout. Allow your mind and body to get used to such an important lifestyle change and you will be less likely to end your exercising routine before it really even gets started. Rather than leaving the stress to Jan. 1, start now. Organize your busy days. Maybe buy a planner for the first time. Exercise helps reduce stress -- try relaxing by working out. Starting this process of learning to organize your life -- including down time -- during the holiday season will prove to be effective as life goes back to normal during the first of the year. Along with organizing your days, plan times to try new things. Whether it is something as simple as driving the long way home to enjoy different scenery or something extreme like bungee jumping or skydiving for the first time, don't wait until Jan. 1 to try new things. Someone once told me to never order just vanilla ice cream, but to always try different flavors to keep life interesting in the smallest of ways. The same principle applies when it comes to trying new things. By making yourself get out of your comfort zone, you will not only learn more about the world around you, but you will learn new things about yourself. When you learn to love new things, you will gain confidence to carry out different goals in your life that you would have given up on before. This process is too important to wait until the New Year. Also consider taking economic steps to avoid a rude awakening in January. Set back money now and make a budget strictly for the holiday season. While money can't buy happiness, it is a tool that buys opportunities. If it is handled wisely, it can make New Year's that much better. Again, this process should begin well before the holidays, not just on New Year's Day. No matter what your goals are, your fresh start is today. Instead of procrastinating our goals until the first of 2015, let's make changes now.
For college students, Auburn can be a tough town to live in when the University isn't in session. It can be hard to stay behind after all your college friends leave to go back home. That's why it's important to keep finding things to do in Auburn, even over the break. Don't lock yourself up in your room to binge Netflix. You owe it to yourself to get out there and explore Auburn. There's a surprising amount of things to do, even when no one else is in town. The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art stays open for some of the break. It's running an exhibit called Rembrandt, Rubens, and Gainsborough, and the Golden Age of Painting in Europe through Jan. 4. You can always drive down South College Street to check out some of the finest European paintings ever made, all through break. The Museum will be closed Dec. 22-25 and Dec. 29-Jan. 1 for Christmas and the New Year. You can also take advantage of the reduced crowds to see this year's slate of Christmas movies. Imagine how much more you can enjoy films like "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" and "The Imitation Game" when you're not fighting anyone else for the good seats in the theater. If you're not in the mood to stay inside, Auburn always has some fun stuff going on outdoors. Chewacla State Park stays open during the break. Even when it's cold out, the park is always good for a brisk hike. Don't try renting one of the canoes or kayaks, though. It's definitely too chilly for that. The only bad part about visiting Chewacla is the couple dollars it charges for entrance. For a free outdoors experience, try the Davis Nature Preserve on North College Street. It offers a nice set of hiking trails for free. I've hiked the park before, and it's a nice experience. The trees aren't as lush in the winter, but it's still a way to get out of the house. For those more interested in a sports experience, the Auburn men's basketball team keeps playing over break. They have a game against Texas Southern on Dec. 23 and one against Middle Tennessee on Dec. 29. You could also give back some this Christmas. The Lee County Humane Society always appreciates volunteers who come by when the place is open (8 a.m. - 5 p.m.) to walk the dogs and let them work out some of their energy. It's free, you get to play with dogs and do something good all at the same time. Similarly, you can always volunteer at different charitable organizations. The holidays are always a busy time for charities. Doing some good and making someone else's Christmas happier can be the perfect way to spend the holidays. Volunteering for something like The Food Bank of East Alabama is as easy as walking in and asking to help. Regardless of what you choose to do, there are still things to do in Auburn over break. It's just a matter of pushing yourself to find them.
For Auburn fans, 2014 as a whole could be seen as a disappointment. Going from being 13 seconds away from a national championship to an 8-4 record isn't exactly what fans hoped for. There are several reasons why the football team didn't perform as expected, but there were also plenty of pleasant surprises. In my opinion, one of the biggest disappointments on this team was the defensive line. Losing Carl Lawson and Dee Ford was a huge preseason blow, but this was a veteran group that simply didn't perform consistently throughout the season. On the offense, running back Cameron Artis-Payne was the surprise of the year. Filling the shoes of Heisman finalist Tre Mason, Artis-Payne led the SEC in rushing while getting the bulk of the carries for the Tigers. Not so productive was senior running back Corey Grant, to no fault of his own. As the season went on, Grant saw less time on the field, and it felt as though the coaching staff was holstering a weapon. Junior wide receiver Duke Williams was hyped by fans and coaches all summer, and he certainly lived up to expectations. All season long, Williams gave opposing secondary groups fits while making seemingly impossible catches game in and game out. Another surprise in this group of receivers was senior Quan Bray, who undoubtedly had his best season not only receiving wise, but returning kicks as well. One receiver who may not have lived up to expectations was Sammie Coates. I hate to say that, because Coates just had the game of his life against the No. 1 team in the country at their house, but still, Coates didn't quite have the season people were expecting. He was plagued by an injury and had several drops.
Sometimes the answer is so crystal-clear you miss it. Why do I bring this up? It's because, for 10 years after graduating with my first undergraduate degree, I was searching for a career that felt right, made me happy. From 2003-13, I worked a variety of jobs in sales and marketing, never thinking to myself, "Hey, I could really do this the rest of my life." During my spare time and, apologies to past bosses, during a lot of work time, I would write. It didn't matter the subject. I would just air out my feelings of the day. What started as emails to a few friends became a distribution list, then a blog. Well, actually, let's back up before that. When I was 10 years old, I tried to start a newspaper from my grandmother's family room. It was to be called The Sports Report and would be full of breaking news and hard-hitting issues, such as why Ryne Sandberg didn't attend my last birthday party and whether Rex Chapman was overrated. I sold a subscription to some neighbors who, thankfully, never laughed in my face. I worked on this publication like the world depended on it. My readers needed the news. This lasted for about a year. I then entered middle school and puberty set in. I put my newspaper aside for trying not to be too awkward around, well, everyone. College came and went, and I was intent on starting and growing a career in sports marketing. Sales jobs were the way to do that. I agreed, despite the fact I would rather cheer for that school on the other side of the state than make a cold call. I toiled away for these years, all the time sending out 1,000-word emails about why I dislike Michael J. Fox and other nonsense. Writing these emails and blog posts were the best part of my day, and as I got better, my friends started to encourage me to pursue a journalism career. My good friend Tom Kowalski was one of them. A longtime sports reporter for the Detroit Lions, he would get upset at me for not dropping something I despised, for something I loved. His words never meant as much as they did Aug. 29, 2011, when, while scrolling Twitter, I found out my good friend and mentor had died suddenly of a heart attack. I finally made the decision to come back for a journalism degree in the fall of 2013. What is the point of my story? Well, there are a few. First, do what you love, because you will enjoy life a lot more. Next, know it is never too late to drop everything and start a new career. I remember looking in the mirror last fall and seeing a 32-year-old who was miserable with his career path. I will graduate again this summer as a 34-year-old who now has a purpose in his career. Lastly, follow your dreams. Mine was to one day work alongside Tom. I waited too long to get that chance. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go write a long essay on why "Saved by the Bell" was the most influential show of my lifetime. Brian Stultz is a campus writer for The Plainsman. He can be reached at campus@theplainsman.com.
Thanksgiving and Christmas truly are the most wonderful times of the year. My parents, however, may not feel the same way. Going home for Thanksgiving break was extremely necessary after one of the busiest semesters I've had in awhile. With Auburn having a week off of school, I was home before most of my friends. This gave me time to spend with my family before the influx of college students came back into town, and after that I spent most of my time with my friends. My parents tolerated my scattered schedule and lack of productive plans for Thanksgiving break because it was only a week and they hadn't seen me in awhile. Christmas break is an entirely different story. It is my belief Auburn students could benefit from having a shorter Christmas break. With more than a month off for Christmas break, this can be difficult for out-of-state students like myself. It's that awkward period of time where you're home for long enough that if you don't get a job or have some sort of plan, your parents get mad at you for just laying around and watching Netflix all day. It's also too short to apply to any sort of real job. No company wants to hire someone so as soon, as they are finally done training the person it's time for them to leave and go back to school. When I'm at school, my parents say school is my job. My job is to make good grades and to get involved in as many things as possible to help my resume and hopefully find a good job after graduation. Instead of having a paying job at school, I have devoted my time to working for two newspapers and joining organizations. Over the past three years, Christmas break has always been the constant battle of my parents telling me to get a job and me telling them that it's almost impossible to get a job anywhere for a month unless you've already worked there in the past. Over previous Christmas breaks, I have worked at the Sportsclub Kids Camp. They allowed me to work there because I had already worked there for many summers before that, so training me was not an issue. It's a great job, but it is only about two weeks or less of Christmas break, so I still had a lot of down time. I have other friends who go to Washington and Lee University who just have a little bit more than three weeks off from school for Christmas break. Other universities have a similar policy, such as the University of Georgia, which only gives students an 18-day break. That is still a long time to be idle, but it's short enough where your parents haven't really gotten tired of you being home yet. I love going home, and I love seeing my friends and family. However, there's only so much laundry and house-cleaning I can do so I don't feel like a freeloader to my parents before I start getting restless and wish I could come back to Auburn where I'm busy all day, every day. Babysitting is always another option, but that's not a consistent job for the most part and it's you and every other college student home for the holidays fighting for the same families. I'm not saying that we should have more class days. However, if Christmas break was shorter, the University could push graduation back to an earlier time to make up for the difference, which would give students more time to work after they graduate.
It's no secret that this season has been a relative disappointment for most Auburn fans, but most of the issues faced by the tigers have been self-inflicted. Compared to last year, Auburn has been inconsistent, undisciplined, and at times, lifeless. Don't get me wrong; I give Auburn more than a legitimate shot at beating in state rival Alabama this Saturday, but things will need to improve if the tigers want to remain relevant come the 4th quarter.
Momma G's is one of my favorite places to hang out with my friends. The workers are always courteous, it's never too crowded and the music is solid. It also happens to be one of my favorite places to watch football. I don't have a T.V., so in order to get my football fix when the games aren't in Auburn or I'm working part of the game, I just head to Momma G's for a pint, some good company and maybe some nachos. However, when I went there during the Texas A&M game, I was rudely awakened from my Momma G's daydream. I had to work during the first half of the game, so I didn't trek into Jordan-Hare. I bought a pint at Momma G's, which I found much more preferable to getting lost in the masses of fans. Unfortunately, on that Saturday, a pint cost $4 and a pitcher was $11.99. Did I buy the pint? Sure. Was I happy about the 60 percent price increase of the pint? Of course not. When I went back a couple of days later, the price was back to its usual $2.50. But that prompted me to ask, "Why raise the prices on game day?" The answer is pretty obvious: to make money. But isn't there something unethical about raising prices on one day? I've asked friends and strangers alike, and few of them have noticed the increase. Personally, I've never noticed an increase until the Texas A&M game. I've watched away games at Momma G's and not noticed a change in prices. The fact is, even though my friends and I treat it as a meeting ground, it is not there for us as people. It is there for us as customers. Restaurants are businesses, whose main goal is to make money. even though people become attached to them. Game days, with the influx of potential customers into Auburn, are excellent times to hike up prices. Customers from out-of-town also have no idea if the prices have been raised or not, having no other set point to refer to. Those of us who frequent the restaurant, however, have the potential to notice the difference. Is it fair to traveling fans to hike up prices with no warning? Is it fair to consistent customers? I propose that, when Momma G's plans to raise prices, they issue a warning. This way, customers can take action as they see fit. The restaurant will also continue to make a decent profit on crowded weekends -- a profit that is fair to both the customers and the restaurant. After all, consumers drive restaurants. Restaurants should strive to make their customers happy. Happy customers have an idea of the prices they will be paying. And maybe next time I can be prepared to bring enough money for two pints.
