Alcohol in College

I believe that alcohol is a big problem in colleges everywhere. The majority of students in college drink. They think it is cool to get so drunk you can't stand up. It seems like it is a competition as to who can drink more, and they will be congratulated if they do. I read where one survey found that more students under 21 binge drink than students over 21.
Drinking in groups makes students feel the need to drink more. Lots of freshmen want to go out and party a lot since they are finally away from home and their parents. Students go out on the week nights and drink because they don't have anyone stopping them from doing so. Many students drink to relieve the stress from the workload in college. Drinking can lead to date rape, violence, and academic failure. I'm not surprised at how many police officers Boone has. It is noted that 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries a year. This is including car crashes. More than 97,000 students are victims of some sort of sexual assault each year. Last year 2.1 million students drank and drive. These numbers are remarkable.
Something needs to be done about the excessive drinking. I understand a student wanting to have some fun and make some good memories that will last a lifetime while they are in college, but they don't need to drink heavily to do so. If you feel pressured to drink and you don't want to, be strong and just say no. If they have something to say about it, who really cares? What those people think shouldn't matter anyways.

The String Cheese Incident

When I first heard the name String Cheese Incident, I didn't want to give the music a chance. When I started dating my boyfriend, Pete, I began listening to them. Now they are one of my favorite groups.
I love every single one of their songs. They are all a lot of fun to listen to, especially live. All of their singers have good voices as well. The group consists of six members: Billy Nershi (vocals, acoustic/electric guitar), Michael Kang (vocals, mandolin, violin, guitar), Kyle Hollingsworth (vocals, piano, accordian), Keith Moseley (vocals, bass guitar), Michael Travis (drums, percussion), and Jason Hann (percussion).
After their summer tour this year, they broke up which was pretty sad because my boyfriend and I will not be able to go to their shows anymore. Luckily I got to see them seven times before they broke up: two nights in Asheville, two nights in Atlanta, and three nights in New York City which was part of their final tour. I always had such a good time going to their shows and will miss it a lot!

The String Cheese Incident Official Website

Appalachian vs. Northern Arizona

My parents came up last Saturday for family weekend and the football game. I tailgated with them and my boyfriend. It was a lot of fun. There were people everywhere drinking, dancing, listening to music, and playing games. My parent's friends brought their grill. They cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and bratwurst. My boyfriend and I ate some Bojangles that my parents had gotten. It was neat having everyone come together to get pumped up about the game.

The ALE was walking in and out of the rows of cars with their ticket book attached to their hip. They were looking for people to give citations to. I witnessed a few people get citations. There was a girl and guy who went to pee somewhere in the parking lot since the porta john lines were so long, and the officer saw them. He gave the boy two citations: peeing in public and drinking underage, and he gave the girl a citation for peeing in public. There was another girl who reached in the cooler to hand her friend a beer. The officer came over to her and asked for ID. Since she wasn't 21, he gave her a citation for possessing alcohol just because she touched it. It was pretty ridiculous.

I had a lot of fun tailgating and going to the football game against Northern Arizona. Everyone gets so pumped for the games! We won 34-21. This was Appalachian's third win in a row, making us 3-0. I can't wait til the next game!

Immigration Issue

Over the summer, I read a book called A Home On The Field. It was about immigrants who moved to a small town in North Carolina called Siler City. Many people here were against the immigrants moving to the city, and did not want them going to their childs' school because it slowed down their education since they didn't speak good english.
A man named Paul Cuadros, the author of the book, wanted to form a soccer team at the high school. After much hard work with the principle of the schol, he was able to form the soccer team.
The team began playing against other schools, wanting so badly to win the championship game. Eventually, after trying for a few seasons to win, they finally did! They were so excited about it. Now they could have their team picture up on the championship wall at the high school, next to the football and basketball teams'. On their way back from the championship game, everyone in Siler City came out of their homes and work places to congratulate the team on their win. The soccer team in a way had brought the people of Siler City together, and caused them to look past the fact that they were Latinos.

I recently interviewed someone about the immigration issue going on today in the United States. The most important question of the interview was when I asked her if she thought it was fair that people today come to America illegally. She responded by saying that while in total support of others coming to the U.S., she is opposed to people entering illegally. She believes that there must be some sort of order and control to it, if nothing else, for our safety. She supports our country being a place where others can come to get a better life, but not at the expense of others born here. In others words, our tax dollars should not support them. I agree with what she is saying, because when they come here illegally, they get benefits such as health care, bus transportaton, even garbage collection which our tax dollars pay for. The more that come here, the more we will be overrun by this. Our tax dollars will just continue to increase. If there is some sort of order and control with immigration, we wouldn't be paying for their benefits.