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Editor's Note
A Whole Lot of Nothing
4:00 am Mar 20 - by Stephanie Prather – Buzz writer
You have no idea how excited I am that the students are gone for spring break. I know what you’re thinking. ‘She one of them. How can she say that?’ Well, although I technically attend the University, my “townie” status will always trump my student status. And there’s no better time to be a townie than spring break.
So while the University students are off in Cancun or Panama or the suburbs, I’m enjoying my hometown to the max. The bars are less crowded, traffic on North Prospect is temporarily remedied and CU is in its “natural” state.
But aside from boozing and cruising to the mall while school is out, I will be pursuing some extracurricular activities that school normally gets in the way of.
First of all, I plan to expand my creative mind by molding things out of clay. I’ve already made a tiny brick wall on my desk in the buzz office, and I plan to make a trip to Art Coop to gather the necessary supplies to create a wildlife diorama. I find that making ugly things out of clay is quite relaxing.
I will also be watching all the episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations that are waiting for me in my DVR. If I can’t afford to travel the world and eat delicious food, the next best thing is watching Bourdain’s dietary adventures.
But the most exciting thing I will be doing with my time this spring break is simple: nothing. I will be doing as much of nothing as possible. I will put nothing in my schedule and do nothing during the times when I would normally be holding meetings, doing homework or attending class. Nothing is the something I am going to enjoy the most because there’s no time for nothingness in my normal routine.
I bet you expected me to say I was going to read for leisure over spring break or something equally productive. But I can’t lie to you like that.
Sound Off
Last post: Mar. 23, 2008 at 3:17 am
Jeff Brandt (Jeff Brandt) said on Mar. 22, 2008 at 6:51 pm:
Stephanie:
I'm not even a townie, and I can see what you mean by your happiness at Chambana returning to a more laid-back state when the student body vacates campus. Wouldn't really call it a "normal state," considering how that condition lasts far less than half the year. But yeah, I stayed in Champaign last summer, and it was nice to enjoy uncrowded bars, restaurants, streets, etc.
Jane Adams:
#1. Thanks for the spam unrelated to Stephanie's blog. It was delicious.
#2. I'm sure the repairs they make will benefit Assembly Hall and U of I students in general. They're not like evil villains looking to ruin the student experience -- that's the Big 10 for selling out the right to view games to DirecTV and Big 10 Network, making it impossible for the vast majority of students to see all the games.
From how you explain it, it sounds like the taxpayers should be pissed, not the students. They're using taxpayer dollars to improve student property. That's saving students tuition money on improving Assembly Hall. Sounds good to me.
Mike Ingram (Mike Ingram) said on Mar. 23, 2008 at 3:17 am:
Did the person whose job it is to make all of the links on the buzz page work correctly go to Panama or Cancun or the suburbs or something?
Jane Adams (ri Ming) said on Mar. 20, 2008 at 4:45 pm:
U of I Students should be in an uproar!
The Assembly Hall is a student owned building that tuition fees have helped pay to operate it for 45 years. Now along comes the Athletic Director & DIA (who by the way are just renters of the building) with tax money, engineers & consultants to do a study on how to best adapt this STUDENT building to best serve their (Athletic Director) wants & needs. This is without regard to all the many other diverse events that are held at the Assembly Hall and the effect this would have on them. Not only that, this study was already done a few years ago. Memorial Stadium is their building, the Assembly Hall is not!
Question:
What if you owned a piece of property and your renters went out & did the same thing with government money, in order to do major remodeling & reconstruction to your property? Would you think that would be okay and legal? You wouldn't allow them to bring in engineers and consultants to tell you how they want the building to be remodeled to accommodate them.
So why is there no protest from anyone?
How can the President, Chancellor, Dean of Student Services and even the Board of Trustees be supportive of these strong arm takeover tactics being pulled, let alone the Illinois Taxpayer?
Shame on all of them.