By “Maria”

As soon as I set foot back on campus thoughts of my ex came back. I wondered what the boys in my building would be like and if I would ever consider continuing my hook up with the boy I had left at the end of last year. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how meaningless and useless all that was. My ex was in a happy relationship, the boy I had been hooking up with had barely talked to me all summer, and to be perfectly honest, I did not care what the boys in my building looked like.

I was, and I could be honest with myself, perfectly happy being single. I looked forward to having a great year. I looked forward to getting involved, to going to my classes, and most of all, I looked forward to having a great time with my friends. But could I still have fun with my other single friends if I was actively trying to keep myself from hooking up? It wasn’t that I wouldn’t be looking for boys to hook up with or simply that I wouldn’t want to, but what if I was actively trying NOT to hook up? I’m not a unattractive girl, but I am not a drop dead gorgeous supermodel who has boys lining up at my door, so I didn’t think that it would be a problem keeping boys away, but would this decision make any difference in how I act around other guys? Would it make any difference with my friends? I had to find out.

So I started by telling my roommate, who despite her very conservative, Catholic views, had to listen to my antics all of last year. She laughed and said I wouldn’t last the week. My best friend was also skeptical. He didn’t think I’d make it through the first night. It wasn’t, they both made it clear, that I was easy, or that I would be looking for it, but get any number of young, college kids drunk, throw them in a party, put on some music, and it will just be natural. Or is it? Can I do all the other stuff, but keep myself from hooking up? I had to try.

So this is how this started. A simple conversation, a lack of confidence. I’d like to say I’m doing it so that I can devote more time to myself, that I may come out at the end of the semester knowing more about myself, this place I live in and the culture I am a part of. I’d like to say I am doing it so that I can be a better person for it. But maybe I am doing it because I’m scared. I’m scared that I won’t be able to do it, that I will become so miserable being alone half way through that I will crash and burn. But it is precisely because I am scared of what I will find out, scared of what this will show me that makes me realize that it is something I have to do.

James Sasso -

During the recent panel, “Palestine: The State of the Question,” members of the discussion led the audience to believe that that the solution to the Palestine/Israel tension has been realized.  Unfortunately, simply knowing the solution does not ensure that it will be accomplished.  As scholars of the crisis have said, “We can see clearly what is at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is dark and windy; we cannot find our way through it without smashing into walls.”  The only real way to end the violence spurred by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution with a shared stake in Jerusalem.  This could even prove to be a stepping-stone toward peace in the Middle East. Continue Reading