To the editor:

Picture this scenario: it is September 10, and I am at home in New York, instead of at school in Connecticut. For the second straight year, I am at the place where I was longing to come to following the September 11 attacks my freshman year at Fairfield. As I am browsing the Internet, doing some research (since I haven’t been able to be on my computer all week), I decided to check out whether The Mirror’s latest edition had been published online.

As the newscasters talk about the ceremonies that will occur tomorrow, the newspapers are scattered on the floor with stories of people affected the tragedies, I am reading stories about the events of 9/11 on the Mirror Web site. I must say I was quite surprised and disconcerted to read Mr. Fry’s perspective on 9/11. Is it really proper to admonish the United States for past actions and insinuating that what goes around comes around, on the second anniversary of the worst terror attack in United States history?

While I do not fault The Mirror for publishing stories that are supposed to make its readers pause and reflect, I do fault the Editorial Board and Mr. Fry for their incredible insensitivity. Some issues permit a bold statement to generate a reaction. September 11 and the thousands of innocent people who died, the devastation caused to the surrounding businesses, the heartache of not only the families of those who perished but the heartache we all feel, is not a subject that can be approached in the same way. September 11 is a day none of us will ever forget. It is a day of a national tragedy and mourning.

It is also a day that requires compassion and not justification.

As a side note, by stating that the history of this country is a history of rich white men brutally repressing everyone else and therefore implying that perhaps the 9/11 terror attacks were deserved, Mr. Fry neglects to mention one very important fact. Citizens of over thirty countries from around the world died in the terrorist attacks of September 11.

How many “destitute immigrants” were trying to earn a living, perhaps as busboys in the Windows on the World restaurant? How many professional women who were also mothers and daughters, died? Does any innocent person deserve to die?

Of course not, no matter where it is or how they died- as a Vietnam villager, a United States soldier at Pearl Harbor, an Israeli on a bus, a schoolchild taking a trip as a reward for schoolwork well done- a trip that ends in a plane crash on September 11.

Suggesting otherwise is inhumane.

Liz Collins, ’05

The California gubernatorial recall election has lapsed into an odd limbo that is certain to keep the late night comics-and crappy college columnists-feasting on cheap jokes about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gary Coleman.

For Coleman and Schwarzenegger, the bad news came early this week when an appeals court decided it would not be a good idea to have a major election with a great deal of national scrutiny and use the same controversial punch cards made infamous by the senile state, Florida.

In all likelihood, this will prove to be a temporary halt by the courts. And, sometime in the near future the recall election will resume. When that happens, the elephants and lion tamers can march back into the ring of their choice and resume the spectacle and competition for control of the weirdest state in the union.

This seems to be the way the peculiar legal and electoral system of the former Republic of California will play itself out. Unless, someone or some court realizes the danger of aging Hollywood has-beens, Never-was-its and Austrian body builders vying for the helm of one of the world’s largest economic entities.

The other interesting component of this election is the almost universal absence of experienced politicians, with the exception of the current Lt. Governor Yadda-yadda Bustafante. When you put this entire mess together you see a large and powerful state teetering near financial disaster with a clear leadership crisis.

Furthermore, if this recall provision remains a legitimate political maneuver, it is only a matter of time before another 50-year-old action star crosses from the limited thrills of stunts and well planned explosions to the fun and excitement of rolling-brown outs, wild fires and Los Angeles smog.

That’s right, Arnold, just because you might win this year doesn’t mean that the always plotting Sly Stallone or blue-collar hero Bruce Willis can not oust you in the summer of 2004.

Sound absurd? Californians have a long-standing tradition of ire against the existing government and ill-conceived revolts.

Captain John C. Fremont of the United States Army was sent to Mexican controlled California with sixty troops on a “scientific expedition.” Fremont’s mission was to promote turmoil between the Mexican authorities then in power and American settlers. Freemont spread a few politically motivated lies and inspired thirty settlers to attack a town under the control of Mexico.

Somehow, this band of laid-back settlers managed to take the town and after a rousing speech, William B. Ide was declared president of the new Republic of California by a band of a few dozen Americans.

You can plainly see that this is not the first time those kooky Californians have decided to drastically change their government on the whim of a few individuals.

If Gary Coleman wins, he will have a much easier time of solving the economic woes of California. Ide would be jealous of the cushy job Coleman would get to enjoy; for Ide – and a few of his closest friends – had to tell the government in Mexico City that he was now in charge of a vast swath of resources and some excellent surfing spots.

Upperclassmen can all remember the excitement of being a freshman. Feelings of independence and maturity are just about to set in when an unexpected pang of homesickness creeps up on you. After a long day you creep back to your dorm room to read e-mails from home and check the comforting messages your loved ones left you on AIM.

Of course, freshmen this year couldn’t be comforted during the first few weeks of school due to the worst nightmare of college campuses and lonely freshmen alike- a computer virus that downed the Internet.

Not that college is so completely alien and frightening to freshmen, but it is nice to fall back on what’s familiar that first week. Internet would have made the transition from home to school easier.

The transition into school would have been a lot easier also. The Internet isn’t just a security blanket for freshman, but our link to each other. Not only is it infinitely easier to communicate with your next-door neighbor via AIM, but infinitely cooler.

This coupled with the added challenge that was presented to the freshman class in having to guess where classes would be held on a campus we’ve never been on before because the schedules were online. Professors understood this, but when they expected us to access online programs and e-mails regularly, that became another problem. Not that we couldn’t go to the library to find all of this information, but there’s only so many trips you can take before the librarians start to greet you by name.

On the upside, all the freshmen (not to mention the upperclassmen) got to know the Barone Campus Center really well. Since conversation over AIM was out, a good substitute was bonding during those seven hours you waited for CNS to get to your computer.

During this age of the Internet we are all pathetically dependent on it, so perhaps it wasn’t such a horrible thing that we freshmen had to rough it during the first few weeks. Instead of cowering in our dorm rooms we had a reason to get out of the room and into the sun, a chance to meet other Internet deprived freshmen, and even a chance to do homework. (That trend will probably not last).

In any case, if your computer is fixed, but your Internet is still down you can always trek to the Jazzman’s Café Internet station to read your e-mails from home while enjoying an Oreo blizzard.

It could only get better. Just stick it out. Try to make the best of it. Give it a little time.

I heard so many encouragement phrases during my freshman year, I could single-handedly put Hallmark out of business. My first few weeks at Fairfield University were much like something you would see on a cheesy WB sitcom. I was the very confused, very lost freshman girl with frizzy hair that the viewers cannot help but pity.

At first, I blamed all of my tragic mishaps on rotten luck. Perhaps the planets were misaligned during those weeks or maybe I was cursed with bad karma, but everything just seemed to go so wrong.

I had unreasonably hard professors, a difficult living situation, and a demanding work-study position. Most of all, I just missed home, and this is coming from a girl who could not wait to get out of Smalltown, USA and greet the real world.

Bubbly, friendly, and usually optimistic, I could not understand why all this was happening to me. I quickly acquired transfer applications. My conclusion was that if it wasn’t me, it had to be the school.

I originally dismissed those encouraging phrases I received from family and friends as utter nonsense. After all, they hadn’t the slightest clue what I was going through. However, it did not take long until I began to discover the wisdom each little phrase held.

“Making the best of it” and “giving it a little time” were perhaps some of the best things I could do at the moment. One thing was clear: running away from Fairfield was not the answer.

I was so anxious to leave, but as time went by, it began to feel more and more like my home. I made a few really good friends, joined several organizations, and simply just “stuck it out.”

As I grew closer to other freshmen, it came to my attention that feeling like a spastic mess was totally normal, and lucky for me and the rest of the former freshman class, it does eventually pass with the arrival of “sophomoredom.”

Adjustment is by far the largest juggernaut a freshman faces. Whether it is adjusting to a plane ride back home or simply adjusting to wearing shower flip flops, the road may be or overwhelmingly bumpy.

One’s adjustment period has the powerful potential to make or break his or her college experience. I use myself as an example: I almost transferred as a result of a rocky adjustment period. Recognizing that homesickness will eventually pass or your philosophy professor will not gobble you up if you ask for extra help during office hours are little things that will make the transition smoother.

Likewise, getting involved is an excellent way to pass the time, explore your interests, and meet new people. Combat your jitters by staying active. Finally, focus on the positive. So, you may be struggling a bit, but at least you are growing stronger.

Although my adjustment period was both trying and even distressing at times, the bottom line is not only did I make it through alive, but I actually adore college – and all the ups and downs that come with it.

Remarkably, I am grateful for my horrific first year because I had taken more strides in the period of a year than I had my whole life. I am no longer the awkward girl bumbling to class! Moreover, freshman year is an experience, and although it can be tumultuous, I am living proof that those cliché encouragement phrases are absolutely true: it does get easier with time, if you make the best of it.