A note from the Editor…
March 25, 2016
Filed under Editorials, Forum
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying it: Donald Trump is at the forefront of this election cycle. Our collective gaze is fixed upon him, mesmerized by the absurdity of it all. What is driving his popularity? What is it about this historical moment that allows a man like Trump to dominate one...
A note from the Editor
March 10, 2016
Filed under Editorials
One goal of higher education is to provide new experiences for students. What better way to do this than travelling internationally? Growing up in this country, I think it’s hard not to notice the strange countervailing messages our culture inculcates in us about the rest of the world. Our rather...
A note from the Editor
February 18, 2016
Filed under Editorials
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dead. That’s unfortunate for him, but people die every day. So what? Well, as anyone who pays attention to the news should know, there is a great deal of hostility between President Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate. Since it’s Obama’s duty...
A note from the editor
February 4, 2016
Filed under Editorials, Forum
A new semester brings a new editor of Basement Medicine. I’d like to take this opportunity to speak to the importance of an issue near and dear to many of us here at Johnson State College: the existential crisis of affordable liberal arts education in this country. I think sometimes it’s easy to for ...
A note from the editor
December 17, 2015
Filed under Editorials
As the end of my final semester at Johnson State College approaches, I wanted to go out with a bang, and talk about something that would spark some interest on campus, and maybe this will. However, I’m not sure how up to date people are on current events. What I want to discuss is what the hell...
Textbook Blues
November 12, 2015
Filed under Editorials
Editor’s note: Ann Turkle has taught at Johnson State off and on since 1971. She also taught at Warren Wilson College where she directed the undergraduate writing program until 2007 and at Florida State where she earned her Ph.D. She held administrative positions in noncredit programs at UVM...
A note from the editor
November 3, 2015
Filed under Editorials
You know what truly amazes me? The sheer lack of personal contact in today’s society. We live in a world where everyone is connected by the tenuous threads of social media, and very disconnected from their own families, friends and neighbors. People in the younger generation, my generation, have seemingly...
A note from the Editor
October 19, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
September 9, 2015, marked the end of an era for the Vermont newspaper business, as News & Citizen ran its 50-year-old printing press for the last time. News & Citizen was the last small weekly community newspaper in Vermont to still be printing in house, and it had been doing so for 121 years. However,...
A note from the Editor
September 29, 2015
Filed under Editorials
Only four weeks into the semester, the college’s codes of conduct have already been broken. A dozen cars were recently vandalized in the Senators parking lot. Those responsible have come forward, yet according to Dean of Students David Bergh, federal regulations prohibit divulging their names,...
A note from the Editor…
September 16, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
The fall semester began as usual, by parading incoming freshman across the quad and eating a barbecue under the tent. As I look at all of those smiling new faces on campus, I wonder how the semester will begin for them. Will they be stressed beyond compare? Will they enter JSC with ease? Will they succeed...
A note from the editor
May 7, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
After two weeks of discussions regarding art censorship, freedom ofspeech and freedom of expression on campus, I have begun to wonder why we care so much. Is it to honor our Bill of Rights and the vague wording within? Is it to maintain our country’s illusion of freedom? Where do we draw the line? I...
A note from the Editor: Stress
April 23, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
As the end of the year approaches, stress levels rise while students prepare for finals, plan for next semester or start to figure out life after college, and it all seems uncontrollable. But stress management is all about taking control: of your future, of your emotions, of your schedule and everything...
A note from the Editor
March 26, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Time is running out, and you’ve only presented half of your argument. Sweat begins to bead on your forehead as the graphite etches away at the paper, and you wonder if you’ve presented enough supporting detail to pass this time, and then, “Time is almost up. Please finish...
Editor’s note
March 26, 2015
Filed under Editorials, Forum
In the last issue of Basement Medicine, page two featured photos of the VSC board members appointed by Governor Shumlin. The photo of Linda Milne was incorrect. While it was a Linda Milne, it was not the correct one, and I sincerely apologize for the mistake. To the left is her actual photo. -Kayla...
A note from the editor
Kayla Friedrich, Editor
March 12, 2015
Filed under Editorials
For many students pursuing higher education, college has been a synonym for success throughout their lives. A diploma wasn’t just a piece of paper, it was more or less a portal to the future. As bills stack up and money runs tight, though, I find myself looking for a second job on top of the 18...
A word on education and childcare
Kayla Friedrich, Editor in Chief
February 18, 2015
Filed under Editorials
In recent years, Johnson State College has been focused on recruiting and retention as a means to boost income and pull the college out of a downward financial spiral, but I think at this point it needs to broaden its demographic, and rebrand to out-of-state students. Let’s face it, Vermont is not prod...
A note from the editor
Kayla Friedrich, Editor in Chief
February 10, 2015
Filed under Editorials
With the four semi-finalists in the search for JSC’s next president having completed the interview process, presentations with students, staff, and faculty, and with the online opinion forms, submitted by the JSC community, the presidential search committee decided on Monday, Feb. 2, that Dr. Elaine...
Editorial
September 24, 2014
Filed under Editorials
Special mention of the article at the top of page 12, about a JSC student fighting leukemia. The student’s name is Scott Prescott. His family has created a fundraising page at gofundme.com. It’d be wonderful if you’d donate whatever you can, 25 cents, $1, $10. Anything helps. Here in the northeast,...
Editorial
May 8, 2014
Filed under Editorials
This is the end. End of the semester. The psychotically erratic weather helped masked its end, but it’s over. End of my tenure as Basement Medicine editor. Thanks for reading. End of the college swimming pool. End of workable budgets. End of faculty and staff. BM rep...
A Note Before the Trustee Vote
Tom Benton, Editor-in-Chief
February 20, 2014
Filed under Editorials, Forum
Depending on when you read this, the Board of Trustees will vote or voted on a tuition increase for the Vermont State Colleges on Feb. 20. A trustees’ committee recommended that tuition stay the same on Feb. 13 in Montpelier. They voted the entire student body of the Vermont State Colleges into a hunger...
Boffo Internet
Tom Benton, Editor-in-Chief
February 6, 2014
Filed under Editorials, Forum
What a surprise that the Bible was correct in its fingering Y2K as the End. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have indeed been riding, although not as much as they once did, since they’re in their seventies, and I think it’s harsh to consider Fred Koch as destructive as his brothers. Judgment...
Editorial: GNH
Tom Benton, Editor-in-Chief
November 14, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
I just read a scary thing. At this rate, the number of Americans out of work will surpass the number of employed Americans in four years. Four years. Our labor-force participation rate is 62.8 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the lowest it’s been since 19...
Editorial: regarding the government shutdown
Tom Benton, Editor-in-Chief
October 17, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
I’ve heard a lot about how the government shutdown could have been avoided if Republicans just accepted that Obamacare’s here, it’s too late, and I’ve heard the Republicans say that if the Democrats hadn’t approved Obamacare, Satan’s doorway into the United States, this wouldn’t have been...
Editorial
September 25, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
First I’d like to say you’re a beautiful audience, you three who read my editorials. This may be my last. I’m afraid I’ll be assassinated over my obnoxiously and gracelessly satiric VSO critique, which, I hope is clear, is more of a critique of classical music than of the VSO. If I see a well-...
Editorial
September 11, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
The legendary pool shark Don Eaton pointed out to me that the Associated Press has been running stories regarding a potential U.S. military strike on Syria with headlines like "U.S. Faces Opposition in Congress on Syria Strike." Such a headline sets off my bullshit detector--and I bet, when you look at it, ...
Editorial
May 3, 2013
Filed under Editorials
A quick note on the passing of Karleigh Baumann. I wasn’t close with Karleigh. She was a friend of my friends. She was around, I was around. We drank and laughed in the same company. She was quiet and polite, but she had a pulsing personality. I saw her take crap from people with grace and poise,...
April Showers Bring May Flowers: A rhyme by T. F. Benton
April 18, 2013
Filed under Editorials
April has the highest suicide rate Of any month in this state. It’s hard to imagine anything being great After six months bleak as slate. Then there were the bombs in Boston Which were so awful I won’t make it rhyme. But the temperature, a.k.a. the eternal freeze Has climbed outta the...
Editorial
March 28, 2013
Filed under Editorials
, too late. There’s a theory that no one reads these editorials. (It’s mine.) Maybe it’s because many of them are haphazard word floods undammed by deadline. Too little, too late.T Maybe no one cares. Note that I’m not clutching my tear-soaked hanky as I write this. Just wondering. Well, if my surreal ...
Town Meeting Day is coming up
Tom Benton, Editor-in-Chief
February 22, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
Town Meeting Day is coming up. That sentence causes anxiety attacks, depression and irritable bowels for those stalwart souls who’ve made it their duty to stand up on Town Meeting Day, Mar. 5, and tell us what the heck’s going on behind the town curtain. It’s the day when all the little Oz’s...
Why We Need Journalism
February 7, 2013
Filed under Editorials, Forum
You missed more than Jerry Mitchell if you missed Mr. Mitchell’s presentation Feb. 4. We described Mitchell’s presentation on page 2, and there’s a Q&A with Mitchell on the back page. Please read those. Then go online. Look him up on Wikipedia. Look up his articles. And read them. He’s a heck of a w...
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