Have been reading the archives of a blog by a woman called Anne who lives in Baltimore, USA. Her writing is fascinating. I know she won't mind me posting her website on this because she's listed as one of Blogger's 'blogs of note' so she probably
gets an obscene amount of hits per day as it is.
It was a change to read something so refreshing and honest. Most of the blogs I read (and indeed the one I write) have a tendency to get a little poncy and self obsessed at times. And that in itself is great to read because it offers you a slice of what people think of themselves. This woman however, actually writes herself, warts and all. Take a look. It's really intriguing...
[3/25/2003] Bailrigg take 2
*sighs* Just goes to prove my point that Bailrigg FM have changed their website - and guess what? No mention of it on lusu's website and absolutely no publicity on campus. Anyway, you can now listen to Bailrigg FM here instead.
Bailrigg FM
Does anyone else think that the Station Manager of Bailrigg FM should be a Sabbatical position like the Scan Editor is a sabbatical position? I mean, what's the difference? If anything, I'd assume that running a radio station is more demanding as a job than editing a newspaper. I mean, I know Morticia edited Aberystwyth's student newspaper in her spare time while doing her degree (and we both think that Aber's paper is bettter than Scan but I'll save that for a later rant) and yet our Editor gets paid £12,500 per year to do the same thing. *shakes head*
I can't believe that Bailrigg is so poorly advertised and so little used and regarded. For example, I didn't know that the VVR, Sam BC and Tom had their own radio show in the past. Would have listened in if I'd known. Coming back to a refrain of mine, once again: This isn't good enough! If I had my way Bailrigg FM would be spruced up in the following way:
The website would be better advertised. People can listen online, and yet so few people know about this.
Every Wednesday, between something like 1 and 2, Bailrigg should broadcast from a roadshow live in Alex square. If the Sugarhouse is allowed to blare music out for publicity, so too should Bailrigg. And in that hour, they should run a 'what's on this week' slot, so that even if people can't listen in their rooms or at home, they can catch up with stuff in the square on Wednesday. There are no lectures,at that time and it's open day, so it would reach even more people than usual and show potential students who are thinking about applying to lancaster exactly what is going on on Campus. Also, its the day when visiting sports teams are liable to be around. Why shouldn't we show off our facilities to other universities? You never know, they may get jealous
and go away determined to improve their own...
Every business on campus that has music on during the day (Spar, the bars, the shops) should all play Bailrigg FM. We have our own radio station which is designed by, run by and produced by students, so why isn't campus supporting it?
That'll do for a start.
Now I know a lot of people would say, well get involved and do it. But I haven't got time. A fact which has been much publicised on this blog. I'd be more tempted if it was a full time job that I could devote my time to. Such as a sabbatical position.
Which brings us back to my original point.
*shakes head* So hard to get anywhere these days. Roll on next year...
[3/24/2003] Huh?!
Someone please explain to me how Gangs of New York failed to pick up a single Oscar when it is easily the best thing I've seen in months??!! Trust me, I saw Chicago, it was good, but not that good! *mutters about nepotism in Hollywood*
[3/21/2003] Once and Once only...
This is the only comment I will make on the war, and even this is in somebody else's words. Sting performed this on the live broadcast that was organised in memory of the September 11th attacks in New York. It's been a favourite song of mine for a lot longer than that and somehow it seems appropriate in view of what's now happening in the world:
Fragile
If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence
Nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
Like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
[3/20/2003]
Blogger and Internet explorer are being evil bastards. They won't let me directly access my own blog, and Mish's blog still isn't working. Argh! I hate it when tech conspires against me!!!
[3/20/2003] Long long sigh of relief
I haven't felt like writing this for a while. When you read the following you'll all realise the strain I've been under.
My original application for an MA was rejected. Apparently, only people with 1st degrees are accepted to do research MAs at Lancaster. Grrr. But it's ok, because the nepotism worked in my favour and I got transferred to another course, for which I
have been accepted and is equally cool in a variety of ways.
But this is how long it took to get there. I hope you're paying attention because this gets complicated...
I received a letter from the department telling me that they were offering me a place on a course called CLS. So I went looking for information about it. I found information on a course called LCS. Since there was no leaflet for CLS I assumed it was the same thing.
Big mistake.
So I read the brochure. This course, Literary and Cultural Studies, is really cool. It's run as a joint MA with the institute for cultural research. And then I go to see Tess Cosslett, the director of Postgraduate Studies. And I tell her yes I want to change courses and accept the place offered to me.
She emails me back later the same day to inform me that the course they had offered me a place on was called Contemporary Literature Studies. Something completely different. With far less appealing modules. CLS and LCS are apparently not the same thing.
So cue a fantic scramble of emails, most of them begging, for the department to change my offer to LCS and not CLS. Thing is, this on its own would have been manageable. But Tom has been going through exactly the same thing. Let me say that again - exactly the same thing! The same mix up, the same two courses, the same transfer nonsense. ARGH! We've been slowly driving each other nuts over this.
So having it all over and done with today has been really good. Tom and I have both been accepted for LCS. Not CLS.
Did you all follow that? Well in short it means that Tom and I didn't get our first choices. But we have both ended up with places on courses which interest us. And that's the most important thing.
Ok now that's over, I'm going to post this before this computer eats it and then come back and write another blog.
[3/18/2003] I got in!!!
*screeched like Kat from '10 Things'*
I've been accepted for the MA at Lancs! Tra-la-la!
Just have to go and sort some stuff out with Tess Cosslett tomorrow but the main thing is I'M IN!!! I can stay!!!
*goes away to calm down*
[3/17/2003] Looooooong blog
Time for a few rants on various subjects. All I seem to do is rant on here these days, but seeing as my stats go up when I rant, I’m guessing that’s what keeps people interested and reading, so here goes…
Last Friday. Cocktail Party. And El’s birthday on the Saturday.
This could take a while.
Had arranged to go shopping with El at short notice on Friday, so off we trotted around town to pick up various things from town and get a load of gumf for the party like oranges and lemons and stuff. Really really nice day. If I had the money, every
Friday would be a girly day like that. But anyway as we’re trolling around Bay Trading when Rhiannon calls Elspeth. And wants to speak to me.
???
Confused, I take the phone from Elspeth and discover to my delight that a conspiracy was in place to allow Rhiannon to come up and visit El for her 21st birthday and that she was currently, unbeknown to Elspeth, skulking around campus. For the rest of the afternoon, many covert phone calls were made and many excuses given to the oblivious Elspeth while I secretly hugged myself all the way around town and Sainsbury’s thinking about this glorious plot. Anyway, shopping done we decide to ring for a taxi.
So while El trots off to the cash machine, I call Rhiannon and ask her to come and pick us up, and I will never ever forget the look on El’s face when a grinning Rhiannon pulled up at the pick up rank at Sainsbury’s. Absolutely perfect timing, couldn’t have been planned better in advance if I’d thought about it.
*grins muchly at the memory of all this*
So we head off to the party. And just to cap a perfect evening what with Rhiannon and Sian both being over visiting for this great occasion and every one being dressed up and looking spiffy, I discover I’ve had a text message from Stef who has randomly
dropped in to snaffle some cocktails. All that is needed to make a great party into a fantastic one is an unannounced visit from Stef because if nothing else his presence puts all the old guard (me included) on such a high and everyone is then in such a great mood for the rest of the night.
Unfortunately, not all good things end well. And my downfall was a virgin. Or rather the death of a virgin. Or several in fact. It was all my own fault I suppose for asking Mish to make that oddly named cocktail even stronger than it already was, but I honestly didn’t know it was that strong! Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had my head down the toilet at Tom’s house until about 2.30 in the morning. I have only ever been puke drunk once before and I had vowed never again. *hangs head in shame* Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…
Saturday was El’s birthday, and so having mercifully escaped the hangover, we wandered off for a picnic at the Ashton Memorial. The sun shone, the sky was blue and the grass was spread with a fine mixture of good company and very fine food. An absolutely perfect way to spend the day. I plan on doing that on a more regular basis next term. It really was lovely.
Sunday. My parents came up to visit and took me and Tom out for lunch at Wetherspoons which was nice. Introduced my Mum to Spitfire. Think we have a new convert there *grins* All was fine and lovely and am much indebted to them for picking up the bill. It was their anniversary today so they’ve been up in the Lake District this weekend. Was pleased to hear they had enjoyed themselves.
So anyway, have been having trouble with my MA application. Am going to put all this up here because it’s all been sorted now and so I don’t mind talking about it, but this has had me stressed as all hell recently. I had a letter from the English
Dept to say that they had not had any references to support my application. After much faffing around and pointing out the obvious, it actually turned out that they did have my refs and had in fact mis-filed them. ARRGGHH! Could they not have checked that BEFORE writing to me and panicking me to death thinking that I wasn’t going to be accepted and that my plans for next year were in the process of being screwed to hell??!!
This has already been a long blog, but if we’re getting onto this subject of beauracrasy I’m just getting nicely warmed up. I believe I promised a rant about LUSU and the issue of Men's and Women's office. (haven't got time for one about the Men's
bus. That'll have to keep and brew for a while...)
So.
Men’s Officer.
Why doesn’t LUSU have one? I know Mish has said on her blog that men might see it as being a sign of weakness to go to a Men’s Officer to discuss problems, but I know quite a few women who feel the same about going to discuss their problems with someone. I’m one of them. If I have a problem, I turn to my friends. However, I know people who do use the service provided and so I support it thoroughly. For the same reason, I support a men’s officer. Not all men would use it, but some men would
and some men would benefit from it, so that would be enough reason for having one.
The Women’s officer often campaigns for such things as women’s health issues. A men’s officer would have similar issues to occupy his time. Surely testicular cancer deserves the same amount of publicity and time devoted to it as breast cancer? What
makes one more important that the other? Also, to my immediate knowledge, Gay men have far more health issues which need addressing than straight men. (I’m basing this assumption on the fact that I have seen far more specific health clinics advertised
for gay men than for heterosexual men). Surely there should be a service available for advice about such things.
Personally, I think rather than having a womens/mens officer, there should be a health officer. Education and Welfare could be said to cover this, but I don't think it's enough. There should be one, or even two, positions dedicated to covering issues
which affect the mental and physical and even in some cases medical health of both men and women at a Sabbatical level.
Also, I know some of fem soc would flay me alive for this, but I don't think a women's officer would be needed if there was a Health officer. I don't see why women deserve special representation over men. I firmly believe that having a special position dedicated to representing my needs and opinions just because of my gender is just as insulting as having someone ignore my needs and opinions because of my gender. All discrimination is bad, even positive discrimination. As a woman who genuinely wants equal rights, I don't think I merit having special representation at a political level. You don't see any Prime Minister electing a Minister for Women's Rights to the cabinet do you? I don't think even Maggie went that far. So why should LUSU have one. A Health officer or two health officers, one of each sex, would be far better. I do respect that fact that some people feel more comfortable for whatever reason talking to someone of their own Gender about health issues, so maybe one
of each would be best for effectiveness, just as there are equal Welfare Reps on the JCRs.
Anyway, my eyes are beginning to droop and it's been a long and depressing day for various highly emotional reasons, so I'm going to stop there, go to bed, and begin all over again tomorrow morning. Goodnight all.
[3/12/2003] Computer Labs, Colleges and Buses
I guess I should get around to putting up a proper blog since I haven't done it in a while. I should also see about setting up another page for all these pesky quizzes to go on. Might have a look at that in a minute.
I found out two things which slightly annoyed me the other day.
1) There are 40 more computers in the library than I thought there were. Will someone please tell me why they were hidden away behind the history books and I was not aware of them until I stumbled upon them unawares while searching for a book?
2) Bowland College has a computer lab of it's own with quiet study space and lockers and everything.
Curiously enough, the second one annoyed me too. Bowland College is my college. My Department is based in Bowland College. I check my email multiple times a day. I check my college mail several times a week and the posters in the college porters
lodge about as much as that.
SO WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID I NOT KNOW THAT MY OWN COLLEGE HAD A LAB OF IT'S OWN???!!!
Seriously though. No mail. No posters. No email. Tucked away in a corner behind the SCR. And I know it wasn't here when I was a fresher because I lamented Bowland's lack of a lab of it's own many times... So when did it suddenly appear and why
was a fuss not made by the college?
This sounds like another point for the manifesto. If you don't live on campus and you're not on the JCR, the colleges don't tell you anything. That's not on. There's...what? about 4000 students on campus. That means that over half live off campus and are not informed about stuff that affects them adequately. This just isn't good enough. Living off campus does not make you a second class student and I am sick and tired of being treated as such by my college.
I was talking to Tom (I'm sure it was Tom... *thinks* yes it was, I remember now) about standing for election and we got onto the subject of whether the LUSU Sabbaticals should live on campus.
Personally I think that it's wrong for Sabbs to be guaranteed rooms in halls. Sabbs should live off campus. They should be in touch with the things that affect the majority of students, not just the freshers. This Uni is far too fresher biased -
just look at the JCR elections. They're basically fresher popularity contests. And they're supposed to represent the whole college for a year. Bullshit. Nearly all the people I spoke to felt that their views were not represented adequately by their
JCR. The GSA got a slightly better rep, but not by much.
Anyway, I'm wandering from the point. Having Sabbs living on campus leads to them suggesting that any buses to town at night should be X2s so that people can get to the clubs easier. What a load of nonsense. After dark, we need more 2 and 2a buses
to get people home to the main student areas like Bowerham and Hala and further out towards Morecambe, not make them walk from the nearest stop in Greaves or the bus station in Lancaster! What a stupid idea! The buses are there to ensure that students
can get home easily and safely. The 2as will still get you to the Sugarhouse / Liquid / Elemental / wherever, but they also mean that people like me and my friends can get home in safety and not have to lug our stuff a couple of miles across town after dark.
This is why Sabbs should live in town. They should be made more aware of stuff like this. If they were concerned with how they were going to get home every night they might take a little more interest in the issue.
Also, I just don't like halls. I like having my own space, my own friends around me, my own kitchen, my own breathing space. I don't like having to share my bathroom and kitchen with other people that I don't know and won't necessarily get on with.
So there we are. It's nothing to do with the cleanliness/general state of the places. I just don't like the atmosphere. I like being able to choose my own living companions and have more than one room where I can go to relax.
Am really really tempted now to start off on a rant over whether there should be a mens officer at LUSU as a Sabb position, but I know if I get into that I'll be here all afternoon and I have work to go to in less than 10 mins. So I shall save that rant until the next time I've got time for a nice long blog.
[3/9/2003]
Thanks to Penguin for pointing out that I had spelt Lucrecia wrong on the links list.
A feeling a little better today. After behaving themselves for a couple of months, my periods appear to have decided that I am due another dose of pain and inconvenience again. The trouble with my periods is that they are fine for ages and then - WHAM! One of them knocks me on my arse for a couple of days. Stomach cramps, lethargy, constant bloatedness and discomfort, hormonal tantrums and tears for no reason. Add to all of that that if I try to get out of bed and do anything constructive I am liable to faint and collapse in a pathetic heap on the floor until some kind person picks me up and puts me back to bed again.
Unfortunately for Tom one of these attacks struck at 4am the other morning, so I had to wake him up and send him on a mini quest for a drink and some painkillers for me to take.The last time I got up at that time in the morning in that state and went looking for a drink my fainting spell hit just as I picked up the glass, which I dropped on the kitchen floor. Thankfully, when I fell over, I fell away from the broken glass and so was ok apart from being a bit bruised and shaken, but that kinda scared me, so I don't trust myself to get out of bed when I feel that badly. Anyway, the upshot of this was that not only was I tired the next day (Saturday) since going back to sleep in that much pain was not on the cards for a long time, but Tom was also tired. Couldn't get out of bed for most of the day and it wasn't until early afternoon on Saturday that I remembered I'd made half a plan to go and meet Lucrecia, Princess Lex and Vicky for a girly shop. Had been looking forward to this, and was really pissed off that I couldn't so much as get myself dressed without feeling exhausted, let alone go trolling off around town for the day. Was feeling better by yesterday evening, but this morning the second wave of lethargy hit and I had to go back to bed again, despite having slept the clock around last night.
The upshot of all this is that I now feel really guilty since I haven't done half as much work as I was planning to this weekend. All my deadlines are looming and I'm not ready for a single one of them. Not only that but I missed out on what sounded like
a really nice girly day from Princess Lex and Lucrecia's blogs due to my own body chemistry deciding to fuck me over. Have tried to get this all sorted out in the past. Went on the pill for 3 months, and that did more harm than good by plunging
me into the mother of all depressions. I figured by the end of that that I would rather spend one day a month in bed in agony than walk around constantly feeling as if I could burst into tears for no apparent reason and snapping at my friends and family
all the time when they hadn't done anything to deserve it.
Don't get me wrong, I love my life. And I wouldn't change anything about it. But there are times when I dearly hate being a girl and this is certainly one of them. Contrary to popular belief guys (and I have heard someone of the male gender suggest
this before now...) it doesn't get better as you get older, you don't get used to it and no, when they're this bad there is sod all you can do about them.
Anyway, the Ibuprofen is now kicking in at last so I am finally going off to do some work on my Children's Literature essay and salvage something from this hellish weekend. I really hope I'm not due another period like this when the exam season starts or there will be hell to pay...
Once I've done at least 1,500 words on my essay, I may be back for another blog later...
[3/7/2003] Reads Scottish Laura's Blog
*laughs*
The Girl Next Door? You need to get to know me just a tad better *grins*
Bear in mind that a girl who moved to a house down the road from me was warned off hanging out with me to the extent that her mum was heard to remark "well we were warned when we moved here that Kate was really weird!" following a disagreement
that we had.
*stiffles giggle at the memory*
[3/7/2003] Nicknames
I don't see why people shouldn't get to pick their own nicknames. We get to pick our online personas on forums and pager services after all. For instance, my name of choice, Erfalaswen, is my full name (Kathryn Elizabeth Jones) translated into Elvish at this website, the address for which was posted on County bar and Whatcadoin a few weeks ago. I thought it was a cool name and was unlikely to be duplicated by anyone else.
I tend to use nicknames that people have assigned to themselves in this blog. Either that or I use their real names. Angelus and Lenore are the online names of those people. I don't want my blog tainted by their names (plus their friends read this
now and again due to some ill advised linkage on some of my friends' blogs). Other than that people get their own names.
The author of The Dolls House has requested a cooler nickname. What nickname would you like George? I can use VVR if you'd like, since that's what you use. I've used Madame Crafter in the past. Answers in a guestbook post if you have anything else you'd prefer...
Am not that imaginative when it comes to nicknames I'm 'fraid...
[3/7/2003] Who am I?
I seem to have a lot of names and identities atm.
To some people I am simply Kate. These are the people I am closest too. They don't need another name tag for me.
Some people persist in referring to me as Kate2. During the first year this was all well and good because there were two prominent Kates in Pulsar and since I arrived second I got the extra label. However, seeing as I never really see this Kate any more
and the people who persist in giving me this name should really know better, am beginning to get a little annoyed with this tag. I was a very different person then. *Never Been Kissed moment* I'm not Kate2 anymore! Please stop calling me that people. I really don't like it any more.
Some people call me Pulsar Kate. Am not really even that any more. If I had carried on turning up to Pulsar I would have found it very difficult to give up control and leadership - so I stopped to give the new exec a chance to stamp their own mark on
it. Which they have done. But the outcome of this is that I am not really Pulsar Kate anymore. So I suppose even this name is defunct.
For a long time my online Persona was Willow. Fair enough. Apart from the lesbian tendencies, I had a lot of similarities to Willow. But now, I don't really like to compare myself to someone who is in essence a fictional character. Am comfortable
enough with my own persona that I don't need to hide behind a pre-established fictional one any more. Anyway, people don't really refer to me as this any more.
For the moment I'm quite happy to carry on letting my online persona be called Erfalaswen. Since it is in fact a translation of my own name, I quite like it. Please people, if you have to refer to me as anything in your blog to distinguish me from
other Kates you may know, use Erfalaswen. Kate2 I'm beginning to find just the smallest bit offensive (I'll probably put up another rant about this at some point) and Pulsar Kate is a kind of defunct identity now.
*wanders off...*
[3/4/2003]
Strikes me that I haven't updated for a little while so here are a couple of rants I've been saving up.
First off, Societies Ball. Ok, so I'm pissed off with LUSU for messing us all around and I still don't know wtf is going on with it, but that's not the subject of the rant. The rant is about how other people have made me feel shit over it. Members of what are commonly know as the 'alternative societies' at Lancaster have had the mick taken out of them for years. LURPS, Pulsar, SLUJ and to a lesser extent Pagan Soc and LUBBS all get the shit ripped out of them by trendy fuckwits (there is no other suitable phrase) who don't understand why we are interested in the stuff we do. Now on the whole, we don't care that much. We're happy doing our own thing. Who cares what they think?
Now since Societies Ball was announced several people have been vocal in their disapproval of the idea saying it's a waste of time/money/effort etc... Fair enough.
BUT NOBODY WAS FORCING YOU TO GO!!!
I wanted to go, and the rest of you people who slagged it off made me feel small and stupid and insignificant because I was looking forward to something which didn't much interest the rest of you.
We've been preaching live and let live for ages, but it seems that some of you have exactly the same attitude as the trendy fuckwits. If any of us want to take part in an activity which is not part of the 'normal' remit for that group, we are seen as sell-outs, who have been brainwashed by popular culture. Not so. I wanted to go to a ball because I happen to like getting all dressed up and seeing my friends looking their best and having a good time. I like it just as much as I like to see my fellow members from the alternative societies enjoying their own socials and activities. Just because I want to do something that you don't doesn't mean you have to make me feel stupid. You feel free enough to complain about people who slag you off for your interests, well now it's my turn to tell you that you have your moments when you are no better than them.
I love LUPRS, Pulsar, LUBBS and Pagan Soc dearly. I love the people who are part of them. But some of the members have made me feel really bad to the point that when I got in from the bar crawl last Friday I broke down in tears because I had been
made to feel so bad throughout the day. If you guys didn't like the idea of Societies ball, I say again you didn't have to go. You could have just ignored it, kept quiet and let those of us who were interested get on with it.
Not that it matters now anyway since it doesn't look like it's going to be happening, but that isn't the point. The point is a resounding case of pot and kettle and me being made to feel awful by people I call as friends and acquaintances who I though I knew an awful lot better than I actually do. Thanks a lot guys.
Anyway, that's rant number one over with.
Rant number 2: The whole LUSU election thing.
The more and more I read and hear about some of the idiots standing for election and the bad opinions people generally hold of them, the more and more I consider standing for office myself. I've held office before. I think I've done a good job. I
think I'd have a fairly good chance of getting elected if I had the right sort of help with the campaign. I've worked for LUSU and the University, and yet I'm also part of societies who are traditionally embroiled in some sort of battle with one or the other. In other words, I have a foot well and truly in both camps.
My election manifesto for President would be one of the most weird and yet most sense making of recent years. For starters, Sport would not be one of my priorities. Sport gets far too much attention as is at Lancaster. Besides that's not down to the President. Wtf do people think we have an AU President for? That's his job, not the LUSU president's.
I'd make sure that general meetings would be far better publicised. For a start, every member of LUSU (ie 99% of the students at Lancaster) should be informed by email about any general meetings over matters which affect them. The reason none of us
go to the meetings is because none of us know about them! They're never publicised enough. I generally find out about them about 2 weeks after they were held. It's not good enough.
LUSU's general services need publicising a helluva lot better. The Advice centre is a brilliant place which I worked quite closely with over the summer. And yet loads of people don't even know where it is, let alone what it offers! That's just not good enough. (oh god, here comes another refrain).
Stuff like the essay bank and the jJobshop need more work. The Jobshop gets run when the info desk isn't busy. As soon as the desk starts selling tickets for balls, or bus passes, or issuing NUS cards, the Jobshop grinds to a halt because there aren't enough resources to man it properly. Student debt is increasing and so ways in which students can get jobs should be given far more attention. We've got a perfectly good idea which just needs a little more attention to make it first class. It's not failing by any means, but it could be flying instead with a tad more effort...
The Essay bank is so out of date it hurts. The needs to be brought up to scratch by increasing links between the bank and various departments. Easy enough to do, but nobody has thought to do it. General publicity need improving for that as well.
LUSU shop on the whole is good, but it's overpriced and needs attention.
Sugarhouse is not good enough. It attracts a lot of people from one area of the student population, but it needs to learn a lesson or two from The Dark Place on how to attract the alternative communities and keep them happy too. We are a valid and important part of this uni who do more to publicise it than people realise. I know people who applied to Lancaster from the gaming community who heard of LURPS first, and then checked Lancaster out. We are the societies who come here, love it here and settle down here and never leave. People like me and Tom are walking advertisments for Lancaster University and indeed Lancaster and general. We absolutely love it here. It's about time LUSU became aware of this and stopped treating us like second class students at times.
Another thing I'd want to do is increase Lancaster's links with the local community. How many times have you got on a bus with your pass and heard the OAP in the corner grumble about how Students get free bus fare and they still have to pay. They
think we get our passes for free! Hah! Everytime I hear this, I explain to the OAP that I have to pay for my pass and they're generally a little shocked by how much I have to pay. Anyway, the point is that the community at large is generally rather ignorant about what students are actually like and what our lives are like. Fostering emnity is never a good thing. Lancaster University provides a lot of customers for the town and we bring a lot of money into the area (esp. those of us who settle here, and I know of quite a few who have arrived as Undergraduates and never left). It's about time some of that ignorance was dispelled and better links with the community in general and not just the businesses were formed.
What else would I do? I'd make sure that students knew more about the sabbatical officers in general and also more about the permanent staff at LUSU. After all these don't change. And I've only gotten to know more about them since working with them.
For instance - do you know how many managers there are at LUSU? Who are they? What jobs do people do and who are they? What are their email addresses? How would you go about getting in touch with them, if say for example you had a problem with one of the sabbatical officers and needed to go over their heads? I bet not many of you would know. That kind of information should be made more available, surely. LUSU are there to provide a service, something they do very well for the people who know about them. But the rest of you should know as well. LUSU cannot afford to be a cliquey closed club - it's not a society. It's something that should serve all students, not just a select few.
That's about the end of my manifesto for now. So what does everyone else think? Would I make a good student president? Am seriously considering standing for office at the end of my MA next year. And if I'm going to be standing for office, I'm going
for President and nothing else. What else should LUSU's concerns be?
