Ithaca

I want to talk a lot about the politics of choice. In a society like the United States, where we place so much emphasis on the individual – the individual’s abilities, capabilities, the ‘you can do whatever you want to do’ mentality – I’d like to use the idea of a choice when talking about things.

Our privacy’s been cooked, our faces have been booked, our right are overlooked, my space has been took.

The danger is that we start using the word “we” in slogans without having done the work to create this “we.” We have spent so much of our lives treating so many of our problems as personal, as our own, that the myth that we are all alone with our problems has become something of a reality.

On Sundays, my mother’s commitment was to us and the sauce and nothing else. On Sundays, we were a family without financial struggles, a family that could sit down to eat, no questions asked.

Last week, I heard stories about the challenges of acquiring student loans, the myths of the glamour of private education, and the crushing realities of an overpriced educational system.

“Mic check!”

“MIC CHECK!” the participants in the rally at Cornell University on Saturday echoed the familiar call of the people’s mic after several similar calls that day.

“Dance!”

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, the Labor Initiative in Promoting Solidarity is looking to address the issue of student debt and loans with Occupy the Mic, a speak-out event and discussion.

On Friday, students from the Cornell Organization for Labor Action worked to raise awareness, through petitioning and educating, about the TCAT workers’ fight for a fair contract.

The opening night of Ithaca College’s fall musical, Light in the Piazza, was an astounding showcase of acting and vocal abilities.

The Ithaca College General Assembly, a function of the Occupy Ithaca College movement, held their first meeting on Tuesday to discuss how students on campus could stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York City.