When I get home from a long night of editing at The Daily and open the door to my apartment, I am greeted by empty cans, bottles strewn about and piles of newspapers almost to the ceiling. Whole Foods paper bags are stacked so high that they potentially could become kindling for fire on the stove top.
No, I'm not creating some fantastic piece of art, and no, I don't live in a compost heap. My roommate is just adamant about recycling. She's also a little lazy, which explains why the recycling never leaves its not-so-defined mounds in our apartment.
But after two years of apartment searches, I can't place all the blame on her. If you check Evanston's Web site, they rave about the benefits of privatized recycling and how your multi-unit buildings have many options. Not one of the multi-unit buildings I've visited offers any recycling. I know, my roommate asked. The response is some sort of glazed stare followed by mumbling about how recycling is personally important and, yeah, maybe we could arrange that, but first will you just sign the lease?
The official drop-off point for recycling in Evanston is on Oakton, completely inaccessible to those of us near the Northwestern campus. Though there is much ambiguity about whether or not recyclables in dorms are properly disposed of, there are even fewer options for those of us off-campus. We can make piles and occasionally sneak our recycling back onto campus or borrow a car and pollute the environment on our 10-minute drive to Oakton, but other than that, we're out of resources.
Who can argue with saving the environment? It seems that Evanston is satisfied with its recycling program, so why not enforce it across the board? It's time for students and residents to band together and demand a more unified recycling program.
- Talia Alberts
Forum Editor
Live the drama, don't just read it
I thought it was a phase. I thought it wouldn't catch on. I thought it was one bored kid writing about his buddies, and that readership would fizzle when they discovered more productive uses of their time. I thought Rumor Royalty was going to go out of fashion faster than Gigapets.
When I overheard some freshmen friends frantically wondering if a recent "RR" post was - gasp - about them, I realized a sad reality: People really do care about this stuff. They love to navigate the site and place bets on the identities of the ambiguous pseudonyms. They become entrenched in the plots, living vicariously through the wild lives of their peers.
I just don't get it. Who cares if Lines and J Coh went "semi-public last night" at Enclave? Or if "a Pike sophomore has been set up with our very own Kevin"? I imagine the posts are about a small group whose lives are tightly intertwined. They go wild together, and the rest of NU reads about it. They do it because, as "RR" admitted, "If drama's a drug, call me an addict."
If they're so addicted to drama, why not just go live it? Close out of your Firefox window, shut your laptop and go experience life together. In the morning, dish out the details of last night. Gossip all you want, but do it face to face.
I wouldn't be surprised if RR posted this, dubbed me with some clever pseudonym and voted me as the "I am Northwestern" award for his upcoming Blowout Bash Awards. I'm okay with that. I probably won't read it, because I'll be too busy living my college years instead of reading about the lives of others.
- Meredith Laitos
Deputy Forum Editor
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