First of all-- a girl has just been shot with an airsoft BB gun by a supposed guy in a red jacket and a ski mask and was seen headed towards Sunset Village so-- just keeping you updated...
Back to THE DEBATE (!!)
Yup. USAC elections are ON and so are Bruins United and Students First's game faces.
Before I give my commentary on all the fabulous hairdo hits and misses, fashion faux-pas, and oh yeah, the debates (haha), I want to take a moment to finally dispell my party affiliation--
I
DON'T
HAVE
ONE.
For the longest time, even in the area of national politics, I couldn't come to terms with the fact that I didn't feel comfortable as a Democrat OR a Republican. I felt like this was something I HAD to choose, that being an Independent was impossible and wimpish. Forgive me if this is a terrible c omparison, but from what I have seen, bisexuals get a lot of crap for not being either/or, for not being able to "make up their mind."
Ok well, for me my bipartisanship or nonpartisanship however you choose to look at it, stems nowhere from not being able to make up my mind. Rather, I know exactly what I believe in, what I want, and if no single party can represent that for me, then so be it. I have no inclination to edit my feelings here and there simply to have a name to put to my views. I already have one, I call them "mine."
When I finally realized this, I became comfortable with the fact that I really am neither a Democrat or a Republican, neither for Bruins United nor Students First. I have always prided myself on the fact that fairness flows through my veins, oxygenating a rather healthy open mind. You can't always count on me to meet you on time, but you could always count on me to give you an unbiased view of things. That's who I am and that's who I like being. So that's where I stand. Earlier this week I sported a certain slate logo in my facebook userpic-- that wasn't really what I wanted to have done. I don't have anything against that slate, I just don't have anything against the other one either.
Coming to this decision, or moreso, this revelation, was wildly liberating-- as any moment of truth in understanding one's self is.
So, now I understand I may fall under the party affiliation of an "Independent." Yeah well I still don't see myself that way. I don't stand independent of any views, rather, I try to stay Informed.
Last thing before I finally move on to the debate--
I'm kind of annoyed.
Say I have this friend, Joe Schmoe. I go to Joe Schmoe's facebook page, and he has his userpicture set up as let just say, Slate C's logo, but in his status, it reads, "Joe Schmoe is voting for Sandy Brubare for USAC Elected Official!"
Here's what I think of that:
@#$%^&*???????????????????????
If you are supporting Sandy Brubare, SUPPORT SANDY BRUBARE-- but how has that in any way obligated you to now blindly support the rest of Slate C? If there is a real answer to this please get back to me.
Now, finally. The debate.
Ok I am just going to start off with the Highlight of the debate, which for me was the very last segment which was basically the PLEDGE initiative answering questions on why they are so great. Can I just say? I LOVE PLEDGE. It's as if everything I just said came together, they aren't about one slate over another, one group over another, they just want to support bruins everywhere. One of my favorite things said at this segment was, "I'm not in the Marching Band... but I LOVE the Marching Band!" Okay maybe not that poignant-- hahah, but I loved it all.
Sigh okay I think I need to speed through this because I have two midterms I need to study for, so I'll just give a quick rundown of my opinions of what I saw:
If there was an Epic Win category for this Debate I would have to say it was Students First candidate for General Representative, Jasmine Hill. This chick is young, hot, and hittin' all the spots when it came to her rebuttals and responses. Definitely the star of the show.
Sorry to say this and please-don't-hate-me-when-we-meet-again-in-person-because-I've-actually-met-you-once-before-and-you-were-really-nice, if there was an Epic Fail category for this Debate, I would have to say it was Bruins United candidate for General Representative, Lecia Rothman. Not sure I heard one significant thing from this girl, except.... yeah I got NOTHIN'.
I wasn't a big fan either of the other General Representative candidate from Bruins United, Thach Nguyen. His opening statement mentioned something about cuddling up and long walks on the beach. Somehow that just didn't translate well to me. I had some hope for him when he brought up Jasmine Hill's status as a second year as a potential weakness in her candidacy-- this could have made for an excellent argument, except, he didn't. Simply mentioning that this chick who had been speaking with the swag of a seasoned pro is a second year, and not following through with exactly why that would hurt her was very weak. Things aren't standing out for me that much about fellow Gen Rep candidates Jason Tengco (Students First) and Addison Huddy (Bruins United), so I don't want half-ass anything here. I might review the debate online later and get back to y'all. However, I do recall another most memorable event of the debate to be when Jason markedly pointed out current BU Gen Rep Natalie Gonzalez' failings as current Gen Rep andbeing one missed meeting away from losing her job! I loved it! DRA-MA.
Okay, running for Facilities are Tim Mullins (BU) and Carli Santos (SF). I feel that both presented very well and are passionate about the position. Oh yeah... about being passionate...
GET OVER IT!
All I heard during this debate, over and over and over and over and over again-- passionate this passionate that passionate blah blah blah blah blah.
Look here, I already know you all are passionate about what you are doing and why you are here. It's been a long hard journey and you would not have lasted if you weren't. So tell me something I don't know.
Anyway, I did appreciate Tim's very reserved yet jovial demeanor. Seemed like an uber-name dropper but hey, this is politics. One of my memorable moments from this segment was when Tim mentioned that he developed his "passion" in the past two years-- and just as I suspected, Carli took that as ammo and fired back that she has had this passion her entire life!!!
Here's my deal with that.
For me personally, passion is passion. Just because you found out about Lady Gaga 4 months after I did, doesn't mean you are less of a fan. Just because you decided your last year in college that you wanted to apply to med school when I knew my whole life, doesn't mean that I am going to be a better doctor than you are. So really, although that could have been a great rebuttal on Carli's part, it did nothing to win me over for that question.
I give Tim major props for his answer, which was that he had his passion his whole life (but it would have been cool with me if you didn't, Tim), but it was in the past two years that he forged his plan of action, etc.
For me, Tim's real test is going to be if he remembers me next time I see him. His girlfriend introduced me today, and then pointed out that we had already met... hahaha. Oh bipartisanship how I love being me.
Running for EVP are Susan Li (SF) and Megan Ward (BU). Susan looked great, but personally I thought Megan's suit piece fit the event a little better than Susan's American Apparel dress. Minor detail. I got good vibes from both sides. Highlight of this segment was one of Megan's responses. I enjoyed the swag with which she responded that she KNOWS what it is to lobby and that she "didn't just start last WEEK." Get it girl. Something also that fiercely caught my attention was when Megan brought up the numbers of how much our student tuition has greatly increased in the years that Susan has been in office. I don't think this should directly be addressed to Susan simply because she wasnt EVP the last three years, but it really is something I was glad has been brought to my attention and I will definitely be thinking about.
Financial Supports. Candidates are: Mac Tan Fernandez (BU) and D'Juan Farmer (SF). Hahaha, I must repeat this. "I GAURANTEE YOU!!" Whether or not D'Juan planned for this to be his slogan, it has certainly become so. Um, let's see. Yeah, D'Juan won this one. Hands down. If he hadn't repeated "I GAURANTEE YOU" after nearly every question, I think I would have named him star of the show over Jasmine. But hey I guess it adds character. I thought it was particularly shrewd when he mentioned "how highly [his] opponent must think of [current Financial Supports Commissioner (SF)]" to constantly be mentioning her achievements in his answers. Hahaha.
Running for Cultural Affairs Commissioner are Anh Nguyen (BU) and Abigail Faelnar (SF). This is probably the commissioner position I care the most about, and am disappointed to say that neither side mentioned anything that I can really remember as I sit here. I got an overall better impression of Abigail, maybe because Anh kept doing his angled-head hair toss of the bangs thing... I dunno. Don't count me on this one just yet. I'll get back to you after reviewing the footage.
Student Welfare Commissioner, running is Lucy Wu (SF) and Myles Hamby (BU). For the most part Myles Hamby in general didn't perform as well in the debate as I would have liked to have seen. Lucy Wu was able to present a lot more information and just an overall more qualified image, however, this also took away from her argument as well. Specifically, when asked about recruitment, she reiterated how it is done now. I was expecting her to mention an original idea, since as far as I can remember the question asked, "What can YOU do...etc." Call me picky I guess. I told you, I know what I want.
Okay for Academic Commissioners, Layhanarra Tep from Students First and Andrew Li Kreitz from Bruins United. I'll get back to them later.
OH SNAPS IVP. SharonaDaneshrad from Bruins United and Shahida Bawa from Students First. Good candidates, both of them. Sharona mentioned her experience working at law firms as a mediator between conflicting parties, which I liked. Shahida spoke very well and was very knowledgable about the position and USAC in general. I might even dare say that she seemed to know more than her opponent. I feel that Shahida kept a better debate face/presence than Sharona, simply because Sharona's answers and expressions came off a little catty at times. This one's tough just because I really did appreciate Sharona's ideas about creating student mediators and reconciling conflicting groups. Obviously, I'm all about that.
And now... PRESIDENT! Dun dun dunnnn.
Cinthia Flores from SF and Jesse Rogel for BU. Obviously at this point, if you are running for president, you are qualified and you know what you are doing. Cinthia is great, not sure if I saw enough of what she wanted to do, just because according to her and many of the SF supporters, Omayra Hosseini has done such a great job! And I probably agree. With Jesse it was just the opposite, I think I got too much him. I'm not sure if he realized he was doing this but a lot of the time he was talking about how he's great, although it wasn't entirely in an arrogant or boastful way so I can't hold it against him. It just took away from answering the complete question a couple of times, which Cinthia picked up on and jokingly began one of her responses, "To answer the question..."
Okay so that is it pretty much and this post already took way longer than I expected even as I tried to trim it down. As you probably noticed I didn't mention their platforms because... you can read that on their websites.
Ooh! I don't remember who it was that suggested Undie Run for a cause but I am going to support that guy because that is just a genius idea. Not so sure if it will work though, but that's what also makes it a genius idea, because even if it doesn't work, nothing's broken!
Lastly-- what the heck SF supporters? I'm sorry but they were being terribly rowdy compared to the BU supporters at the debate. Again though, here's where my devil's advocate comes in to play, suggesting that maybe SF fans were simply rowdier because there were more of them present, or maybe SF candidates were more able to get a crowd going? Eh? ??
Well frankly I don't care what it was and either way I was annoyed and disappointed with this behavior. Yeah so what if I have a tight ass?
Ok. So vote.
AND VOTE YES ON *PLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things that came up today:
- "Mercy" - Duffy
- "fresh perspective"
- "passionate"
*Edit; June 04, 2009; after conducting research beyond what was presented at the debate, I concluded it was in the student body's best interest to actually vote NO on pledge, which is how I voted on voting day. PLEDGE passed.
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