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the Racquette
Creative Writing
January 29, 2016
The Problem With Us Rapid Knocking Michelan Le’Monier
Stop it, the sensations that threaten to bare my soul naked to the vulnerabilities of your eyes. With rapid secessions of my noes rubbing together on a tight string Held together by your yeses. Rapid friction progresses toward Unwelcomed. Sparks of fresh ember flies and lands around us. Stop it, the wood is starting to burn as ashes assault embers who are
escaping the aggressive scene. Leaves retreat on the wind’s back, heading East trying not to get caught. This forest fire is my love. Unwanted, unwelcomed. Stop it. we proved that love is abundant between strangers but, nonexistent between close friends. Usually sparks fly for lovers. Only, The problem with us is that there is no us.
Rebecca Augustine
At 4:00am in the morning I was awoken by rapid knocking With durations of pauses Followed by more rapid knocking against my neighbor’s dorm door I told myself “It’ll stop at some point” But it didn’t For a long time this went on Finally when I couldn’t take it anymore I yelled “OH MY GOD, DO NOT MAKE ME GET UP” The knocking stopped But then the pleading started “Please let me in” I heard the click of a door opening and closing And then it was over Except for me At 4:00am in the morning
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Why Meal Plans? Message from PACES
Why Meal Plans? It’s that time of the year again when residential students decide where they want to live next year. As part of that process students are required to purchase a meal plan. Why? Why do we have meal plans? The college requires meal plans for a variety of reasons: health, safety, social development and financial. The residence halls were not designed for people to purchase, store and prepare their own meals (with the exception of the townhouses and a few apartments – where residents generally are not required to have meal plans). Imagine the 850 people living in Bowman, storing and preparing their own food in that space. There just aren’t the necessary facilities (kitchens, refrigerators, freezers, trash bins, and areas to do cleaning). Additionally, it is believed that a great deal of social development takes place when people eat together in public areas. As a supplement to the knowledge gain in formal study, life-lessons outside of class will help you develop the skills needed to succeed in life. And finally, without the financial support of the meal plans (which provides steady income) we would be forced to operate our services on a pay-as-you-go basis and we wouldn’t be able to maintain many of the places and services our customers
have told us are important to the How are meal plans developed? Each fall we use assessment (meetings, NACUFS survey, Manager’s Comment Tables, etc.) to inform us about changes our customers would like to see. After that, we develop a budget that can support the type of plans and services our customers want. This requires many revisions because we try to minimize price increases. Finally, the PACES Board of Directors (4 students, 3 faculty, 3 administration/staff) have input and – after any necessary changes are made – give their approval. We develop multiple plans that have different combinations of guaranteed meals & FLEX so that students who are not on campus as often as others have a less expensive option. Dining Services: a collective approach Dining Services is a collective system. We operate some units at a profit and some at a loss. Why would we operate any unit at a loss? Because the operation of that unit is important to part of the campus community, contributing to the overall satisfaction with SUNY Potsdam. As we develop our total program we are conscious of the needs of various campus constituencies and attempt to build in features that are important to each group. www.theracquette.com