So, you’re back are ya? Think you can take another semester of punishment, eh? Ready to jump back into it with a handful of resolutions in your pocket to work harder, get out more, and enjoy life better?
But are you really ready for it? Can you live up to these lofty expectations? Can you divest yourselves of the accumulated fatigue and bad habits of the previous semester?
2003 was a strange year. There was plenty going on both home and abroad-from the war in Iraq to West Nile virus-to make you wonder what was up with the world.
On our own campus there was plenty to keep things, well, interesting. There was the double cohort, the ongoing saga of the green and white papers, budget cuts, enough Middle-East tension to make us wonder if U of T would be another Concordia, the asbestos scandal, and the news that the campus is literally crumbling around us.
But basically not much changed. The rich got richer and the strange got stranger, while most of us just did our best to keep our heads down.
Then again, it wasn’t all bad news. Chretien went out in a blaze of glory that may have actually done this country some good, the province is finally under new (if dubious) management, and the city has a new mayor who we can probably count on not to ask any foreign dignitaries if they are cannibals any time soon.
At U of T, Woody Harrelson kicked off the school year with a free yoga lesson and a whole front campus full of positive energy, and the administration rehired Dr. David Healy-who’d once been forced to leave because of his criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.
Whatever you thought of 2003, it’s now officially “the past,” and it’s time to look forward. Here we are again, ready to thrust our calloused nostrils back to that bloodstained grindstone-promising ourselves that we’ll start our assignments early, before the overdue papers pile up like neatly stapled winter snowflakes.
Yet the school year is half done, so no matter what awaits you this semester, you can always take solace in one simple fact: it’s almost over, only four months to go. So do what you need to do-keep your conscious clean and your wits sharp. Pay attention to the good things and don’t waste too much energy on the unpleasant ones. Get the grade then go get laid… Have a happy New Year!
