October 8, 2012 • A POSITIVE PRESS PUBLICATION • VOL. 3, ISSUE 4
Commit to Spirit
written by fifth-year, Brittany Robertson
Perched on a long oak bench in the MLC, I overhear a quick conversation. “Hey man, is that a Georgia shirt?” “No dude, why would I be wearing a Georgia shirt?” Sitting up incredulously, I hope the strangers walk my way so I can ask them “Why not?”
Since they don’t, I’m left sitting confused about why someone wouldn’t be proud to don an emblem of our alma mater. So I ask you, instead: Why do conversations like this happen on our campus? Why is it seemingly uncool to show school spirit? Why do we arrive drenched in red and black only on gamedays? I’ve visited many college campuses, and each time, I notice how proudly and overtly students display school spirit, even on a random weekday. We kill it on hallowed Saturdays: painting up, face tats, heels, buttons and pins galore, yet our student body doesn’t rock the red and black like that any other day. We rock the frat tees, the campus org glasses and spend time putting together trendy outfits - so why we can’t wear one of the many free or awesomely cheap spirited items that rep our school? |
For me it comes back to my pride to attend this university. Coming from out of state, I’ve found a culture in the state of Georgia of die-hard fans who never have the opportunity to grace the hallowed halls of North Campus or sit in the student section in Sanford Stadium. So many members of the Bulldog Nation would die for the opportunity to have a degree from UGA. Is it HOPE that makes us overlook how lucky we are to attend the best university in the state and arguably, in the SEC? We should be proud to go here. And we need to start showing it.
Let’s be fans of the Dawgs as we eat in the dining halls, take tests, and play our intramural games. Let’s deck out in spirit wear and show visitors how much we rally behind the bulldogs 24/7. Our campus is in need of a spirit facelift, and I encourage you to compliment and join your friends who proudly wear the red and black. |
Skate Better
written by fourth-year, Andrea Morris
There are going to be days when nothing goes right. You oversleep your alarm. The bus runs late. You forget about that quiz in class.
You’re going to have that moment of utter defeat. The one when you tilt your head to the sky and wonder what you did to deserve this. After that moment you have two choices: to let the day win or to skate better. Disney Channel’s 1998 original movie Brink! is about Andy “Brink” Brinker and his motley crew of soul skaters. Their foes are the members of Team X-Blades. In the pivotal skating competition of the year, Brink’s team is behind and it all comes down to the last race. Feeling the pressure, he turns to his family for support. Mom pats him on the back and tells him things will be just fine. Win or lose, Mom’s proud, but that doesn't help shake his nerves. As he says his thanks, his sister calls him back and says two words to him, “Skate better.” To win, all Brink needs to do is skate better. Sometimes there isn’t a solution to a problem. Whatever happened has happened. But you can’t let those bad moments keep you down, because complaining and pointing fingers never got us anywhere. I’m not saying to ignore the bad moments, but to learn from them and move on. |
Start skating better. Facing team X-Blades, Brink challenges them, “When you woke up this morning, did you say to yourself, ‘Today I’m gonna talk, or today I’m gonna skate?’”
Today I’m going to skate. In fact, I’m going to skate better. |
It Really is All About You
written by fourth-year, Mary Ashley Tucker
You. You with The Chapel Bell in hand and the look of defeat on your face because you failed to just barely escape from the enthusiastic neon vest that handed you this publication. Yes, you. Stop what you are doing, and take a deep breath. Now rest in the fact that there is a reason you are reading this paper. Every countless moment in your life has led to this very instant when, despite your best effort to find an alternate route through Tate Plaza, that persistent Chapel Beller put this paper in your hands because the inspiration that lies within was made specifically for you. In fact, that guy beside you who is reading the same article thinks I am talking to him-- but I’m really only looking at you.
The truth is our lives are built from our own choices. While I do enjoy the idea that everything happens for a reason, I believe even more that action only happens when YOU make it happen. Don’t get me wrong, some things are |
inevitable or beyond our control. But I think too often we use the mantra, “if it’s meant to be,” as an excuse to let life pass us by. Why should we let our lives be made out of the events life simply hands to us? Life is not about just letting things happen to you; you have to happen to it! Life, and especially this season of our lives, is about living intentionally in all you do and truly making your wildest dreams come true through persistence and the choices you make.
Think about your goal for this week. You might want to make an A on that big test or finally work up the courage to talk to that potential hot date. What about long-term? Maybe you want to move far away and become that big-shot businessperson or chase your dream to work as a Disney princess. Whatever is on your to-do list, it is up to YOU to get it done. Excellence is intentional. Excellence is a performance that needs fostering. |
If you think about Gandhi, Oprah, or even Herschel Walker, these great human beings have not simply stumbled upon greatness. They had goals in mind and worked each day to make them realities. It takes time, planning, and realizing that this goal is exactly what you need to deliberately make yourself the best that you can be. Because excellence is intentional. So whether you just need an encouraging word or a swift kick in wherever swift kicks are most effective, here it is: whatever overwhelming or seemingly out of reach goals face you right now CAN happen. And if you work hard with intention to make your objective become a reality, then you can make it happen. Pretty empowering, huh? Maybe that’s how it was meant to be.
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Where the hell is Matt?
written by fourth-year , Jonathan "Paco" Payne
Raise your hand if you’ve ever done a little jig anywhere that wasn’t your house, a club, or your car. Now raise your hand if you’ve ever done a little jig in another country or two or 42. It seems like Matt is the only one with his hand still raised. Matt is the star of a series of YouTube videos called, “Where the Hell is Matt?” In them, Matt does his own little Matt dance in diverse countries including China, Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa, France, the United States and Iraq. Maybe you’ve seen the YouTube video and if you have, then maybe you were as inspired by it as I was.
As I watched Matt do his dance all over the world I was struck by how awkward and ridiculous it was, and how embarrassing it must be to do this dance in places where no one knows you and then post it on YouTube for 40 million people to see. As the video progresses though, people begin to join Matt in his dance. What began as one man by himself in front of a camera morphs into huge crowds dancing, smiling, and laughing together. And at the center of this crowd is one fearless person conquering what must have been a lofty ambition to travel the world, all whilst doing a little dance. |
This video inspires me to dance, but also assures me that one small idea can spark interest and a following that can have the potential to grow larger than initially expected. There’s no reason to be afraid to try something new—an idea, a sport, a food, an organization. You never know what you or anyone else is going to think of it until you try. You’d be surprised by the amount of support that you can receive from one small, silly dance idea
If you’d like to watch the video and see how Matt fearlessly acts on his ideas, then use the link below to watch it! Find your own version of dancing with strangers and maybe even create a video based off of it and share it with the world. http://goo.gl/T8BKY |
Why We Ring The Bell
written by fifth-year, Alyson Farzad
Twas the afternoon before game-day and all through North Campus, not a creature was stirring, not even a squirrel… But the bell was hung behind the Chapel with care, ready to ring in good news that was there.
My book-bag was full of texts that I should have been reading all semester, and I’m exhausted from the mid-term week I had just experienced. Not to mention, all the hours studying in the MLC with the rest of the other academically stressed-silly, studying, students. It was a week where all of the chairs at the MLC were taken—especially the squishy orange ones, and even the less comfortable green—and dreams of getting a study room were never actualized. Two tests, a paper, and a project seemed to be a task for a superhero, but by the end of the week, all of it was finished. On that crisp Friday afternoon, I turned in that last assignment. Victory was just a few steps ahead, and the weight of stress was ready to be lifted…and as I walked through the doors from the classroom and into the beautiful day, that’s when I heard it. The Bell. The Chapel Bell. The sweet chime of the metal clanging in an amiable tone that brought a smile to my previously frowning face. |
Someone was ringing the Chapel Bell with his/her own good news, but I was also basking in the celebration of my own positive success. The long week was instantly bettered.
It was then that I made a connection about why we, as UGA students, ring the bell. Historically, The Chapel Bell marked the class change when students shuffled from one building to the next. But that was a long time ago when UGA was just a North Campus quad. Now, the Bell rings as a marker for good news—anything from a winning football game to acing a test. But I found out this past Friday that the Chapel Bell can mean so much more. |
We don’t just ring the bell because we have something to celebrate, but rather because we have something to celebrate that is worth sharing. We want to spread the positivity across campus in any way possible—the bell’s sound marks the connection of everything positive about being a UGA student. I used to make a personal goal to ring the bell at the end of each week, as an act of joy for myself. Now, I also ring the bell knowing the impact it makes for everyone in hearing range: a positive reaction. A little bit of your good news turns into something to share with everyone.
We all have the power to positively affect each other in the same way the chime of the Chapel Bell does. Hopefully you’ll start with this paper in your hands and go from there. Celebrate the positive. Share it with others. Make this campus a place of rippling optimism. Just as the rope for the bell is always there to pull, so is good news, ready for you to exclaim. Just ring it. |
Book Review: The $100 Startup
written by third-year, Nick Toomey
Chris Guillebeau set out a few years ago with two goals:
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The $100 Startup is the latest installment in his quest to empower people to reinvent their lives; more specifically, reinvent the way they make money.
Chris is young. He's still in his early thirties, and despite having already traveled to nearly all of the world's 196 nations, he hasn't worked a typical job. The guy is just skilled at turning ideas into money, and he isn't the only one. The $100 Startup is a blueprint. It is the combined knowledge of over 1,500 people, all of them having started businesses of $50,000 or more (mostly more) with small initial investments. The most intriguing part? These aren't 1500 MBAs with billions in the bank to blow on their latest reinvention of the wheel. These are average Jills and Joes who have found ways to monetize their passions and good ideas, and restructure their lifestyles to allow for greater freedom and adventure. There is no need for an MBA, 100 employees, or an angel fund to build a successful startup. You just need a product, people who want it, and a plan. |
The book is an accumulation of terrific insights and hands-on tools and resources that sum to a step-by-step plan for monetizing the ideas you are passionate about. There are no questions left unanswered, no gray areas, and no generalities. This book takes your expertise and turns it into something people are willing to pay for.
Guillebeau has reached his two goals by living unreasonably. His advice to “reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love, and create a new future" makes his book something worth reading and an inspiration to start acting on your good ideas now! |
Monitor Your Mint
written by third-year, Ellis Edwards
Everybody brings a different story and set of values to the topic of money. Sometimes money is awesome, sometimes it's scary, and sometimes it’s just confusing. It is a powerful force, but its ability to buy happiness has forever been a point of contention.
But let's just agree that money matters. You don't have to love it or hate it, but you do have to use it and understand it. That last bit isn't always easy. Thankfully, there are some great tech-based resources for forming good money management habits. I have been using Mint.com since my senior year of high school to monitor my finances. Mint is a free service created by Intuit, a financial software company, that consists of a website paired with iOS and Android apps. It's one of those bits of technology in my life that I tell people about all the time |
One of the best ways to stay out of financial messes is to just keep a close eye on your money. It's harder to overspend when you always know what's in the bank. This is where Mint comes into play. It pulls information from all of your accounts (maybe checking, savings, and a credit card) and puts it in one place.
The goal is to “see where every dime goes, and make money decisions you feel good about.” Once you’re tracking your spending and income, you can set budgets, make goals, and receive alerts for a variety of categories and events. Best of all, it is super simple to set up and use. |
Whether you are paying your way through school or get some spending money from your parents every few weeks, I would encourage you to get in the habit of keeping an eye on your money. Keep tabs on every sneaky dollar so when you need it, you know right where it is. I’m not a financial expert, but Mint has been working for me - give it a shot!
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