New Column in Framingham TAB

http://www2.townonline.com/framingham/opinion/view.bg?articleid=183021

After 10 weeks, it's about time. This isn't even the one I wrote back then.

I've seen your flag on the marble arch...

They're getting off. All of them. Not a single one of them is getting written up for anything. As I'm sure I will find out on Thursday, that includes me.

However, letters are being sent home outlining the situation and giving parents the opportunity to view the pictures for themselves. For some people, this turned out to be a traumatic decision. But, in respect for the people involved, I'm not going to go into that.

I don't understand this, though. No fewer than three people on this floor have been or are on probation for alcohol. On a floor of sixteen people, is this not a red flag of some sort?

The authorities have dropped the ball. Many, many times. Some things I said, assuming them to be in confidence, were used to bust my roommate in October. The RA on our floor, kind as he is, is either naive or ignorant. I've heard him tell another RA that it was OK that they were partying with alcohol. (Not in so many words, but he saw the alcohol and let it go.) And now, as some people are making a genuine effort to stop and to not drink, they're cracking down based on pictures.

Which is pretty stupid to begin with.

Right here was where, when I originally wrote this post, I said some things I might regret in the future, if more people read them. To the person who informed me of how this could happen, thanks. But I am still going to address what I was thinking about it.

It's not so much that the pictures were online. Most of us have pictures online. This includes myself. It's not even the captions on the pictures, which all of you in the know have to admit, were pretty boneheaded. Witty, but boneheaded, considering the circumstances. It was more the fact that nobody seemed to be irritated that it was these pictures that busted us that I don't understand. Nobody...well, almost nobody was pissed off. Why is this? People were in danger of hitting their second offense, and nobody cared, it seemed.

Maybe it was confidence of innocence. I know that that's what kept me from doing anything, really. I knew and still know that I'm in the clear. But not everybody could say that. Not everybody was in innocuous positions in those pictures. Not everybody was only working on their first offense...

What I mean to say, I guess, is that anger would have been justified, and I can't figure out why there was none. I'm not sure if this is an advantage or a disadvantage of Darkside and its closeness. Maybe it's both. People probably should have gotten angry, but not livid.

I know this isn't going to be taken the way I'd want it to, but right now, I want them to get busted. Reality check, people. You've skated by for far too long, and there's no way that this will be the end of the 'crackdown on fourth floor.' I don't know. I can definitely see the benefits of a raid. However, I can see the downsides as well.

I want to address something that's been on my mind lately, but I'm not sure if this is the proper medium in which to do it. I'll probably give it a day, do it tomorrow if I decide that it's fair game for this type of presentation.

I also plan on making another church-related post sometime soon. There have been some new developments I'd like to react to, and as I originally created this with the intent of giving me somewhere to vent about my church situation, I'm going to use it.

That's enough for today.

I used to live alone before I knew you...

I briefly contemplated justifying why it's been so long since I last updated, but there's no legitimate reason, so I'm not even going to bother.

I'm going to minor in Theater, but even I could not have expected so much drama in my life right now. And this is a relatively low point. It's been worse. As recently as three weeks ago, the amount of drama on my floor was suffocating. A brief rundown:

In early January, I found out (through a third-party) that one of the people I was planning on rooming with had also agreed to another group. After an at-times-confrontational email correspondence, he's not going to be living with us next year. I've come to accept it, I guess. Since that brief encounter, we've been better friends, so it seems to all be working out for the best. But for that three-day period, it seemed like everything was crashing down around me. Think Atlas dropping the Earth.

Around that time, other people on the floor began to take issue with the amount of drinking that took place. Not I, actually. A bunch of small incidents caused widespread turmoil among the floor. There were a couple of days in which not a single person on our floor was free of drama. Everybody. I've been pretty good at avoiding it until now, but this time I got involved.

Yesterday, nearly all of us received mail saying that we were identified in pictures in which we were present during parties. Parties where there was alcohol. Most of Darkside got one, actually. It's pretty ridiculous. Supposedly our RA got an email anonymously, linking him to a site where my roommate had pictures of people drinking. I'm in three of them, not drinking but just hanging around. And I'm including the one where I can tell it's me, but the RDs probably wouldn't be able to identify me.

So next Thursday, we all have to have a meeting with the ARD and RD to 'discuss' this. I've quite honestly decided that there are two people on the floor that I will defend. Yes, they have irrefutable proof, but if anyone's credibility comes under attack, there are only two people, besides myself, that I will defend. This came on the heels of finding out that one of the more influential people on the floor would defend only one person, annoying me to an extent. So, if they want to play 'Survivor: The Dorm Edition', so be it. Look out for number one.

This could be very problematic for a few people who are already on probation. No fewer than four people could get more serious consequences as a result of this thing.

There have been a few circle-discussions about who the anonymous email may have come from. The two more common theories were that it was our new suitemate or his girlfriend, neither of whom get along with the remainder of our floor. She seems to hold some animosity towards us. I raised the idea that it might have been a disgruntled former suitemate of Tom and I. This was met well, as it would have explained the nature of the email, having only one of two damning links. The other link, if it was the person I proposed, would have screwed the link-sender. Conspiracy theory, yes. But logical, yes.

Spring Break. It took a ridiculous amount of time, effort, and discussion, but plans are finally solidified. Three of us are flying to Orlando from Hartford, where we will rent a car (took a whole lot of stuff to get that) and drive to Fort Myers for the Northeastern-Red Sox game. This, among other things, of course. Universal Studios is the only other planned thing. The rest of the time, we'll just see what happens. Play it by ear.

My church situation remains unresolved, naturally. I have kept my promise to not attend St. Cecilia until St. Jeremiah is settled. St. Jeremiah, probably after I last posted on this, got a six-month reprieve until the middle of May. Those in the know are expecting Fr. Ron to close the church on Easter, March 27th. This means our vigil, which I'm still convinced will happen, must start earlier than I'd like.

I'll put my thoughts about the Pope's health in here soon. But not now.

I'm also going to create a second journal on this site to track baseball on. I'll start linking to stuff soon.