Afua Nuro, Staff Writer
Another school year has passed, and many high-profile events have taken place. There have been headlines in the news, pop culture and even a couple of things that have happened at SUNY Oneonta that you will always remember.
1. Remember when there was a car in the pond? I need to start off with this because it has to be one of the most unexpected things to ever happen in Oneonta. If you don’t remember, an elderly man drove his car into the pond near Hunt Union. The police were called and one officer had to jump in and save the man’s life. No one was hurt.
2. The next event that swept the nation was Occupy Wall Street, which started in New York City’s Zucotti Park. Thousands of people made this park their home as they stayed there to protest a corrupt and unfair government. The movement spread and people in different states began to “occupy” different places as a form of protest.
3. The one thing that all sports fans will remember is the Super Bowl. Yes, M.I.A. stuck her middle finger up on national TV, and yeah, the M&M commercial was funny, but the reason why there is a Super Bowl is for football. If you forgot, or don’t want to remember, the Giants beat the Patriots (again). The play that every football fan will remember the most is when Eli Manning finished off his Super Bowl touchdown run before anyone had a chance to realize it was happening.
4. Another big TV event that we all talked about was the Grammys, specifically the performance by the Super Bass rapper herself, Nicki Minaj. I thought it was horrible, but you can YouTube the performance if you forgot what it looked like and judge for yourself. This performance included an exorcist-style movie clip with a priest, and then Nicki Minaj levitated.
5. Another outstanding event this school year was something that happened in Oneonta — the SA chronicles. I call it the SA chronicles because it seemed like a never-ending tale with the SA. First, there were problems with students of color on campus feeling like they were not being heard especially by the SA. Then the SA and CUAC decided to join together and become one group called SAAC. There were also rumors that the SA was unfair to people.
6. This year many people died, and unfortunately some of them were gone too soon. Singer Whitney Houston, TV personality Dick Clark, rapper Heavy D, the founder of TV show Soul Train Don Cornelius and singer Etta James were among many who died, and they will surely be remembered as the years pass.
7. The next event was something that was breaking news for weeks: The Trayvon Martin case. This had everyone in the news and around America talking; even on our campus there was a small memorial held for Trayvon Martin. Martin was walking home one day from the store when a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, saw him and thought that he looked suspicious. Zimmerman followed Martin; eventually Zimmerman said that it got confrontational and he shot and killed Martin. This case brought up a lot of race issues since a lot of people believe that Zimmerman based his suspicions of Martin on race. This is a case that we talked about and will still talk about next semester as the case unfolds and is taken to trial.
8. Another thing in the news that we talked about is the presidential election. The race for who will be the Republican candidate has been very interesting. We had Herman Cain with his 9-9-9 plan, Mitt Romney not knowing what he was talking about in debates and people forgetting that Ron Paul is even in the race. The race for president has been an interesting one and it is only getting started. Mitt Romney is a shoe-in for the Republican nominee. If you are not registered to vote then hurry up and go register. The whole country can change depending on who becomes the next president.
9. The next thing that we all talked about and complained about was OH Fest weekend. This year, unlike many before, OH Fest was held on campus and we had to pay for tickets. Everyone and their best friends complained about how it should be off—campus, that there were two different performances, and that they had to pay for them. Mac Miller and Girl Talk came for OH Fest this year and, even after all that complaining, people still went to one or the other concerts and had a good time.
10. The last and final thing that we talked about this year is very important. Depending on who you are and how you live your life this may be the most important and traumatic thing that happened to you this year. Out of all the things on this list, this may be the only thing that you talked about and that is the closing of the bars. Around the beginning of the semester the police raided the Upper Deck, Today’s and The Alley. After the raid, all of these bars were closed down. Hopefully by the grace of God (or whoever you pray to) these bars will be open next semester.
There were so many other things that happened in these two semesters that we will remember for a long time. Shout out to all the 2012 graduates; this has been a very interesting school year.
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