A case for meditation

Elizabeth McLaughlin, Staff

Our phones can serve as a bottomless pit of distractions, leaving us drained and dissatisfied. Meditation can help.

Do you have trouble focusing in class? Do you find that you can’t muster up the courage to do that assigned reading? Do you ever find yourself exhausting your Twitter feed, closing out of the app, only to reopen it seconds later, expecting something different? Do you find yourself in a constant negative feedback loop of ennui? First, we’ve all been there. Second, you should try meditation.

To be clear, the central purpose of this article is not to claim that you should meditate, but rather to illuminate the struggles we face, especially in a post-Zoom world, while offering an empirical prescription to those ailments. This prescription has served me well, but in no way do I want to act as a meditation evangelist. Simply put, you can take it or leave it.

Let’s briefly discuss some of the struggles of being human. Listlessness is characterized as a lack of interest or energy; I believe that we are engaging in an attack on our energy levels every time we unlock our phones. The adult brain can store between five and nine items in short term memory. You can open Twitter, and by the time you see your tenth tweet, it is very likely that you can’t remember the first. More importantly, when presented with much more than five to nine pieces of information at a time, it’s easy for our brains to get overwhelmed. It’s a shame that social media, by design, presents you with an infinite amount of information at once, so long as you enable it. It’s a shame because our prefrontal cortex — which evolved millions of years ago to mediate the functions of goal articulation, goal retention, and self-discipline — is no match for computers. When you put it that way, it’s no wonder that we are turning our thumbs arthritic in the name of scrolling.

But it doesn’t need to be so bleak. Sure, we’ve designed a computer that can accurately anticipate our needs and desires and use that information to present us with our own virtual reality. Big deal. Still, the quest to manage stress isn’t completely hopeless. I was surprised to learn that the term “stressed out” was invented sometime in the last century. Before we had a name for it, did people feel stressed out? Of course they did, but their stress was informed by extremely different circumstances, and they just didn’t identify that overwhelmedness like we do. Nonetheless, holding all circumstances equal, there is one timeless practice that, if done correctly, is almost guaranteed to reduce stress. You guessed it: meditation.

You’ve probably heard that before; that meditation is worth trying, whether it was from a friend, a fellow netizen, or a public figure. Neuroscientist Sam Harris says meditation is “the practice of learning to break the spell and wake up;” I concur with Mr. Harris here. There are many unique forms of meditation and the practice itself has evolved from myriad different branches of philosophy and religion. In Zen Buddhism, there is zazen, or sitting meditation. This is the form I espouse, although there are other forms that provide their own benefits. Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word which is interpreted to mean Beginner’s Mind or Awakening Heart. A key element of experiencing bodhicitta is attentiveness to each moment, in each moment. Thich Nhat Hanh once said something along the lines of, “if you miss the moment, you miss your life.”

Meditation is about being present in each moment. You’ve definitely heard that kitsch phrase before, but I find it a lot easier said than done. Try it. Find a comfortable seat and settle in. Aim your eyes downward, or completely close them at the risk of accidentally falling asleep (I can’t say that hasn’t happened to me once or twice). Then, notice. Notice any sounds that might arise around you; let them come and let them go. Notice how your body feels, if you’re needlessly tense in certain areas (you probably are, and that’s okay). Notice the temperature of the room, if you can. Just notice things, letting them come and go. Don’t hurry them or ignore them. Focus on your breath. I’ll admit, it’s harder than you might think. But if you get off track, if your mind begins to wander, that’s okay. Just redirect your attention to your breath. Keep on doing that, and you’re strengthening your ability to concentrate.

Right concentration is one of the steps in the Eightfold Path, which is what the Buddha proposes as the path to end suffering. Right concentration involves the concept of samadhi, meaning oneness with the object of meditation. Samadhi is not hyper-focusing on one thing, feeling, or sensation. Samadhi is regarded in Hinduism as the final stage of meditation, so don’t feel frustrated if you fail to comprehend it or realize it in your practice. Rather, I offer this information in hopes to inspire you to look into right concentration, the Eightfold Path and meditation.

If you do, you might find yourself more present in each moment. You might find that you are better at redirecting your attention to the task at hand, to the present. You might find that the prospect of endlessly scrolling through social media loses its appeal; that you feel less drained by technology and more in control of your digital footprint. You might find yourself more self aware. And in the end, I hope you find wisdom and compassion in each moment.

mclaughline7@lasalle.edu

Reasons to study history: the past is alive

Commentary

James LeVan, Staff

When I was growing up, my parents did not keep any alcohol in the house. There was no beer in the fridge for my father to drink while he watched Sunday football, my mother would not sip wine with friends. They never went to beer distributors or liquor stores. In fact, I can only recall maybe one or two times that I ever saw them drink alcohol at a party. There were few things my parents were admittingly strict about as far rules went. Alcohol was one of them and they made it clear that I wasn’t allowed to drink until I turned 21. All of this has led me to have a weird relationship with alcohol. I don’t drink during the semester and only at night with food. I’m sure some reading this will not believe me when it comes to my impressive control of alcohol. Drinking always made me feel ashamed, as though I was doing something amoral and, worried about my mental health during this hellish year, I decided to give up drinking entirely.

My weird relationship with alcohol and my parent’s abstinence from it has always been a curiosity. Why did my parents dislike alcohol so much? My parents gave me and my brother plenty of freedom as we were growing up. So why was alcohol the big issue? I got my answer recently when talking to a distant cousin after the death of my grandfather. She informed me about my great-grandfather and his marriage to my great-grandmother was an unhappy one (from all accounts my great-grandmother was a borderline psychopath and I am not exaggerating that). He hated his wife and used alcohol to numb the pain of being married to her. In one drunken stupor, he decided to run away from his family in Philadelphia and went on a bender all the way to New York. His brother had to track him down up there and bring him back. His brother once again had to rescue him when one night he got drunk and punched a hole in a wall and he had to come over and make sure he didn’t kill my great-grandmother. I never knew my great-grandfather, he died before my father was born. However, his difficult marriage and the drinking created a ripple effect through time — my parents raising me in a dry house and my own awkward feelings toward alcohol today.

Whether we like it or not, we all feel the effects of the past on our lives. Every part of our environment (physical, political, cultural, economic) is the product of the actions of people who made decisions that we still feel even though many of them have passed and their names are not active in our public memory. In that regard, they act as ghosts haunting and whispering to us from beyond the grave. If the past is such a powerful force on us, then does that mean we should study history?

In all my years of studying history, I have come across dozens of reasons for the past. So many, in fact, that if I were to try and list them, I fear that I would lose your attention and push the word limit (which I do often). So, I will make this piece the first in what I hope will be a series of pieces advocating for my fellow explorers to take courses with our wonderful history faculty and even possibly dual major or major in history. My argument here is that events do not just happen in a vacuum. They have consequences and those consequences can transcend the distance of decades and affect us today. In the story above, I mention my great-grandfather and the hardship he endured and how that has led to my parent’s strictness when it came to drinking and to my own decision to abstain from alcohol. Learning my own family’s history showed me that there was a reason for our weirdness towards drinking. Professional historians, of course, do this as well, but on a more societal level — they find ways to show that the worlds they study are speaking to us now.

After the September 11 attacks, historians of ancients Greece and Rome felt their work had become relevant and that the conflicts between the United States and the Middle East were part of a pattern stretching back to the wars between the Persian Empire and the states of Athens and Sparta and how the Greek historian Herodotus framed these conflicts in his work. Or, to use an example from this decade, scholars have been making many connections between modern problems of police brutality and racial injustice and the racist policies and hierarchies that were put in place during the Antebellum and Jim Crow eras of American History to prevent Black Americans from achieving true equality in the United States.

Studying history allows us to better understand how the actions of those from yesterday are still affecting us now, allowing us to perhaps even one day break the chains of conflict and oppression and build something better. Or, at the very least, it will help us steer us into a better direction. Regardless, if you want to better understand this phenomenon, I strongly recommend that you take some history courses here at La Salle during your academic careers. If nothing else, you’ll see that we are just one link in a chain that has been forged long before any of us living now were born.

levanj1@lasalle.edu

Permaculture should become mainstream

Commentary

Aidan Tyksinski, Staff

Combating climate change is something that the Biden administration has put to the forefront. President Biden talked about adding aspects of the proposed Green New Deal into his agenda and has appointed John Kerry to head the newly formed United States Presidential Envoy for Climate. These measures are a good start, but it is not enough; solar panels and wind turbines have long been hailed as the leaders of renewable energy, but what if instead of trying to use nature to stop climate change, we work with nature?

This is where permaculture comes in. Permaculture is the idea of building self-sufficient communities which only use the resources given by nature. The idea of it might seem very outdated for modern society, however, when you break down permaculture, you start to realize how a simple idea can result in massive change.

One of the most important ideas of permaculture is keeping everything in a closed loop system; permaculture communities grow their own food, get their fertilizer from waste produced by the livestock they own and feed said livestock with feed grown by the community. You don’t have to rely on stores or chains to provide food for the community or livestock; you are your own store.

The second most important idea of permaculture is rain conservation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans lose about 50% of their outdoor water due to poor irrigation systems. Faulty irrigation results in the annual loss of 25,000 gallons of water yearly. Permaculture attempts to fix this problem by going back to our roots. One idea is building canals on swampy land and raising the land around it. This idea was inspired by the Aztecs, who famously had some of the best irrigation systems in pre-colonial North America. This water can then be used to grow crops and farm fish, without causing much destruction to the land.

Water collected in rain barrels can be used to water plants; HGTV offers a tutorial on how to build a system for your own home.

The final big idea of permaculture is working with nature, not against it. This can be done in several ways. One way is using animals to get rid of invasive insects instead of pesticides. It is becoming clear that chemicals sprayed on food are not only harmful for the people who eat the food, but also harmful for the person spraying the chemicals. Permaculture uses alternative sources of pest control, such as using chickens to eat the bugs off the food.

Working with nature also comes into play when building structures. Instead of just having a rain barrel, people in a permaculture society will use the rain barrel to store water and grow aquatic food or build a fence that will keep animals in and catch wind at the same time.

Obviously, not everyone will want to move to a permaculture society. However, that doesn’t mean we all can’t use the ideas of permaculture to make our own homes a little greener. If it is possible, I highly recommend growing some of your own food. Find different ways to store rainwater and come up with ideas to reuse old waste products. It might seem small, but every big change started with small ideas.

tyksinskia1@lasalle.edu

Colleges should implement open-note exams

Commentary

Rayna Patel, Staff

Professors should implement open-note exams whether the class is virtual or in-person. Even though many individuals see open-note exams as easier or a way not to study for the class, I see it as a learning opportunity. While taking in-person exams where notes were not allowed I found myself memorizing and studying material simply to regurgitate the information on an exam. However, while taking virtual exams where my notes were available for me to use, I found myself trying to learn to apply the material rather than memorize it. Plus, I ended up retaining more of the material from my virtual exams compared to material from tests where I had to memorize the content.

I think allowing students to take tests with their notes is more beneficial for them in the real world. Allowing notes encourages students to learn to apply material, and being able to use information is a skill we need in the professional world. When students go on to get real jobs all the information is available to them, so they don’t have to memorize anything, however, they do need to figure out how to use that information to complete their tasks. Memorization, to a certain extent, is simply not needed in the real world. Application is far better than recalling facts. Additionally, open-note exams encourage students to take better notes since they have the opportunity to refer back to them. This situation encourages individuals to be more organized, develop neater handwriting and form a note taking system that works specifically for them. Personally, they made me learn better and refer to my notes far more often than I would have. Although I understand that open-note exams are not very common, I strongly believe that they should be the norm.

patelr43@lasalle.edu

The rise and fall and rise again of the Republicans

Commentary

James LeVan, Staff

The month of January has been one of the roughest times for the Republican Party in its history. With its members blamed for the attack on the Capitol, loss of donations from big business, divisions throughout the party and its flag bearer Donald Trump’s uncertain future, it can be easily assumed that the GOP is in ruins and on the cusp of a collapse. However, the Republican Party has a history of rising from the ashes of its self-inflicted wounds and returning to power. In the aftermath of Watergate and Nixon’s resignation, Republicans believed themselves relegated to a permanent minority status in Congress. However, a mixture of the Reagan revolution and the work of Newt Gingrich and his new generation of Firestarter Republicans helped the GOP gain control of both chambers of Congress in 1994. Calamity hit the Republican Party again in the late 2000’s when a mix of the Great Recession brought on by deregulation and frustration over then-President George W. Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq cost them both chambers of Congress in 2006 and boosted Barack Obama to the White House. Yet by 2014, a more hardline Republican Party, transformed by the Tea Party Movement, had regained both chambers of Congress and would, in some ways, set the stage for Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016. Perhaps the best example of Republican defeat and return comes from analyzing the party from 1932 through 1952 and how the GOP changed after what was one of its worst hours.

The 1920’s saw the Republican party put three men in the White House consecutively (Harding, Coolidge and Hoover) and maintain control of both chambers of Congress. With total power, the GOP set out to enact their platform agenda of lowering the taxes on the wealthy that were implemented by the Wilson administration to fight World War I and deregulation of the private sector. At the same time, they also raised tariffs on foreign goods and encouraged the world to buy American. The Republican Party of the 1920’s believed that the government that did the least did best. We regard the 1920’s as a roaring decade of extravagant wealth because it appeared that everything was going well, and the American economy appeared to be thriving. By 1929, however, the good times were over as the Depression ravaged the world and forced people out of work. The Hoover administration’s response to the Depression was essentially a doubling down on the same policies of lower taxes and deregulation. They had hoped that the free market would eventually correct itself. In the meantime, they told the American people to fend for themselves. The American people did not respond well to this call for personal responsibility when suffering during a catastrophe, a feeling many can relate to today. In response to the apparent lack of response from their leaders, the American people decided to give Hoover and the Republicans in Congress the boot and decided to give Franklin Delano Roosevelt, along with his New Deal, a try, thus putting the Republican Party into a state of political exile for two decades.

Historian Heather Cox Richardson does an excellent job of documenting the Republican Party’s time in the political wilderness in her book “To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party,” which presents the entire history of the GOP from its founding before the Civil War to the Bush years. She describes the Republican Party, after their attempt to beat Roosevelt in 1936, as essentially being split into factions with two very distinct visions for both the United States and the party: the Taft wing and the Dewey wing.

Robert Taft disagreed with Roosevelt’s economic policies.

Led by its namesake Senator Robert Taft (the son of former president and chief justice, William Howard Taft) of Ohio, the Taft wing believed that the economic policies enacted in the 1920’s were fine and that FDR and the Democrats’ agenda would lead the nation toward socialism. According to Richardson, their hatred of the New Deal was so fierce that they were even willing to align themselves with the Southern Democrats, who were not keen on it because of the New Deal’s aid to African Americans. The Taft wing saw themselves as defenders of the American way of life, the Constitution and as the only true Republicans in the United States, unlike their rivals over in the Dewey wing of the party.

Opposite of the Taft wing were the Dewey Republicans, led by New York District Attorney, Thomas Dewey. This group believed that the government had a role in regulating business and were more open-minded about the New Deal. Dewey Republicans threw their support behind the establishment of a minimum wage, the Wagner Act and an end to child labor. They also differed from the Taft wing with their support for intervention into World War II, believing that such intervention would boost American production.

Thomas Dewey lead his namesake wing of the Republican Party.

Over the course of two decades, these two factions would duke it out over which side would be in control of the Republican Party, and each wing had their chance to prove their case to the American people. However, neither side was able to defeat FDR or his successor Harry Truman. There was one change, though. In 1952, when former allied General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to enter the Republican primary as a Dewey Republican against Robert Taft. The Taft Wing could not hope to defeat the popular general who led the allied forces in Europe. As a consolation, Senator Richard Nixon of California was chosen as Eisenhower’s running mate to gain their support and unite the party. Together, the two won the 1952 presidential election. Eisenhower then set out to enact a fiscal policy of balanced budgets and reduction of the national debt while also advocating for labor rights and social services. Richardson says that the Republicans had been transformed through decades of exile and strife and came back a more egalitarian party akin to their forebears: Abraham Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens.

The GOP has been down and beaten before and always finds its way back. The questions now are just how long will it be in the wilderness and what it will stand for. Will it dump Trump and attempt to cleanse itself of his legacy and most devoted supporters in Congress? Will it look to the examples of Thomas Dewey and embrace the more egalitarian vision his wing had or continue to channel the spirit of Robert Taft? Ultimately, the decision will fall upon Republicans to answer what it means to be a member of their party.

levanj1@lasalle.edu

American soccer culture needs to exist beyond a World Cup cycle

Commentary

Siobhan Nolan, Staff

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been counting the days until September. After what happened in 2017, this redemption arc is a long time coming. Such a plethora of young talent will surely propel us further in this competition than we’ve gone in recent memory.

I’m, of course, talking about the upcoming qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. The United States men’s national team didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup after a disastrous and heartbreaking loss to Trinidad & Tobago in 2017. At least, it was heartbreaking for American soccer fans — of which there are not as many as there should be.

When I say American soccer fans, I don’t mean people that are aware that the United States has a national team, could name a couple of players (bonus points if they can name players other than Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey!), and will don something red, white and blue when the U.S. does appear in a World Cup. I mean genuine fans that follow the national team year-round, keep up with the American youngsters currently dominating Europe and are desperately trying to turn the United States into a legitimate soccer nation.

Soccer is the world’s sport. In many countries, it’s essentially the national religion. You have your club team and your national team, and those are the teams that you would die for. In a large majority of the world, the population eats, sleeps and breathes soccer.

So why is such an influential country like the United States so different?

It’s a strange situation. About 3 million American kids play soccer — which is the most of any country in the entire world. The United States (specifically MLS youth programs) is producing some of the most promising young talent in soccer right now — Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, Tyler Adams, Brenden Aaronson, etc. etc. The United States women’s national team is the best women’s soccer team in the world. Yet, Americans are more interested in watching football, basketball, baseball and hockey. If you’re even aware that your city has an MLS team (go Union!), you probably don’t follow them closely. The USMNT becomes a source of national pride every four years. It’s inconsistent, frustrating and frankly quite confusing.

The U.S. women’s soccer team won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Kids in Europe and South America are kicking soccer balls the minute they can walk. They take training seriously, and will willingly move away from their home countries at as young as 14 years old in order to pursue a prosperous career in the sport. Their countries take immense pride in their national teams, and the unity that comes from a winning team is unmatched. Soccer is a sport that truly brings all kinds of people together, and is a true joy to watch. The creativity, the passion, the devotion that exists in soccer is life-changing. It’s something immeasurably beautiful that everyone should experience at some point in their lives. It’s not something I can fully and accurately articulate, but once you feel it, you want everyone else to experience it too. It really is that amazing.

So I challenge you, in preparation for the 2022 World Cup, learn more about your national team. Learn their names, their strengths, their weaknesses, their backstories. Watch the World Cup qualifiers, let yourself get sucked into the heat of the game and relish in the thrill of having your team qualify for the most coveted trophy in the game. Root for them when 2022 rolls around, and let yourself be devastated if they lose or overcome with joy if they win the whole thing. Allow yourself to fall totally and completely into the beautiful game.

It’s a lot more exhilarating than the Super Bowl, I promise.

nolans5@lasalle.edu

“Senioritis” — More like Senior Anxiety

Commentary

Shayna Ortiz, Staff

In just three months and 19 days, this will all be over. I will delete Canvas, break up with Google Drive and immerse myself in a whole new life. I will take my final steps as an undergraduate student and my first steps as a college graduate. In just 15 weeks, I will say goodbye to the university that has consumed the last four years of my life. While I am grateful and excited to complete this story, I am filled with emotion. As the date gets closer, the nights get longer, and my brain begins to work the hardest it has ever worked. I am overwhelmed with questions — what will come next? What friendships will last? What city I will move to, and where I will be in June of 2021? I am sure that I speak for most seniors when I say that senior year is not just about completing this journey but accepting this experience with every mistake and every reward and allowing myself to enjoy this moment.

But, as the days get closer and the reality of life after college becomes much more evident, I see myself starting to crumble. Imposter syndrome, an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be, was never something I imagined myself going through. As the reality of graduating during a pandemic becomes less surreal and much more of a reality, it is hard to imagine yourself outside of your comfort zone. Mine happens to be on Olney Avenue, where my biggest concern of the day is if Pauline’s is still open. As I began this semester, I started to see that I was not alone in this anxiety; I was one of many seniors developing imposter syndrome and felt as if they were not ready to take on the adult world. Regardless of your education or institution, as the job market and grad school deadlines become days away, it is impossible not to second guess yourself.

While I cannot speak for the majority of the senior class, I can speak for myself, and hopefully others relate when I say undergrad is not going to be the peak of our time in this world. It is simply a necessary stepping-stone to conquer the adult world. My time at La Salle has not only prepared me for the post-undergraduate experience but has made me capable of seeing who I can become. If you are anything like me, questioning if you should or should not apply to that program or that school, or if you should apply to that job across the country, I say go for it because while having senior anxiety is discouraging, we are well-equipped for our time after La Salle.

ortizs8@lasalle.edu