What the Funk is Going On?

Well friends, it's Friday. We've all made it through another insane week and have inched ever closer to the glorious finish line that is the end of the semester. I'll be honest with you, when I wrote this column I was slightly intoxicated and running dangerously low on sleep. The booze was the only medicine I had to alleviate the pain I felt radiating from the knee injury I sustained earlier this week, working a 16-hour Flamenco show. A 21-hour show if you count the previous nights work as well. I also was already slightly behind on my deadline of getting it done. And in case you were too captivated by last week's front page story about Ski and Ride, you may not have noticed that "What the Funk" was MIA last week. I bring all this up not because I'm looking for pity or trying to get away with writing a sloppy, hastily written column. I bring it up to make a very clear point…I AM BURNT OUT! In fact we are all burnt out. I know this to be true because my friends and acquaintances tell me this daily, in fact hourly.

Some of you may already be aware of this, but many institutions of higher learning across the nation as well as our fine state have what is unofficially know as a "suicide week". This usually manifests itself a weeklong vacation about five weeks into the semester. This policy has often been implemented only after a tragedy such as a suicide occurs on campus. Some colleges report very high suicide rates, especially in the fall semester. I don't think such a tragedy should have to unfold on our campus for LSC to adopt a similar model. I look around at all of you and I see the toll the endless weeks without a break takes on your bodies and minds. Kids are turning into zombies on campus. Sleep deprived and overworked many of us have reached a breaking point. It's easy to say that it's our own fault. That we DON'T NEED to take on all these extra-curricular activities. But the sad truth is that we do. Just going to classes and doing the homework is not enough these days. If any of us hope to survive and thrive when we graduate, we are expected to take on extra responsibilities to show that we are ahead of the curve. I mean what the funk is going on society?

An extra break during the middle of the semester would help immensely. It doesn't even have to be a weeklong break! Even a five-day weekend would be a welcome change.

Our system seems to demand us to be overworked.  A respite is necessary for all of us. I doubt any of you reading this would disagree with me on this. The question now is how do we get this policy implemented? Perhaps we need to petition the administration to make a week available for us to relax, recover, and come back ready to work even harder. With any luck we can implement this change soon, before we all completely fizzle out.