Welcome Back
September 9, 2014
By: Michael DeFiore
With one week of classes under our belts already, the summer in full retreat and the start of fall close enough now that I can see it on my iPhone’s weather app, it seems a fitting time to bid adieu to everything that made the warmest months of 2014 so memorable. From ice bucket challenges to the recently-concluded Market Basket ordeal, as well as the deaths of numerous world figures including (but unfortunately not limited to) Robin Williams, Elaine Stritch, Lauren Bacall and Maya Angelou, this past summer has proven to be a defining time for many of us, be it for better or worse.
But instead of looking back and pining for the freedom of the outgoing season, let’s turn our attention toward the future, and let the ice buckets go. Fall at Salem State means pumpkin lattes, Patriots football, ‘Walking Dead’ parties and lots and lots of Halloween. Yes, it also means midterms. And cold days in the library. But in the spirit of 2014, let’s take stock of everything that we all have to be grateful for, like the benefits of a solid education at a burgeoning University that is continually expanding. A University with a brand new quad, parking lots and sushi bar. Let us be thankful even before we dive into festive foods and tacky sweaters and begrudgingly start shopping for pants with a larger waist. Let us go forward zealously, daringly and appreciate what it means to be here, now, in a place where we have the opportunity to raise thousands of dollars for diseases. In a place where the untimely death of good people still stuns millions. And where average citizens can still sway the direction of big business.
It is my hope as Co-Editor-in-Chief here at Red Skies along with Lisa Danca, that all of you, from faculty to students to strangers who may stumble upon this article while trying to find pictures of sunsets on Google, will take a moment to appreciate even the struggles you experience, and thrive in the face of difficulty. Let us always remember that nothing, no matter how large or small, can stop good people from changing the world, be it with ice, with picket signs, or with laughter.
“Carpe, diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society
Michael DeFiore
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Red Skies
Contributor's Note: Michael is a fourth year student at Salem State. His minor is Italian.