Damian Majewski

On September 26, I attended the party for the political debate in the Campus Center Board of Trustees.  This event was run by professional staff members of the political science department at Stockton.  At this event, I was greeted with light refreshments and was able to meet others interested in watching our country fall apart.  Since these debates featuring the current candidates could be considered a joke, the viewing was accompanied with a bingo board.  While many of the phrases on it pertained to Trump and his shenanigans like ‘You’re fired’ and ‘China,’ Clinton had some such as ‘emails.’  During the debate,  topics such as Social Security and third Parties never came up, which defeats the purpose of creating a national televised debate for those issues. What surprised me most about this debate is that is was not aired on Comedy Central.  Although a small amount of informative statements happened during the debate, the main focus was on the two candidates.  I found that the debate was centered more around personal attacks, rather than the candidates focusing on the topics.  Some of their comments were quite entertaining such as “Trumped up, trickle down economics”, attacks at Trump for his tax releases, and Clinton’s email scandal.  I found the event itself to be put together well with the inclusion of another projector displaying live tweets on the debate all night.  The highlight of the night was when the debate closed and they announced that the upcoming one would be held in Arizona, which was the last word I needed for bingo.  With three debates left before people head out to the polls, I am excited to attend another one of these events.

On November 28, 2016, I attended the Take Back the Tap event hosted by the Waterwatch club.  Their main purpose is to promote the benefits from conservation of the environment through programs that involve community outreach.  This was a one time event hosted with the purpose of educating the attendees on the benefits of tap water in comparison to bottled water.  While the event had low attendance, it was put together well.  On a table in the front was four pitchers of water labeled A,B,C,D.  Three were from various companies like Poland Springs, Fiji, and Deer Park, while the last was just regular tap water.  Next to this was cups so that the attendees to the event could taste test the water.  The goal was to write down which water in each pitcher we thought belonged to each company while also figuring out which one was the tap water.  After everyone went up and wrote down their guesses, only one person out of the group was able to get all four right, winning them a Waterwatch branded bottle.  Afterwards, we discussed our thoughts on how we attempted to differentiate the taste in the pitchers.  Many others besides myself found it difficult to tell the types of water apart.  Little did we know that the event was set up to show that there is practically no difference between tap water and bottled water when it comes to taste!  Water bottle companies just take water from springs and resell it to the public when there are free methods to obtain water such as the hydration stations around Stockton’s campus.  Next time you buy a water bottle, just think about how you could be getting it through more efficient methods.         

On October 19, I attended another party for the third political debate in the Campus Center Board of Trustees.  This event was run by professional staff members of the political science department at Stockton.  At this event, I was greeted with soda and popcorn.  Again, this debate viewing featured a bingo board since these debates continue to make Americans lose faith in their political system.  many different and quite ridiculous phrases were made into popular memes like “Bad Hombres, Nasty Woman, and Puppets.“  This debate was the most informative of the three, focusing on many different topics such as immigration, the economy, healthcare, gun ownership, and Isis in Syria.   Like the first event, this was also put together well with the inclusion of another projector displaying live tweets on the debate all night, snacks, and political entertainment.  The night ended with the moderator announcing a state (Nevada) which completed my bingo board.  I could have won a presidential PEZ dispenser but they had run out by the time I got bingo.  Now that all the debates are over, the American people can make their decision for who they want to destroy the country next.