Time goes by so slowly? No!!! It’s been almost a year since we last left La Boca and moved to the City of Knowledge. Few days ago we said goodbye to our fall 2009 graduates, and celebrated the inauguration of the new building. People seem to have accustomed just fine to the new environment, and student life goes on.

It’s December and only one week away from the end of semester. Finals and projects must have everyone going crazy, that’s just how it works; but after that week it all would feel like it paid off. Some of us might be going away for a while, take some deserved vacations, and others would stick around.

On behalf of the Pananole staff I’d like to congratulate this year’s graduates and wish them the best in their future lives. What lies ahead can only be great if you truly want it. May you all have a wonderful Christmas, white or hot, and a happy New Year!

Andrea Calderon

Editor

by Virginia Syngh

I recently joined FSU Panama, and when I was into my registration process I honestly had no clue that the courses I picked would be ones I’d like, but I just went for them. While hanging out with some friends, we started talking about classes and the professors, and when they asked for the classes I registered they told me they were chosen badly and that I was crazy for choosing those courses because they were too hard and that I should just drop them because I was going to fail. This created insecurity, but I really wanted to try them. They started suggesting me some courses I should take instead but I didn’t really like them. I thought to myself for many hours analyzing the situation and I realized that what they find easy might be difficult for me and what I find easy might be difficult for them too. Peer pressure is something you should be able to control because if you don’t you’ll just end up like a puppet with no personality at all. Don’t do what other people say to you just because they tell you so; do what you want and what you think is right. Just be yourself. Choose subjects you are best in and a subject that you really like. No subject is hard as long as you really decide to focus on it. Try experimenting with other subjects and maybe you will end up liking them.

I came to this university to learn, and of course occasionally but not always, go out and have fun. I want to be somebody really successful in life, and like you, I also want to party. There should be a balance between everything, so let’s not fool around and think we will get grades for free. Here I made a list of some tips for you to follow when registering for classes.

1. If you already know what you want to study, what your major is, don’t hesitate and choose the subjects you really need.

2. Only choose subjects you know you are interested in and that you would enjoy (and if you have any questions just ask for help at the student affairs office)

3. Schedule. Make sure you are available at that time and that your classes don’t clash with one another.

4. If you have any friend that has already taken that subject you could ask them about it. Questions like “is it good?’’ don’t work. You should ask more, like ‘’what did you do in class, which topics do you remember, what kind of homework does the professor leave, what is their class method like’’ among others.

5. Remember to occasionally take a look at your reference sheet, this always comes in handy. It more or less gives you an idea of what you should take.

6. If you love a subject but you do not have the abilities to perform in it, it is better you don’t take it –at least momentarily-. In some cases you might develop the abilities for it in the future, and it might be very hard but this doesn’t mean that you can’t be up to it.

Well people that was it! I hope that next time you are waiting for registration it isn’t such a headache like it was for me.

by Dejan Gantar

Last November Americans sat glued to their TV’s, spent countless hours campaigning, and like a nation of panhandlers repetitiously muttered the words the Obama campaign used to inspire us all, “change…change…change”. One year later we look down the line, some jaded, others still drooling, waiting for that hope and change they claim they were promised.

We have failed to see any real change in domestic policy; budget spending is absolutely outrageous and goes greatly uncovered by the media (although I did not miss a single exciting update on balloon boy’s family). Let’s look at some numbers, even though at the kind of deficit the country is in, these are mostly arbitrary symbolic depictions used as an attempt to explain how unbelievably screwed we are. $75B has been spent on intelligence operations in the past year. The senate recently passed a $626B military and war funding bill (the Pentagon’s budget for 2010 alone is $704B). The American people have subsidized large banks and insurance companies that failed because of faulty economic policies, by the trillions. Yet now we see Wall Street employee bonuses at an all time high, at $140B just this past year. All the while education is poor amidst vast budget cuts, and the military is beginning to recruit in middle schools (the Army is beginning to develop middle school JROTC programs).

There is obvious political gridlock within the current system; this is made evident by looking at the healthcare reform struggle between the executive and legislative branches. The president seems to have totally given up on the public option, which polls show more than half of Americans now favor. And this all in favor of large insurance and prescription drug companies that seem to have our entire ‘democracy’ by the gonads. In a true democracy, the public would be given voting options or referendums on important issues such as these. Instead these decisions are being made by our country’s most powerful corporations, such as insurance and prescription drug companies. Time Magazine recently reported that pharmaceutical companies spent $110 million lobbying congress the first half of this year.

Other policies that remain the same include the Patriot Act. Initiated by the Bush administration following the 9/11 attacks in order to “intercept and obstruct terrorism”, the senate panel recently voted to keep this law intact, though with minor amendments that slightly weaken it. The bottom line; it is still legal for the government to obtain information through unwarranted search and seizures and hold an individual, refusing them the right to an attorney or a trial, even if there is no clear connection to a terrorist group.

The war has shifted to the east from Iraq to Afghanistan. There are currently 52,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan (many of whom have simply been pulled out of Iraq and replaced). The White House is to approve an additional 30-45,000 troops shortly. This number does not include private military contractors (or mercenaries) that are stationed in the region, whose number is actually larger than that of U.S. military troops. Private military contractors, such as Black Water, who remain immune to laws that fall under the Geneva Conventions, make up 57% of the total Defense Department workforce, making the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the most privatized wars in history.

Powerful PR strategies, like those used under the Bush administration, are convincing the public that the U.S. “needs” to be there and “needs” to fight the terrorists. This is no different than the campaign led during the Iraq war, which left many Americans thinking “We shouldn’t be there, but we already are, and at this point it is our only option”. It is important to note that evidence pointing toward very little progress, if any at all, in Afghanistan, is becoming more prevalent; particularly to U.S. military standards.

The U.S. has for long, supported Israel. Regardless of their human rights abuses, oppression, occupation and overall halts on possible development against the Palestinians. The recent UN inquiry into the Israel-Palestine conflict earlier this year, written by the renowned Justice Richard Goldstone, cites war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetuated by both sides. It accuses Israel of various crimes, including the bombing of civilian targets, arbitrary arrest and even the murder of children waving white flags. The Obama administration has with quite an effort, attempted to minimize the report’s findings, as well as stating the report is biased. In a recent interview with Al-Jazeera, Goldstone stated “I have yet to hear from the Obama administration what the flaws that they’ve identified are.”

So we, as a nation with an appetite for change, sit back and wait for it. Will we see an end to our wars? Will we see our rights and liberties reinstated to their position before the Patriot Act? Will the people of the U.S. continuously be ignored by lawmakers whose interests lie with large business? Or will we see a further prolonging of the status quo as a president attempts to secure his seat for a second term?

by Maria Alejandra Almillategui

Finally the big day arrived, I was going to college! I couldn’t wait to see the new building, but it wasn’t ready yet. Needless to say that I was nervous, my first day meant several things for me: new friends, new classes, and perhaps a boyfriend. Even though I was disappointed that the building wasn’t ready for the start of semester, this didn’t seem to affect the mood of some of the students. Those first days in building #105 were cool, except for when the people from INCAE shared some of our classrooms. There weren’t enough parking spaces for cars and most of us had to go through the hassle of having to search for a spot somewhere else, already being late for class if that was the case. Two weeks after this situation, FSU’s administration gave us the good news. The building was ready! And I can say that all the time we waited was worth it. Now we even have our own place: “fourth flour”, where pool and ping pong tables, vending machines, TV, and precious coffee await for us.

Welcome Class of 2013.

by Eduardo Miranda

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