In light of all that is going on at CSUN with budget cuts, schedule changes and the decimation of summer school, I strongly feel that students must be given a voice in a time where other students may feel discouraged in efforts to fight back against this budget crisis. In regards to this very timely issue, I have written a slam poem piece that I feel many students should read as this poem encapsulates much of the frustrations and feelings surrounding all that is happening. We have to make it known that our voices can and will be heard. I propose this slam piece written with the future of our education system and future generations of students in mind. It was also used for the Performance Ensemble’s installation piece last week where students conveyed their connection to the crisis at hand.
In solidarity,
Asena Taione-Filihia
Transfer Student Association, President
Letters to the editor may be edited for content and clarity.
More For Less
I thought about what I should say
Something meaningful
Something real
Something relatable’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
Something that would rock you to your core
I thought about that seat you’re in
I thought about this room we’re in
I thought about the blue up in the front
Purposefully articulated to keep your attention
More for less
Surrender to the conformity of society
Society that wants nothing to do with you
Society versus your life
Society versus your struggles
Society, feed me scraps
Infuse apathy
Inscribe fear’mdash;
Students demand, that President Koester take a
Stand! Hiking 10 percent, fifth time around, your education
Swift as a thief in the night
It took the words and ran fiercely
More for less
Something about our school
Something about CSUN
Something about CSU
Something about State schools across the nation
Sweeping like a plague
Steering right, then left, then straight
Shut up, shut down, shut out
Something about UC
See you? Conformity is a bitch’hellip;
Six heads and a fat ass wallet and keys to
A Rovin’ Ranger
A Ranger that wants you to say nothing
A Ranger that keeps you at bay
A Ranger that doesn’t care to range your gain but only geared to track your losses
Arranged to make you kick, scratch, beat your way to the
Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Thursday
More for less
Block schedule
Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Thursday, Friday-Saturday
Believe not in six days and six years
Saddest day, we sit idly
But, I shot the sheriff’hellip;but I swear it was in self-defense
Besieged, police state in this mind exists no longer
Blame it on the vodka
Blame it on the henny
Blame it on the blue top
Got you feeling dizzy
Stay sober, keep the mind clear
Because we need you to do your part
Power of your mind
Where as the mind cannot be limited
What it can
What it does
What it thinks
What it says
When it thinks, what it thinks
Conformity bka imprisonment, aka confinement, regulate, restrict
Relegated to scrapin’ and scroungin’
Wreck your mind of its fullest potential
The potential that you know
You understand
You comprehend
They dare say
More money for less education
The day I believe in that sham
To forget the shoulders upon which I stand,
Bent, so that I may stand and dare look over to the promise-land
To minimize the number of students
To cut the life line to my community
To sever the potential of our rise
Nation of the impoverished,
Underserved
Underprivileged and
Underrepresented
Under those circumstances
Love the sinner, hate the sin
Love the education,
But not what some educated have chosen to do with their power
‘
