Goodbye
Sicily Famolaro, Staff Columnist
“I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.” Thanks, Beatles, but I’m singing to a different tune. It’s time to say goodbye to two places you might love: The East Commons Starbucks and West Coast Sandwich Company. So, when it’s eating time and you shuffle your hungry self to East Commons to get your daily Starbucks fix and a distinctly West Coast-flavored sandwich, you’ll be disappointed because, well, they won’t be there.
If $5 footlongs are your kind of thing, you’re in luck. We’re saying adios to the former sandwich joint, but let’s give a warm welcome to one of America’s favorite lunchtime locales, Subway—West Coast Sandwich Company’s replacement. I usually tend to root for the underdog, but I never once ate at West Coast because it was too expensive. Spending $7 or $8 on a couple of fleshed-out pieces of bread just isn’t worth it. I’m not much of a Subway lover either, but I commend SDSU Dining Services for offering a cheaper, healthier meal option that gives us penny-pinching college kids something to bite into, without feeling as if we’ve been cheated out of our money. [quote]It’s easy to skip out on those leafy greens to save some green. Those $5 footlongs just can’t be beat.[/quote]
As for lovely Lady Starbucks, she will move to the Aztec Student Union, and feature a larger seating area. According to Aztec Shops director of Business Development and Contract Housing R.D. Williams, the location in East Commons will not be replaced by anything—it will serve as extra seating, just as it did two and a half years ago before that Starbucks ever opened.
Although last semester I would have been far less than pleased with the expanded ASU Starbucks, I now feel hypocritical taking on the same perspective that I once criticized about Starbucks lovers (if you’re curious, check out “Beware the Siren’s Song of Coffee Culture”). I’m writing this article in a Starbucks while drinking tea—I’ve sworn off caffeine for the spring—and, I have to admit, it’s not so bad. Whether you’re a drinker or not, Starbucks is a nice place to study or meet people. I’d love to see a family-owned coffee shop move in, but Starbucks seems to be the right fit for San Diego State: a spacious, easygoing atmosphere for a friendly, easygoing student body.
It’s time to say your goodbyes, Aztecs. And some hellos, too.
Hello
Simon Shieh, Contributor
As we say goodbye to some, San Diego State looks forward to new improvements and additions on campus.
The new Basketball Performance Center is set to leap off the blueprint and into its beginning stages of construction in later this spring. Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jim Sterk told Goaztecs.com it will be located near the Fowler Athletics Center and will include locker rooms, team lounges, film rooms, an athletic training room and two full-sized basketball courts with eight baskets.
I’m not on the basketball team, nor do I know what it’s like being on a top-ranked college team. I do know what it is to be a serious and dedicated athlete, and I know that it takes long hours in the gym. Because the gym will also be a lounge and a film room, it will be conducive to strengthening the bonds of the players by giving them a communal second home. Our basketball team is one of the best college teams in the country, so it seems fitting that they have a facility that promotes their level of athleticism and commitment.
The new LGBTQ Pride Center is a modest building located where the current Student Organization Annex and will serve as a headquarters for LGBT education, awareness and research. In addition to the new LGBT graduate certificate SDSU will offer starting fall 2014, the center is a great addition to our campus. Besides its academic role, the center will also be available as a support service for students struggling with their own sexual and gender identity.
For LGBTQ individuals in our community, the center’s support service could be just as important as its academic role. A community is formed when people have the opportunity to meet others with whom they identify. I hope that the Pride Center can act, among other things, as a place for people to find common ground where they might have had difficulty finding it before.
The prospect of seeing development in LGBTQ scholarship is also exciting. The graduate certificate and the Pride Center are sure to usher in a new wave of interest and activity in LGBT studies and bring awareness to the university and city.
