Why politics matter...

It's that time of year. Again. Time to vote. Even if you're an international student and cannot vote in the upcoming election, (and in that case, I apologize for this post, but decisions your fellow students make can affect you too) you've likely been bombarded by television ads, pop-up ads on the internet, radio ads and mass mailings. If you have a landline, you've probably been asked to participate in multiple polls asking who you would vote for in a given election. I sure have. At the most inopportune times, might I add.

It's pretty easy to get overwhelmed and want to crawl under a rock (or hide in the lab/library) and not pay attention anymore. It's hard to know what's truth, what's real, what's for show, what's just "mud slinging." It's easy to ask yourself if your one vote really matters. Reality is hard to come by. But the reality is this:

The people elected in a few weeks will make decisions that will impact you.

So, while your advisor and some other people might be upset with me, I'm asking for those of you who are registered to vote to take some time and do some research (just not the kind they want you to). I want you to learn about who is running for what office in your district, on what platform. I want you to learn about the positions of the presidential candidates. I want you to research the issues on the ballot. I want you to make an educated decision on who (and what) you're going to vote for on Tuesday, November 6, and then...

...GO VOTE!

Tuesday your day from hell? Teach three classes and have late office hours? Need to be in the lab all day? Early voting is already open in Benton and Washington Counties. To find out where you can go to participate in early voting in Washington County, go to http://www.co.washington.ar.us/index.aspx?page=373. For early voting information for Benton County, click http://www.co.benton.ar.us/CountyClerk/EarlyVoting.aspx. To find out where you need to go to vote on election day, go to https://www.voterview.ar-nova.org/. Now you have no excuse not to.

And to get you started with your election research, please take a look at the Chronicle of Higher Education page, The 2012 Election: What Academe Needs to Know.

That's it for this week...but not for politics. If I come across an issue that affects my fellow students, I will let you know. It's easy to focus completely on your research and teaching loads, and your goal should be to complete your degree and graduate. But, if you can help make things better for the graduate students who come after you, in any way, you have a responsibility to do it, as those who have come before you did for you whether you were aware of it or not.

If there's an issue you've come across - that affects students - and would like for me to discuss in the blog, please let me know.

I personally will be heading to my local polling place, my daughter's hand in mine, and voting on November 6th. I will tell her about the importance of voting, how in another time I, and later she, would have been denied the right to vote because of her gender, and how fortunate we are that we have the privilege and right to vote in our country - without fear of being subjected to physical harm. She has come with me to vote in every presidential election (the first when she was only three weeks old) since she was born, and many other elections in between. I know that I'm romanticizing voting here, but I feel a responsibility to those who fought for these rights for me, to live up to their expectations and show appreciation for their sacrifices.

You have to vote for your own reasons...but please, go vote.