Bumper Stickers & Summary

Bumper Stickers:

As I walked through the parking lot located in front of my dorm building (Westfall), I realized how heterogenous the culture here at Colorado State University is. I searched the parking lot for a few minutes and saw a popular theme of the Colorado State Flag in various shapes/messages. A lot of these students with this specific type of bumper sticker are from Colorado, and clearly are proud of their home state such as the ever common NATIVE sticker. The NATIVE sticker is used by Colorado natives to symbolize the proud and unique tradition of being born and raised in the state of Colorado.  There were some people who were out of state that had stickers displaying there proud sense of attending school in this aesthetic state that we are lucky enough to call home. Next, I walked through the parking lot of the Home Depot and saw a rather different theme. This parking lot was more diverse than the dorm one, but there was a common theme displaying military pride. As I searched all around the parking lot, I saw that most of the cars were displaying many different military branches. One of the common ones read “I Love My Marine”. Due to the fact that we are located in Colorado, there is numerous military installations nearby. These bumper stickers would display the family-focused aspect. Therefore, I have came to the conclusion that the people of Colorado are extremely proud of there state they live in, and the things that they themselves and their families accomplish. 

Summary: “Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi” by Nathan Brown

This letter illustrates the situation where students were fighting against the tuition increases, and in turn experienced police brutality on the UC campuses. This took place in 2011, and the letter was very strongly written voicing Brown’s opinion about this issue. Nathan Brown is an assistant professor at UC Davis, and Brown felt as though Chancellor Katehi was to be held accountable for this horrendous police brutality that took place. Additionally, Brown demanded that the chancellor would immediately resign her position. “Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood. This is what happened. You are responsible for it.” (page 125). This quote really hit me hard due to the fact that it displays the true horror of the police brutality that occurred. At the end, Brown concludes this strong willed letter by stating that the chancellor’s words express concern for the safety of the students, but her actions do the opposite. Brown claims that she is unfit to fulfill the requirements of her job.