Winter is here. Now is the time where you have to guess whether Castle and Leith St are shimmering because of broken glass or frost. It’s the time of slipping down the hill to your lectures and spending long nights at the library because of its heating system. Long story short, it’s freezing out here. And as students, we aren’t adept at dealing with it.
It’s times like these where you remember that sometimes it sucks being a student. Not because of early lectures, or because your lecturers are already setting assignments. But because we are paying a premium to live in cold, dank, musty flats that have the same carpet they did 30 years ago. Or because sometimes, or most of the time, the only heating we get before 9pm is through cooking dinner. I’m here to tell you that this doesn’t last forever. The sun is already getting higher in the sky every day, and there’s only one more month of this bone-chilling winter. Soon enough it will be spring, then summer, and the sun will actually be able to get the condensation off your windows.
I do know that’s not super helpful to point out when you can see your breath while sitting in your lounge. Therefore I will also say: please keep using the systems in place to help students. Use the OUSA free breakfasts, $4 lunches and Bowling Club dinners. Keep using the food bags and food banks run from OUSA and University. Y’all are already doing so, as one of the food banks has run out of food. That might not be super helpful on the surface, but if you keep showing the University and the wider public that these services are needed through your actions, they will keep upping the impact of these services.
Believe it or not, there are people watching what we are doing within the University. If we keep showing them that something needs to be done, our actions are speaking for us. If you want to do more, keep speaking out against your bad landlords. Keep sharing the information we need to increase all of our standards of living. People can’t treat us poorly if we work together to stand up for each other rather than keeping our heads down and taking whatever scraps they offer us from their table.
If you have read this far, thank you and I owe you a fist bump. You are not alone in this. It’s not forever. Please stay safe and stay warm this winter.
Amy Whyman
Welfare & Equity Rep