Get it together
Get it together
As I walk around school, the first thing I see are the students walking to their classes. I am like them, a college student who lives a daily life, taking notes in my classes to pass the final exam to get a good grade so I can get a good job in the future.
That image of achieving my dreams is threatened by the government shutdown, whose direct connections to the federally-powered services clearly mean that Federal Pell Grant is threatened.
Eighty percent of students such as myself depend on this grant, along with other scholarships, to pay off the heavy cost of college tuition.
I can barely support my education as I am, having to take a part-time job just to help pay off my expenses; I couldn’t afford school otherwise.
Students across the country may also suffer as a consequence, and only those who are really financially stable can afford to go to school.
The government needs to get it together and return to how things were. Students already have a lot to deal with, and we don’t need more uncertainty hanging over our heads.
Jarin Loristo
Honolulu
Low-cost shaving
I was fascinated to read the article (Tribune-Herald, Oct. 7,) titled “Company launches low-cost razors for poor shavers” in India.
The Gillette company put great effort into developing a simpler and cheaper razor. They tested it on Indian students at MIT, but in use in India by poor people, the new shaver failed miserably because these folks did not have running water.
I am Indian with thicker hair and a higher hair density than American counterparts. In the early ’80s, I read an article on shaving in the magazine Chemical & Engineering News, published weekly by the American Chemical Society, of which I have been a member for more than 50 years.
The article was written by an engineer at Gillette. It described how beards get soft when exposed to moisture, and just five minutes of exposure is sufficient for an easy and clean shave.
I have been using that technique all these years and now I use the expensive five-bladed disposable razors from Gillette that I dispose of only twice a year.
What a low-cost way to shave!
Arabinda N. Dey
Hilo