DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

BY Rich Schapiro

Thursday, January 28th 2010, 8:45 AM

Photo by Bucky Turco TSA guard takes cat nap at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday. The agent has been reassigned to desk duty pending investigation.
Forget about catching terrorists. This airport security agent was too busy catching some Z’s.

The Transportation Security Administration worker was put on desk duty after she was spotted sleeping in plain sight at LaGuardia Airport – the latest black eye for the federal agency.

Brooklyn traveler Bucky Turco said he had just arrived at his departure gate on Sunday when he saw the uniformed worker snoozing in a chair, head resting in her hand.

“I was shocked,” Turco, 35, said, of the 8:15 a.m. encounter. “I’ve never seen a Department of Homeland Security official sleeping inside an airport.”

Turco, 35, snapped a photo of the worker, who woke up about 10 minutes later during an announcement that the Frontier Airlines flight to Denver was boarding, he said.

After rising from her seat, the groggy employee immediately joined her colleagues who were performing secondary security checks at the gate, Turco said.

Turco was flummoxed by what he witnessed.

“In light of their recent follies, it just seemed that a federal agency beleaguered by bad news of late should probably worry about their image a little more,” said Turco, founder and editor-in-chief of the counter-culture magazine Animal.

“To be fair, she could have been on a break. But you don’t go to a precinct and see a police officer sleeping at their desk.”

Turco posted the picture on his Web site. Someone sent a link to TSA officials Tuesday and the worker was immediately interviewed, an agency spokeswoman said.

The guard was put on desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation.

“We recognize that our officers have very demanding jobs that require constant vigilance and hours on their feet,” TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said.

“But nonetheless, it was completely inappropriate for her to rest in a public area while on her break as opposed to a nearby break room.”

The embarrassing incident is the latest in a series of high-profile TSA gaffes.

Earlier this month, a 22-year-old TSA guard at Newark Airport left his post, allowing a romantic grad student to breach security for a final kiss with his girlfriend.

Just two weeks later, on Jan. 17, a Haitian evacuee slipped through a door leading to a restricted area at Kennedy Airport, sparking a security scare.

Critics of the TSA say the latest incident is minor compared with the other flubs, but revealing nonetheless.

“These people are underpaid, overworked. They don’t stay in the job long, which tells you a lot about job satisfaction,” said Bruce Schneier, a security expert.

“It all makes sense that you would see this sort of thing, but there’s so many egregious things that the TSA is doing that this doesn’t even [bother me].”

For starters I would just like to say, this is why we can’t have nothing nice.  Come on DC students!!! It only takes a few knuckleheads to ruin it for everyone which is unfortunate for both the students who missed out on this potentially great event and the people who worked hard to put it together. 

That being said, I disagree with cancelling the evening events.  While safety is always the first priority and concern, success is also a priority.  This seems like punishing the many for the sins of a few!!! Over 12,000 students were evacuated because this incident!! When I was in high school I was smart but unmotivated.  I had a fabulous adviser named Demisha Lee who understood me in ways that I did not understand myself.  In addition to being my academic adviser, she was also the college counselor.  She was the one the directed me to Cornell College and it changed my whole educational experience.  While I came from a family where going to college was a given, college would have probably been a struggle for me if not for Demisha’s insight.  Once I had that school as a specific future goal, my high school experience changed as well because I had something new to push me… I had found MOTIVATION!

Every student should have the chance to make that connection and to have that moment and often that is through things like college fairs and experiences.  I believe with the multitude of schools in this country, there is a place and an experience for everyone.  However without access they may never make the connection and reach their full potential.  And DC students deserve more than that.

Students evacuate after fight breaks out at college fair

By: Lisa Gartner | 10/19/11 10:02 AM
Examiner Staff Writer @Lisa_Examiner

Their button-downs buttoned, and resumes still warm from the printer, teenagers headed to the D.C. College Fair Tuesday to meet with representatives from more than 300 colleges and universities.

And then things went wrong.

Shortly before 11:30 a.m. — more than an hour and a half before the morning session was supposed to finish — 12,000 students were evacuated after fights broke out, WAMU reports.

The Office of the State Superintendent, which co-sponsored the fair, declined to comment. A spokesman for Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley called the scene “a non-issue.”

But the evening session of the college fair was canceled, and students were pretty bummed. An 11th-grade charter school student from Southeast told WAMU she had prepared herself with questions to ask, and now didn’t know where to get them answered.

Terry Lynch, vice president of School Without Walls Senior High School’s parent organization, wrote a letter to D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown asking local officials to hold hearings on school safety.

“Very unfortunate D.C. students and families lost out on the opportunity to learn more about colleges,” said Lynch, whose daughter is a sophomore at Walls.

He said he also was upset that D.C. Public Schools failed to provide any information about what happened at the college fair.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/10/students-evacuate-after-fight-breaks-out-college-fair#ixzz1bKjUl4EC

So I just had an interesting debate with some friends about men and women and relationship and the first thing that stood out to me was the importance of language which brings me to a short tangent before I even start. 

I think we have all become a little lazy with language and the choice of words that we use.  With the invention of the internet and instant gratification, I do not think that we put the same thought into things that our ancestors did.  I cannot tell you how many important things (like my graduate school welcome letter) that I have received in recent years with spelling or grammatical errors!!! I don’t know if it is the rush and need to get things out or just LAZINESS!! but whatever it is, it speaks volumes to me (if you know my mother you understand why).  I understand that I grew up different from most but people need to relearn the value of professionalism.  *Stepping down off soapbox*

Back to my main point though.  This discussion began with my declaration to some guy friends that I just want CONSISTENCY!!  The response I got was…

Friend J – You don’t even know what you want so just stop!

Me- Well what do you think I mean by consistency?

This than sparked a discussion.  He heard consistency as mundane and boring where I meant consistency as in reliable and trustworthy.  I feel like a lot of times men (and sometimes woman) set themselves up with the big promises of what they think the other person wants and then when they can’t deliver the person is disappointed when they did not even really want it in the first place!!  Don’t promise me flowers and candies and whatnot and then drop the ball because even if I don’t like them I am going to feel a certain kind of way because you created an expectation. 

Basically what I am trying to say is be about you word!! (which is why it is important to know what you are saying because what you mean and what someone perceives is not always the same so it is important to gain clarity and understanding to avoid miscommunication and frustration!) In fact, be a bit spontaneous… instead of telling me what you are going to do just do it (well sometimes tell me first cause not all surprises are good lol). 

Another quick side note: Fellas if a woman asks you about something you said you were gonna do for her or give her to her, that does not necessarily make her a nag or a gold-digger, she is trying to be persistent and hold you accountable.  So just own that you messed up or better yet just do it.  We don’t want to keep asking anymore than you want to keep hearing about it!!

I have heard that your final hand in Apples to Apples is supposed to say something about who you are and your personality.  This is mine (with definitions from dictionary.com unless otherwise noted) from a game with some friends:

• American (“a citizen of the United States of America”) – Which I am!
• Lucky (“having or marked by good luck; fortunate”) – Which I often am, I mean look at my life! Some call it luck, I call it #blessed
• Boisterous (“rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained”) – Yeah I am, I’ll admit it.
• Charming (“a power of pleasing or attracting, as through personality or beauty”) – I would say that I am.
• Cheesy (“Trying too hard, unsubtle, and inauthentic” – urban dictionary came the closest to getting the definition right) – Lol at times, I am more like cheesy humor.  I grew up with a dad who was the king of the “dad jokes” and threw around a lot of cheese. Guess some stuck. (in fact that was probably a lil cheesy)
• Eccentric (“deviating from the recognized or customary character, practice, etc.; irregular; erratic; peculiar;odd” – I also liked “not situated in the center”) – Totally I mean look at this blog!
• Fresh (“hip, current, with the times” <—— they need a fresher definition on urban dictionary but this was close) – Yeah I would say I am as well.

So yeah next time you play Apples to Apples see what you get! You might find some interesting fun things out from your final hand.