It’s Friday the 13th — the spookiest day of the year. You decide to take advantage of the eerie end of the week and break out your old Ouija board with some of your friends.
After rummaging through the closet where you store all of your childhood games, you finally find the long-lost Ouija board that once served as a major source of entertainment at slumber parties and get-togethers. Everyone puts on a brave face, but inside, you’re all a little scared.
“Should we really bother the spirits?” says one of your less courageous friends. “Oh please, ghosts aren’t real!” says another, as if to assert their dominance and bravery.
You all decide to go through with it. After lighting some candles and getting things started, you find there is a spirit among you. When you ask the spirit how they died, the cursor moves across the board to spell out:
Darts & Laurels
In a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control, we’ve been trying to find a few glimmers of hope among the chaos and devastation we’ve recently been exposed to. This past week, UF proved to offer us a vote of confidence and comfort that we have all been in desperate need of.
As we are sure you are all already aware, white supremacist Richard Spencer from the National Policy Institute has officially signed a contract to speak at UF on Thursday, effectively earning him our first dart of the week. What gives us hope, however, is the way our president and the rest of UF has handled the news.
UF President Kent Fuchs and other campus leaders have sent out multiple emails and video messages, explaining their personal positions on Spencer and UF. The dean of the UF College of Journalism and Communications, Diane McFarlin, put it best, we believe, we she said, “The First Amendment gives him every right to speak. But we have every right not to listen.”
Although UF can’t legally keep Spencer away, faculty and staff have been working tirelessly to educate students on the situation and increase security measures around campus on the day of the event so every student feels safe and comfortable. They’ve been ensuring that every student knows they are valued and respected, no matter the preachings of this hateful man. The valiant and amiable efforts made by UF faculty and staff have proven to be the laurel we’ve all been hoping for.
Unfortunately, while things might not be going too well at UF, they are going worse on a national scale. According to NBC news, President Donald Trump began attacking Puerto Rico once again Thursday morning. Over Twitter, of course, Trump claimed the island’s power grid and infrastructure were a disaster before the two hurricanes hit last month. He further threatened to pull federal emergency management workers from the island, leaving the American citizens to fend for themselves.
The apathetic way Trump has been handling the situation in Puerto Rico is rightfully our last dart of the week. Twenty-one days after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, 84 percent of people are still without power. How could Trump consider hanging these people out to dry? Through every effort made so far, Trump has acted nothing short of irked and bothered that he has had to do anything for the island at all. We can only hope his threats to pull emergency responders are just that — threats.
Per usual, we’d like to leave you all on a positive note with one last laurel. Last Monday, 55 cities decided to forgo celebration of Columbus Day. Instead, they chose to celebrate a day referred to as Indigenous Peoples Day. The day recognizes Native Americans, who were the true first inhabitants of what later became the U.S.
Advocates of Indigenous Peoples Day explain that Columbus Day does not celebrate the discovery of America, but simply honors the mass genocide and colonization of the people indigenous to the land.
We believe the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day is something America should be proud of, and the 55 cities who chose to celebrate it are taking a step in the right direction.
