Opinion | Columns

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Valentine’s Day should be about love, not gifts

As a kid, filling out the “to” and “from” section of small cardboard Valentine’s Day cards from CVS gave me a rush. The best part was folding the piece of paper in half and diligently attaching the heart sticker to keep the card from revealing the sender. Those little Valentine’s Day cards told my classmates I cared and made my third-grade heart happy. But now I am much older and barely any wiser, and I realize that 1) the “rush” was probably from sugar and 2) we spend way too much money on Valentine’s Day.

Young women must stop seeking male validation

Part of young adulthood is marked by a craving for intimacy and acceptance. You can see people forming connections, romantic or otherwise, anywhere on a college campus. Couples sit together in the library and new people strike up conversation in Midtown. It’s common to want to make new connections. But too often, there is a lot of emphasis on gaining validation from people whose validations are not particularly remarkable. This is especially common among young women who are seeking validation from men.

An open letter on the trials of fitness

The gym can be best described as difficult to enter and easy to leave. However, the benefits of the resulting strength and self-confidence you work for within the walls of Southwest Recreation Center or Student Recreation & Fitness Center follow you long after you leave.

Conversion therapy must be banned in Alachua County

Gay rights have made tremendous strides in the past decade with gay marriage legalized as of 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision and states banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, one issue still haunts the LGBTQ+ community: conversion therapy.

Show bingers beware: Spoiling is on the rise and it needs to stop

I am a victim of a spoiler. In an interview before the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Angela Bassett and husband Courtney B. Vance revealed details about the second “Black Panther” movie. The actors got too excited and decided to drop spoilers. Herein lies the issue: My unexpecting ears weren’t prepared to hear this information.

Krishna Lunch is the perfect cure for a bad day

The first article I ever published for The Independent Florida Alligator was a comedic piece about where to study around campus. One of the places I suggested going to was Plaza of the Americas, and I stand by this statement. It’s still where I eat and study most weekdays. I spend most of my waking hours on Plaza because Krishna Lunch has become a staple in my diet. No, seriously. I eat it all. the. time. And that’s saying something because I am an extraordinarily finicky eater.

21 Savage’s detainment is a window into US immigration

Anyone who has ever dealt with the U.S. immigration system is likely to label the process long, challenging and sometimes discouraging.

Local LGBTQ advocate discusses problems with the recent transgender military ban

College isn’t only for education. It’s where we build a community.

Nonlinear shows are creating a new age of TV, and I can't stop watching them

Television shows are Mad Libs to me. I turn on a cable TV show, sit there and try to finish the character’s sentences, fully aware that I am the worst type of person to watch TV with. Correctly guessing the ending to a show can be so satisfying. Nothing is as fulfilling as saying out loud exactly what a television character says with the same timing and beat. But on the other hand, when I am wrong, the results are devastating — yet so humbling.

The truth lies in shades of gray

City plastic ban is admirable, but there are better ways to reduce plastics

Talking trash about your professor won’t get you that A

In the wake of the statistics exam came a slew of angry messages. It was another test that hundreds of students spent hours studying for, starting early in the day and ending late in the night. The material wasn’t meant to be easy, but many felt that it wasn’t meant to be so hard.

Scholarships aren't as rare as you think

The topic of scholarships is often tied to large-scale economic problems and all of that complicated, serious mess. But this discussion of scholarships will not be attempting to slip Marx and Engels into your ideology like a sugar cube into a cup of tea.

My AirPods are fake, but they stand for something bigger

I’ll out myself before anyone thinks they can discredit me: I have fake AirPods.

Asking what position I play is wrong

If you had mistaken me for a college athlete when I was in high school, I would have been flattered. But when I started my freshman year at UF in 2015, I quickly realized the hidden meaning behind the question: “What position do you play?”

UF Student Body President Ian Green welcomes students back for Spring semester

What’s up, Gator Nation?

College doesn’t have to be the best four years of your life

It was the summer of 2017. I had just arrived in Gainesville for the first time as a student two weeks earlier. As I laid in the twin bed in my dorm room, I struggled to fall asleep. There was a throbbing pain in my jaw, and I could feel it spreading. I tossed and turned. I rubbed my temples hard, and when I turned to look at the clock, it was 3 a.m.

Art and STEM can go together, despite what stereotypes say

A few weeks ago, I introduced my roommate to the Swampy UF memes for top ten public teens Facebook group. The stereotypes of different kinds of students, particularly STEM majors, cracked us up.

Women in the music industry deserve recognition