OPINION
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COLUMNS
Why study the humanities? There’s a good reason
Nov. 1, 2015"También No-hacer es creador, pues no sólo de hacer vive el hombre"- -Gonzalo Arango
Opinion | Columns
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Controversial Ann Coulter must speak at UF
Nov. 1, 2015I want to make my intentions perfectly clear: I want Ann Coulter, the conservative firebrand and provocateur, to speak at UF. In fact, the event should be required for everyone to attend. If a student values his or her education, listening to Coulter speak is a must.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Classroom assault highlights another discussion about race
Nov. 1, 2015Assaulting a student should never be a disciplinary measure, especially when the offense is as harmless as using a cellphone in school. And yet, a police officer saw it fit to flip a girl’s desk over. Police officers are meant to keep people safe, so what went wrong?
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Police violence and censoring art
Oct. 29, 2015Quentin Tarantino, the director of "Pulp Fiction" and "Django Unchained," is not unfamiliar with controversy. I realize this is a very I’m-20-years-old thing to say, but the man is one of the best directors out there. He took his passion for cinema and turned it into a successful career by writing and directing many of the most celebrated films of the last 25 years. His work is known for its fast-paced, witty and profane dialogue; its fantastical homages to other films and film styles (the Dirty Dozen, Spaghetti Westerns, Blaxploitation cinema) — and for his films’ often extreme violence.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Sixty-nining sucks — pun very much intended
Oct. 29, 2015A long, long time ago, someone realized people were wasting time performing oral sex individually and it might be a good idea to combine these acts into one time-saving sex position.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
The 'chill girl' stereotype needs to stop
Oct. 29, 2015I think I’m pretty fun. I know how to relax, and I like beer. But I am not the "chill girl," I never will be and that’s OK.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Bernie Sanders and the socialist label problem
Oct. 28, 2015Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has breathed life into a campaign season that once seemed highly predictable. In an election cycle that once appeared to be a victory lap for centrist Hillary Clinton, Sanders has offered a true challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination. But Bernie Sanders faces a huge problem that could possibly be a deathblow to his campaign: his self-identification as a socialist. Before you hastily type a letter to the Alligator, I know Sanders considers himself a "democratic socialist," and it differs from other branches of socialism. From where I’m standing, however, he isn’t much of a socialist at all.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
You have one life in one body: Embrace it and do not be ashamed of it
Oct. 28, 2015I’ve always been afraid of going to the lake or the beach. First off, I identify as a male; my privilege protects me from understanding how having "the wrong body type for Abercrombie" or having a natural thigh gap might make a woman feel. Still, I’m always anxious during occasions when others might see me, or worse, when I might have to see myself.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Gender-neutral pronouns and evolving language
Oct. 27, 2015CNN recently published an opinion piece by Columbia University linguist John McWhorter entitled “Goodbye to ‘he’ and ‘she’ and hello to ‘ze’?” which dealt with the state of gender-neutral pronouns in the English language.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Colleges don’t kill dreams — midterm scores do
Oct. 27, 2015It’s been awhile since any of us have walked down a kindergarten hallway. Yet, across the country and the span of time, and as long as coloring and finger painting have been staples in the golden years of our lives, so has finishing the daunting sentence, “When I grow up, I want to be…”
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Democratic Republic of the Congo: violence, hip-hop
Oct. 26, 2015The Democratic Republic of the Congo: a country we tend to think of so little that many would struggle to identify it on a map. Many Americans remain unaware of the political corruption and militia violence that ravages the lives of Congolese civilians and refugees residing in the DRC. (Do not fret: I only just learned all this while producing this piece.)
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Life lessons learned from flip phones
Oct. 26, 2015It was an impressive run. Several weeks ago, my iPhone 4S remained uncased, unbent and unbroken. Hubris and the want for less cumbersome technology in my pocket drove my decision to abandon the armor that was my OtterBox. It was inevitable, then, that my iPhone’s demise would arrive with irony. Having survived the many boredom-induced lobs, flips and saturnalias, it would ultimately meet its screen-shattering end by dropping just a foot from the edge of the nightstand.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Going back home: the reality check
Oct. 26, 2015Coming back home after living somewhat independently in our college-town bubble has always been an interesting, if not perplexing, experience for me.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Allies will always be critical in the fight for equality
Oct. 25, 2015It is easy to feel detached and uninvolved in issues involving discrimination if you’re not in one of the communities affected. However, everyone has a part to play in these issues. The definition of an ally is just that: standing by a community that you are not a part of and working to support them regardless. Allies are necessary for change, no matter the issue, and they can make a sizable difference.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Georgetown professor talks queers, ethnic drag
Oct. 25, 2015Katrin Sieg is a professor of German and European studies at Georgetown University. She has published three books on 20th-century German theater and performance, which explore nationality, race and gender.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Presidential debates deserve more credit
Oct. 25, 2015While many Americans are aware baseball season is ending, football season is reaching a sort of midway point and hockey season is just starting, the nation does not seem to fully appreciate that we are currently in the thick of the presidential debate season. The nation has watched three debates — two Republican and one Democratic — and is mentally preparing itself for another Republican debate Wednesday.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Nazism is more than a buzzword - Take it seriously
Oct. 22, 2015On the internet, no one knows you’re not a Nazi.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Consent lessons: not as hurtful as rape
Oct. 22, 2015Last week, a pretentious dude refused to learn about consent, thus teaching us all why consent is important.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Coming out: sometimes, it gets bitter
Oct. 22, 2015Every year, folks in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer communities observe National Coming Out Day in the month of October.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Must we let racists spoil ‘Star Wars,’ too?
Oct. 21, 2015Most Monday nights I’m holed up in my apartment, elbow-deep in a bag of family-sized Ruffles, spending intermissions between episodes of "Roseanne" on Netflix visiting my ex-girlfriend’s Facebook page (she is so much happier than I am). But this past Monday night was time for a change, and it was the Force that guided me from the dark, damp and Dagobah-like state of my bedroom to the buzz of Mother’s Pub and Grill just a block away. You know, the Force. The thing that gives a Jedi his or her power. That energy field created by all living things. The thing that surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together.
