Opinion

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Opinion

Stop trying to turn international attacks into personal ones

Mar. 22, 2017

A gruesome attack happened in London on Wednesday, leaving five dead and dozens more injured. It is a horrible, tragic event that occurred, despite increased security measures throughout Europe in the recent years. There’s a lot to take in. In the past two or three years, Europe has been struck by frequent terror attacks. The strategy behind this one — using a vehicle and then a knife to attack law enforcement officers — is described by the British security service as a “marauding attack,” something they have been preparing for. The British officers were able to stop the attacker, and Scotland Yard is now working on protecting the city as well as investigating the attack as a whole.

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Sports

Column: The occasional absurdity of sports journalism

By Ethan Bauer | Mar. 21, 2017

There’s a lot to like about sports journalism.

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Opinion

To the perfectionists: it’s okay to take a break

Mar. 21, 2017

It’s that time of the semester that makes or breaks us. Final projects are piling up, midterm grades are in — final exams around the corner. It’s that lull before the storm; just a few weeks from finals, just a few weeks from the ultimate deadlines, just a few weeks before we can’t drop a class, just a few weeks before we register for classes. We were pulled into a sense of false security over Spring Break, but now it’s time to kick ourselves into action.

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Opinion

After World Poetry Day, Alligator Staff Share Stanzas

Mar. 21, 2017

Boots

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Opinion

The importance of stories and delving into fantasy, fiction

Mar. 21, 2017

I have become more aware of a family trait whenever I or my brother return home after a month or two of being away: We really enjoy reminiscing. All four of us enjoy reaching into our past experiences for a good story that makes our audience crumble with laughter. We can do this for hours. And it matters little whether the story has been told or retold, as long as it is told with enthusiasm and it entertains. There are times when we become so lost in this activity that we don’t leave the dinner table until an hour or two after we had finished eating.

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Opinion

Spend less on walls, more on education

Mar. 20, 2017

The proposed Trump budget is not new news anymore, it’s been out for about a week now. There’s been plenty of debate — backlash, support, a satire column that was accidentally retweeted by White House Officials. Now, it comes as no surprise that we’re not exactly fans of this budget, but we’re going to address a common criticism that those who do support the budget cuts often bring up: How is the government going to get all this money to support all these programs that were cut?

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Opinion

‘It was better than the soaps’: the O.J. murder case and its modern parallels

Mar. 20, 2017

The ’90s are alive and well in 2017. From the resurgence of fashion trends we once rocked as children to the ubiquity of the phrase “only ’90s kids remember,” that captivating decade continues to exert an influence on modern culture, whether we realize it or not. Countless beloved ’90s shows have been rebooted to varying degrees of success, and those that remain untouched by modern media can be revisited with the help of streaming services like Netflix.

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Opinion

Who do you really judge when judging someone?

Mar. 20, 2017

My topic this week is commonly discussed, and I’m adding no more to the conversation than another anecdote, so I decided I’d give a short course of my piece to save you time if you’re uninterested: Get over yourself, and don’t judge others.

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Opinion

Keep PBS funding for the kids

Mar. 19, 2017

If you grew up with the basic cable package while the rest of your kindergarten classmates were watching “SpongeBob SquarePants,” you tuned into shows like “Arthur,” “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on your local PBS station. This was before the days of Netflix and Amazon Prime, and if your parents didn’t have one of those fancy satellite dishes, then you were limited to just a handful of basic channels, and your days of television included Barney the dinosaur and “Dragon Tales.” If you’re one of those people, we hope you’re smiling fondly. Even if you were fortunate to have Playhouse Disney or Nickelodeon, you’ve probably at least seen some of the old PBS Kids shows.

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Opinion

UF's administration needs to support graduate-student parents in need

Mar. 19, 2017

You’re in your late 20s or early 30s. It’s time to get married. It’s time to have children. It’s time to build a better future for yourself and your family while contributing to society.

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Opinion

Republican response to Obamacare will cost us

Mar. 19, 2017

It’s no secret the Affordable Care Act — colloquially known as Obamacare — wasn’t perfect. It succeeded in helping those who weren’t insured, because of preexisting conditions or otherwise. There is an individual mandate, which attempts to decrease the costs brought on by emergency room visits, but it didn’t address the ballooning costs of health care or the fact that the U.S. still has one of the highest numbers for health care spending per capita, according to the World Bank.

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Opinion

Finally, a Spring Break story worth reading: Smith Meyers deserves ridicule

Mar. 16, 2017

Spring Break just made Smith Meyers something of a minor celebrity. I’d comfortably bet he has better name recognition now than when he won the Student Government election.

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Opinion

There’s always an audience; give them something

Mar. 16, 2017

Hey there, Gators. Hey there, Baby Gators. I’m kidding, of course; the Baby Gators can’t read. Was that commentary on our shoddy American education system and its effect on our freshmen, or was that an obvious statement because the toddlers of the Baby Gator nursery most likely can’t read?

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Opinion

Geography: It matters more to the creative process than one may think

Mar. 16, 2017

Oftentimes, where I work is just as important as what I am working on. I could be writing a paper on an interest of mine, but if I am in the backseat of a car racing down Interstate 95, then it doesn’t matter how much I enjoy the subject, I won’t be writing my best material. We are creatures easily influenced by our environment, more so than we like to think.

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Opinion

Darts & Laurels: March 17, 2017

Mar. 16, 2017

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day. The day when most Americans will proudly thump their chests, claim distant Irish heritage (yes, we get it Karen, your great-great-great-great grand-mother was Irish) and raise a pint to the air, singing what they think sounds like an Irish folk song. There may be shamrocks and green glitter involved. If you’re trapped in lecture and counting down the hours to your own St. Patty’s Day celebration, take a moment to prepare your toasts for tonight and go over this week’s...

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Opinion

A message to the Student Body

Mar. 15, 2017

We’ve received some complaints saying we as a newspaper opinions section have been too ambivalent. This was in regards to Wednesday’s editorial, which was intended to view the Smith Meyers situation at a macro-scale. We wanted to highlight the domination

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Opinion

Let me ask you this: Why are you in college?

Mar. 15, 2017

One thing I learned quickly during my first few weeks on campus last year is that hardly anybody valued or enjoyed the mandatory class “What is the Good Life?” My teaching assistant for the class acknowledged this stigma himself on our first day of class. But he also posed to us a question, one that stopped me personally in my tracks. It was a simple question: Why are you in college?

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Opinion

Do Better

Mar. 14, 2017

Everybody makes mistakes, but not everybody gets to be Student Body president. The way some people have responded (or not responded, if affiliated with Student Government) has been a disappointment. Let’s put the facts revealed by the arrest video out there, plain and clear: not only did Smith try to steal and damage multiple motorcycles, but he also appears to have punched a witness before running away and apparently also performed a poor carjacking attempt. Smith was trying to drive, and had Smith been able to get a vehicle running, he would have undoubtedly been a deadly threat to everyone around him and himself. Drunk driving is no joke and there is no shortage of personal tragedies out there to remind us of that. In Smith’s recorded words, however, “it’s not my fault.”

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Opinion

Believing it’s ‘meant to be’ will hold you back

Mar. 14, 2017

The world we live in is chaotic. It is shaped by forces we do not always understand. A handful of powerful people exert disproportionate influence over our lives. There are things we have no ability to control.

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Opinion

A response to “The double standards in shaming Smith Meyers”

Mar. 14, 2017

I wholeheartedly agree that we should not ruin Meyers’ career over these events, however, I disagree on some key details.