On Monday, our editorial covered a very touchy topic. We decided to evaluate how a beloved TV show, “Bob’s Burgers,” was able to create a genuinely funny autistic character. It flirted with notions of comedic permissibility and how to identify that thin line between funny and disrespectful.
For as long as I can remember, I have touted October as my favorite month and Halloween as my favorite holiday. There wasn’t a defining moment where I decided this was the case, yet this fact has remained a minor facet of my identity I often analyze around this time of year. Perhaps it came about as a result of my adoration for vampires, horror films and sinister folklore, because Halloween allowed my otherwise-bizarre fascination to be cool for just one day. Or maybe it was because of my incessant desire to subvert the social norms of my suburban South Florida environment, as Halloween gave me a parent-approved outlet to do so.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges a humorist must face is making jokes on topics that are extremely personal. In times of heightened sensitivity, this challenge only becomes more difficult. Although jokes about things people can’t change are always dangerous territory for comedians, there’s one show on television right now that confronts autism in a way that is delicate, respectful and downright hilarious.
Melvin Henderson felt like a failure as a parent each time he had to wait outside of a public restroom.
This week, a thing is going to happen: We are going to choose our new president. Let’s take a moment to talk about the gravity of that last statement. We are going to choose our new president. Who are we to be making this decision? We’re just people. However, we live in a society in which we’ve been gifted with the privilege to elect our own leader. Although we are certainly allowed to complain about our choices and be dissatisfied, let’s not forget how truly amazing this concept is.
You can’t believe you’re getting your first tattoo. It’s the one you’ve always thought about getting. The infinity sign with Chinese characters in one loop and barbed wire in the other. “All right, that about does it,” the artist says as he reaches to get a mirror. He holds up the mirror behind you, and you can’t believe what you’re going to have to live with for the rest of your life. It’s not the infinity sign with Chinese characters and barbed wire in it. It’s just two words and an ampersand in between. Every time you take your shirt off and someone’s behind you, they’ll politely pretend to ignore the tattoo big with bold lettering that reads…
With the presidential election just around the corner, ‘tis the season for unsolicited arguments about political and social issues. Instead of spouting nonsense about why I think people should believe a certain way, I want to share some of my personal reasons for voting, with the hopes that they might give some of you a reason to vote in the upcoming election.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ratified a resolution Oct. 18 denying the Jewish people’s deep historical ties to Jerusalem. While the resolution acknowledges the “importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls for the three monotheistic religions,” the sacred hill is only referred to by its Islamic name, al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif. Not only does the resolution make no reference to its Jewish name, Temple Mount, which happens to be considered the holiest site in Judaism, but it distinctly puts quotation marks around “Western Wall Plaza,” a subtle attack on the legitimacy of its Jewish connection.
The world in 2016 might look and feel like a never-ending (and rapidly expanding) dumpster fire, but the reality is that the dumpster fire is not actually growing. Instead, it's slowing down.
There used to be a time when movie rental stores roamed free across this vast land. Blockbuster would graze happily on its nourishing customer base. Rival species Hollywood Video would gladly pick up the scraps.
We live in a world of extremes. It saturates our culture, plagues our politics. But substantive discourse often requires gray area and nuance. Yet as a society, we perpetually leave little room for it. The conversation about political correctness is no exception. This became obvious to me a few days ago.
I went on vacation two weekends ago, and almost everything that could’ve gone wrong did go wrong. It was a weekend adventure to the Desert Trip concert in California (dubbed “Oldchella,” because it was a showcase of ’70s and ’80s musicians on the Coachella grounds) with my dad and my sister, and going in, I was already nervous. I’m a naturally anxious person; my dad and my sister are not. So the week beforehand, I had called them numerous times trying to figure out what the “plan” was. As of Tuesday, two days before we left, I didn’t even know what time the flight was. The two of them just told me to relax and that they’d take care of it, which wasn’t exactly helpful to my overly anxious brain.
With Hurricane Matthew still fresh in our minds, we need to talk about our governor’s behavior regarding the hurricane.
Becoming an adult in college is a more emotional experience than we are able to appreciate. Between due dates, job applications, extracurricular activities, laundry and studying, being a part of university life seems quite stressful.
I remember my very first tattoo — a crude rendition of the word “baby” on my right bicep. I got this done in my senior year of high school. My buddy Cameron had been tattooing a lot of our friends ever since he bought some sewing needles and India ink. I kept seeing people I knew showing off their small new tats, usually small doodles of things like birds, clouds or crescent moons. After seeing that none of them got infected, I decided it was high time for my own.
Last Wednesday, the editorial board of the Alligator wrote a column titled “Religious self-reflection is necessary,” in which it took the instance of a British Muslim school educating their girls that to be beaten by one’s spouse is permissible as a reminder that we all must reflect on the nature of religion. Mr. Editorial, as I will call this unnamed author, said we must recognize that “The Bible, the Torah, the Quran … are the words of the gods you believe in, but they were written by man, and man’s way of thinking has come a long way since those initial writings.” He consequently reminded us the books and the religions they have created are inherently flawed, and we must not simply “cherry-pick the pieces that you like and ignore the pieces that you don’t like.” Thus, the example from the British Muslim school is a classic case of a primitive religion that needs reform and needs to come to a more rational understanding of the social context in which their religion started.
It’s no secret to those of us in Gainesville that Cox Communications sucks. But elsewhere in the U.S., there are plenty of service options. If you don’t like watching TV while it’s raining outside, you can opt with DirecTV (owned by AT&T). If you have no regard for your bandwidth, Sling TV might be for you. If you’re a masochist who likes being treated like s--- by customer service reps, Dish Network is right up your alley.
This past week I received my first graduate school acceptance letter, and I was subsequently hit by the realization that this will likely be my last year in this wonderfully bizarre town. I was always aware of this possibility in the back of my mind, but without substantial proof to back it up, I merely rested on the assumption that I would be in this town, well, forever. When your future is so devoid of any certainty, it’s easy to fill in the void with your present life and assume that every day will simply be a repeat of your current one. Now, imbued with the knowledge that my time in Gainesville is finite, I can feel the nostalgia creeping up on me as it colors my perspective of this town ever so slightly.
Today’s student is someone who has to balance classes, a number of extracurricular activities and, last but certainly not least, find a way to pay rent. Students who have multiple responsibilities other than their classes are two times more likely to drop out as opposed to those who don't. This statistic is startling, because it is clear that almost every student has outside obligations to balance. Our view of what the average college student looks like is generally far from reality. Forty percent of students in the U.S. attend college on a part-time basis, while the average student works 19 hours a week. About 40 percent of students are above the age of 25, and the number of students in minority groups attending higher education institutions is on the rise. These statistics prove the laws and practices in place pertaining to students and college need to be re-evaluated and changed. A shift in policy to represent the ever-changing college student would assist millions of individuals throughout the country.
I’ve developed a habit of taking every pun as a personal attack against my intelligence.
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