The 2017-18 NBA season is now well underway, and already we’re witnessing some great things. Rookies across the league are having profound impacts, and several conference powerhouses are coming to form as they work through the growing pains of the early season.
Martin Luther King Jr. famously claimed, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” As UF President Kent Fuchs has repeatedly demonstrated since white supremacist Richard Spencer first announced his intention to invade Gainesville in August, he does not understand King’s words.
You’ve been sitting at home for hours, trying to think of ways to entertain yourself. You and your roommates thought because it was a bye week for UF football, you might as well use Saturday to relax and have a lazy day.
Earlier this week, I was studying. I was in the library, where most people are when they study, and I found a perfect little table in the basement of Marston Science Library. It was nearing hour three of my study venture, and I was making decent progress. I brought snacks to tide me over and filled my water bottle. I had an arsenal of colored pens, my notebook, my hard copy of the textbook at my disposal. Last but not least, I had the most important part of any study session — my ear buds.
Jane Doe (Jane Doe is not the actual name of the victim, but is used in place of it to ensure her safety) draws her third cigarette from the box of Marlboro cigarettes on the table between us. The box looks light.
This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything.”
Substance abuse. Parking lot fights. Port-a-potties as far as the nose can smell. No, it isn’t graduation at Florida State, it’s the Florida-Georgia game.
I’ve always been someone who tries to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Coach Jim McElwain has been under fire since the beginning of this year’s football season. A 3-3 record for the Gators so far this year, including consecutive home game losses, hasn’t caused the public to look upon McElwain any more favorably. In fact, according to McElwain, he, his family and several Gator football players have been receiving death threats in response to the team’s poor performance lately.
In Spring of my sophomore year, I was overwhelmed.
I read an article the other day on several interesting cases that could make their way to the Supreme Court in the coming months. One in particular caught my eye: Garza v. Hargan. This case involves a 17-year-old illegal immigrant, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, who is currently detained in Texas. She arrived in the U.S. pregnant, and has since demanded an abortion.
This semester I’ve found myself running. Running, not in the “late for class” kind of way, but more so running through this semester and through these next two months to graduation. Some of you, regardless of whether you’re graduating or not, might also feel this way.
It’s like clockwork. Every year around this time, the pumpkin spice lattes come out, Hallmark movies start to play on television and the temperature in this majestic city drops into the high-sixties. And just as I start to put on my light jacket to protect me from the less-than-sweltering temperatures, my phone starts vibrating uncontrollably. I roll my eyes as I see text after text from guy after guy professing their love for me. They all want to be exclusive. Don’t get me wrong — it’s flattering. But more so, it’s exhausting.
Things in Gainesville have been pretty tense lately.
A white man in a black V-neck stood outside the Phillips Center on Thursday. On his right shoulder, he had pinned a pro-Nazi button. He proceeded to speak about how he disliked transgender people.
Here’s a quick hypothetical for you. You’ve been tasked with appointing the new leader of the National Fire Prevention Association (this is not real, so just go with it). Your options range from veteran firefighters to expert industrial engineers to dedicated safety officials and everyone in between. With all of these choices in mind, would you pick an arsonist?
Mental health is not merely a personal struggle. It is not something a person should be left to deal with alone. It is not something that can be swept aside. Mental health issues come from within. They stem from the mind — what makes a person who they are. In the past few decades, there have been major strides in mental health advocacy, and the negative stigma associated with mental health struggles have certainly decreased. However, we are far from finished.
In light of recent events on our campus and the current state of our country as a whole, it seems like everyone is aggressively preaching tolerance and dubbing it as the one true solution that will bring our nation back together. Tolerance is a great concept, don’t get us wrong, but it’s not what America needs now in terms of an all-inclusive solution. What America needs is an increase in kindness and a boost in action.
On Thursday, in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Richard Spencer tried to speak.
As I write this at nearly 11 p.m. Thursday, it’s been only a few hours since racist Richard Spencer spoke on UF’s campus and failed miserably to divide our community.
Solutions by The State News
