Will Penman - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

Columnist bids farewell to college experiences, memories

By Will Penman | Apr. 19, 2010

Since I graduate in about a week and a half, I think now is a good time to say goodbye. Some things you say goodbye to are things we’ll all need to say goodbye to. Farewell, increasing tuition. Some things you say goodbye to are special to my class. Farewell, Tim Tebow. And some things are more personal goodbyes. Farewell, Professor Shoaf. This is a mix of all of those.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Student Body should be more open minded toward peers, life

By Will Penman | Apr. 11, 2010

Walking around campus last week, you may have been confused. Is it Turlington Plaza or a war zone? Is it the Reitz Union North Lawn or no man’s land? Humans vs. Zombies has invited students to see things in a different way. The Student Body has, for the most part, declined the invitation.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Monday release of iPad talk of town

By Will Penman | Apr. 1, 2010

In 2007, lines stretched for blocks so people could buy the Jesus phone. Now on Saturday, while Jesus waits for colorful streamers and the Easter bunny, Apple will release iPad, its tablet computer.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Conservatives: Move On

By Will Penman | Mar. 23, 2010

In response to the health care bill passing in the House of Representatives Sunday night, I noticed a friend’s Facebook status that was something like this: “Here comes the downfall of America.” I expanded the comments to join in on the sarcastic follow-ups. “The health care bill is going to kill us all!” was my best candidate for something to add. Then I saw that they were all serious. America really was doomed in their eyes. Welcome to the end of the world, I guess.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Jaywalkers should be smart about it

By Will Penman | Mar. 16, 2010

I wish we were all really good jaywalkers. There may be some hardasses who think jaywalking is wrong because it’s against the law.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Student Government should stop dodging Reitz questions, get down to facts

By Will Penman | Mar. 3, 2010

If I were in Student Government, I’d shake my head this week wondering why the Reitz referendum didn’t pass. But it wasn’t clear who the referendum represented.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Aptitude tests are an unreliable method of gauging worth

By Will Penman | Feb. 23, 2010

For the job I’m going to have next year, I had to take a computer skills test this week. There were ten questions, each one testing a random aspect of using computers.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Technological advances like Facebook more than just fun

By Will Penman | Feb. 7, 2010

There’s this new thing out that’s pretty fantastic.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Student’s arrest brings to light America’s flawed priorities

By Will Penman | Jan. 20, 2010

About two weeks ago, Haisong Jiang, a graduate student from China studying biosciences at Rutgers, saw his girlfriend off at the Newark Liberty International Airport.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Gay marriage views influenced by statistics, representation

By Will Penman | Jan. 10, 2010

I found a chart online recently consisting of two pictures. The top picture had a map of the United States with states highlighted where gay marriage was legal: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire. Pretty simple picture — five states. The picture below it was the same map but with a lot of states colored. That one? States where it’s legal to marry your first cousin.