Issues Tag

People love to tell you how to live your life.  Given the chance, most everyone jumps at the opportunity to provide an endless supply of advice out of their own life manual.  Telling you what they would do, pausing only to pass judgment on your latest decision, then quickly back to campaigning their next “If I were you” epiphany.  The thing is, life is hard, we all need help at one point or another so we listen to the perceived wisdom of those around us.  To make an unpopular decisionRead More

I’ve seen a lot of articles recently regarding ‘rape culture,’ and while many of them are poignant, thought provoking pieces that really contribute to the cause of stopping said rape culture, there are several articles out there that take the term to the extreme, making women out to be victimized. In my opinion, this further propagates rape culture by taking arguments and pushing them to extremes. So I made a handy list, which in my opinion, outlines some of the topics that help call out and end rape culture, andRead More

I’ve always been the person who thinks that if pictures of your drinks for the night, memorable club snaps, and smoking photos make you happy, go ahead and post them. But I’m not a smoker or a drinker, or even a promiscuous model, so when I was messaged this weekend to take down my picture from Instagram, I was extremely confused. My picture was of a messenger bag. With the HypoPARA Association logo on it. The HypoPARA Assoc. is an association that holds annual conferences and distributes countless amounts ofRead More

“Being a patriot doesn’t mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen, from the violations of and encroachments of adversaries. And those adversaries don’t have to be foreign countries.” – Edward Snowden     All of Snowden’s actions, up to this point, indicate that he is one of the few people who knows what our government is capable of, and has our best interests in mind. There areRead More

It began in first grade when the discovery of a substitute teacher greeting the class in the morning distressed me so much that I begged my mother, through snot and salinized skin, to take me home from school. My threshold for the substitute teacher’s performance being less than perfect in mirroring my own teacher’s routine absolutely shattered me. I was sort of a high-strung child, you might declare. Thankfully, years later, there is nothing that warrants this exact reaction from me, except, perhaps, intense moments of hunger. Childhood anxiety isRead More

If you use the internet, this should matter to you. Last Sunday, former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver leapt into a 13-minute tirade on his new HBO show Last Week Tonight, introducing millions of viewers to the very important, yet often misunderstood concept of net neutrality.  The video has since gone viral and – thanks both to Oliver’s pleas and the Reddit community – tens of thousands of internet commenters took to the FCC’s website and crashed the system with their complaints.  See the video for yourself here: It seemsRead More

My first semester of college, I worked at a chain coffee and bagel café. I have always affirmed that every person needs to work in food service at least once in their lifetime. It is difficult to express how exceptionally vital it is that people understand the toil behind where their services come from, and the crucial nature of treating workers with respect. I have also always held the belief that every person needs to work at least one “crappy job” in their life to fully understand the value ofRead More

So, lets talk about this Bowe Bergdahl business. Or rather, I’m going to tell you why you should be mad about it. You don’t have to agree; in fact, if you have a dissenting opinion, please share it below. But in my opinion, this is the situation as it stands.   Our President, Barack Obama, released five high-risk Guantanamo Bay Prisoners in exchange for one American Soldier. At first, that doesn’t look so terrible. So our price is 5:1. That doesn’t mean much if it means that one of ourRead More

As I walked into lecture today, to my surprise, I noticed that my professor, who is regarded so highly in the world of academia, decided to use Comic Sans on the lecture slides. Believe me, it took every ounce of self-control within me to not walk right out then and there. Professor, I respect you immensely as an intellect, and you are far more learned that I may ever be. However, let me tell you exactly why I can’t take you seriously with Comic Sans: Some may say Comic SansRead More

A while ago, after exchanging what I deemed an acceptable amount of messages with a guy on OKCupid, I gave him my number. A few rounds of witty banter later, he hit me with a question every guy, including my dad…okay, especially my dad…loves to ask at the first chance he gets: So why are you still single? I could get asked why I’m single every day until I’m no longer single (if and when that day ever comes), and it would still fill me with the same combination ofRead More

It happened again. But this time, it was more than just another tragic news story – at least for me. This past weekend’s events hit way too close to home. I’m a UCSB graduate. I’ve partied in the same streets and eaten at the same restaurants where a coward named Elliot Rodger murdered 6 innocent people whom he blamed for his own personal shortcomings. If this had taken place three years ago, I could have been a victim. My friends could have been victims. It’s pretty surreal for a collegeRead More

Last week, indie rock superstars Arcade Fire unveiled the music video for their song “We Exist.”  Released May 16th, it is described by the band as “the story of a young person’s struggle with gender identity” and stars Andrew Garfield of Amazing Spider-Man and Social Network fame.  Garfield is shown shaving his head, donning a wig and going out to a bar where he is victimized and beaten by the patrons before being resurrected at the band’s Coachella set. While intended as a shot of support for the trans community, the bandRead More

Former NFL players are a mess. Whether their plight is due to too many concussions, poor financial choices (2 years after retirement, an absurd 78% of NFL retirees are bankrupt or in debt), or now, painkiller addictions, the NFL stars of yesterday seem destined to spend their elderly years in poor physical, mental, and financial health. This week, it came to light that a group of eight former NFL players are suing the NFL, alleging that the league “illegally supplied them with risky narcotics and other painkillers that numbed theirRead More

I’m getting to the point of my life where I slowly think I have everything figured out. Every day I learn something new about my past or my present and I create mental lists of what to keep note of, what to never do again, or what to make sure I do next time. Since I am a hopeless romantic and a deep-thinker when it comes to life, here are 50 things I have learned:   1. Everybody turns out to be who they said they wouldn’t be 2. HighRead More

“You look tired.” “No, I just don’t have any make up on.” Never tell a woman she looks tired, because not only is she always tired, but 9 out of 10 times she probably doesn’t have all of her make-up on. This is what she normally looks like and now you’re making her feel bad about it. Men never have to look tired. They never have to explain why they look tired. They never have to answer the question, “Are you tired? You look tired.” Unless of course they areRead More