I’m on an airplane right now. Well, not right now, because by the time anyone reads this, spring break will have come to a close and I’ll be settling back into college life in Madison. But as I type these words I’m on a plane to Los Angeles, surrounded by people who might as well be miles away.
Should the state have the right to end people’s lives as a punishment? Is that ever going to be effective in reducing the pain and suffering inflicted by the most heinous crimes, let alone eradicating them completely? I do not deny that those who commit statutory wrongs in our society should be punished, but I wonder whether this particular disciplinary method is serving as an effective deterrent. Outside of certain particularized situations, I can no longer accept that it is.
My favorite place in college library is the line leading up to the cash register in the little cafe on the first floor. I get giddy just thinking about picking out my snacks. Generally it’s where I take a little break, grab some gummy worms or something else that I will later regret eating. But I do it anyway, time and time again. I always rely on those gummy worms to lift me up during endless hours of studying.
The juror’s decision in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came back yesterday and he has been found guilty on all 30 charges, including the 17 charges that carry the death penalty. This is an incredibly unsurprising outcome, seeing that Tsarnaev plead guilty, his lawyer’s opening remarks were “it was him,” and that the defense did not cross examine a single witness called by the prosecution, the majority of whom were survivors of the attack. The trial, however, is still far from over. The jury must begin deliberations again, this time over whether or not Tsarnaev will receive the death penalty.
It’s all over, folks. Another local election that most students probably had no clue was happening is in the books. Not surprisingly, incumbent Paul Soglin won by a large margin. Madisonians’ mustachioed mayor is back for at least four more years. For those of you that have read my articles in the past (I’m of course referring solely to my mom and dad), you’ll know that I am a fan of the mayor. His intellectual capabilities and inherent Madison-ness make him the ideal leader of our community. However, while I am overjoyed by the incumbent’s victory, there is one area that was, perhaps rightly, overshadowed in the campaign that I would like him and the Common Council to address moving forward: student life.
Creativity and originality are dying in American media. As of late, remakes, adaptations and spin-offs have taken center stage in movies, television and literature. It is becoming much more difficult for new independent projects to enter into media’s center stage. While this may not seem like an issue, this is going to have a tremendously adverse effect on storytelling in the long run. it was recently announced that a live action movie based on the children’s cartoon “Winnie the Pooh” is going to be made by Disney. It is too early to tell whether this film is going to be any good, but the fact that yet another children’s story is being adapted or rebooted is concerning.
In the fall of 1967, 22-year-old Paul Soglin and his UW-Madison peers were engaged in a peaceful sit-in to protest the campus presence of Dow Chemical Company, one of the leading producers of napalm during the Vietnam War. When Madison police attempted to remove the students from the building in which they were protesting, the confrontation turned violent and many students, including Soglin, were beaten by officers. Soglin was later chosen to lead the student strike that followed the incident.
We can provide an excellent education for kids in low-income communities.” What recent graduate of education doesn’t want to embrace and advance this statement? This is the mission statement of Teach for America. The program, though well intentioned, is a threat to public education. It replaces qualified teachers with recent college graduates in underserved classrooms and uses tax dollars to fund pro-reform, pro-privatization education operations. TFA is a menace to the success of public education everywhere and, as a college student and passionate proponent of public education, I must alert you that TFA is recruiting on your campus!
It seems I can’t go a week without hearing something about “living naturally.” While it isn’t as common in Wisconsin, this health craze of looking toward our ancestors and their lifestyle habits and choices is all but unavoidable on the West Coast. However, I do see the slow creep of this movement in UW-Madison’s student population, and it must be stopped. I see toe shoes, ketogenic Paleo diets, functional strength training a la CrossFit and all affiliated acts as a faddish response for middle-aged men tired of the weekly spin class their significant others force them to attend. This group of ideals would almost be tolerable, and even respectable, if its proponents were not some of the most annoying people you’ll meet on planet Earth, but since they are, I feel its my job to pick apart what’s driving these fads forward.
A recent email from the Office of the Registrar reminded me of the daunting task of registering for classes. In the upcoming weeks, many UW-Madison students will begin to enroll in classes for the Fall 2015 term.
I recently met a man who is passionate about ending homelessness in the United States. His name is John McLaughlin, and he works at the U.S. Department of Education. As an education program specialist, John deals with educational issues involving homeless students.
LaBreea Walsh’s March 10th article regarding note-taking seemed to suggest that taking notes by hand is always the best situation for every student. I’m skeptical by nature of any article that claims to know unilaterally what is best for every student on campus, and this issue in particular is one that is near and dear to me. While I respect the opinion stated in the article, Walsh seems to be writing the article primarily from a perspective of personal experience, and in doing so disregarding those of us who might have a vastly different set of circumstances.
Mobility is a privilege that the majority of us take advantage of in every waking moment of our lives right now. Strolling the streets with pumpkin spice something, jogging in winters that seem inappropriate, even running through the six (or to catch the six) with our collective woes.
With NCAA March Madness at a lull until Sweet 16 play begins Thursday, now is as good a time as ever to discuss the state of NCAA athletics. Setting aside the human factor of student-athletes and coaches engaging in acts of misconduct, we can look toward the root of the problem lying in the broken structure of collegiate athletics today. The problem runs the entire gamut of college athletics, whether it is from the bottom in the arbitrary rules and regulations that student-athletes are subject to, all the way up to how the NCAA works as a cartel, but I see most of the controversy bubbling to the surface in student-athletes.
Is the abuse of a few justified in the name of saving lives in the majority? My take can be described as utilitarian, which dictates the moral action is one that maximizes utility in terms of pleasure, economic well-being and the lack of suffering. It is natural that people tend to choose the path that offers them a better quality of life, and society as a whole often leans in the same direction. Because individuals tend to pursue what is best for themselves, society often follows since such pursuit generally turns out to be the most idealistic approach. It sounds like a good idea, right?
I am a super human. No really, I am. I did the unthinkable—the impossible—and here I am to tell the tale. I leapt off the grid into the great abyss of the pop culture irrelevant world; a world with no screenshots, no bad captions and no poking.
Last week, a Wisconsin Senate committee passed a bill that would eliminate the 48-hour waiting period that is currently required to purchase a handgun. This bill will now be presented to the rest of the Wisconsin Senate and will most likely be passed again as the majority of senators are Republican and support the new measure.
The UW-Madison is not unfamiliar with student protests. Such protests are meant to bring attention to relevant political and social issues. I am profoundly proud of this characteristic.
Since the Charlie Hebdo shooting earlier this year, many have become more attentive to the rising nationalism among Muslims. It is thought that this nationalism is the mechanism behind the perceived uptick in international terrorism. There are bad and good versions of nationalism, but I would argue that too much of it is not wise. Voltaire once said, “So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one’s fatherland is to wish evil to one’s neighbours.” Nationalism is not absolutely evil, but to its extreme it is a risky concept.
Madison—whose unofficial label is “77 square miles surrounded by reality”—is hailed as a progressive haven.
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