Michael Podgers

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Urban living provides invaluable wealth of knowledge

The approach of graduation and the completion of my academic career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have come suddenly. Really, it only seems like reality now that I’ve got all my final preparations set and everything is ready to go to finish up as a student here. Time to say my goodbyes. The decision to write for The Daily Cardinal was perhaps one of my better decisions in the last four years. I want to thank my friends and family for their engagement and encouragement as well as the awesome staff who helped me along the way. 

You need to study abroad

My one piece of advice for University of Wisconsin-Madison students: go abroad. And don’t just go abroad for three weeks in the summer and pretend you’re doing charity work in Costa Rica. Don’t just go abroad for a semester and take an introductory language course where you’ll forget everything, because you’re drunk the entire time. Go. Abroad. Find a place you think seems interesting and go there for an entire academic year. Go abroad and really commit to being abroad.

The Dirty Bird: Unsheathing mysteries of the American circumcision debate

Dicks come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and sometimes have the last name Cheney. Sometimes they’re circumcised and other times they’re not. While we’re very familiar with the range of dicks first mentioned in American culture, uncircumcised penises, which have an intact foreskin, are less familiar to us Americans. This is the result of the simple fact that many people with penises in the United States are circumcised at birth. Although the exact number has been changing over time, since the 1970s more than 50 percent of all people with penises had the procedure performed after birth. While those numbers are going down, the low over the last few decades, 2007, was still as high as 55 percent.

Action Project: Cities can serve as blueprint for sustainable living

 A recent article on BBC explored the role cities play in efforts to combat global climate change. Cities are immediately described as “carbon criminals” since they account for “three quarters of global energy consumption and for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.” True that may be, however cities are far from “carbon criminals.” Instead they’re keys to saving us from our own self-destructive tendencies. 

The Dirty Bird: Missionary impossible: finding a go-to position

Dear Dirty Bird,

The Dirty Bird: Trans issues: Everything you need to know

Dear Dirty Bird,

Language exploration expands cultural knowledge among learners

The Dirty Bird: A guide to ending you soured relationship

The downside of getting into a relationship is the inevitability that it will end one way or another. It’s easy to dwell on this, especially since we’re young and things are changing so quickly that the long-term durability of a relationship isn’t always guaranteed. We sometimes find it’s time to just get out and move on, but unfortunately it isn’t always easy and seldom are break-ups mutual either, even if we wish they were. There are ways to break up to help soften the blow. This shouldn’t be seen as just advice for the breaker-uper, but also the broken-upee.

The United States should practice better sustainable living

Five months ago I still lived in Freiburg, Germany. I was lucky enough to live in the world-renown Vauban neighborhood. It is touted as a premier example of sustainable development encompassing innovative planning and building practices for environmental, social and economic sustainability. This includes everything from passive building to natural drainage ditches (yes, the ditches are a big deal) for excess greywater. It was a level of sustainable living unlike any other. Every detail is considered to lower energy use, car use, increase livability and attract all segments of society. It’s a true culture of sustainability, which extends well beyond the edges of the neighborhood as it becomes a ubiquitous quality of German culture at large. It makes advocates of sustainability like myself giddy.

The Dirty Bird: Answering all your spring break questions

The cold is finally beginning to dissipate, the sun is coming back out and spring break is here. That means one thing: Clothes are coming off! Time to begin welcoming the season of shorts, tanks and cute swimsuits. But let’s be honest with ourselves, this sometimes has to do as much with practicality as with attracting potential partners. And during spring break festivities, these are more likely short-term sexual partners.

Nuclear power is wasteful

Michael Podgers