Opinions
(07/14/08 3:54am)
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Collegian's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
536 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
In a few months, our nation's leaders will look for victory, no matter how slim the margin, in an intense competition that comes around only once every four years.
The surprisingly nice weather last week has taken my mind away from finals and has got me looking forward to the imminent days of summer. You know what that means, don't you? Three of my favorite annual television traditions are almost here.
I've heard the saying that life is a dance, but sometimes I look around, and feel like I am stuck playing a game at a sleepover party. Remember the game, "Would You Rather"? It started out as which boy would you rather have to be partners with, or which of two cute teachers would you rather marry? That was back when boys your own age still had cooties, but of course grown up men had gotten rid of their cooties. But I digress.
I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you those who contacted me in response to my last article on grief. It's a relief to know that people I've never met are willing to reach out and share with me. It lets me know that some people on this campus listen when others speak out. It gives me hope for the possibility of an actual community here.
Part of me understands the desire to catch and punish the person or persons who hanged the black doll in Cousins Studio Theater in early March. This act, no matter what its intent or motivation, violated our community's sense of propriety and its long-held, if sometimes unattained ideal of mutual respect. For good reason, then, I do not wish to judge or criticize those who want some kind of punishment meted out for this deed.
Last summer, when I greeted the 2- to 5-year-olds who came to the camp where I have worked each summer for the last eight years, I noticed that a number of them were wearing Baltimore Orioles paraphernalia. I am from Baltimore, so this shouldn't be that surprising, except that children in Baltimore start playing lacrosse around the age of 4. Most of these children will never play baseball because their parents will use lacrosse as a way to send them to good colleges on partial or full scholarships.
I had the strangest experience the other day. While I was stretching in the gazebo, a lonely duck paddled through the inactive lake. I will never know that duck's name. As the lake carried its traditional waste to its banks, inevitably, I began to think.
In the past few years at the University of Richmond, an average of 26 students each year went to CAPS to deal with grief. In addition, an average of 80 students and faculty go to the Chaplaincy for grief counseling each year. These are 17-22-year-olds trying to balance living their lives as students while handling the debilitating effects of grief.
I began composing these thoughts on April 4, the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Unlike many others, however, I am not writing solely to join in the chorus of outrage about one particular event that took place on our campus — although of course I am angered, outraged, saddened and frightened by it. My outrage, though, is one that forces me to ask when we — as students, staff, and faculty — are going to be willing to face the deepest questions about institutional and structural bias and how it affects our community educationally, socially and culturally — not in vague general terms, but here and now, at the University of Richmond in 2008.
With the last out of the 2007 World Series, Jonathan Papelbon launched his glove skyward, while Jason Varitek flung his mask behind him. The two battery mates proceeded to embrace, then cry. Joined by their teammates, they spent the next few hours drinking and dousing each other with alcohol.
This column might not seem as though it's about sports, but it'll get there.
After three and a half years following Richmond athletics, I have seen it all. I have seen good teams and bad teams, great games and miserable games. I have seen our men's basketball team almost upset the University of Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and I have seen our football team make a run at their own title before being beaten by Furman University in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
Last Thursday, my grandmother passed away. It was not a shock since she had Alzheimer's disease and contracted pneumonia the week before. But even if it had come as a surprise, it wouldn't have made much difference to me since I felt completely indifferent to the fact that my grandmother was on her deathbed. I didn't care because, in my opinion, my grandmother was not a good person.
In my three and a half years as a student at the University of Richmond, I have never, until now, felt compelled to write into the opinion section.
I enjoyed the university's celebration ceremony of Martin Luther King Day ... until the Rev. James Lawson spoke.