The Collegian
Friday, November 22, 2024

Opinion


Opinion

An Obama progress report: I'd rather be waterboarded

Now that it has been nine months since President Obama took office, I hope we can all agree on one thing: The only change he brought with him to the White House was a darker complexion, a funky last name and a new hammer and sickle decoration for the Oval Office. His empty speeches of soaring rhetoric have proven to be just that, and rather than reversing the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous administration, he's made it a lot worse.


Opinion

No glove, no love: let's seal the deal

Men, Are you tired of wearing the glove when it comes down to the dirty-dirty? Do you see the condom as a restraint that takes away from the "feeling"? And does your old girl constantly nag you about putting one on? Well, shut up and deal with it ... if you want some during your study break tonight, that is. You would not believe what we ladies must go through to keep the bun out of the oven.


Opinion

Letter: Long Walk

When a person is released from prison, his or her quest for true freedom has only just begun. Although physical bars no longer surround them, ex-offenders must overcome the challenge of reconnecting with themselves, friends, family and society. The walk is long, arduous and impossible to complete in solitude, because societal structures often prevent ex-offenders from resurrecting their lives before prison, no matter how intense their desire is to reform and to redeem themselves. In the Highland Park neighborhood of Richmond, Boaz & Ruth strives to assist ex-offenders through transitional job training.


Opinion

Why alcohol ruins everything

...or why our culture has made it this way Part of the motivation behind my expedition to the B-School last semester - which I was kindly informed this weekend was "overkill" - was a refusal to graduate with major parts of this campus untread.


Opinion

Reality rears its ugly head

The raging health care debate and infatuation with the struggling economy has given the Obama administration the opportunity to cleverly ensconce some of its other policy initiatives. For example, issues concerning green energy sources took a front-row seat during the 2008 election but were moved to a simmering backburner status when the price of oil mercifully subsided during the past year. But anyone who thinks the green movement has jumped the shark will, sooner rather than later, realize his or her belief was misplaced.


Opinion

Red delicious: the search for the right apple

It was a crisp, cool morning on I-95 heading north. There were high expectations for this annual outing with my uncle on a Saturday in mid-October, an outing that included quality time, a scarf, some baskets, fresh country air and apples.


Opinion

Letter: from WAY outside the closet

As an openly gay male on this campus, my experiences are certainly different from those of closeted homosexuals. This may sound familiar, as a similar sentence was published back in January: "As a closeted non-heterosexual male at the University of Richmond, my experiences on this campus are drastically different than those of heterosexuals." The difference is that I am not closeted, and I am not focusing on the differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals, but rather the difference between the experiences of out-gays and closet-gays. As highlighted in the January article, "Letter from the Closet," there is prejudice on this campus, and this prejudice is a main factor in either driving people into the closet, or keeping them locked in the closet.


Opinion

All that glitters isn't always gold

Ever take a good look around Richmond? The Princeton Review ranked it the 20th most beautiful campus in its 2010 edition of "The Best 371 Colleges," but if you take an even closer look, you will find that the students are just as gorgeous as their surroundings. High-end Ugg boots and Sperrys flood the sidewalks during the fall and winter months, and then it's back to Birkenstocks and other luxury sandals come spring and summer.


Opinion

Conservative ideas for health care

At one particularly notable point during President Obama's much-ballyhooed speech on health care last Wednesday, he said, "If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen." At this point, a few Republican congressional members were quick to hold up in the air the plans they had been pushing for quite some time now with little serious acknowledgment from the Obama administration. As anyone who has read this column in the past can attest, my faith in the current Washington GOP is at a near abysmal level.


Opinion

Reality check: looking at emotional abuse

College is filled with all types of relationships, spanning from acquaintances to engagements. In developing a sense of self, students search for others with whom they can relate well. Unfortunately, with intimate relationships it can sometimes be difficult to realize when a relationship has passed its expiration date. Emotional abuse can spoil relationships.


Opinion

Cell phones cause catastrophe

There is a growing trend that is threatening to take over the entire world. Actually ... there are a lot of them ... but this one is getting scarier every year. As I'm sure you've guessed (because of the extreme detail I've already used), I'm talking about the cell phone usage trend that has been growing at mushrooming speed since the early '90s. Once upon a time, cell phones were only for yuppies and fantastically ditsy, good-looking and inexplicably wealthy girls from Beverly Hills.


Opinion

Proclamation ponderings: note to self

Dear Sorry Senior Self, If you're reading this, you're sitting on the opposite side of the chapel, dressed in black like the other senior girls (or, as the informational letter invited, in an "ethnic expression of choice" if you've uncovered some new ancestors during the past three years). Happy Proclamation Night!


Opinion

Letter: Well done, students

I have expressed disdain in the past for the lack of sports support from the student body and have had trouble understanding the lack of interest.


Opinion

The next college pandemic?

I was supposed to be writing about Health Care this week. After my rebuttal in the last issue of The Collegian, I was hoping to lay the blueprint for a conservative, free-market solution that avoided a public option.


Opinion

From "it" to IT

It's Friday afternoon, and everyone is outside for recess. You know that you'll be home in less than half an hour so the only thing on your mind is not being "it." The game of tag was one activity that everyone was able to play.