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Thursday, September 03, 2026

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Florida Alligator
Opinion

Column: Country and football, viewed necessarily in that order

Let’s go back to Sept. 8, 2011. The U.S. unemployment rate is around 9 percent and President Barack Obama has called a joint session of Congress to address the nation on what the U.S. government is going to do to improve the economy. Millions of Americans at the time were struggling to make ends meet while unemployed, scraping together what they had just to make it by. That night, Obama had the answer to the fear and struggle of many Americans. But this wasn’t the priority for most: That night it was Thursday Night Football.


Florida Alligator
University

BOARDING PASS: International students visit family

The tradition of spending the holidays with family and friends transcends languages and oceans. This Winter Break, UF international students won’t be so different from American students. There are about 6,000 international students studying at UF, according to the admissions website. For them, seeing their loved ones might require longer flights, fuller suitcases and tighter hugs. This could be some of these students’ first times seeing their families and friends in more than a year. Some will be going home for the holidays.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Winter blues and finals make for a depressing combination

The winter blues, or as they call it in the medicinal biz, "seasonal affective disorder," is a phenomenon that does not distinguish between age, creed or color. Whether you’re killing the proverbial game as an academically exceptional, sexually active frat star or you’re more of the type to quietly mill about one of Gainesville’s many coffee shops and debate whether latter-day Morrissey matches the height of his lyrical prowess during his time with The Smiths (hint: it doesn’t), the slight fluctuation in temperature and ever-subtle changing of leaf color leaves many curled up in bed.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

The end of the semester is a time for reflection

For the next week, any room with a Wi-Fi connection and four walls will be overrun by over-caffeinated undergrads frantically typing, highlighting or scribbling. Most conversations will be haunted by looming deadlines, libraries will be filled to capacity and everyone in your life will claim to be "burnt out." With the end of the semester comes not only a heightened state of anxiety, but also the opportunity to reflect on any lessons learned in the last four months (and the chance to successfully procrastinate at the same time).


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