Opinion: Columns

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Opinion

How reading can impact the rest of your life

By Hannah Whitaker | Sep. 17, 2019

Reading is important. This lesson is reiterated from the time we’re toddlers throughout our education. Despite constantly being told that reading is crucial for a successful life, many Americans lack basic reading skills. In 2017, it was reported that 43 percent of American adults read at an eighth-grade level or lower (Zoukis). Reading, however, is not just mere entertainment. Reading can determine one’s future. 

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Sports

Is Trask ready to go?

By Tyler Nettuno | Sep. 15, 2019

There’s no way around it.

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Opinion

Older Democrats dominate the party, but don’t underestimate young people

By Jason Zappulla | Sep. 15, 2019

Ten Democratic presidential candidates gathered on Thursday for the party’s third primary debate, and once again Joe Biden was in the news afterwards. In June, a confrontation betweenBiden and Kamala Harris concerning Biden’s previous stance on school integration using buses splashed across headlines. This time, it involves Biden’s response to a question about racial inequality and reparations. Biden’s answer was rambling and confusing, but what struck people the most was when he told parents and caretakers to “make sure you have the record player on at night,” so their kids would hear more words. Needless to say, record players are no longer in common use. Combined with Biden’s outdated references, the 76-year-old former vice president seem out of touch and unfamiliar with the modern world. 

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Opinion

College is about employability, not expanding your horizons

By Cameron White | Sep. 15, 2019

I’ve often asked why I’ve had to take so many general education classes earning my bachelor’s degree in computer science, especially those that have been entirely unrelated to my major and have taught skills seldom useful in a professional setting. You know the classes I’m talking about — History of Astronomy, Man’s Food, Age of the Dinosaurs and so on. But whenever I gripe about being forced to take these classes if I want to graduate, people echo some variation of the same response: “College is about expanding your horizons” or “College is about making you more well-rounded.” At this point, I’m sick of hearing it.

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Sports

9/11 changed sports

By Mari Faiello | Sep. 10, 2019

I’m not like many kids in my generation. My memory of 9/11 is pretty clear despite only being 3 years old. 

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Opinion

How to combat mental health stigmas

By Matthew Diaz | Sep. 10, 2019

When you picture an asylum, what comes to mind? For many people, it’ll be a prison-like building with white walls and barred windows. Maybe even a “Shutter Island”-esque ocean lockup filled with unknown or unspeakable horrors. I think it’s telling that just googling ‘psychiatric asylum’ brings up images meant to invoke fear: walls with writing scratched into them and patients confined to straitjackets. But is this really the way we should be depicting mental illness, something that 1 in 5 adults will struggle with yearly?

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Opinion

When "self-care" culture becomes unhealthy

By Hannah Whitaker | Sep. 10, 2019

Self-care culture. In 2019, you’re bound to see these three words everywhere.

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Opinion

Taxation is theft: the fundamentals of libertarian political philosophy

By Cameron White | Sep. 8, 2019

The phrase “taxation is theft” can be a meme, or a serious political position, depending on who you ask. While it’s easy to dismiss the idea as the deranged babbling of an adamant free marketeer, I’d like to explain the underlying politics that the phrase rests on and defend the idea that taxation is state-sponsored theft. To reach such a conclusion, there are only two premises you must accept: The Non-Aggression Principle is valid, and all laws are ultimately only enforceable by violence. Let’s examine both assumptions.

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Opinion

Chanel Miller: Know Her Name

By Lauren Rousseau | Sep. 8, 2019

Chanel Miller. If you don’t know that name by now, you should.

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Opinion

The cost of beauty shouldn’t be the environment

By Zora Viel | Sep. 8, 2019

People love makeup. More than a third of Americans aged between 18 and 29 wear makeup on a daily basis, and another third use makeup several times per week. Even men have taken an interest in keeping up their appearances with beauty products, according to CNN. While I enjoy dismantling toxic masculinity and being able to express myself creatively, I can’t help but become frustrated with the amount of waste we’re producing that is harming our environment. 

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Opinion

Be kind to the weather person

By Jason Zappulla | Sep. 5, 2019

During discussions of hurricane tracks, forecasts and cones of uncertainty, I’ve heard mention of how the meteorologists discussing these forecasts “always” get it wrong or make mistakes. While I can understand why people feel this way, such comments detract from the important work that meteorologists do.

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Opinion

The psychedelic renaissance is a welcome change

By Cameron White | Sep. 5, 2019

Once upon a time, psychedelic drugs were mysterious tools of experimental psychology and psychiatry being seriously investigated for their potential applications. Studies like the Harvard Psilocybin Project and the CIA’s attempts to use LSD as a mind-control agent in its secretive MK Ultra project drew plenty of attention. But before psychedelics could gain any considerable momentum or have their effects fully understood, the federal government outlawed them by making them Schedule I drugs in the 1960s 一 substances that have “no currently accepted medical use” and a “high potential for abuse” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). For the next several decades, research was scarce. 

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Opinion

Why La Casita matters

By Matthew Diaz | Sep. 5, 2019

Arriving in Gainesville from Miami left me with a massive culture shock. As a freshman, I was overwhelmed by the feeling I had sacrificed so much of what defined my life until then. From a Cuban coffee in the morning to a shared “buen provecho” at dinner, a lifetime of Hispanic and Latinx traditions were lost to me. There was a comfortable sense of familiarity in hearing Spanish regularly and visiting my local panadería every other day — a routine I never realized the significance of until it was gone. In its place was a town that I first characterized as unfamiliar and unwelcoming. 

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Opinion

Running from our problems: beginner exercises to help you destress

By Matthew Diaz | Aug. 29, 2019

From a marketing perspective, I think that exercise has been criminally mismanaged. If there were a drug that could do for human health everything that exercise can, it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed. The problem comes from the idea that exercise must be really taxing and time-consuming to be effective. While I’m not suggesting that you’ll be an Olympian by doing 30 minutes of exercise every other day, I think most people would be surprised by just how beneficial a few movements can be, not just physically but mentally. 

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Opinion

Unsolicited advice from a 1L survivor.

By Preston Jones | Aug. 29, 2019

Full disclosure: I pick my column topics based on how easy they are to write. A piece about my academic struggles? I can crank that out in an hour. Topics about the law school culture at UF, a more in-depth think piece on some political topic or (heaven forbid) a nuanced look at the student organization funding “crisis”? We’ll save those for a week when I’m not already procrastinating on my class assignments.

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Opinion

Don’t kick celebrities out of politics

By Lauren Rousseau | Aug. 27, 2019

In today’s political climate, celebrities are more vocal about their political beliefs than ever before. It’s not uncommon to flick through a celebrity’s Instagram story and see them proclaiming their support or opposition to a position. You might even scroll past posts of one posing next to political candidates. Some believe that celebrities are getting “too political” or should “stay in their lanes.” However, is it really that much of an issue for celebrities to bring awareness to political issues? 

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Opinion

The Mouse and the Spider

By Myles Gibbs | Aug. 25, 2019

In the expansive gallery of Marvel’s superheroes, there are few characters that even come close to the level of name recognition and reputability as Spider-Man. In the year 2018, he got an Academy Award-winning animated film, a game that set the record for sales of a third party game from Sony at 3.3 million copies and a role in the fifth highest-grossing film in the history of the world. It would be an understatement to say that the year 2018 was kind to his brand. Far From Home, which was released early last month, has even surpassed Skyfall to become Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time. It seemed like the property of Spider-Man had a bright future under the guidance of Sony and Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe – so it was a surprise to many when reports surfaced in late August detailing Sony and Disney’s disputes which would land it in very uncertain waters.

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Opinion

The social media oligarchy banished Alex Jones. Who’s next?

By Cameron White | Aug. 25, 2019

Few tales are more perplexing than the Alex Jones saga. The eccentric, conspiratorial host of InfoWars seems to be at the center of virtually every controversy, from insinuating that the mass shooting at Sandy Hook was staged (and subsequently being sued for it) to sending child pornography, supposedly unknowingly, to the plaintiffs in a defamation lawsuit. 

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Opinion

How to get more culture in a primarily white university

By Zora Viel | Aug. 25, 2019

UF isn’t exactly known for its diversity, but one would expect a bit more from the nation’s eighth best public university. With recognition across the country and students from all over the world, it would make sense that a school of this quality would represent the whole country. Unfortunately, the Gator Nation is not as culturally diverse as one would hope.

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Opinion

Bolsonaro’s selfishness is destroying the Amazon, but can international cooperation save it?

By Jason Zappulla | Aug. 25, 2019

By now, you’ve likely seen it all over the news and your social media feeds, but I’ll give you a quick reminder anyway: the Amazon rainforest is on fire.