Welcome back! If you underwent a smartphone or social media cleanse this past break, I’ll bring you up to speed. Everywhere got really cold out, the #MeToo movement picked up speed and we’re not (yet) engaged in a nuclear war with North Korea. Is everyone caught up?
As that old proverb says, all good things must come to an end. At long last, to the joy of some and the great disappointment of others, you’re reading my final column of the semester. While I won’t miss the hate mail, I’ll miss this great opportunity I had to speak to my peers. Here are some of my final thoughts before I go.
Confession time: After four semesters of reporting and editing, writing in first person is going to be a challenge. So, buckle in.
The stress of this job has killed our social, physical and spiritual well-beings. Still, we have learned more than two things that have made us the people we wanted to see in the mirror when we were 7 years old.
I had my first panic attack during my junior year of high school.
I’m not very skilled at basketball. I can’t shoot. I can barely dribble. And being short enough to order off a kids’ menu doesn’t help.
The matchups for the College Football Playoff have officially been set.
On Friday, there was a bomb threat at my old high school. The school went into lockdown, and people were scared out of their minds. It turned out the bomb was not real. However, as we have seen over the last few years, these stories of terror in everyday places like schools, churches and concert venues do not always have a happy ending. Innocent people have their lives snatched away from them for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump terminated Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an executive order by former President Barack Obama which gave undocumented people who came to the U.S. as children protection from deportation for two years. This order was also renewable.
Potential trigger warning: This column cites anti-LGBTQ+ quotes in an effort to demonstrate how we must vote against anti-LGBTQ+ politicians.
It’s no secret UF men's basketball coach Mike White doesn’t have confidence in some of his players just yet.
A new era is officially underway in Gainesville.
In a way, the process of how rapidly and expansively a new meme spreads is impressive. Someone takes an image that is only mildly funny and then does something to it that suddenly renders it into a new creative medium of expression. If the meme is hot, “memelords” from around the internet will start using the new template and begin the production of new content utilizing this meme. For a few days, it will be the only meme you see on the internet, until it dissolves into irrelevancy just as quickly as it entered it, the ultimate fate of every meme.
In about two weeks I'm going to graduate. It’s been an interesting four and a half years, filled with ups and downs, things I expected and others I never thought would. I didn’t think I’d end up at UF, but I sit here now and realize this was where I needed to be. I'm happy with how the last four and a half years transpired, and now I wait for the next.
Nicole (which is not her real name) was a freshman, a virgin and a long way from her Midwestern home. She indulged in the staples of first-semester college life like alcohol, fraternity parties and boys. Although she had heard stories of sexual assault on campus, she never thought its reach would extend to her.
Mike White won’t be in Gainesville for long.
My favorite part of Dan Mullen’s introductory press conference on Monday?
Last week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the FCC would terminate the Obama era regulations on net neutrality, which is the idea that all data on the internet is equal and that it should be treated as such. This decision was met with intense backlash from politicians, members of the media and tech companies across the country. Hashtags and social media campaigns have even emerged with the predictable hyperbole. Some users and news sites are warning that a repeal of net neutrality would cripple the First Amendment and would bring the end to a free internet. Newsflash: It’s never been free. So which side is in the right here?
For the next two weeks the majority of us will be bogged down by endless assignments, finals and lengthy papers. While it’s easy to lose your motivation and throw up your hands, I hope you have the strength to finish strong.
A guy friend of mine recently crashed a girls’ night out. It was a Thursday like any other: unnecessary wedges, ‘90s song requests and all we could drink. It even ended where all GNO’s should — at the Flaco’s Cuban Bakery window. Just one thing kept me from calling the night a success, however. That night, I learned one important thing. Nothing spoils an arepa more than these words from our token dude: “I didn’t know girls talk about guys so much.”
Solutions by The State News
