Opinion | Columns - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

The importance of stories and delving into fantasy, fiction

Mar. 21, 2017

I have become more aware of a family trait whenever I or my brother return home after a month or two of being away: We really enjoy reminiscing. All four of us enjoy reaching into our past experiences for a good story that makes our audience crumble with laughter. We can do this for hours. And it matters little whether the story has been told or retold, as long as it is told with enthusiasm and it entertains. There are times when we become so lost in this activity that we don’t leave the dinner table until an hour or two after we had finished eating.

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘It was better than the soaps’: the O.J. murder case and its modern parallels

Mar. 20, 2017

The ’90s are alive and well in 2017. From the resurgence of fashion trends we once rocked as children to the ubiquity of the phrase “only ’90s kids remember,” that captivating decade continues to exert an influence on modern culture, whether we realize it or not. Countless beloved ’90s shows have been rebooted to varying degrees of success, and those that remain untouched by modern media can be revisited with the help of streaming services like Netflix.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Who do you really judge when judging someone?

Mar. 20, 2017

My topic this week is commonly discussed, and I’m adding no more to the conversation than another anecdote, so I decided I’d give a short course of my piece to save you time if you’re uninterested: Get over yourself, and don’t judge others.

OPINION | COLUMNS

UF's administration needs to support graduate-student parents in need

Mar. 19, 2017

You’re in your late 20s or early 30s. It’s time to get married. It’s time to have children. It’s time to build a better future for yourself and your family while contributing to society.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Republican response to Obamacare will cost us

Mar. 19, 2017

It’s no secret the Affordable Care Act — colloquially known as Obamacare — wasn’t perfect. It succeeded in helping those who weren’t insured, because of preexisting conditions or otherwise. There is an individual mandate, which attempts to decrease the costs brought on by emergency room visits, but it didn’t address the ballooning costs of health care or the fact that the U.S. still has one of the highest numbers for health care spending per capita, according to the World Bank.

OPINION | COLUMNS

There’s always an audience; give them something

Mar. 16, 2017

Hey there, Gators. Hey there, Baby Gators. I’m kidding, of course; the Baby Gators can’t read. Was that commentary on our shoddy American education system and its effect on our freshmen, or was that an obvious statement because the toddlers of the Baby Gator nursery most likely can’t read?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Geography: It matters more to the creative process than one may think

Mar. 16, 2017

Oftentimes, where I work is just as important as what I am working on. I could be writing a paper on an interest of mine, but if I am in the backseat of a car racing down Interstate 95, then it doesn’t matter how much I enjoy the subject, I won’t be writing my best material. We are creatures easily influenced by our environment, more so than we like to think.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Let me ask you this: Why are you in college?

Mar. 15, 2017

One thing I learned quickly during my first few weeks on campus last year is that hardly anybody valued or enjoyed the mandatory class “What is the Good Life?” My teaching assistant for the class acknowledged this stigma himself on our first day of class. But he also posed to us a question, one that stopped me personally in my tracks. It was a simple question: Why are you in college?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Believing it’s ‘meant to be’ will hold you back

Mar. 14, 2017

The world we live in is chaotic. It is shaped by forces we do not always understand. A handful of powerful people exert disproportionate influence over our lives. There are things we have no ability to control.

OPINION | COLUMNS

As Spring Break ends, reminisce and appreciate your time off. Don’t mourn.

Mar. 12, 2017

Today is every college student’s least favorite day of the year: the first day of classes after Spring Break. I completely understand. In fact, I wrote this in a car on the way back from my own fantastic trip. Today is especially irritating because we get all the frustration of returning to normal life without any of the excitement of starting fresh or being close to finishing a semester.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Say it one more time for the people in the back

Mar. 12, 2017

Last week, Republicans offered their take on a new health care plan in order to keep their promise to “repeal and replace” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Despite criticism from both sides of the political aisle, many Republicans in the House of Representatives zealously pushed their plan through as quickly as possible, with two House committees approving it last Thursday and votes from two more committees coming up this week.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Our university offers a lesson in smart spending and financial transparency

Mar. 2, 2017

On the third floor of Turlington Hall, there aren’t any windows. At least none that professors and teaching assistants, huddled in their dingy, cramped offices can see. The walls are gray, or might as well be, and its narrow corridors taste of stale air. It’s cold.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Being anti-abortion, or ‘pro-life,’ is hypocritical

Mar. 2, 2017

In the spirit of controversial news, let’s talk about abortion. Something that has always struck me as odd, not to mention hypocritical, is that so many people who consider themselves to be anti-abortion don’t seem to care much about the life of the child or mother after the baby is born.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Back to the basics: rebuilding the Democratic Party

Mar. 1, 2017

The Democratic Party is in decay. It’s impossible to deny. But the decline didn’t start last November. It’s been a steady deterioration since the resounding victories of 2008, which swept former President Barack Obama into office and took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Since then, it has slowly ceded power, losing the House in 2010 and Senate in 2014. The exclamation point was Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The media has no obligations to agree with the government on issues

Feb. 28, 2017

The American people have to trust that their president is being as transparent as possible, barring security concerns. A president should be open to the media and make statements whenever necessary — that’s why the position of press secretary was created in the first place. By establishing himself as the only one with the true facts, President Donald Trump is beginning to lead like a dictator. He demonstrates why there is a division between public relations and journalism. Journalists are supposed to report the truth, while public relations professionals represent clients. There’s a reason why The New York Times isn’t filled with press releases and why Sean Spicer isn’t called the White House resident journalist, but rather the press secretary. He represents Trump’s interests.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Why we should all be allowed to take a Sabbath

Feb. 28, 2017

The Judeo-Christian idea of the Sabbath has been on my mind recently, most likely because of my personal schedule. College for most is either boring or impossible, with too much leisure or not enough time. I find myself in the latter position, where extracurricular involvement, tedious classes, relationships and personal hobbies jumble together to form one restless day after another. The reason why, I presume, the notion of the Sabbath has crept into my mind is because of the chaos of this semester. In short, I need rest — or maybe a month of backpacking through Ireland or a week at the beach.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Appeasement: what happens when we compromise for all the wrong reasons

Feb. 28, 2017

This week I want to talk about a trend in public discourse. I’d like to take a look at what happens when we take the middle ground. Compromise is a democratic ideal we use to try to satisfy several parties with one solution. When other ways forward fail, we settle for the middle road. Compromise comes from the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean it is always done for the right reasons. We have to learn to differentiate between compromise and conflict-avoidance.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Newspapers fill spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccceeeeeeeeeee

Feb. 27, 2017

That headline was intentional, Mike Foley. Don’t get your wrap-around glasses in a bunch.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Observations of a changing political atmosphere

Feb. 27, 2017

To my readers who may not be athletic or interested in sports, I apologize to you for my incoming analogies which may be lacking in relevance to you. For the rest of you, have you ever noticed how you must change the way you maneuver when you play on a different court or field? For those who have ever played tennis, football or volleyball, you are probably saying to yourself right now, “Yes, idiot. That’s obvious.” Right now, I’m also telling myself that same message because, at least instinctively, you’d catch me dead before you’d catch me taking a charge on a concrete basketball court.

OPINION | COLUMNS

An ode to the journalists I know (and even the ones I don’t)

Feb. 26, 2017

This column begins with a disclaimer: Although I served on staff at the Alligator during the past year, I have never claimed to be a journalist. I pulled some long nights with my fellow editors, I helped writers revise their ledes, and I wrote many a headline in my time — but I’ve never gone out and gotten the scoop or snapped the photograph. With that said, I believe my outsider-turned-insider perspective might shed some light on the hard work your local journalists — and their counterparts around the globe — do each day to get the story and get the story right.