Opinion | Columns - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

The notion of freedom is not what we think it is

Feb. 7, 2017

Who has watched a cellphone commercial that advertised limited texting and data? Who has been upset at Chick-fil-A for not being open on Sundays or Chipotle for not being open all night? If Netflix or Hulu had a time limit — you could only watch a certain number of shows per week — would people subscribe? Would there be protests if Amazon imposed a delivery ban past a certain time or if you ordered multiple packages within a month’s period? Or if buffets and “have it your way” food services became extinct? What if the internet shut off globally at 10 p.m. every night, what then? How would we respond?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Venting through journal writing and coming to terms with the 'new normal’

Feb. 6, 2017

It’s obvious the past few months have initiated our transition into a sort of new normal. Several of my fellow columnists have addressed it, and I have spent plenty of time trying to come to terms with it. More often than not, this “coming to terms” has taken the form of scrolling through Facebook and growing increasingly anxious with every news article, political post and comment war I encounter. Unsurprisingly, this unhealthy routine has left me not only emotionally drained but also stressed as hell. So as a result, I’ve found myself at a crossroad where I’m forced to choose either my sanity or the responsibility of being an informed citizen — but not both.

OPINION | COLUMNS

After receiving an act of kindness, pass it on

Feb. 6, 2017

About two weeks ago, I was just driving around and taking care of a few errands with a friend of mine. We were coming from Publix, and I forgot to get something, so we stopped by the little CVS on 13th street. As we got out of the car, we both heard a hissing noise and soon discerned it was my tire. I ran over a nail. My tire was flat, and it was the largest blemish in the face of a great day. I finally had time last week to take care of my flat tire Wednesday. I mean, I had the spare on, but I had to take care of getting a new, used tire. I was getting a used tire because I was in the process of selling that heap of junk. Anyway, I called a few used tire places to find the cheapest price on a tire and the replacement fee. I eventually ended up at some place near downtown, walked in, and then what was once a nuisance turned into a great experience.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Don't give up on the truth: We must continue to defend it to the end

Feb. 5, 2017

I am attending school to become a journalist. This was not always my goal. I went through phases, as most children and adolescents do. My doctor phase was by far the longest and most involved phase. I was pre-med for one semester before I jumped ship and realized my heart wasn’t in the right place to succeed and be happy in that career. I took a journey from the Chemistry Lab Building to Weimer Hall, and I never looked back.

OPINION | COLUMNS

We must support our public schools: Here’s how

Feb. 5, 2017

Today, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, advances to her final confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate. Public outcry against DeVos has exploded in a big way (or, to borrow an expression from our president, “big league” or “bigly” or whatever). A spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate received about 1.5 million calls every day last week; a staff member of Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said his office received 80,000 letters pertaining solely to DeVos’ nomination. With a likely 50-50 split for and against her confirmation, Vice President Mike Pence might just make an unprecedented journey to the Senate floor to break the tie for a cabinet nominee.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Government-sponsored art is worth encouraging

Feb. 2, 2017

For the most part, my political views can be summarized by simply saying, “The less government, the better.” This applies to almost everything from education to health care, but a recent trip to Washington, D.C. may have caused a slight shift in that view.

OPINION | COLUMNS

In the middle of a stressful term, work hard to smoke those weed-out classes

Feb. 2, 2017

Your failures are never final — unless, of course, you failed your final.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Think twice before painting all media as fake; journalism is all we've got left

Feb. 2, 2017

I’ll be blunt: Our country is out of whack right now, and I’m petrified.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Take time to disconnect: a week in the woods

Feb. 1, 2017

When was the last time you were truly alone? I’m not talking about the last time you were by yourself. I assume every person spends some time each day unaccompanied, whether it be sleeping, studying late at night or using the bathroom (I hope). Yet most of the time, although we might be physically by ourselves, we aren’t actually alone. We’re constantly plugged into our phones and computers, communicating with others via text message, email or Snapchat. It’s a relentless barrage of electronic sensation and information.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Part three: Observations in modern-day Cuba

Jan. 31, 2017

Proponents of the regime claim that Fidel Castro’s revolution won Cuba freedom, a word choice that is bewildering to hear considering the individual liberties repressed by the totalitarian government. Predictably, a Havana bookstore we visited lacked works containing ideas incompatible with communism. Next to Trotsky and Marx, there was a title that argued there was in fact democracy in Cuba because the island has a “democratic economy,” contrasting it to the economy of the U.S.

OPINION | COLUMNS

February relationship series: communication, the instruction manual

Jan. 31, 2017

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I am devoting the month of February to relationships. This month, we’ll talk about friendship, love and what makes for healthy relationships of all kinds. I can think of no better way to begin than with the foundation of every relationship and the most valuable tool you will ever learn to use: communication.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Go ahead and make others’ happiness your happiness — you won’t lose

Jan. 30, 2017

Professor Bishop was rather proud of my last column, and I must say it was cathartic to put myself out there and admit to my clockwork, mechanical nature. Having people know me as an automaton doesn’t feel so different from being known as a human; friends accepted it fairly quickly, although I’m getting tired of people asking to use me as their personal calculator. I’ll say this now: No, I cannot tutor you in Elementary Ordinary Differential Equations. Yes, I can calculate the answers to any questions you may have in mathematics, anthropology and philosophy in the blink of an eye. No, it would not be ethical to do the latter. However, my operating system is open-source, if you’d like to take a look at it.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Part two: Observations in modern-day Cuba

Jan. 30, 2017

Three major changes happened just prior to my visit to Cuba. First, direct commercial flights began flying between the U.S. and Cuba. I paid a little more than $200 for a round trip with JetBlue, purchasing my tickets only a couple weeks in advance. Of course, you must still fit into one of the 12 exceptions for travel if you are an American, but travel agencies and cruise lines (which have only recently begun docking in Cuban ports) have found ways around this, constructing educational and “people-to-people” itineraries. Regardless, the airline has you sign an affidavit indicating your official purpose of travel, a requirement which became clear to me that many Americans fabricate or exaggerate. No one ever checked my press credentials.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Part one: Observations in modern-day Cuba

Jan. 29, 2017

Cuba is an island trapped in time. Old American and Russian cars zip through crumbling avenues and around 1920s-era buildings. Some are painted bright colors, others are faded or outright falling into ruin. The Caribbean sun beats down intensely, made more gentle by a forgiving ocean breeze. Perpetual sounds of crowded streets, howling merchants, roaring automobiles and music fill the air. You will catch whiffs of diesel exhaust, hot food or perhaps just the sea.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Why I study philosophy: learning how, not what, to think — and why that matters

Jan. 29, 2017

In big block letters over the whiteboard, the poster read, “Good teachers don’t teach you what to think. They teach you how to think.” Even at 16, I knew my 10th-grade AP World History teacher embodied the message she had hung up in her classroom. She taught well, with respect for us and pride for her work, with the kindness and empathy to reach way back into the early days of history and teach us angsty adolescents a thing or two.

OPINION | COLUMNS

“Why march?” Because we love our country

Jan. 26, 2017

Let me start by apologizing for bequeathing you with another article about politics — I realize most of you are rather apathetic toward the topic at this point. Be that as it may, this concept is too big to ignore.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Maybe the sun has been out the whole time

Jan. 25, 2017

Take a look around.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The lines we draw: examining the inadvertent costs of a party system

Jan. 24, 2017

Group mentality is the foundation of society. It is something we rarely scrutinize. We are born into a dozen groups based on our circumstances and will join a dozen more over our lifetime. Have you ever asked about the costs of membership?

OPINION | COLUMNS

How a relationship with Tinder can be a self-destructive obsession for some

Jan. 24, 2017

Open your eyes. You are on your back, staring at a ceiling you do not recognize. The smell of incense fills the air. You hate incense. A pungent smoke coils out of the slender brown stick’s glowing red tip and floats up towards the spinning fan. Your lip is bleeding. Your Tinder date likes it rough.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Why hobbies are a fundamental human quality

Jan. 24, 2017

It is a new year, which means there is more opportunity to create new habits. At this point in our lives, I find it is difficult to form, discover or practice hobbies. Yet, I feel that practicing hobbies, or “hobbying” (yes, I created a new word), is a fundamental quality of what it means to be human. Monkeys don’t do yoga in their spare time; dogs don’t sit down with a block of wood and create something beautiful. Only humans do. Not only is having a hobby an important aspect of being human, it is also a means of seeing the world in a new light. Hobbies deepen our experience of nature, of other people and of ourselves.