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Monday, July 14, 2025

Opinion | Columns

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Dealing with the uncertainty of post grad life and senior year anxieties

Anyone who has interacted with me on a personal level or read my columns with some sort of frequency (Hi, Mom) knows that the gaping void known as ‘post graduate life’ has terrified me for some time now. From that fateful Preview session during which I was delicately reminded to keep the job market in mind when picking a major, to those recent sleepless nights spent torturing myself with questions like “Do I really want to go to law school?” any thoughts about the not-so-distant future have resulted in more anxiety than excitement.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Cheney-s of love: Finding the wrong election role model

We all have role models. Well, all of us except for J. Cole. In his song “No Role Modelz,” Cole points out that in this day and age, no role models exist for us to look up to anymore. The desire to live a humble lifestyle has since been replaced with the obnoxious, tacky and entirely superficial placeholders. Young people used to look up to athletes who didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs, politicians who made compromises to reach success for the betterment of this country and celebrities who engaged in philanthropic causes — not celebrities who get “Made in China” breast implants (read: a Kardashian) or “Made in Thailand” lip injections (read: a Kardashian).


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Sing me a happy (or sad or angry) song, but nothing else

Our musical tastes are unbelievably polarized. There are very few popular songs that take a middle ground when it comes to emotion. Why does our generation seem to enjoy incredibly depressing, intensely angry or extraordinarily happy music? There is likely no single answer to this, but there is one I feel is the most probable.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Leisurely reading in college is rare, but it's certainly worth the time

Change is natural. Change is good. There are not many emotions greater than the anticipation of change. It gives us everything we can want in life: something to look forward to, to desire. Plans held into the not-too-distant future help us trudge through the monotonous present, giving us an attainable shift out of our current boredom and into something new.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: The Republican Party can learn adaptability from David Cameron

On Monday, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron announced his resignation as a member of Parliament for the Conservative Party, three months after the Brexit referendum. While he may be remembered for years to come as “the man who accidentally caused Britain to leave the European Union,” Cameron also leaves a powerful legacy behind — perhaps one that American Republicans can learn from.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

The danger of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and wrongly stereotyping women

If you’re not familiar with the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl, let me give you a refresher. The term, coined by film critic Nathan Rabin, is used to describe spirited, quirky female characters (usually written by men) that inspire the brooding male hero to find joy in life. It is an overdone trope that devalues female characters, reducing them to plot tools for the more complexly written male characters.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

The chemistry of betrayal

As individuals in a complex society, we feel comfort by putting labels or stereotypes on people. It gives us a sense of safety. As members of the mammalian species, we don't like to relate to situations or things we are not able to recognize. Therefore, we will always fear the unknown and avoid the feeling of uncertainty. Sadly, this comes at a price. When we learn and gain knowledge about something, we will do anything in our reach so we don’t lose control over it. Therefore, when eventualities get presented in our life, we are unable to manage them in the best way possible. Who hasn’t met someone, enjoyed his or her company and then unexpectedly gotten disappointed after a while? For example, I meet an incredible guy who I had a crush on for years. After many years of friendship, we began a relationship filled with shenanigans, jokes and a lot fun. A few months later, my heart got broken when I realized his priorities didn’t include me. He was making decisions that jeopardized the trust I invested in him. I never thought he would be capable of executing such betrayal, but he was.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Technology is the wrong form of escape

The famous French and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal seems to be flirting with deep philosophical truths in this insight, but I want to tamper with Pascal’s statement: A good number of our problems today stem from our unwillingness to sit quietly without a phone in a room alone. Why do I — and Pascal — believe this behavior is a problem?


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

SpongeBob Squarepants examiner: part three

In my past two columns, I discussed both the visual and audio design of "SpongeBob Squarepants" and how they influence its comedy. The show's gone south since season four, and the changes to its animation and sound are pretty clear and indicate a pretty solid drop in quality. So, for this final column, let's talk about two things: the characters and the jokes.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Tracing the Origins of Political Correctness

What is it about the term “politically correct” that manages to put everyone on high alert? Some blame the term for infringement on their First-Amendment rights, others use it as a justification to inflame Facebook comment threads, but mostly we avoid uttering it altogether to avoid the accompanying controversy. These two simple words have expanded to become intrinsically linked to an abundance of other concepts such as safe spaces and trigger warnings, but even beyond that it has taken on a connotation of triviality and ridicule.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

On the use of the word ‘retard’

Words are heavy. Every letter of every phrase carries a weight that we as speakers tend to overlook. Diction is an influential tool, made powerful not by the mouths that voice it but rather by the ears that receive it. No matter what, somebody is always listening.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Gender is more than just a pronoun

What outfit do you want to be buried in when you die? Go on; really think about it. You’ll probably want something nice and flattering. Above all, though, you’ll want something representative of the person you were when you were alive. This might seem easy for some of you. But for someone whose gender identity is nonconforming, this is a heavy question.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Dear returners: own your experiences, and own this year

Hi, friends! You may not recognize my name. That’s because I am brand spanking new to the opinions section! Let me introduce myself. I’m Taylor Cavaliere, and I am so excited to be writing to you all as a columnist this semester! I’d also like to thank you from the bottom of my heart: If you’re reading, then my worst fear (that literally not one person will read my column) has not come to fruition.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Kaepernick and radical social justice

When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick protested the national anthem before an NFL preseason game Aug. 26, I felt the ensuing outrage was overblown. I agreed with President Obama’s response — it is Kaepernick’s constitutional right to protest what he sees as a problem of racism and police brutality in America. By the same token, it is also the right of those who disagree with him to criticize him for his method of protest. As far as I was concerned, the discussion ended there.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Slow down and love life around you

I didn’t have many friends growing up. The few friends I did have were only made because we were stuck together for X number of hours every day from elementary school until high-school graduation. Most of them didn’t stick around too long after the classrooms no longer held us together. I realized shortly after graduation I would be going into college entirely alone in a completely new city, and I was terrified. But now Gainesville feels more like home than my hometown ever did. I feel like I belong here, and I’ve found my niche. I’m able to surround myself with people whom I genuinely care about and who genuinely care about me. What scares me, though, is that this is a town where a solid chunk of its population is constantly in transit, so it’s almost impossible to tell how long these people will be in my life.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

How LA police use football for change

For the second time last Thursday, San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem before an NFL preseason game. In his own words: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish for me to look the other way.”


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