On March 30, Indiana native Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she miscarried her pregnancy.
There’s a common misconception that once marriage equality becomes a national standard, the struggle the LGBTQ+ community faces will be over. But as the bills emulating the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act in Indiana and Arkansas show, discrimination of LGBTQ+ people goes way beyond their ability to marry and extends to denial of service.
According to many news sources, Sen. Rand Paul will be announcing his candidacy for president Tuesday and will then engage in a five-state, five-day announcement tour. Paul, who is the son of former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, is an ophthalmologist-turned-politician who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and has not been one to shy away from controversy. While many Republicans go with the flow of the Grand Old Party and often do not hesitate to inflate the deficit or ignore major problems, Paul has been one of the few shining stars of the party. He addresses the concerns of middle-class Americans, and his commitment to libertarian conservatism and advancing liberty makes him stand out from the crowd.
Over the past decade, higher education has gone through what some might consider a period of austerity. As state revenues declined, public education budgets at every level were put on the chopping block. Public education consumes the most sizable portion of a state’s budget, so it’s not altogether surprising schools had to tighten their belts during the recession. With that in mind, it was flabbergasting to discover the Louisiana Legislature’s budget for next year might cut Louisiana State University’s budget by 82 percent.
On Feb. 22, 2013, I wore a cream dress that I borrowed from my floormate. On Feb. 22, 2013, I went to a beach-side bar in Daytona. On Feb. 22, 2013, I was sexually assaulted.
April Fools’ Day is a time-honored, celebrated tradition of corny jokes, physical pranks and trying to subtly wrap cellophane over your roommate’s toilet bowl. April Fools’ Day is, like many American holidays, an informal celebration of some of our lamest attributes — like our fondness for played-out physical gags or gullibly clicking on obviously fake news stories.
In order to win an election, a campaign has to mobilize voters. The best way to mobilize voters is to go after galvanized and organized groups of constituents.
Recently, Bryan Koon, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, tried to discuss climate change at a Senate budget meeting. However, there was one stipulation he had to follow: He could not use the term “climate change.”
The music streaming business got another competitor Monday with the launch of Tidal, a high-fidelity music-streaming platform, launched by none other than the talented, collaborative rapper Jay Z.
Film and television representation for anyone who isn’t straight, white and cisgender has been largely nonexistent until very recently. People of color have been condemned to stereotyped roles, often playing domestic workers or exaggerated caricatures of their cultures. The painful truth is women, people of color and transgender people do not see themselves reflected back in the media they consume.
Ellen Pao, the woman who accused a powerful venture capital firm of gender discrimination, lost her case last week. Pao claimed that Kleiner Perkins Byers & Caufield refused to promote her — and ultimately fired her — because of her gender.
Last week, I found myself counting out exactly $2.43 in an embarrassingly obvious way for a small cup of coffee from a local coffee shop. Why? First, because I really wanted that coffee. I’ve come to temporarily accept the fact that I’m addicted to coffee, or at least the crazed sugar-caffeine high that coffee graciously gives me. More importantly, however, I counted out the cents of my bill because I was down to about only $10 to my name, and I didn’t want to waste a single penny.
Did you get to see T-Pain and comedian John Mulaney at the Big Orange Fest? Did you also get to see the hilarious yaks, tweets and status updates throughout the shows? Odds are, you weren’t able to keep up with it all, and you may have been suffering from FOMO because of it. FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is the feeling of anxiety people get when they worry about an exciting event that might be happening elsewhere. It’s a cocktail of emotions that includes regret, helplessness and guilt that can be triggered by social media. Something as simple as seeing a Facebook status, Snapchat story, Instagram post or a tweet can cause FOMO, leading someone to think that they’re missing out on a great party, wedding, football game or conversation. Similarly, not seeing a friend’s status, story, post or tweet can cause FOMO because it leads to uncertainty about what events could be taking place off social media. FOMO is more pervasive than ever, but with a tweak in the way we think, it’s completely preventable.
Netflix, Hulu and similar streaming services are the ways many people watch television in this day and age. “House of Cards,” a Netflix exclusive, is the first-ever online-only television show to be nominated for major awards at the Emmys. “Orange is the New Black,” a show that is also a Netflix exclusive, has been similarly successful with fans and critics. Hulu has recently been increasing its emphasis on original programming as well.
Late last semester, I wrote a column for this paper titled “After sweeping the midterm elections, Republicans must prove themselves.” I am sad to report they have not lived up to their promises. Republicans now have control over both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and they have the ability to start passing legislation to heal America’s wounds that have only been getting worse over the past decade.
I picked up my first cigarette between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college. Despite the fact my two best friends had already been smoking for a solid year at that point, I’d always hesitated. After all, it’d been drilled into my head pretty thoroughly that cigarettes provide zero benefits. They’re addictive. They’re expensive. They don’t provide the intoxicating effects of alcohol or other popular drugs of choice. And, of course, they exponentially increase one’s chances of contracting cancer. My first cigarette was a spur-of-the-moment “Why not?” decision, not one built on excitement or anticipation. I threw up immediately after finishing it.
It’s unsettling to wake up to a red Rorschach test on your sheets. Why am I covered in blood? Who did I stab last night? Why do I want to cry and eat macaroni and cheese?
On Monday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president of the U.S. With the simple tweet “I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!” the 2016 election season began. The checks will be written. There will be stump speeches. Babies will be kissed. Ronald Reagan will be invoked. Flag pins will be worn.
If you were to open your wallet right now and pull out a genuine U.S. bill printed within the last century, there is a 100 percent chance there will be a man’s portrait on it. To put this a different way: There is a 100 percent chance that there will not be a woman on it. The last time a woman’s portrait was printed on U.S. paper currency was in the late 1800s, when first lady Martha Washington, President George Washington’s wife, was on the 1886 and 1891 $1 silver certificate. It isn’t just paper currency where women have not been recognized, however. Only three women have been on U.S. coins: Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea on $1 coins and Helen Keller on the back of the 2003 Alabama quarter. There has always been a need to recognize more accomplished women, and now it might actually be addressed.
Solutions by The State News
