Opinion

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Let’s talk about taboo topics: being open about feelings and mental health

Who decides what is OK to talk about? How do we all just seem to know what a taboo topic is? If there is a yearly workshop, I wasn’t invited. But somehow, I’m still aware of what we are supposed to avoid talking about. At a party, we’re told to steer clear of discussions about sex, politics, religion and the like. I don’t know what parties these people were talking about, because every party I attend somehow turns into a spirited political debate. Regardless, I maintain that this is a commonly used list of topics to avoid. Another common addition to this list is health. We’re told that no one wants to hear about our recent ailments or your visit to the doctor, and this may be true. People often get weird when others share personal information. Further, there is one topic that makes many people extremely uncomfortable. If you want to quiet a room full of people, bring up your mental-health struggles.

The Great Barrier Reef is dead. Well, almost.

I read an obituary for the Great Barrier Reef a few days ago that stated the reef had died after a long battle with bleaching. This bleaching was caused by stress from climate change and indirect human interaction such as toxins from oil spills and sediment from runoff. It didn’t seem right to me that I had never heard of the website that posted the obituary, so I did some quick research and learned it was just something meant to grab people’s attention in a dramatic way. The good news that is the reef is still alive. The bad news is it’s dying at a rapid rate and will most likely be completely destroyed soon if something isn’t done to slow the rate of climate change.

Darts & Laurels: October 21, 2016

You’ve been studying all week. Late nights in the library. Early mornings with the study group. You’ve never felt more prepared for an exam in your life. Now, here you are, sitting in the exam room with your blue book in front of you. “I’m ready for this,” you think to yourself as the teaching assistants pass out the exams. Once they’ve all been dispersed, you read the first question on the exam. But it’s not really a question. You raise your hand, and a TA walks over. “Is this a joke?” you ask. The TA shrugs, mutters “good luck,” and walks away. You glance back down at the exam, hoping it’s changed. It isn’t. Staring right back at you are 35 questions, each with four multiple choice answers, each question and each answer reading nothing but…

You're in charge, not your phone: don't be controlled by apps, notifications

Ready for a challenge? Make your smartphone a “dumb phone.”

The awe-inspiring impact of accidental science

In history, there have been scientific discoveries responsible for the general well-being of the human race. Moreover, many of those discoveries were found by accident. In 1928, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming was doing work trying to rid the world of the super inconvenient staph infection. When he left his dirty dishes out over the weekend in his laboratory, an unfamiliar fungus covered them. That fungus, Fleming learned, killed all surrounding bacteria. Thus, penicillin was discovered, or invented, forever changing the world of medicine. If that doesn’t convince you that some of the most amazing scientific projects succeeded by accident, the fact that Viagra was originally created to combat minor chest pains should.

In defense of Krishna: a chaplain’s response

Those who serve Krishna Lunch are volunteers. So are most who write for the Alligator. You don’t expect gowns and tuxedos on your Krishna Lunch servers, and you don’t expect Pulitzer-quality columns in the Alligator. Still, one can only marvel at the stunningly superficial and ignorant remarks about Hare Krishnas published in this space a few days ago.

Excellent educations should be filled with both humanities and sciences

As a student and faculty member, I have had offers to study and work at several highly ranked institutes of technology.

Religious self-reflection is necessary

There is a religious private school, somewhere out there in this great big world, that teaches young Muslim women that it is morally permissible for men to strike their wives, to kill gay people and that Jews and Christians upset Allah. If we were to ask you where you think such a school was situated, what would you say? Iraq? Pakistan? Iran?

Appreciating music for the tunes and the emotion

The late movie critic Roger Ebert once said he didn’t have a favorite movie but that he had many favorites. In terms of music, I feel the same way. Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Sam Cooke, Prince, Michael Jackson, Ice Cube — depending on the day and how long the car ride is, I will listen to any, or all, of these artists with glee. Please do not ask which is my favorite. Did Voldemort have a favorite Horcrux? No, he needed all of them. So, too, do I need the variety of sounds, styles and emotions that each of these artists offer in their music (Sorry, that was an awful “Harry Potter” analogy).

This is why I don't like cover bands: A review of a tribute performance

 The other night I went to High Dive to catch a tribute set of my favorite band of all time, The Smiths. The cover set was played by the Ordinary Boys, a band whose only function is to replicate the sound of The Smiths, as well as Morrissey’s solo work (yuck).

We don't have to adhere to traditional standards of perfection or happiness

Life is a rough experience filled with ups and downs. Since the moment we are born, expectations of greatness are placed on us. Our parents look at us and say, “I hope he becomes a doctor,” or “She will be a movie star.”

It’s time to get rid of the division between high culture and low culture

Quite a few things happened this past week that have forced me to reflect on the dichotomy of high and low culture. Perhaps you’ve already heard of the first event: Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, and thus becoming the first musician to do so. As an unapologetically devoted fan of both music and the written word, it goes without saying that I was thrilled to see Dylan join the ranks of Toni Morrison, Gabriel García Márquez and Samuel Beckett. Unfortunately, countless academics, authors and journalists vehemently disagreed with my opinion, citing a variety of reasons but often reaching the same conclusion: Songwriting simply cannot reach the level of artistic achievement pure literature can.

Krishna lunch: Hinduism is more than spaghetti Wednesdays and halava

One of the most common freshman mistakes is being in classes from noon straight until 3 p.m.

Spielberg wrote the Revolution

In Steven Spielberg’s classic “Minority Report,” three mutants predict murders before they happen. In a futuristic Washington, D.C., a special division of police are responsible for stopping and apprehending murderers before they even commit the act. If you haven’t seen it, and have two hours and 26 minutes to burn sometime in the very near future, do yourself a favor and watch it.

A critique of critical comedy: self-deprecation

Self-deprecating humor is pretty commonplace. It’s easy to pull off, and no one can be offended, because you’re only disparaging yourself. It’s a great way to look humble and witty at the same time, and a self-deprecating joke makes everyone around you feel that much better about themselves. This style of humor is a useful tool, certainly. But, like I said, it’s pretty commonplace. People have a knack for selling themselves short, because doing the opposite makes them look arrogant. And there are a fair number of societal norms that ask us to think poorly of ourselves, including social media and beauty standards. We’re all pretty much in agreement, though, that being humble is more noble than being boastful, right? I like to think so. It’s just the polite thing to do, really. When it comes to comedy, though, self-deprecation gets tricky.

What’s the social cost of your Halloween costume?

STEM and liberal arts should not be that separate

Hearing about the current demand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors is nonstop. From high school onward, the STEM vs. liberal arts dichotomy starts to heat up and continues beyond college. Although it may be true that people with these skills are desperately needed, being a STEM major does not mean you are inherently more hardworking than others, and a liberal arts major is not lazy just because the answers to liberal-arts questions might be more open-ended.

Don’t cheat others, don’t cheat yourself

When asked what the most infuriating thing in the world is, many potential answers come to mind. For me (and at least some others, I assume), it’s ignorance. Shocker, right? That’s why I am majoring in journalism, and that’s why I spend time each week writing things like this article to hopefully invoke some kind of thoughtful reaction to a variety of topics. Other infuriating things include people who use the 10 items or less line with more than 10 items, cut in line, eat pizza crust-first and chew with their mouths open (just writing that list made me start to twitch). However, there is one habit above all that really shouldn’t be an issue but has come to permeate our already delicate collegiate society: cheating.

Darts & Laurels: October 14, 2016

You’re sitting in lecture, listening to your professor drone on about some topic you won’t even be tested on. You feel your eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Your head drops down. Reflexively, your body jerks back and your eyelids shoot open. “Everything OK?” your friend next to you whispers. “Barts and Royals,” you deliriously mumble back. “Huh? Whatever, dude,” she says before glancing down at her notes. You lull slowly back to sleep, and as you’re drooling on your desk, you have a dream about…

Why we should resist the authoritarian temptation

 On Tuesday morning, Gov. Paul LePage (R-Maine), said in an interview, “we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country.” Not only is it unsettling for the governor of an American state to be endorsing an authoritarian form of government, but it also reveals an underlying shift in the American public — a tilt toward authoritarianism.