Voting in elections is a constitutionally given right. It’s one of those perks of young adulthood most Gusties have recently acquired. At 18, we can join the army, gamble, buy spray paint, porn and cigarettes. And, most importantly, we can finally vote. This November’s elections will be a first for many young Gusties, and the first chance to vote in a presidential election for a … Continue reading The hidden cost of voting

This past Thursday, Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize winning author and columnist for the Washington Post, came to speak at Gustavus as a part of the Lindau Symposium. By most accounts the event was a smashing success. Well over 600 people attended—so many in fact that the event filled one overflow room and moved into a second. Dr. Krauthammer gave an erudite and intelligent summation … Continue reading The black and gold standard

Some time early in my middle school career, a friend of mine, a Greek immigrant, introduced me to what was essentially a Korean knock-off of World of Warcraft. The game, called Mu, came complete with every reason there was to get hooked, at about half the production value, with no subscription fee or price. English speakers were a minority in this online world, so when … Continue reading Use your words

There has been a great deal of political posturing the last year or so over the national debt. Both sides agree that the deficit and the debt need to shrink. Unfortunately, that is where their agreement ends. The Republicans maintain that the only way to shrink the debt is through program cuts alone, while the Democrats believe that some programs will need to be cut … Continue reading A deficit of reason

Apathy is hard to come by at Gustavus. Seriously. Even those whose lives revolve around such seemingly apathetic activities as skipping class and all-day Call of Duty marathons most likely watch enough of The Daily Show online to have a cause célèbre of choice. It’s hard to come here and find nothing to champion, no club through which to galvanize fellow students into support, no … Continue reading The love vote

If you have had access to the Internet in the past few weeks, you have most likely been bombarded by the overnight sensation that is the Kony 2012 movement. Through the wonder of the Internet, the video driving this campaign was seen 71,000,000 times all over the world in less than a week since it was uploaded. The video, produced by the non-profit organization Invisible … Continue reading Addicted to awareness

Although the white settlers of Minnesota may have technically won the Dakota War, they may be losing the battle of memory. For the past 150 years the story of the Dakota War has mainly been told from the perspective of the white settlers. Recently, however, the story of the Dakota people, which had until now gone unstudied, has become the major narrative of the period. … Continue reading The battle of memory

Students of the liberal arts persuasion will often find the temptation to slack off on reading assignments rather hard to resist. If you attend Gustavus, you have probably heard something along these lines: “All we do in (insert preferred humanities class) is sit around and discuss (insert favorite abstract concept). I’ll just read the intro and conclusion and be fine.” There are varying degrees of … Continue reading The slacker paradox