As our country hurtles toward a presidential election defined by change, we fly by the tenth anniversary of a horrific crime that illustrates just how much, in one decade, that country has remained the same. On the night of Oct. 6, 1998, just outside of Laramie, Wyoming, two men brutally beat gay college student Matthew Shepard, tied him to a fence and left him to … Continue reading Matthew Shepard: An anniversary of hate

Within the liberal arts educated, NPR listening, New Yorker reading academic subculture exists a movement toward promoting science education and awareness to people who, like me, are not scientists. In the last four years, the NPR program Radio Lab has grown in popularity and established itself as a leading force in this movement. The show covers big topics like music, sleep, laughter, language and many … Continue reading Of science and storytelling

I occasionally have the strange suspicion that I may have been Jefferson Airplane’s Gracie Slick in a former life. Yes, I realize this couldn’t actually be true, seeing as she is still alive and all, but sometimes-given the right coffee-to-volume ratio-I own those vocals, whether I am actually singing along or not. I think the connection is beyond the acid-flavored lyrics and more about the … Continue reading Our generation’s challenge

Earlier this week, Presidential Candidate John McCain offered us his plan to rectify the financial and economic crisis currently shaking Wall Street. It’s pretty simple, actually: fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to McCain, Commission Chairman Christopher Cox should be fired because he was “asleep at the switch” when the crisis hit. McCain was quoted in a Bloomberg article saying, “the … Continue reading McCain’s financial flip-flop

If you don’t mind, I’d like to take off my conservative Republican hat to talk as a Christian member of the Gustavus community. Some people seem to get the impression that socially conservative Republicans think they are the only “true” Christians, but as a social conservative, I think there are many liberal Democrat Christians who care for others and follow Jesus’ teachings much better than … Continue reading Guided by God

Dear Peter Pan, How are you? It’s been too long! Hey listen, if it’s not too big of a deal, could you possibly look into kidnapping me and taking me to Neverland at your earliest convenience. I’m sorry to bother you at such a busy time. Between battling Captain Hook, playing games with the Lost Boys, dealing with that manipulative bitch of a sidekick Tinkerbell … Continue reading Forget this. I’m going to Neverland.

Welcome to “From the Margins,” a new column devoted to a wide variety of social justice issues. For our first column, we chose to go with the hottest topic right now: Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska and the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Let’s be clear: as feminists it is of course good to see a woman once again in the running for … Continue reading Palin: the false face of feminism

Feminism is a very tricky term to discuss because it incorporates such a wide range of ideas, concepts and movements. Even among feminists there is disagreement as to what feminism is or should be. This discussion and debate of feminism has rarely been more prominent than in the past couple weeks with the nomination of Governor Sarah Palin for vice president. McCain’s controversial choice has … Continue reading A new feminism

The world is full of strange and unusual things, from things like lantern fish, to aardvarks, to pelicans and to yet unknown creatures that may only be described as bearing a striking resemblance to Ann Coulter in the morning. However, none of these things are as strange as the idea of gender that the average person seems to possess. Before going further I should say … Continue reading Reshaping gender conceptions

Hope! Reform! Change we can believe in! Stand up and fight for your country! There is no more exciting time in the presidential elections for a political junkie like me than during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Hour after hour I sat in front of my TV watching C-SPAN’s no-frills coverage of the old and new stars of each of our country’s two main … Continue reading Actions speak louder