There is nothing quite like glancing at your aunt and uncle’s local newspaper on the morning before Thanksgiving to find an article about Wisconsin’s abolishment of the minimum age for a gun license on the front page. More specifically, it covered a six-year-old girl’s first successful deer bagging. That certainly put a damper on my holiday spirit. It’s difficult to say what terrifies me more; … Continue reading The gun problem
Thanksgiving has come and gone. The turkey has been eaten, the tables have been cleared, and the family has gone back to Wisconsin. As Thanksgiving dinner died down another “National Holiday” emerged from the remnants of stuffing and mashed potatoes: Black Friday. As I scrolled through my Twitter feed while laying on the floor, I saw many a tweet criticizing Black Friday and the stores … Continue reading Black Friday bonding
Here in the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving around this time of year. Most of us return home to visit family, catch up with old acquaintances, and eat far more food than we ever should. However, there are quite a few of us here (and around the world) that also partake in an additional tradition: Black Friday. It has led to some interesting and tragic … Continue reading The slow and deserved death of Black Friday
As early graduation looms near and some of us are preparing ourselves to be thrust out into the world of adulthood, some more willingly than others, I can’t help but wonder why essential life skills like how to negotiate a job offer or rent an apartment weren’t a part of my public or private education. Attempts were made at my high school to educate us … Continue reading The irony of education for an informed citizen in the real world
It’s that time of the year again: the holiday season. This means colder weather, sweaters, and my personal favorite, comfort food. Despite all the fun activities that are associated with this time of the year, there is a downside. The average person gains 4 pounds between October and January. Having family food traditions is very important. They can help you de-stress and get away from … Continue reading The weight of every bite
I’m going to sound like a disgruntled old woman by saying this, but so many children and young adults these days don’t appreciate their parents’ presence in their lives. Similarly, many parents don’t appreciate their children in the same way. I’m not going to claim there was ever a time in history where this relationship was properly valued, but having been raised in a loving … Continue reading Family matters
In case you didn’t know, we are in the 21st century. Things are not how they used to be, and in many ways, this can be a good thing: better technology, modern medicine, new jobs and much more. However, for relationship and dating culture, things are not so great. If I’m being honest, in most cases I don’t even know if you could call it … Continue reading Dating dilemmas
As humans, we subconsciously crave known environments. Even the most daring of thrill-seekers (myself included) can’t help but feel disoriented in the first few moments of a new experience, regardless of the excitement that threatens to overtake us. In these disorienting moments, the presence of something familiar can wash away the initial anxiety that surfaces in foreign environments. The most apparent example is culture shock. … Continue reading Empathy makes the world a better place
In making this argument, I risk sounding like your disgruntled 70-year-old grandmother who scolds you for texting at the dinner table, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. Well into the twenty-first century, in a year where there are scarcely any 90s kids left in high schools and no one under the age of 18 has heard of a VHS tape, writing a letter … Continue reading The lost art of letter writing
Netflix and Hulu are synonymous with relaxation and binge-watching for college students across the country and on the Gustavus campus. Grey’s Anatomy is our preferred way to learn about biology and anatomy. Watching a spinoff series such as The Handmaid’s Tale seem so much easier than reading the book (spoiler alert: the book is amazing). It seems that more and more students are committing to … Continue reading Change it up!
