Spring means stress, sleep deprivation, and a shortage of clothed male students. This week, campus was crawling in male students throwing frisbees, playing campus golf, and studying in the grass all in the absence of shirts. Campus Safety was nowhere to be seen and the general public appeared safe and content. Then, two perceived female students removed their shirts while sitting in the lawn, exposing … Continue reading The Nipple Effect
A young woman dragged a mattress across her campus to protest Columbia University’s mishandling of her sexual assault complaint. A young man at Gustavus Adolphus College was assigned a 500-word essay about consent as punishment for sexual assault. Now, a report was released documenting over fifty years of unpunished sexual abuse committed by twelve faculty members at Choate Rosemary Hall, a small elite boarding school … Continue reading Prison for Victims, Playground for Perps
Socialism is not a viable economic system. I have seen countless articles, posts, and blogs extolling the virtues of socialism while demonizing free-markets. They argue that all the world’s ills are impacted by this “inherent” evil of free-enterprise. Yet, only the opposite has been true throughout modern history. From the failed socialist state known as the USSR, to the more recent example of Castro’s Cuba, … Continue reading Socialism: It’s Not What You Think It Is
Dear White Gusties, if you are looking for a fun, casual, and entertaining way to get educated on racism, I suggest you head to Netflix and turn on the recently released Netflix original “Dear White People.” The show revolves around protagonist Samantha White, host of radio talk show, “Dear White People”, at Winchester University, a generic, private, Ivy League institution. Opening with the aftermath of … Continue reading Dear White Gusties
In the early 1990s in Rwanda, a popular radio station backed by Hutu extremists began broadcasting racist propaganda. The country was submerged in hateful rhetoric which denigrated the Tutsi minority as inyenzi, meaning cockroach. Leading up to the genocide that resulted in 800,000 deaths, the Rwandan newspapers published pictures that depicted Tutsis as cockroaches and snakes. When the killings began, Hutus were incited to “crush … Continue reading “You Knew Damn Well I Was A Snake…”
Humanity has shared a bond with other animals for a long time, for farming purposes, or for companionship. As time has marched forward, so has the way modern pets are taken care of and the restrictions on where they can be. It is unfortunate there are buildings and tenements all over the world where it is simply not allowed to keep a companion, and for … Continue reading On-Campus Critters
Only once in my 52 years on this planet have I been fortunate enough to live on Main Street, America. That would be my senior year at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, living in an apartment just off Minnesota Avenue. It didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen without forethought and planning. Working as a bus driver for the St. Peter school district, … Continue reading An Alum Reflects on Off-Campus Living
We are at war, and Republicans are asleep at the wheel. In the past several years, Russia has mounted a war of disinformation on Western liberal democracy. It has become clear that Kremlin meddling extends far beyond the 2016 U.S. presidential election; it is an all-out assault on the West. The same toxic combination of fake news websites, social media bots, and Twitter trolls that … Continue reading Where Are the Patriots?
A month ago, our president, in his infinite wisdom, said “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” On the contrary, Donald—everybody knew. It seems it took 70 years for the star of the infamous Access Hollywood tapes to learn what the rest of us realize at a young age: the health care system in the United States is seriously messed up. I realized this … Continue reading Health Care: It’s Complicated
This past Sunday night, NBC Evening News opened their program: “Good evening, we begin tonight with a story we would rather not be telling.” Earlier that day, at approximately 11 am, a man uploaded a series of videos to Facebook, utilizing the social media platform’s live-streaming function. In the first video, the Cleveland man announced his intention to commit murder. In the second video, uploaded … Continue reading Violence, Voyeurism, and NBC
