Category: Columns

Let’s think about this for a second: we’re not in high school; we’re in college. Why are you skipping out on your education? Do you ever feel tired in class and you want to nap for a second? I can understand. Have you ever felt so hungry that you needed something to eat immediately? I… Continue reading UTM students should never skip classes

If you’re anything like me, you absolutely can’t stand being late to anything. I know people who are late everywhere they go and I still don’t understand why that doesn’t just drive them crazy. People like me apparently do not exist in Spain, so when I went there last summer to satisfy my minor in… Continue reading Time management habits in US vs. Spain

In theory, the idea of a free education is wonderful, but I have two major concerns with Gov. Bill Haslam’s Tennessee Promise. First of all, according to the Drive to 55 website, any high school senior who graduates from an eligible Tennessee high school, or completes a Tennessee home school program, is eligible to receive… Continue reading Haslam’s Promise: Not yet worth keeping

I have a key ring that reads: “Some days all I want to be is a missing person.” In times of great stress and fatigue — like now, for instance — I really do want to “go missing” for a little while. We’ve reached the point of the semester when everything is due, and no… Continue reading Take time to travel, get out of town

When one views the Tea Party platform, one can’t help but wonder: Are they trying to turn us into China? Now before everyone starts frothing at the mouth, let me say that I do not think  the Tea Party wants to turn the U.S. into an authoritarian state. Indeed, many who claim the Tea Party… Continue reading Tea Party policies would make US operate like China

By now most of us have had one of those afternoons where we wake up after a long night out with our buddies only to discover when we check our Facebook updates that we have done some pretty interesting things last night that we don’t remember. Despite the negativity we might face if we have… Continue reading Drinking in Japan: Friendships formed from fermentation

Until I reached my late teens, the issue of gay rights had always seemed trivial to me. I wondered, why expend so much political capital on paltry recognitions like the right to a civil union or marriage when doing so could compromise the fight for the environment, economic justice and a host of other issues… Continue reading Homosexuals should have the right to marry in the U.S.

After quite a long life, poor Fred Phelps is no longer with us. Immediately you may be wondering why I would even have the nerve to describe Fred Phelps, the most notorious hatemonger in the U.S., in vaguely sympathetic terms. Please allow me to explain. The moment you celebrate the death of a villain is… Continue reading Fred Phelps: A legacy of hate more dangerous than the man