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A difficult thing to accept
Last Sunday, my bookshelf broke, and I ran out of my apartment and sobbed in the stairwell of a parking structure for half an hour. It’s not a joke. It’s not hyperbole. It was me at my breaking point. This is going to be my last article for the Vanguard. My editor let me decide what I should write—science? legislation? women’s rights?—and I eventually decided that my last submission should be more than that.
Old-world charm
When I hear the term “Euro pub,” my mind jumps to the image of a bearded old fellow in a delightfully rustic bar, a pint in hand and a barkeep who knows to keep ’em coming. I think of fish and chips, haggis and good beer.
Not very neighborly
In a stunning turn of events, a private Christian school made a sexist decision. The San Diego Christian College fired Financial Aid Specialist Teri James after she revealed she was pregnant. Because of a binding “community covenant” she signed when she was hired that asked her not to engage in premarital sex, the school considered itself justified in terminating her employment.
‘Keep calm’ and don’t rape women
Some scary statistics came out of a survey of college-aged men a few years ago that still send chills down my spine. According to Body Wars, a book by Dr. Margo Maine, 30 percent of college men surveyed said they would rape if they knew they’d get away with it.
Oh, for the love of—
At least twice a week, I check the news, see something about Texas, bury my face in my arms and weep for the future of the United States. Okay, that’s hyperbolic. But my roommate has become very accustomed to hearing me sigh, “Damn it, Texas,” and then resume clicking on the keyboard. Which should tell you something about the sorts of things for which Texas enters the national spotlight.
Benedict XVI’s greatest hits
I’ll get the Emperor Palpatine joke out of the way early: “Let the hate flow through you.” OK, I’m done. Moving on. It’s no secret that Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement has led to a lot of curious clicks on his Wikipedia page. Plenty of people are wondering what he did and how he’ll be remembered. The short version is this: Benedict was a complete dick, and anybody else will be an improvement.
In praise of nerd-dom
I have a confession to make: I am a nerd. This is not a bad thing. Despite the bad reputation that nerds get, we’re actually a pretty cool bunch. And there are more of us than you’d think. In fact, I had the opportunity to spend the day with more than 10,000 of my people this last Saturday at Wizard World Comic Con.
An ‘F’ in common sense
Everyone says grades are important, but they’re hardly a good measure of your intelligence and common sense. In fact, a better measure of your common sense might be whether you know when to let things go.
The House violates the First
Despite the lackluster quality of the American educational system today, I still expect most people to know the First Amendment. After all, it’s talked about an awful lot. The right to free speech is a big deal. But, apparently, the House of Representatives forgot about the other half of it: the separation of church and state.
Get your sex on
Believe it or not, loyal readers, we almost didn’t have anyone to write this part of the guide! You’d think it’d be easy to find someone to peruse the wares at our friendly neighborhood sex shops, but you’d be wrong. So I volunteered and went on a last-minute, whirlwind tour of our fun zones. Here’s what I found.