As students, we always have to consider how we spend our money and how many student loans we will need to take out next year. While putting a value on our budget, have we ever considered that the government is putting a value on us? According to the Associated Press, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done just that, revealing that Americans are not as valuable as we used to be.
Walking through the Park Blocks on campus, we’re familiar with the fanatical Christian preachers, Greenpeace campaigners and the enthusiastic Barack Obama supporters. Most people ignore them, pass them by and do not spend another thought on them. We don’t question their right to be there. But isn’t it fascinating that the same right of free speech doesn’t apply to what we say on the Internet?
To Ashlanders, Jen Moss is simply known as the “Naked Lady.” Most recently, however, she is not only making news for her revealing pasties and strange habits, but also for her desire to sue the city of Ashland for not allowing her to participate with a group of 10 people in Ashland’s noteworthy Fourth of July Parade–only wearing a G-string, rollerblades and a smile.
In the midst of a presidential election year, we’re being hit with political news left and right. But something outside of the nominees has come across the circuit recently. Family Circle magazine is hosting a potential first lady cookie recipe contest, as they have for the past four elections. In the 21st century, however, it is extremely archaic to assume that potential first ladies occupy such a domestic tradition.
As summer approaches, we find our country sinking deeper into the gloom of a recession. Fights against the high cost of gas, energy and food are more prominent, making us wonder when it will all end. Although gas is the commodity covered by the media most often, food is the issue that will hurt us the most. Although we are struggling through a recession it is pertinent to not give into buying processed foods simply because they’re cheaper.
Starbucks is making the news again. Not for its commercialization and overpriced coffee, but for a few sophomoric protesters getting together to complain about the new retro coffee cups. Apparently, sirens are now too sexy for coffee and have earned the coffee monster chain the less-than-sweet name “Slutbucks.” The original Starbucks logo, which first appeared in 1971, featured a replica of a 16th century Nordic woodcut featuring a two-tailed siren. The siren is a representation of the siren from Greek mythology. The siren was topless on the original logo, showing exposed breasts, but the logo changed in 1987, zooming in on her head only, hiding the rest of her body.
It’s the time of year again when students all over the world who have been toiling for the last few years to earn a degree finally get to have that piece of paper put into their hands. No one questions the validity of their degrees, or disregards the hard work that is put into earning one. Except this year in Pakistan, a remarkable degree is being passed out. We may not think that a master’s degree in music is a surprising or an otherwise special degree. For us, the ability to study music is taken for granted.
In our post-9/11 world, no one is surprised by the U.S. government anymore. No one is safe, and “everyone is a terrorist” seems to be the message they want to send to us. Even so, I was surprised to hear recently that they had gone so far as to put Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela on the terrorist watchlist.
With the Oregon primaries looming over their shoulders, voters are gearing up to make their pledge. But not everyone can participate in the primary elections or have the option to vote for whomever they wish. Outside of arguments with friends, the primaries are the rare moments when political parties make a difference.
As the Oregon primary grows nearer, we are being bombarded with even more media coverage of the U.S. presidential candidates, as though something had changed in the last 24 hours. Already having been exposed to the incessant news coverage that preceded every other primary election, we are well informed of what’s been going on, but are still given every piece of news as if it were brand new. Enough already.
Floating in the wake of a recession, the U.S. government first refused to acknowledge that the recession existed. Now, they want to attempt to pull us out in a way that hasn’t been done before and may not even work.