This morning, I started to write a radically different article. After a painful U.S. election, I wanted to issue a call to action and a plea for hope in the face of what seemed like utter hopelessness. The first paragraph quoted Emma Lazarus and the second lamented Arizona’s passage of Proposition 314. Frustration poured onto the page. Then I got an email. My friend died this afternoon.
Stop whatever you’re doing—we are in a crisis. America has a housing crisis. The Western world has a well-documented mental health crisis. Microplastics are creating a new physical health crisis.
The Boston College Republicans’ recent statement to the community shows a disappointing misunderstanding of how politics works on a college campus. Half-baked or unpopular opinions have circulated this campus in every era—often by way of this very publication. The community hashes out the merits and flaws in dining halls, dormitories, and classrooms.
“Welcome to Milwaukee, The Bloody Mary Capital of the World” greets me like a familiar hug each time I arrive at General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. Green Bay Packers paraphernalia, Cheeseheads, and Drink Wisconsinbly shirts adorn the vendor stations lining the central walkway to baggage claim.
I’m writing in response to a statement published on Sunday evening, authored by the Executive Board of Boston College Republicans. The authors raise a number of points that I, as a Democrat, agree with: we must reject political “intimidation” and “hate speech,” “ad hominem attacks” are no substitute for healthy “debate and dialogue,” and it is wrong to dehumanize our political opponents over disagreements.
Just 11 days before the U.S. presidential election, Jeff Bezos decided to kill The Washington Post’s editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris on grounds of “compromised objectivity.” I think his decision undermines the very foundation upon which journalistic credibility is established.
The last few days have seen escalating attacks on conservative students at Boston College in the wake of President Donald Trump’s reelection. Conservative students have been targeted on social media and on campus, being told that they condone rape, sexism, racism, and every other “ism” in the English dictionary.
The terms “mother nature,” “lady justice,” and “mother tongue” convey a certain gendered innateness about them. In other words, they are feminizations of natural and social concepts. These terms, among many others, are used to signify nurturing and naturally occurring phenomena, paralleling the way motherhood has been constructed and reciprocated as innate to womanhood.
We might be mid-way through November, but this past week has been eerily reminiscent of both late August and early January. With temperatures fluctuating between the high 70s and low 30s, students everywhere have been struck with a serious wardrobe dilemma.
Two summers ago, I had one of the best nights of college I can recall. My buddy Seamus and I were invited to our friend’s 21st birthday party. And—full disclosure—we were the James Michael Tylers of the cast of Friends. We knew it and our friend knew it. We were the outside crew. But, knowing where we stood, we agreed it could be fun, so why not go?
