Opinions - The Spectrum

OPINION

Is Melania Trump the modern-day Marie Antoinette?

By MOLLY DIETZ | Feb. 27, 2017

Melania Trump is featured on the cover of February’s Vanity Fair Mexico in diamonds – a must see. The First Lady is wearing diamond rings and bracelets and posed as if she is “eating” a bowl of stringed jewels like spaghetti. Inside the issue, there is another photo of Melania drinking a jewel-laced cocktail through a straw. Her cover photo is being criticized as insensitive and out of touch, coming at a tense time between Mexico and the United States.

OPINION

Trans rights are human rights

By MADDY FOWLER | Feb. 27, 2017

On Sunday, I was one of roughly 100 people who gathered in Niagara Square to rally for transgender rights and protest President Donald Trump’s administration’s recent legislation on trans bathroom rights.

OPINION

Why students should be concerned about the DeVos confirmation

By TORI ROSEMAN | Feb. 24, 2017

After the initial excitement of the election and the inauguration, it’s easy to let politics fade into the background of student life. At this point, Donald Trump is president. We can continue to protest or accept the election results.

OPINION

Bronchitis woes

By MADDY FOWLER | Feb. 22, 2017

It started with a cough – nothing out of the ordinary for someone with allergies and asthma. I brushed it off; I was not about to let a tickle in my throat foil my Saturday night plans.

OPINION

My first time getting pulled over

By MAX KALNITZ | Feb. 22, 2017

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” This is the exact moment that I thought my life was over.

OPINION

Intersectionality in social justice activism

By MADDY FOWLER | Feb. 19, 2017

I see white people downplaying black people’s experiences of oppression. I see white people ignoring blatant racism. I see white people having conversations about what is best for black people without a single black person at the table.

OPINION

Show some love

By SARAH CROWLEY | Feb. 14, 2017

Every holiday has its critics. There are the Christmas scrooges who need to watch Elf and be kept under close surveillance.

OPINION

My decision to take action

By TORI ROSEMAN | Feb. 12, 2017

It is a scary time for women in America. This alone speaks volumes, considering we still have the right to vote, to speak publicly, to work and to our own personhood.

OPINION

I’m still a man…

By DANIEL PETRUCCELLI | Feb. 9, 2017

Lately, I’ve been having trouble shaving. When I was a kid I used to watch a show called Family Matters (better known as the Steve Urkel show) every morning when I got ready for school.

OPINION

Letter from the editor: A call to action

By GABRIELA JULIA | Feb. 2, 2017

I understand. We live in a time of fear. Anonymity is safe. And no one trusts the media. It’s discouraging for someone like me, who wants to be a journalist and who believes in the value of a free press. If we can’t tell your stories, how will people know them?

OPINION

Letter to the editor: UB students and faculty raise concerns about campus sexual violence

Feb. 2, 2017

By not informing us of this assault, the University places its students in even more vulnerable positions. We have the right to know about sexual violence occurring in our student body. University police inform us of robberies that take place near campus even when those perpetrators do not pose a current threat.

OPINION

My 2017 weight loss goal: stay exactly the same

By LINDSAY GILDER | Jan. 22, 2017

Instead of setting out to lose weight this year, my fitness goal is to accept my body the way it is. This isn’t me giving up on being healthier or in better shape. This is me learning to love myself along the way; everything from the tummy pudge to the thigh jiggle that nearly every girl privately shames herself for, no matter the size.

OPINION

Live for tomorrow

By GABRIELA JULIA | Dec. 7, 2016

We are young, but we are not invincible. We are impulsive and daring because we can never imagine that right now is our last moment. We tend to forget that tomorrow is only promised for some.

OPINION

Letter to the editor: Finding a focus, what kind of department are we?

Dec. 7, 2016

Technique is coming after and coming through reading, thinking, and observing. It is aimed at weeding through all of those false intentions and hurried rushed reactive false starts, we're starting from noticing, considering the dynamics of our surroundings, before jumping to record what we don't yet understand.

OPINION

My first Christmas tree: Non-Jewish things are harder than they look

By MAX KALNITZ | Dec. 7, 2016

Around this time of year, everyone gets excited about going back home and doing festive “Christmasy” activities: decorating their Christmas tree, getting together with their family, going to church (whether they like it or not) and making cookies. But, if you’re Jewish like me, you’ve probably never gotten a chance to do some of these things.

OPINION

Protesting the president-elect

By MADDY FOWLER | Dec. 4, 2016

When I finally gathered enough emotional strength to watch Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, I sobbed the whole way through. One line in particular resonated with me: “Please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.” I wrote that sentence in my journal over and over again and hung the page above my desk. Even though the unimaginable had happened, I refused to accept defeat.

OPINION

Letter to the editor from Council of Advocacy and Leadership

Dec. 4, 2016

The Council of Advocacy and Leadership is an organization consisting of all seven student government Presidents, the Chief Justice of the Student Wide Judiciary, and the UB Council Student Representative at the University at Buffalo.

OPINION

Letter to the editor: Response to Spectrum's 'Finding a Focus'

Dec. 4, 2016

While the author of this article does due journalistic diligence to his main concern, namely the availability of video equipment in Media Study outside of university courses, he misses the point as to what this offer is intended for.

OPINION

Not home for the holidays

By BENJAMIN BLANCHET | Nov. 30, 2016

As part of the Office of Student Engagement’s Alternative Break program, I chose to co-lead a community service trip to Cleveland, Ohio. The trip is just one of many that the program offers to students who wish to volunteer their time for the improvement of communities in Buffalo and beyond.

OPINION

A time of fear: My worries as a Mexican-American

By CARLOS LEYTE | Nov. 30, 2016

I am afraid. I am Mexican and I feel the sneers and jeers of those, bolstered by Donald Trump’s fiery rhetoric, who don’t think I belong.